Crazy Job Interview Activity

Crazy Job Interview is a great mental exercise to develop argumentation, speaking skills, a positive attitude, and quick thinking.

This is a game for the smooth-tongued. Each player will take turns convincing another that they are the best for an imaginary job.

The twist: they have to talk about things suggested by the other players, and explain why those things would make them a good fit for the job. One player might have to explain why being an “Intellectual” and “A My Little Pony Fan” makes them a great “Supermodel”.

The next player might try to make a persuasive case that being “Aggressively Flirtatious” and “Angry With The Queen” makes them indispensable as “Prime Minister.”

Give each player seven small strips of paper. Each player writes down five or more “traits.” Just an adjective will do — “Fast,” “Stupid,” “Corrupt,” or “Invisible,” for example — but feel free to get creative.

Also, each player writes down two or more “occupations,” for example “Bin Man,” or an interest, such as “Video Gamer,” or outlook on life, such as “Brexiteer”. Mundane or fantastical, it all works well.

Even if you use everyday roles, like “Office Worker” or “Waitress.” But if you want to go for “Porn Stars“ and “Dragon Tamers,” that will be funny too.

In each case above, remember that you can certainly make things harder by writing awkward suggestions. All trait slips go into a literal or non-literal hat, and all occupation slips go into a separate vessel.

How to play

• Randomly choose a player to take on the role of the interviewee. The player draw an occupation and three traits from the respective hats.
• The interviewee reads only the paper with the occupation and gives a short speech explaining why he or she is suitable for the position assigned to him or her.
• At the same time, the interviewee looks at one of the their trait cards, and starts to give their speech. The first part of their speech should revolve around this trait. If the occupation is “Doctor” and the trait is “Bloodlust,” the player might say that they are far from squeamish about cutting people open, and that they can go into their job with a passion that other surgeons would lack.
• When they are ready, the interviewee looks at their next trait, and beings talking about that trait instead. The interviewer can force the interviewee to move on to the next trait. They say, “Okay, what else?”. If the interviewee is talking about their last trait, the interviewer would instead say, “Okay, I’ve heard enough.”
• When the interviewee has finished talking about their three traits, another player must be chosen for the new interview.
• Once all players have completed their interviews, the group can choose who gets the job and who doesn’t. Assertive argumentation, and quick thinking are key!

Moment of Reflection

• What caught your attention about this exercise and why?
• What do you value about quick thinking and what do you not value about quick thinking?
• How important is it to approach an unfamiliar situation with a positive attitude? Why?

The topics of this publication: integration, creativity, adaptability skills, imagination, argumentation, motivation, disinhibition, distension, energize