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- Vern Roberts
Some companies, including Google, are putting a twist on the traditional job interview. Vern Roberts explains
We are all used to the usual interview questions about our experience, education and hobbies. The standard interview is generally packed full of questions every applicant should know, maybe with the one or two surprises in there.
It’s nice to think that interviewers would want the interviewee to be as relaxed as possible, this way the candidate will hopefully give the most realistic impression of themselves. However, some companies at the forefront of the new-age interview delight in making the interviewee squirm as much as possible by asking questions that 99% of applicants won’t have prepared for.
Innovators in practically every field, Google deploys some notoriously difficult tactics in its interviews. But there are hurdles to overcome before you even reach this stage. Google likes its applicants to have graduated from Ivy League schools, though I doubt they’d turn away an Oxford or Cambridge graduate either. Google also likes good grades from high school, even if that was many years ago. If you’re over thirty, Google still wants to know what grade you got in GCSE history.
If you’re one of the lucky few to actually make it to the interview, then give yourself a pat on the back. But now the real challenge begins. Interviewees have reported non-standard questions. “In a country in which people only want boys, every family continues to have children until they have a boy. If they have a girl, they have another child. If they have a boy, they stop. What is the proportion of boys to girls in the country?” is one example. Another is: “How many piano tuners there are in the entire world?”
Google may be at the forefront, but it is not the only company that is putting a twist on the traditional interview. The cyber-security and ethical hacking company Random Storm aren’t about to ask you what your brothers and sisters names are or which Under-11 football team you played for. A spokesperson from the company said that they actually get potential candidates to hack something during their interview, and they even offer a tool that interested applicants can train on.
Or how about having an interview to become a spy? The British government has started a programme whereby teenagers without university degrees, but with a background in technology, science, engineering and computer gaming can apply to work in roles revolving around cyber terrorism and cyber warfare.
Nothing is known what the interview process will be like to applicants hoping to become the spies of the future, but the prestigious consultancy firm McKinsey and Company are currently the ones to beat when it comes to the toughest interviews, according to the website Glassdoor. They were rated with an average difficulty rating of 3.9/5. One interviewee revealed that he was asked: “How would you calculate the annual carbon emissions from electric versus gas in vehicles in the EU?”
So before you are next in a job interview, you might want to do a little research on the internet first to see if you can expect anything unexpected.
Vern Roberts is a freelance writer focusing on business and HR
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