I have to admit that I was a little astonished last Friday when I saw news reports that one branch of the electrical chain Currys had asked candidates to dance in a job interview.
Yes, you read it correctly- dance. (For the record, the song was a Daft Punk number.)
While dancing isn’t necessarily part and parcel of job interviews nowadays, it is indicative of more and more employers choosing to bringing candidates out of their comfort zone to see which ones can handle the difficult questions.
I’m often asked if there are any strange questions employers might ask and the one that always comes to mind is, “How do you fit a giraffe into a fridge?”
While this might sound extremely amusing, this exact question was one asked by an investment bank in the City of London and was meant to test candidates’ problem solving skills.
For example, the employer wanted to hear the interviewee ask questions such as how bigthe giraffe was or how big the fridge was.
Indeed, challenging or cryptic questions are becoming more commonplace as competition for jobs increases.
The important things to remember are:
- There mightn’t necessarily be a right answer: Don’t panic because you don’t know the solution. There might not be one. Employers want to see how you think on the spot.
- Ask questions: Get as much data as possible before answering. Remember, they do want you to ask how big the fridge or the giraffe is. This will show you are a problem-solver.
- Respond to a cryptic question with a simple answer: Make it seem like this is the most normal question in the world. Use straightforward analogies and examples.
While you might not get asked to dance at any forthcoming interviews, be prepared to be taken out of your comfort zone so that employers can see exactly which candidate stands out from the crowd.
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