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British man forced to dance in job interview: Five ways to refine your recruitment process

Job interviews can be nerve-wracking at the best of times, so imagine the horror of a British university graduate when he was asked to dance to the music of popular electronic group Daft Punk when interviewing for a job at an electronics store. Rather than a traditional sit-down interview, Alan Baconโ€™s trial at Currys in […]
Yolanda Redrup

Job interviews can be nerve-wracking at the best of times, so imagine the horror of a British university graduate when he was asked to dance to the music of popular electronic group Daft Punk when interviewing for a job at an electronics store.

Rather than a traditional sit-down interview, Alan Baconโ€™s trial at Currys in Cardiff turned into something like a scene from British comedy The Office.

While the story is amusing, it represents a popular problem for employers โ€“ how do you conduct an interview to find the best employee?

Companies such as Google are well-known for their quirky interview techniques. But pb Human Capital director Brendon Booth says when changing things up, businesses need to be careful.

โ€œIn a relaxed environment you get better responses,โ€ he says. โ€œAn unnatural, uncomfortable environment is not what you want to create in an interview.โ€

Bacon told the BBC he and the other candidates were split into two groups and told to choreograph and perform a dance routine, making Bacon โ€œembarrassed and uncomfortableโ€.

โ€œAll professionalism went out of the window. Iโ€™d spent the past week researching the company and looking forward to being able to express myself and talk about what I love doing.โ€

Currys has since apologised to the job applicants and said the store did not follow official recruitment policy.

Finding employees who fit into company culture is a challenge for any business, but there are certain dos and donโ€™ts for businesses to follow in order to find the best staff.

Booth spoke to SmartCompany about how to conduct an effective job interview.

1. Be flexible

Booth says itโ€™s great to come in prepared with questions, but sometimes itโ€™s best to follow the interviewโ€™s natural course.

โ€œItโ€™s kind of like an interview a journalist would conduct,โ€ he says.

โ€œMy tip is to keep the interview flexible, rather than to just work from a set of structured questions. Be able to follow the interview where it naturally goes and actually actively listen to the responses the interviewee is giving,โ€ he says.

2. Create a relaxed environment

Booth says there is no point trying to make the interviewee uncomfortable.

โ€œYou want it to be like the day-to-day life in the office to see if the candidate will fit in. An interview is an articifcal process, so minimise how overthought it feels. Personally, Iโ€™m not a fan of panel interviews,โ€ he says.

Booth says itโ€™s fine to try something different like Currys, but businesses should always keep in mind the welfare of the interviewee.

3. Be open

Booth says itโ€™s fine to ask behaviour interview questions to see how a candidate would handle certain situations, but recommends not being too narrow.

โ€œNothing for me replaces just letting the person talk,โ€ he says.

โ€œYou learn more by opening up the forum to the interviewee. If you ask a behavioural question, theyโ€™ll just answer to the question, but if you let them talk youโ€™ll get a much more in-depth response,โ€ he says.

4. Personality tests

Booth says psychometric testing can be a good way for managers to understand how to manage their employees, but the results arenโ€™t the be all and end all.

โ€œI have a background in psychology, but I donโ€™t rate them highly.

โ€œPersonality tests are good for the interviewer to understand possible issues, but they should never be used as a decision maker and this happens a lot,โ€ he says.

5. Look for a variety of experience

Booth says the best employees are often people who are well-rounded individuals with many interests as they are often more motivated and energetic.

โ€œI look for people with a variety of experience. I look for people who have done entrepreneurial things or have a healthy business interest.

โ€œWhen youโ€™re looking at someoneโ€™s CV, some of the interesting things are what people do outside of work. You want to see if people have a healthy set of interests outside of the office,โ€ he says.