Adam Maguire

Candidates would be asked to estimate how many golf balls fit in the school bus, how many times a day clock hands overlap, or work out how many piano tuners there were in the world.

Or there'd be one where they'd say, you've been shrunk to the size of a paperclip, you're in a blender, it's going to be turned on in 10 seconds, what do you do?

It should be said, though, they've pretty much abandoned all of these quirky questions because they found they didn't actually help them find better candidates.

Yeah, it's an approach some companies now are opting to take in recent years.

John Lewis says it's doing so to give everyone a fair shot because not everyone will have the same training or experience when it comes to traditional interviews.

Not everyone will have the same opportunity to prepare.

Some will simply struggle with that artificial environment of an interview.

So they say by telling everyone what they're going to be asked, they feel they'll actually get a better idea of the candidate and what they are as a person.

And you can see that making sense.

Say, you know, examples where people might be asked...

Show us how you used your initiative or how you solved a conflict or solved a problem.

You know, it might put people on the spot.

Some would struggle to think of a good example.

So they fluff their way through that.

Or maybe they'll exaggerate because they feel the need to come up with a better story.

But if they're given a bit of time to think about it, they get it straight in their head.

They'd actually give a constructive real world example, which would be better for them and the company.

And John Lewis says it's saving them time as well because people get a better idea of the company, better idea of the job.

And if they realise before they've even applied, this isn't a fit for me.

So they save everybody time by not applying.