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Really, really weird interview...

Teresa

I've just had a second interview with a local medium-sized company for the role of HR manager. First interview was standard with several 'Give an example of when you...' and 'What would you do if...' questions. So far, so good.

I was one of two asked back for a second interview. The second interview, which with the same two interviewers as before but also the CEO, was an hour of 'If you were an animal, what would it be', 'Who would you most like to have round for dinner', 'Where's your ideal holiday', and 'What's your perfect weekend'. 

Eh??? Did I miss the CIPD's briefing on new questioning regime?

Were they just trying to see if I'd fit in (which is what I was told) or were there ulterior motives behind each of the questions. Because I said 'hedgehog' to the animal question does this mean I'm prickly and hide from conflict; should I have said something more aggressive like Rottweiler or polecat? As 'Italy' was my ideal holiday does that mean I'm unadventurous and conventional; should I have gone backpacking in the Andes or building schools in Malawi? By the end of the hour I was absolutely drained. 

Joking aside, it was actually a surreal experience and made me wonder what I was getting myself into. Luckily, I didn't get the job. Anyone else had - or conducted - an interview like this?

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  • I once had the "If you were any animal, what would you be and why?" (I said cat after looking absolutely bewildered; I think the interviewer fancied himself as a bit 'Google' but was absolutely not)

    Thankfully, they asked if I had any questions at the end of the interview so I threw it back at them; he looked suitably uncomfortable so although the role never got filled (it got put on hold, then eventually just not recruited into) I like to hope the interviewer learned a lesson on inane questions that have no bearing on the role (it was an admin position in a regulated financial service company - and I was an internal candidate!).

    The other unfortunate thing was that it breached the interview standards set by the company for fair and equal competency based interviews, so although an external candidate maybe wouldn't have realised, I knew it and so did the scribe involved in it, so the recruitment team were made aware in case he went too far with someone else - mine was inane, but just think what he could've asked...
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  • I once had the "If you were any animal, what would you be and why?" (I said cat after looking absolutely bewildered; I think the interviewer fancied himself as a bit 'Google' but was absolutely not)

    Thankfully, they asked if I had any questions at the end of the interview so I threw it back at them; he looked suitably uncomfortable so although the role never got filled (it got put on hold, then eventually just not recruited into) I like to hope the interviewer learned a lesson on inane questions that have no bearing on the role (it was an admin position in a regulated financial service company - and I was an internal candidate!).

    The other unfortunate thing was that it breached the interview standards set by the company for fair and equal competency based interviews, so although an external candidate maybe wouldn't have realised, I knew it and so did the scribe involved in it, so the recruitment team were made aware in case he went too far with someone else - mine was inane, but just think what he could've asked...
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