#TERRIBLETUESDAY and the Lunch Date

You know, the funny thing about what I do? When I tell random people that I train companies how to recruit, the same random people tell me about awful interview experiences. It’s getting to the point that being surprised is a normal state for me. Just when I think I’ve heard every awful question; someone brings up another.

Today’s #TerribleTuesday interview question actually has roots that I think are very well meaning. They are just misaligned during the interview process, because it’s a fairy-dust question. What do I mean by fairy-dust? Well, it requires assumptions by the interviewers, and a little fairy-dust to create the magic that tells you if this is a good co-worker.

The question? “If you could have lunch with anyone dead or alive, who would you have lunch with and why?” Let me be clear, this is a great question for team building… when you have everyone in the room and you are creating some vulnerability and connection, it can be an awesome question that causes great conversation, a lot of Wikipedia surfing, and some introspection. But isolated on one person, when they are showing who they are to a group of strangers? It just falls flat. 

The intention of the question is simply to get to know the person and understand their motivations. But without the shared experience of vulnerability among everyone in the room, the candidate could be:

A) Feeling vulnerable and emotional over their answer.

or worse 

B) Creating something lofty that sounds good to the team, it’s not grounded in reality, it’s just so they can sound good.

Neither of these are favorable outcomes.

And seriously, who cares if they want to have lunch with Evel Knievel or Billy Graham? Who seriously would use that as a hiring differentiator? How does that make them more likable for the team? And how does that make them more skilled?

Stick to questions around processes, skills, problem solving, and relatability that matters. You’ll have a better hire.