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It\u2019s no secret that getting a new job is hard, with candidates constantly complaining about the endless hoops that recruiters are making them jump through to prove they\u2019re the perfect match, from endless rounds of interviews to 90-minute tests and presentations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But for young people in particular, the challenge is even steeper. About a fifth of Gen Zers worldwide are classified as \u201cNEETs\u201d and are currently locked out of the job market. Last year in the U.K. alone, more than 1.2 million applications were submitted for fewer than 17,000 graduate roles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even Goldman economists have admitted Gen Z\u2019s hiring nightmare is real\u2014and it isn\u2019t going away anytime soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As millions of Gen Zers face unemployment and entry-level office roles becoming scarcer, hiring managers are being forced to get creative to find the very best candidates. So Fortune<\/em> has rounded up the curveball make-or-break interview questions now shaping hiring decisions.<\/p>\n Do you think we\u2019re in an AI bubble? Even the experts who\u2019ve predicted past crashes can\u2019t seem to agree. But if you\u2019re looking for a job right now, your opinion on all this could decide whether you get the job. Dave McCann, IBM\u2019s managing partner for EMEA, says he now throws the curveball question in interviews as a make-or-break test.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no right or wrong answer, but actually knowing where you stand could give you an edge and pique the exec\u2019s interest. McCann doesn\u2019t care which side you pick\u2014he cares whether you\u2019ve thought it through.<\/p>\n Lyft CEO David Risher likes to ask candidates: \u201cDesign a car for a deaf person.\u201d The curveball question may sound unusual, but for Risher, it\u2019s a quick way to \u201csuss out\u201d whether a candidate can put themselves in the shoes of a customer\u2014and he got the idea from his time working with Jeff Bezos.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI want to see the candidate close their eyes and ears and imagine what that feels like, then be able to describe the experience to me in detail, including what someone in that position might need,\u201d Risher said. \u201cThat\u2019s how I know I\u2019ve got someone who can build great customer-obsessed experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n The question that turns its head on the interviewee and enables them to put the hiring manager in the hot seat isn\u2019t an unusual one. But for Twilio\u2019s CEO Khozema Shipchandler, it\u2019s what comes next that matters most.\u00a0<\/p>\n If your answer is a blank stare or \u201cNope, I\u2019m fine,\u201d consider yourself on thin ice.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe number one red flag for me is when someone doesn\u2019t ask questions towards the end of an interview,\u201d Shipchandler exclusively told Fortune<\/em>. \u201cThat\u2019s a pretty significant mark against them being curious about what they\u2019re interviewing, the company, the way we might work together, chemistry, culture, all of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n And Denny\u2019s CEO Kelli Valade echoed that it doesn\u2019t really matter what you ask employers at the end of the interview\u2014the fact that you do ask something shows you did your homework, are seriously interested and is a big green flag.<\/p>\n Picture this: You\u2019ve spent hours applying for the dream job and sitting through multiple interviews. Finally, you think you\u2019ve won over the hiring manager when they ask, \u201cwhen can you start?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n You\u2019d be forgiven for thinking the right answer, is \u201cstraight away.\u201d After all, you want to seem eager. But Gary Shapiro, the chief executive of U.S. trade association Consumer Technology Association, revealed that he turns candidates down who say they\u2019re available within two weeks. \u201cThey don\u2019t get the job, because they\u2019ll treat us the way they treat that former employer.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just what you say in the interview that could cost you the job. Hiring managers are also watching what you do\u2014as early as when you walk through the revolving doors and great reception. They\u2019re looking at how you treat staff before and after your interview, as well as, what you do with the coffee (or tea) cup you were drinking from. Hint: offering to clean it up will go down will.<\/p>\n Other hiring managers take their prospective new hires out for a lunch interview and watch for whether they season their food before taking a bite. Why? Because putting salt (or anything) on your food before tasting it is the equivalent of judging a book by its cover and apparently, highlights a lack of patience.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not all. They\u2019re also testing you for how quickly you order, whether you wait for others to sit before sitting down to eat, the price of the items you order, and how you treat wait staff.<\/p>\n One consultant even revealed on X that he knows a CEO who goes as far as taking candidates for breakfast and secretly asking the servers to mess up their order \u201cto see how they\u2019d react.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n #curveball #interview #questions #CEOs #job #seekers #Gen #hiring #nightmare<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s no secret that getting a … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[542,526,624,7629,2006,304,300,2007,5317,635,2010,3407,1995,7532,454,920,2009,2011,829],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10131"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Do you think we are in an AI bubble?<\/h2>\n
Can you design a car for a deaf person?<\/h2>\n
Do you have any questions for me?<\/h2>\n
Can you start right away?<\/h2>\n
Other things to look out for: Coffee cup tests, pricey menu items and wait staff<\/h2>\n