Would you do this at a job interview?

[max]

Yes, it's crap. In fact it is complete and utter bllx. I've had to put up with plenty of totally pointless 'team building' exercise and the like. I've walked out of a few too and made my displeasure known to those at the top. These things are generally crap, thought up by idiots and hated by those who have to participate.

When management resort to these type of shenanigans you know that they're grasping at straws trying to solve a problem which either doesn't exist or is beyond their capacity to deal with.

 

Alternatively, they are using them to weed out those unsuitable employees who refuse to be part of a team. Seems to work.

[barleycorn]

Following instructions is the only attribute that could possibly be measured by such a ridiculous task. I certainly wouldn't want to use an interview format when hiring a shop worker, I would set up exercises to observe how people are with others, eye contact, willingness to help, using initiative etc. None of which would necessitate putting a bag on one's head and mooing. Because I'm not a knob.

Spot on. If you want to assess how someone is going to perform selling shoes then why not do a mock up scenario of selling shoes, or have them on the shop floor for an hour doing something like, oh I don't know, selling shoes maybe?

 

---------- Post added 16-05-2018 at 11:11 ----------

 

Alternatively, they are using them to weed out those unsuitable employees who refuse to be part of a team. Seems to work.

Except wearing a bag on your head and mooing like a cow is not an indicator for working as part of a team. I've successfully worked as part of a team for countless years and if my boss asked my to do that as part of an exercise I'd tell him to stick his head in a bucket of water an only come up for air when he'd thought of something better.

Far better to give them a task which requires cooperation and individual participation in order to succeed.

[alchresearch]

Except wearing a bag on your head and mooing like a cow is not an indicator for working as part of a team.

 

Except there's more to it than that:

 

He told the newspaper: "I got there and all 25 of us were given a bag and an animal we had to pretend to be. They said I had to be a cow. 'We had to make the noises until we found the other person in the room who had been given the same animal.

 

To me as an employer that says the exercise is to see whether the person has the skills to seek out an identify someone from a crowded noisy room, or shies away in the corner.

 

And it was only PART of the interview.

[barleycorn]

Seems more like a hearing test for those who don't mind being groped by strangers to me.

[melthebell]

or have them on the shop floor for an hour doing something like, oh I don't know, selling shoes maybe?

or mooing like a cow LOL

[Mister M]

I think the interviewers were mocking the candidates. But an interview is a two way process, it's as much to see if the employers meet the expectations of the potential employee. There is no way I would work for someone who thinks it is okay to humiliate someone when they're in a vulnerable position.

[Branyy]

These types of exercise are designed to determine whether people are suitable for the job. It's better to do this at the interview stage than to discover it once someone has started.

 

For instance, the bag on head, mooing game play will determine useful characteristics such as trust, ability to function in a stressful environment plus other useful traits for someone dealing with strangers on a daily basis.

 

Alternatively, you could ask the applicant if they have all the above traits and rely on them telling the truth.

 

As an employer, which would you prefer?

 

An employee can be trustworthy, able to work in a stressful environment and at the same time refusing to play stupid games

[nightrider]

Couldn't agree more.

 

As for the task being used to prove candidates can follow instructions - wasn't blind obedience one of Hitler's requirements?

 

It also says something about the managers at this place that they want to hire people who will blindly follow managers instructions no matter how stupid the instructions are.

[geared]

These types of exercise are designed to determine whether people are suitable for the job. It's better to do this at the interview stage than to discover it once someone has started.

 

For instance, the bag on head, mooing game play will determine useful characteristics such as trust, ability to function in a stressful environment plus other useful traits for someone dealing with strangers on a daily basis.

 

Alternatively, you could ask the applicant if they have all the above traits and rely on them telling the truth.

 

As an employer, which would you prefer?

 

Having worked in retail I can't see the need for such nonsense, it's not exactly taxing work.

 

One of the main concerns is finding reliable people and managing to hold onto them, you might have some people who aren't as gregarious as others - but they turn up on time, everytime it's better than those who phone in a sickie every week because they've been out all night.

[Anna B]

Having worked in retail I can't see the need for such nonsense, it's not exactly taxing work.

 

One of the main concerns is finding reliable people and managing to hold onto them, you might have some people who aren't as gregarious as others - but they turn up on time, everytime it's better than those who phone in a sickie every week because they've been out all night.

 

I agree.

 

Maybe these role play situations, (bags on head, mooing like a cow) is to see who has low enough self-esteem to be a malleable, easily controlled employee who won't complain no matter how bad his working conditions get...