to ask if this is common in interviews - help please!!

[ToomuchtimeonNetflix]

I have been shortlisted for an interview next week and have been asked to take along an object or picture so I can describe myself to the panel.

Has anyone else experienced this? I really want to run for the hills and not attend and I would too if I didn't need the job.

Does anyone have any ideas what they would bring to start me thinking?

Are you a creative person? You could take something like a set of watercolours and explain that in a role like yours self-care is so important, and you do it through creativity?

It'll speak to the culture of the workplace. It is the kind of thing my hippy dippy colleagues would love.

@ToomuchtimeonNetflix

Its a supportive role, helping people with life difficulties like bereavement

A box of hankies?

Sorry . I've already got my coat.

@RhianFuckingMorris

And here it is the ridiculous "industry" of recruitment!! I once had to act out being a green triangle and a red triangle at an interview. Finding myself doing star jumps in an interview was a low point in my life and just plain humiliating. I never got the job but then they failed to ask me questions on how I would apply my skills and experience to the role. They obviously ended up with someone who could act out t being a yellow circle or whatever in just the right way.

ahem... no need to be "industry" in bracket, it's not a made-up one

The worst recruiters tend to be in-house people who have no training, experience or much interest in recruitment at all because they have better things to do.
For professional, like everywhere, you have the good and bad.

If the recruitment "industry" was so useless, it wouldn't be a booming one. Businesses have long caught up on how long, painful, expensive and difficult it is to recruit good people and it's much more efficient in cost and time to employ someone who actually know what they are doing. And usually only get paid when they find the right candidate...Otherwise they would do it themselves.

*It sounds as though they are trying to

• give you a prompt to talk about yourself and what matters to you
• understand how you tell stories, use analogies, etc to explain feelings to people*

Yes, given its a bereavement support job, I guess they are wanting to see how good you are at being personable, warm and human and able to talk about emotions and personal matters, in a way that makes other people connect with you. I guess in a role that bereavement support you can't really judge those qualities in a ' tell me what you would do in this situation' type interview question.

I would take a flask of tea and extra mugs, give everybody some tea and tell them that the soothing qualities of a nice cup of tea represent how good you'd be at the job of bereavement counselling. Warm, inoffensive, sweet and everybody understands that you're perfect for the job.

And maybe some biscuits-- bonus points if you bring gluten/dairy/nut free ones for allergies, shows thoughtfulness.

A dead badger.

I would take a flask of tea and extra mugs, give everybody some tea and tell them that the soothing qualities of a nice cup of tea represent how good you'd be at the job of bereavement counselling. Warm, inoffensive, sweet

Nooo! This is a 'show not tell' interview assessment. They want you to show them you can be personable and build rapport, not tell them you are good at it through a clever analogy.

Get a paper plate and stick lots of different things to it that express who you are.

For example; picture of animals (if an animal lover), pic of two hands clasped to show you are caring, pic of books if you like to 'learn new things', picture of a group of people showing to lime to work in a team..

You get the jist..

Hate these things..

Depending on how much you want the job, this sort of thing would result in me declining the interview on the basis that a company who thinks this is an appropriate interview technique is unlikely to be a fit for me.

I’m in education and have always felt the same way about student panels (ie where you get interviewed by three or so of the kids). It’s not happened to me so far but if I received an interview schedule including this I have always said - and I mean it - that I would decline the interview as I know the school wouldn’t be right for me.

Curious that is brilliant!

I'm curious to know how their ethos related to being a triangle though

I'd take along my son, as the person who tests my patience the most. Seriously, 5 minutes with him, they'd think I was a saint and give me the job.

@squanderedcore

I think I'd bring a pair of false eyeballs and roll them as far upwards as I could

If you are willing to play the game op (I would want to run for the hills too) then a wooden spoon may not be a bad idea for a supporting role: a humble tool that helps you create something that is comforting/nurturing/ sharing blah blah etc?

I bet they have already seen a lot of rocks and candles!

If you are willing to play the game op (I would want to run for the hills too) then a wooden spoon may not be a bad idea for a supporting role: a humble tool that helps you create something that is comforting/nurturing/ sharing blah blah etc?

If the interview is in Ireland don't do this!
The wooden spoon is universally acknowledged as the Irish Mammy's Weapon of choice over here

Omg sounds hideous and would make me want to run a mile.

If this is for a supportive role could you take a picture of something meaningful representing a loss to you or to someone you’ve helped before? Obviously if it’s personal, you’d need to pick an example where you’ve dealt with the loss and not anything still too difficult to speak about.

This could then easily tie into a conversation about the job.

Good luck OP!

I think given you've had advance warning, it's not too bad a thing to have to do.
Some of the things that pps have said about interviews really boil my piss though! I'm under employed because I simply cannot be arsed to jump through interview hoops, when a sensible chat would do the job so much better.
My daughter's friend works in a recruitment agency and like to tell me very earnestly how it gets the best people for the job. I think it gets the people who are best at ridiculous interview shite.
But maybe I'm just a bad tempered old grouch....
Very best of luck OP x

Take an empty gift box and tell them it's filled with strength - that you are going to be able support your clients to feel by your wonderful skills

@DressesWithPocketsRockMyWorld

Yuck!

Take a voodoo doll and say you stab people who displease you with stupid interview questions.

Love this. I would definitely give you the job if I was the interviewer, for making me laugh out loud.

@albatrossdreams

Nooo! This is a 'show not tell' interview assessment. They want you toshowthem you can be personable and build rapport, not tell them you are good at it through a clever analogy.

So make the story around when you sat down with a cup of tea and your friends who had just received a cancer diagnosis.

Also there are approximately 2227 between ways to show that you can be personable and build rapport

Someone will have been paid a lot of money to come up with this shit,

If it’s a support role they will be looking for empathy and compassion - take something really naff,tell them it was your grans That had brought back from holiday for her and how you used the object to Remind yourself of the love you shared, how at first you were sad when you remembered giving it to her and how you moved forward and now it provides happy memories. How you often use it to meditate on and focus on the feelings of love you shared and the happiness you know it brought her in life and how that lingering emotion means she lives on in your heart or some crap like that.

friend* singular. Fat fingers.

Actually I’m going to go against the grain and say in this case I like the idea. For the job you’re being interviewed for which requires some hefty emotional intelligence - being able to be emphatic while not drowning in the emotionally tough nature of the work. They didn’t spring this on you and it gives you a chance to reflect on who you are and what’s important to you which is a necessarily quality for this type of job.

The triangle acting though is madness and I hate that!!

@HagridsBackTeeth

Oh I hate those kinds of things. "If you were a chocolate bar, which would you be?" Much better to ask "If x situation happened, what would you do?"

"I'd be a Topic.....as in...can we get back on topic...."!

My first job had an interview like this. They won't be arsed in the object you choose (unless it's something illegal or really inappropriate), but it's how you communicate really, and also some people find it easier because rather than just having the question asked to them without a starting point. You could 'think outside of the box' and take nothing along and say that you don't feel an object can define you.

I had an interview not long ago. One of the questions was..." what would you say you have learnt about yourself during lock down?" My answer? " Well I've learnt I can make a damn good Jack Daniels fruitcake and I promise to make some and bring it to the office if I get the job".

I start a week Monday .