goodbye, interview.

True story · recruiter behaviour · Issue —

The Interview Began With a Wolf, a Goat and a Cabbage

As told to the Host · Storyteller verified · Candidate · via r/interviews

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Remote interview · executive assistant roleOpens with the wolf, goat and cabbage riddleCandidate proposes a stuffed wolf insteadInterview ends immediately

It was a remote interview for an executive assistant role. The interviewer opened with a riddle: a farmer must ferry a wolf, a goat and a cabbage across a river, one item at a time, without leaving the wolf alone with the goat or the goat alone with the cabbage. How?

The candidate knew the puzzle. Everyone knows the puzzle. But instead of reciting the seven crossings, they offered a different solution: put the stuffed wolf with the goat and the cabbage inside it, put the whole arrangement on the boat, and take it across.

The interview ended immediately.

They posted the story to make people laugh, and it worked. Their mother’s verdict was that they had definitely not given the correct answer, but they had certainly given the most creative one. The role, presumably, went to someone who respected the rules of river crossings.

📱 UNFAIR. — an unfair advantage for an unfair process. Coming to mobile.See the app →