job-interview (2)

Over one in four employers say creating uncomfortable environments at interview can be justified.

More than a quarter (26 per cent) of employers believe that creating an uncomfortable environment for candidates at interview can sometimes be justified to see how candidates handle pressure, finds research from Totaljobs

The findings help shed a light on how recruiters can help their candidates prepare for interviews and the potential challenges that they may face during the process. Almost half of interviewers said they have intentionally asked difficult questions while interviewing a candidate. Interestingly, 20 per cent admitted they’d adopted negative body language and 17 per cent said they’d acted disinterested on purpose to throw the candidate. Worryingly, 20 per cent said they’d asked personal questions to test a candidate.

Over a quarter (26 per cent) of employers believe creating a slightly uncomfortable environment for candidates at interview can be justified to see how candidates handle pressure. And the intimidating interviews tactics from employers seem to work as 35 per cent of interviewees have felt intimidated by an interviewer, following either aggressive questioning (63 per cent), acting disinterested (55 per cent), negative body language (49 per cent), swearing (47 per cent) or a raised voice (46 per cent).

Despite this, 43 per cent of candidates surveyed said they would remain confident regardless of who they were facing on the other side of the desk. Although, 22 per cent say they might get flustered in such an intimidating scenario. A similar percentage (22 per cent) might stumble over their words, while just 12 per cent say they would avoid eye contact to avoid an uncomfortable interview interaction.

Most ghoulish bosses this Halloween

When it came to the scariest celebrity bosses be interview by, candidates named Lord Alan Sugar, star of the BBC’s The Apprentice and made famous by his ‘you’re fired!’ catchphrase, as the most intimidating.

The majority of those surveyed (65 per cent of employers and 54 per cent of employees) named American President, and former star of The Apprentice USA, Donald Trump as the scariest boss to work for. The Trump administration, which remains in its infancy, has already gone through a Chief Strategist, a Chief of Staff, an FBI Director, a Deputy Assistant and two Communications Directors, so it is perhaps unsurprising that Trump should top the list.

The top five scariest bosses that employees wouldn’t like to report into this Halloween:

  1. President Donald Trump (54 per cent)
  2. Lord Alan Sugar (44 per cent)
  3. Rupert Murdoch (26 per cent)
  4. Sir Alex Ferguson (25 per cent)
  5. Piers Morgan (25 per cent)
Matthew Harradine, totaljobs’ Director said: “While intimidating bosses may make tough interviewers, candidates agree that their toughness would make them good people to work for. While the nicest person in the world might be fun to work with, our study has found employees don’t think they are necessarily the best people to learn from, which is what employees are looking for in a boss.

“On the flipside, the people employees least want to work for are those who seem to go through staff quickly and experience a high team turnover. It’s safe to say that a balanced and respectful environment is where employees feel they are most likely to strive.”