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Workplace mishaps... or HR Confessional...

Steve Bridger

I would normally wait until Friday to post such things, but it's almost Friday so here we are.

This piece appeared in today's Guardian...

Famous workplace mishaps, from sleeping through alarms to mistaken identity
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/may/29/heathrow-boss-live-tv-mishaps

It reminded me of a few discussions we have had over the years.

Eleven years ago we opened up to share  Most unusual item found? 

I'd love to bring this up-to-date with a post-pandemic edition. 

Any takers?

Parents
  • Years ago, I was facilitating an assessment centre for a senior finance role — a full-on day of interviews, tests, and exercises (the kind that might send candidates running these days!).

    One task was a prepared presentation based on some documents received and then sent in advance. Over lunch, the panel remarked that all the presentations had been technically flawless... which rang alarm bells. I checked the PDF we’d sent — the suggested findings were (unclearly) tucked away in the final tab of a spreadsheet. They shouldn’t have been included.

    I owned up before the afternoon session — thankfully, the "assessment overkill" meant we had plenty of other data to move forward with. Interestingly, only one candidate referenced the hidden answers.

    I now double-check every attachment I send.
Reply
  • Years ago, I was facilitating an assessment centre for a senior finance role — a full-on day of interviews, tests, and exercises (the kind that might send candidates running these days!).

    One task was a prepared presentation based on some documents received and then sent in advance. Over lunch, the panel remarked that all the presentations had been technically flawless... which rang alarm bells. I checked the PDF we’d sent — the suggested findings were (unclearly) tucked away in the final tab of a spreadsheet. They shouldn’t have been included.

    I owned up before the afternoon session — thankfully, the "assessment overkill" meant we had plenty of other data to move forward with. Interestingly, only one candidate referenced the hidden answers.

    I now double-check every attachment I send.
Children
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