ladbible homepage
ladbible homepage
  • iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK
    • US
    • World
    • Ireland
    • Australia
    • Science
    • Crime
    • Weather
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV
    • Film
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • Netflix
    • Disney
  • Sport
  • Technology
  • Travel
  • Lifestyle
  • Money
  • Originals
    • FFS PRODUCTIONS
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Archive
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content Here
  • SPORTbible
  • Tyla
  • GAMINGbible
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • FOODbible
  • UNILAD Tech
Interviewer uses wobbly chair to test how ‘bold’ applicant would be

Home> Community> Weird

Updated 20:44 14 Aug 2023 GMT+1Published 20:43 14 Aug 2023 GMT+1

Interviewer uses wobbly chair to test how ‘bold’ applicant would be

There are some strange interview techniques out there!

Kit Roberts

Kit Roberts

google discoverFollow us on Google Discover

There are plenty of - let's say 'interesting' - interview techniques out there these days.

It could be interviewing candidates over breakfast, or planting the hiring manager on the reception desk to see how candidates interact with them.

Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs would reportedly take candidates out for a beer to see how they interacted. Presumably he didn't interview multiple candidates in one day.

But it seems that some interviewers will add in extra elements just to see how the candidate will react, almost like an unexpected stress test.

Advert

Job interviews can be a daunting process.
Simon Potter / Getty

This particular interviewing technique sounds like something you would expect to encounter in a dystopian TV drama, where psychological stresses are used to test applicants to the furthest degree.

It involves purposefully seating the candidate on a chair with a wobbly leg.

Yes, that was also my first thought.

The idea behind this unorthodox strategy is to make the candidate ill at ease during the interview, and ultimately to see if they are 'bold' enough to ask for a replacement chair.

One man told The Mirror US: "My brother was in ROTC in college, and he told me this story. An applicant for ROTC Nuclear Power school would sit the chair in front of the desk of the interviewing officer during the interview.

There are some strange interview techniques out there.
Westend61 / Getty

"There was a second/similar chair in the room available for the applicant - off to the side. The chair in front of the desk for the applicant had one leg of chair - cut shorter - so the person sitting in the chair would wobble - during the interview.

"The successful test was to see if the applicant would be bold enough to stop the interview for a moment - to request to exchange his chair, for second/other chair - so they did not wobble."

It's certainly an interesting technique!

Another test which appears in the same spirit as the chair test is the coffee cup test.

In this one candidates are offered a cup of tea or coffee. If they accept, then the test is to see if the applicant takes their cup back to the kitchen to wash themselves, or if they leave it for someone else.

Trent Innes, current chief growth officer of hotel commerce platform SiteMinder, explained: "You can develop skills, you can gain knowledge and experience but it really does come down to attitude, and the attitude that we talk a lot about is the concept of 'wash your coffee cup'."

That said, it's probably worth making sure you have the skills and experience. You're welcome to try applying to become a consultant neurosurgeon at the hospital on the back of the coffee cup test, but it might be an idea to go to medical school first.

Featured Image Credit: Halfpoint Images/Getty / Robert Daly/Getty

Topics: Weird, Jobs, Business

Kit Roberts
Kit Roberts

Kit joined LADbible Group in 2023 as a community journalist. They previously worked for StokeonTrentLive, the Daily Mirror, and the Daily Star.

Recommended reads

Curiosity rover finds best proof that there was life on Mars in groundbreaking discoveryNASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSChristina Applegate gives health update after reports of hospitalisationGilbert Flores/Variety via Getty ImagesNew Amazon Fire TV Sticks rules in full as illegal streaming crackdown beginsPeter Dazeley/Getty ImagesTim Cook says Apple only hires people that have same answer to one questionJustin Sullivan/Getty Images

Advert

Choose your content:

17 hours ago
a day ago
3 days ago
5 days ago
  • YouTube/WE tv
    17 hours ago

    Woman explains why she enjoys 'sploshing' in the bedroom after Sydney Sweeney nude scene

    HBO's dark drama has shone a light on a kinky sub-culture

    Community
  • Vaida Markeviciute-Razmislavice
    a day ago

    Photographer takes images of women before and after giving birth to show impact

    The photographer said she noticed a number of changes in the women as they became mothers that are 'hidden in the portraits'

    Community
  • Rebecca Reingold
    3 days ago

    Heckler who flirted with comedian mid-show given unexpected response

    The NYC comic has been praised for how 'well' she handled the interrupter

    Community
  • (Getty Stock Images)
    5 days ago

    People born in these years are officially ‘Zillennials’ and it explains a lot

    Don't feel like you fit in with either Millennials or Gen Z? That may be because you're a part of the 'Zillennial' group

    Community
  • Interviewer uses wobbly chair to test how ‘bold’ applicant will be
  • Steve Jobs would use 'beer test' when interviewing people at Apple
  • Steve Jobs would ask employee one question every day for important reason
  • Seven job sectors most likely to be taken over by AI in the next year