When I was brand new in HR, part of my job was screening bank tellers. To say I didn’t know what I was doing was an understatement. But I had what I thought was a brilliant question, especially since part of a bank teller’s job is to sell products. I would hand the candidate a pen and say, “Sell me this pen.”
Brilliant right? Well, I’ve matured and learned a little, so it kind of stung when I saw this:
“Sell me this pen.”
For a SaaS VP Sales job.
Like, dude.
— Chris Blum (@ChrisBlum123) August 24, 2023
Granted, I was hiring entry-level bank tellers at $8.75 an hour in 1999, not a VP. A candidate for the VP of sales should have a solid sales track record, and you should be asking about that record.
But that wasn’t the only embarrassing result from Headhunter and Consultant Adam Karpiak’s original tweet. Here are some more gems:
To keep reading, click here: Terrible Job Interview Questions That You Probably Asked
I can never read the articles that you submit through INC. I don’t have a subscription to INC. magazine. I wish you would use a different forum. Your articles are always informative and right on track with a little humor mixed into them. Thank you.
If you can find a place that will pay me that isn’t behind a pay wall I’d be thrilled! But, someone has to earn money around this joint, and that person is me.
I agree. I can see your introduction to the article but can’t use the link to INC to read them. Why can’t you just include the rest of the article in your post?
Two reasons.
One: Inc owns the copy right for 30 days. Then after 30 days I can republish it infull.
Two: I get paid by the hit. To make a living doing this, I need people to read my articles on Inc’s website.
I’d love to be able to make money on this site without having to rely on Inc, but alas, I put up one of those buy-me-a-coffee things for several months and no one was willing to pay a single dollar. So, Inc it is!
Hint: If you share the article on Facebook, you can often click the facebook link and see the whole thing.
I believe that clicks through Inc are part of how she gets paid. On a scale of 1-5, I’d give this one a 3. The examples were less about crazy sell me this pen; tell me how you’d eat an elephant; etc. and more about clearly inappropriate questions.
Example:
Interviewer: “I see you went to Baylor University. Baptist school, right? What kind of Christian are you?”
Me: I try to be a good one.
Interviewer: Are you a hand-waving type (he waves hands to demonstrate)?
Me: (looks for hidden camera). Uh, no. (plans out rest of my life).