A boss has shared the secret test he puts his job candidates through to figure out whether they have the right attitude for the job – and he claims it has helped him hire the best of the best
Before attending a job interview, most candidates spend hours researching the company and preparing answers to commonly asked questions.
But it doesn’t matter how hard you prepare, you can never guarantee the interviewer isn’t going to throw a curve ball your way to try to trip you up.
That’s exactly what one boss claims to do when interviewing jobseekers for a position at his company – as he says it helps to weed out those unsuitable for the role. Responding to the Reddit thread titled, “Managers, do you have special ‘tests’ for interviewees that you put them through without their knowing?”, he explained how he uses a jigsaw test to see how candidates respond.
He said: “My next test involved mixing very different jigsaw puzzles together on the table (one was a Bob Ross original that I cut up with an X-acto knife and the other was a picture of me taken at the 1918 world fair where I am crying after having dropped my ice cream) and asked them to assemble the two original pictures. If they refused and told me it was a pointless task, they were a go-getter who didn’t waste their skills with frivolous time-sinks. If they spent the requisite ten hours putting together all 46,000 pieces, they were a go-getter who was willing to drop everything, especially their sanity, to get the job done.”
He claims the tests help him figure out who has the ‘right’ attitude for the advertised role, allowing him to hire a motivated person who will try their upmost with every task. He added: ” In the end we ended up with some of the greatest minds in the world.” But this isn’t the only trick up his sleeve as he has been known to test candidates with a a piece of candy.
He said: “Back in the early 50s when Truman was still the Emperor and jobs were given out like candy because of the economic boom after the first second world war (and candy was given out like jobs, and so on and so forth), I was a hiring manager for a small company you may have heard of called IBM, or Intimidatingly Burly Men. It was my responsibility to enlist only the best candidates so I was forced to come up with lots of subtle personality tests to determine the best man for the job (if I remember correctly women were not allowed jobs until the late 80s, and even then only as secretaries or nurses or eye candy).
One of the first things I’d do with a new candidate is lay a salt lick and a lemon drop on the table in front of them. I would ask them which piece of candy they wanted. Remember, if you would, that candy was given out like jobs and it was a not-so-subtle metaphor for a job. If the candidate reached for the salt lick, they were a go-getter who was willing to do anything to please me. If they reached for the lemon drop, they were a go-getter who was willing to make their intentions to be a hard and diligent worker known.”
