I always watch with some trepidation the “interview” episode in the series. I do feel it can be the opportunity to really understand how some of these candidates got picked in the first place! And I am sure you will agree this is often a question in our head! Surely there was something in the Business Plan which was of core interest to an investor and now is our opportunity to hear about it! But, how wrong could I be???
I watched and waited for these wonderful ideas to really take shape and get the true understanding, only to find myself bored with the number of times Claude used the word “ridiculous”. Now I agree that the opportunity to invest was pretty scarce, but really can Claude not develop his vocabulary on a year by year basis? Is that really too much to expect after all these years of interviewing? I would like to see the interviews be more about the candidate, then about the interviewer, but I suppose that is what makes good TV! Which in this case seems to contradict good interviewing.
Did the right 2 make it to the final? Yes I think I agree that they did based on the business plan opportunity and perhaps Bianca is starting to come out of herself a bit more. The biggest shock to us all is Roisin not getting there and what a candidate she was! What company wouldn’t want to hire her? She was the complete package except for the opportunity where she was looking for investment.
And this brings us onto where do we compromise on our own recruitment? Roisin lost out to Bianca because of the plan however, Roisin to date has shown herself to be a charismatic candidate who can win over anyone including her fellow colleagues. In our everyday world of recruitment we would have taken Roisin and given her the guidance to change or tweak her plan, recruiting her for what we could see of her as a person and what she would bring to a business. However Lord Sugar wasn’t looking for an employee and that is where it went wrong for her because an employee she is, albeit an exceptional one.
The interviews were poor in general, the candidates are not given the opportunity to shine. It is such an old school way of interviewing and Claude demonstrates a continual need to be rude and very disrespectful. In treating anyone in this way it is hard for me even as a hard core recruiter, (who has had her fair share of hard conversations) to admire or even come close to respecting the man. Successful interviews are based on an equal balance of power where both parties have an equal and mutual respect for each other, like the start of any successful relationship. Where you have a bully in one of the chairs, it is difficult for anyone to flourish and had the circumstances been different you would not stay in that interview with Claude. You would know that if this is the behaviour of a successful employee at the company, it’s now probably not where you want to be.
Is it that difficult to create entertaining TV, but still give a more fair experience to these candidates, who to a certain extent have proved their worth to this stage. The one positive I do have to take from the interviews is that Daniel, having lied on his cv did not make it further and this is in contrast to many years ago where the candidate who did lie on their cv ended up winning! It is important that the message being sent to the young individuals watching this understand the rules of the game when they enter the world of work. There is a way of being challenging with candidates and putting them under pressure without being blatantly rude.
I look forward to the final on Sunday, although the interview episode is always the stage in the process which push my buttons to despair!
