Every time I conduct an interview, there’s always this one test I take for fun! And that test gives me an interesting insight into how the candidate really thinks when placed in a difficult situation. Watch this video to know more!
Learning Something New After Interviews
Every time I conduct an interview, there’s always this one test I take for fun! I ask the interviewee if they are good at math? Some say yes, and some say no! And then I break it down a bit.
Are you comfortable multiplying 2 numbers and telling me the correct answer?
Most people say “Oh yes that I definitely can” And then I ask them a super simple multiplication question like “What’s 4 times 5?”. Almost everyone answers this correctly. And then I ask them if they can give me the answer in 15 seconds.
They start thinking. And just when they’re thinking, I keep a book and a pen in front of them and tell them “Do whatever you want, but get me the answer in 15 seconds”.
Are you up for the challenge? Most people say “Yes let’s do this”. What’s “7 times 8”? Easy! What’s “11 times 14”? Some tell me verbally, some solve it in the book. But most people answer in less than 5 seconds! And now the problems get a little more difficult.
A 3 digit number multiplied by a 2 digit number… or a 3 digit number times a 3 digit number. Remember, they can do whatever they want, but the only condition is that they should give me the answer in 15 seconds or less!
Now most people are solving the problems using a pen and a book but none of them are able
to give me the answer in less than 15 seconds. But they don’t give up. They ask for more problems, and tell me that they will definitely solve them in less than 15 seconds.
They fail every time, but they keep trying. I tried this test out with 25 people and 23 of them used the pen and the notebook, and failed. But 2 people just took their cellphones out, used a calculator and gave me the answers in <15s! And these 2 were not engineers.
What did I learn from this?
Three main things: Most people are tense during an interview. The environment is very controlled. which is why most people are not able to think rationally. And the creativity levels drop!
If you’re given things or situations to solve problems in life, your brain doesn’t think beyond them. Your brain forces you to use them. If you’ve been trained to do things in certain ways, it’s very difficult to think different If the first 16 years of your life you've been asked to use a pen and a notebook to solve problems, then that is what you will do! It will be very difficult for you to think out of the box.
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