That exciting time in the business calendar is upon us again: The Apprentice graces our screens. Hopeful entrepreneurs line up to throw themselves through the most gruelling, bizarre, often humiliating and sometimes terrifying interview process in the UK. The winner of The Apprentice receives a £250,000 partnership with Lord Sugar. To put this in context, £250,000 a year is near about the salary of a CEO of a city council or a non-partnered lawyer in a large city firm and their interview questions would reflect their skill and expertise in the area. Here are some examples of the kinds of questions they’re asked at interview:
Share a good example of the way you could motivate employees or co-employees.
Describe a choice you’ve made that wasn’t popular and just how you handled applying it.
Maybe you have made a mistake that costs your company as loss? How have you handled it?
They are certainly never asked the following (taken from the Apprentice selection interviews). Here’s my best shot at answering them.
- What is the most interesting thing about you?
Admittedly, you may have been asked this before, or something similar. Always a difficult one, especially if you’re a particularly boring person. If the most interesting thing about you is that you can balance a spoon on the end of your nose (after years of solitary practice) consider making something up. Or try ‘this one time I applied for The Apprentice, I know crazy right?) You probably wouldn’t be too surprised if you were asked this in a normal interview, but you should avoid mentioning your Apprentice candidacy.
- What makes you different from all the other people applying for The Apprentice?
Not only does this require you to think up something ‘different’ about yourself but also second guess all the other contestants on the show. Don’t say ‘I’m not your average candidate,’ because just by saying this you are. The only thing that you can say to this is ‘I don’t want to be in business, I have no innovate ideas and I’m not intimidated by Karen Brady’s hair,’ you might just confuse them enough to get in there. Generally, normal interviews don’t encourage you to speculate on the other candidates for the job, this would in fact make you more nervous and prone to say something out of turn- especially if you personally knew the other candidates.
- Who is your role model (excluding Lord Alan Sugar,) and why?
Well of course your role model IS Lord Sugar, he created that really famous company who did…something or other with computers. And Karen Brady, who’s a woman working in football – what an inspiration. Oh and yes the other guy, Nick Hewer, the bloke who presents Countdown now. No but seriously, Steve Jobs, Richard Banson, Donald Trump and all other celebrity business names. ‘Who is your role model’ can sometimes come up in job interviews, but not generally in a high paying position as it’s not a technical or industry specific question: more designed to acquire sound bites of the candidates comparing themselves to James Caan.
- What makes you angry?
Don’t say: those times you’re watching The Apprentice and the candidates can’t work out the simplest thing, for example that driving through central London at 6pm might actually take longer than five minutes or that people on the streets at lunch time don’t appreciate bagpipes IN their face or no I don’t want to buy a five way foot file for £7. All while you sit on your sofa, eating cheesy snacks and pondering on how the winner will gain £250,000 while the average retail or bar job in London pays £6.25 per hour. Or maybe do… ‘What makes you angry’ isn’t usually something potential employers wish to know, rather how you would deal with a stressful situation or anger of another colleague.
- What is the worst lie you have ever told?
Never once have I ever heard of this question being asked in an interview. Of course the interview process not only has to wean out the wheat from the chaff but also which candidates are reality TV ready, because after all, this isn’t a real business interview; its an opportunity for people who wouldn’t ordinarily get a look in for a £250,000 job to humiliate themselves for the precious opportunity.
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