A refusal to complete a bizarre task saw a man’s job interview brought to an abrupt halt. The 19-year-old had hoped to secure a position at an energy firm, but his hopes were dashed when a six-word request left him completely taken aback.
He has now issued a warning to others via Reddit after making it down to the final 10. He told forum users he had sailed through the phone interview, and was one of 30 people asked to attend an aptitude test at a hotel.
“Around 20 were sent home and the final 10 were asked to stay on and do a face to face interview in a hotel room,” he said. “It was going quite well. although I found it strange that they were filming the interview. Anyway at the very end of the interview the guy said, ‘One last thing, could you sing me a song’.”
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He explained he thought he’d misheard at first, adding: “I said what? And he said ‘yeah, just anything that comes to mind, just sing something’, I just flat out said no, and the guy kept at it.
“He eventually said ‘it can be anything, sing happy birthday’ and I just said ‘no, not doing that’.” However that refusal resulted in the man being informed he hadn’t got the job.
“The guy turned off the camera and said ‘you did well, and I feel bad for you but you won’t get the job’,” he said. “He then told me his boss insisted nobody who refused to sing at the end could be hired no matter how good they did.”
The Mirror reports that he continued: “I found it extremely strange, I was even annoyed at myself for not just singing happy birthday as he suggested, but now when I think back I’m glad I didn’t, it was clearly a test to see how easy I would be controlled.”
Others also had their say on the strange request. One fellow forum user said: “I would of probably sang The Smiths ‘I was looking for a job and I found a job, heaven knows I’m miserable now!'” Another congratulated him for “standing up for yourself”.
A third confessed: “This unusual task revealed something unfortunate about me. I’m kind of goofy and social, so I probably would have sang a song. I’d have thought, ‘that sounds like fun; here’s my favourite song.’ After reading the comments, it seems like I have a weakness for manipulation. I need to be extra cautious.”