Immagine that you receive an invitation for a job interview, the job that you’ve always dreamed of.
You go to the office to meet your Recruiter, dressed professionaly to impress and well prepared to answer to the crucial job interview questions, but when you get to the office things take an unexpected turn.
The Interviewer decide to spontaneously ask you to go for a jog with him, play a tennis-match, or hit up a yoga class.
You are probably thinking: “Why does this employer want me to test in this situation ?” “I don’t want to become a personal trainer”.
The answer to your questions is the following.
Today more and more companies start to opt or this type of unconventional interview setting.
WHY ??
The purpose of this unexpected interviews is to see how the candidate responds to curveballs.
If you observe someone outside their comfort zone on how well they respond to whatever challenge it is gives you a more understanding about how they’re going to perform when they are having a challenging and stressful day.
You can learn a lot from these interviews that you can’t when you’re in a classical and formal setting.
Obviously no candidate would forced to engage in a phisical activity, but this employer’s request does serve as a test of sorts to see if an interviewee is prepared to put yourself out there.
In addition to this the candidate can show the enthusiasm and willingness for the job completing any task requested to reveal a part of the work ethic that wouldn’t have surfaced otherwise.
So, the best thing you can do in this case, even if you experience an initial moment of panic, is to show the interviewer that you’re able to go with the flow, have fun with their unconventional request, and that you’re able to laugh at yourself.
And don’t panic if you don’t perform very well during a jog. That’s an opportunity, your opportunity.
Originally published at medium.com