Gerrard Kaonga
Sometimes the little things can help you land a job but how would you feel about a late night text helping determine whether you get a role?
Simple things like a polite greeting, a good joke or a winning smile can help seal the deal when it comes to landing that job you are after.
We all have to play the game, at least a little bit, and jump through a few hoops and pass a few tests.
But William Vanderbloemen, who runs an executive-search firm in Houston, has his own test that is a little bit unusual to say the least.
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Explaining the process, he said he would send a late night text to potential successful candidates after their interview as a way to judge whether they would be a good fit or not for the company and its culture.
Speaking to Business Insider, he said around 10 p.m., you get this text: "Hey, [candidate name] This is Ben. I work at Vanderbloemen. I was out of the office today. I heard you were there. Heard that everyone was really impressed with you. I'm sorry I didn't get to meet you. I would love to connect with you sometime. Hope that can work."
Vanderbloemen said he invented the test to see how quickly they will respond as the roles, where the test is used, expect workers to be super responsive.
You hit back quickly and it could help boost your chances of landing the role.
While this test seems pretty bizarre, Vanderbloemen has said how you respond or don't won't keep you from getting a job. So, I guess that is something.
He added that even responding within 24 hours would put most candidates far ahead of their competition.
But he said replying quickly doesn’t hurt and can help show that you are the ‘same kind of crazy’. That is one way to put it.
Vanderbloemen, founder and CEO of Vanderbloemen Search Group, decided the text-message test could be a good measure of whether a job candidate would mesh well with a client that has a move-fast culture.
He explained that many of the roles do require the candidates to be pretty much always on the ball and hoped candidates would take the opportunity to show their eagerness.
Evening Slack messages are rare but should get a response that night 'because that's like Defcon 3. Defcon 2 would be if I text you after hours, I need an answer like now,' he said. "And if I call you after hours, pick up."
If this doesn’t sound up your alley, I guess you might not be that perfect fit for the rule they are after.