It was a simple question: “What’s your favorite drink?”
This is a nice question for a waiter or bartender to ask, or maybe your date. There is no wrong answer to this. If your favorite drink is RedBull mixed with prune juice, then you do you.
But, as a job interview question, it’s weird. “Can I get you a drink? Water, coffee, Coke?” That’s an appropriate job interview question.
A couple of years ago, a hiring manager asked a Redditor this question, to which the candidate responded “Water.”
It’s a perfectly reasonable answer, but the hiring manager responded, “C’mon you can do better than that.” Then everyone stared, and the hiring manager ended the interview.
To keep reading, click here: A Candidate Said ‘Water’ in an Interview. What Happened Next Reveals a Hiring Problem
This hiring manager seemed as though he wasn’t necessarily looking for a quality hire, rather a quality performance. The candidate’s most direct and simplistic response of “Water” was indeed an honest and professional answer, yet it cost him heavily because he did not play the manager’s odd game of unstandardized behavior.
The issue is that the hiring manager did not care about the content of what the candidate said; he was looking to hear a response he expected to receive regarding the candidate’s personality traits.
The hiring manager ended the interview for a variety of reasons, which could include his ego, bias (conscious or unconscious), or an ill-conceived interview structure. The candidate avoided a serious pitfall by providing the simplest answer to a preference question, which gives some indication of the way the hiring manager would likely respond to more complex issues in the workplace.