Job interviews are stressful to begin with, but some hiring managers say they use secret tests that are not exactly related to the job description to evaluate potential employees. In a 2019 podcast interview, former managing director for Xero Australia Trent Innes revealed that whether or not he'll consider hiring someone depends on what they do with their coffee.
He'll make sure you get a coffee.
This interview trick really can only work if you actually have a cup of coffee, so Innes revealed that he takes prospective employees for a walk down the hall and into a kitchen, ensuring that the prospective employees walk away with a drink.
He'll interview you.
He said that he prioritizes sense of ownership and attitude. He'll interview prospective employees, but how does he evaluate what their attitudes are like? He pays attention to their coffee cups.
He'll check to see if you wash the cup.
"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 own coffee cup,'" he explained.
He thinks it's relevant regardless of what your job is.
Because "a culture of ownership" is so important to him, he wanted to find a way to test this for everyone regardless of what position they were applying for.
"What I was trying to find was what was the lowest level task I could find that regardless of what you did inside the organization was still super important that would actually really drive a culture of ownership,” he explained.
He says it's an important part of the company's culture.
The office kitchens are always clean, he explained. How is that achieved? Because everyone contributes. Everyone cleans up after themselves. He thinks maintaining this culture is important and to ensure that prospective employees are a good fit for the company, he uses the coffee cup test.
He thinks it works.
“It’s really just making sure they’re actually going to fit into the culture inside Xero, and really take on everything that they should be doing," he added.
Because the workplace is a "really fast-growing environment," he wants to identify people who have a "growth mindset."
He said that most people pass the test.
Good news is passing the test is not complicated. You just have to offer to take care of your dirty cup, he said.
“I don’t always make them take it back, it’s just an offer and usually I’d take it back for them of course — it’s just the sense of offering," he explained.
Ten percent of people fail the test.
He noted that he was happy that most people offer, but about 10% of people fail the test and don't offer to take care of their coffee cups.
He's not the only hiring manager with an unexpected test. No pressure.
Beyond trick questions, other hiring managers have revealed that they use other tricks or tests to assess applicants as well. Looks like Googling common interview questions might not be enough to ace every interview, unfortunately.
