Job interviews are a fact of life and, despite how uncomfortable they are, there’s no avoiding them.
They’re not the most natural of situations, are they?
From perfecting your first impression to striking the right tone with your follow-up questions, there’s so much to remember.
But some bosses use sneaky tactics to make cutting down their hiring options that bit easier.
One famous technique is the coffee cup test, which sees whether or not a potential employee will return and wash out their mug after use.
Job interviews are nerve-wracking at the best of times (Xavier Lorenzo/Getty Images)
The thought of absolutely nailing an interview – but then tripping up on something you never knew you were being tested on – is pretty terrifying.
So much so, people have taken to Reddit to find out what other tricks interviewers have used over the years.
One user posed the question in the R/AskReddit forum: “Managers of Reddit, do you have special ‘tests’ for interviewees that you put them through without their knowing?”
There was an influx of responses, but one rather gross revelation stood out.
Taking to the comments, one manager detailed the simple test the majority of their interviewees would fail.
Potential employees were asked to make a sandwich (Tang Ming Tung/Getty Images)
They explained: “I used to work in a cafe. The work was simple. I asked applicants to butter me a two slices of bread, and put a slice of cheese on it to make a sandwich. Those who failed to wash their hands first; failed.”
One curious Redditor asked the question that was on everyone’s mind. “What was the pass rate?” they wondered.
Another user admitted: “I am scared to know,” as the poster gave their grim response: “About 30 percent.”
So that means a whopping 70 percent of people who interviewed at the cafe supposedly didn’t wash their hands before handling food. Gross.
Apparently, only 30 percent of interviewees washed their hands before making the sandwich (Moyo Studio/Getty Images)
Whether you’ve previously worked in hospitality or not, it’s obvious that hygiene is an incredibly important part of the job.
Elsewhere on the Reddit thread, another person shared the tactic another boss would use to catch people out.
It’s a little more extreme than the sandwich test, though.
They explained: “I interviewed with a company recently who told me about their process for interviewing sales engineers.
“They would go about the normal interview, but that evening, they would all go out for drinks and try to pump the recruits full of alcohol.
“It was meant to be fun, but also a test of whether the person can either know their limits and politely decline, or hold their own after a lot of drinks.”
The Redditor added: “Apparently, drinking is a big part of sales.”
