This article is the 11th in our series of 15 articles to help you with hiring for your organization. In our previous article we discussed the questions you should and shouldn’t ask in an efficient interview process. In this article we take the concept and process of interviewing even further by talking about some out-of-the-box activities you can follow in your job interview.

Sometimes during the hiring process, standard interview questions don’t cut the deal anymore. Even after asking a few innovative questions requiring subjective answers, you have to go for some out-of-the-box activities to get the kind of results you desire.

If you’re looking for some out of the box interview activities, then you have come to the right spot as this article discusses a few innovative activities you can follow.

Go Out for a Meal

This is pretty much unheard of, but can help you find out all you want to know about the candidate. Going out to a restaurant for a meal gives you an opportunity to casually dine with your candidate and see what they have to offer. Analyze the way they talk to the serving staff and also see how they react to a free meal. This activity can help you determine whether a candidate will fit in your workplace culture.

Wearing Shorts to the Second Interview

Southwest Airlines started this famous ‘brown shorts on the second interview’ hiring exercise. The process was meant to see how future pilots could fit in to the company culture. Pilots dressed in suits and khakis were asked to wear brown shorts during the second interview, in a bid to conform them according to the relaxed company culture. Candidates that hesitated in following the directions weren’t considered for the position.

Pitch an Idea

This is another out of the box hiring activity that can help you understand candidates. Give them a business ideal and ask them to pitch it in front of an audience in the next interview. This works best for positions where candidates are required to speak and present ideas in front of groups.

Make Them Uncomfortable

We have talked about the importance of making candidates comfortable in the job interview, but you can make them feel uncomfortable as well to check their reaction. For beginners, keep holding their hand for a few seconds after they first come in for a handshake. The seconds will feel like years and you can identify their traits based on how they respond when uncomfortable.

Having identified some out of the box activities for your interview process, we will now head toward discussing the steps you should follow while delivering job interview results in our next article.

We at JS Benefits Group have worked with numerous clients to discuss some of the out-of-the-box activities for a job interview. You can get in touch with JS Benefits Group immediately to discuss and devise a strategy.