As if interviews weren't stressful enough, managers have now revealed all their hidden tips and tricks they play on potential future employees to weed out the good from the great candidates.
Now, we already know all about the dreaded 'water test' you could end up failing without even realising but there's yet another one any job-hunters need to be mindful of too as one boss straight up admitted to refusing to hire anyone who fails sneaky 'coffee cup test' in a job interview that you've probably come across without even knowing.
What is the 'coffee cup test'?
Trent Innes, the former managing director of Xero Australia, opened up about his hiring process and why he'd offer candidates a cup of joe during the interview.
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Speaking on The Venture Podcast with Lambros Photios, Trent, who is now the CEO of investment company Compono, maintained that the test allowed him to get an extra insight into the person's 'attitude' and 'ownership', as per MailOnline.
"I'm probably giving away all my dark secrets here now," Trent began. "But if you do come in and have an interview, as soon as you come in and meet me, I will always take you for a walk down to one of our kitchens and somehow you always end up walking away with a drink.
"Then we take that back, have our interview, and one of the things I'm always looking for at the end of the interview is, does the person doing the interview want to take that empty cup back to the kitchen?"
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While such a test gives itself up for major critique given that it has absolutely diddly-squat to do with your CV, abilities or knowledge of the company, Trent insisted that employability mostly came down to 'attitude'.
"The attitude that we talk a lot about is the concept of 'wash your own coffee cup'," he said.
Speaking about his office, the CEO continued: "You really want to make sure that you've got people who have got a real sense of ownership, and that's really what I was looking for.
"Attitude and ownership scale, especially in a really fast growing environment like we've been going through and still at this stage as well. We want to make sure we've got people who have a real, strong ownership and a growth mindset."
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Trent added that the 'coffee cup test' is also a litmus test to see whether a potential employee would 'really take on everything that they should be doing'.
What do you make of it?
Topics: Life, Advice, Jobs, Food and Drink
Rhiannon Ingle