Would you mind getting your hands dirty to help load dirty dishes and cups into the office dishwasher even if it’s not your job to do so?
Most large organisations would have at least one dishwasher in their offices. If you see dishes pilled up in the kitchen waiting to be loaded into the dishwasher, what would you do? Would you lend a helping hand and just do it or would you walk away and let somebody else deal with the mess?
This is something that Australian company OFX wants to know when they hire a new recruit. One of the interview questions the company likes to ask is: “How do you feel about loading a dishwasher?”
The company has grown rapidly over the past 18 months. It started out as a garage-based start-up and is now an ASX-listed company. But OFX doesn’t want to lose its start-up roots and can-do culture.
Here’s what OFX head of people and culture had to say about the interview question:
“No matter how large we grow, we want to find employees that understand that sometimes, you just have to roll up your sleeves and do the dirty jobs to keep the business moving forward.”
How would you answer this question? Let us know in the comments.
Comments
7 responses to “Killer Interview Question: Would You Load A Dishwasher?”
Good question, I’m sick of working with people who think things like cleaning and tidying are beneath them.
Bit of a ‘duh’ question, that one. Of course you’d say ‘yes’ otherwise you’d come across as a bit of a selfish jerk.
A group of colleagues has announced that they will no longer clear paper jams, replace paper and toner, or call the helpdesk if a printer has a problem. i.e. they won’t do the 21st century equivalent of sharpening a pencil … because “not in job description”.
Announced this? How did that go down with management and other employees in the office? :S
Like a pile of dirty dishes. Probably not much that management can do, because job descriptions. There’s some kind of fantasy that this is an “IT job” or that it’s a productive use of time to ask people in other work areas to come in and do these jobs. To handle genuine call-outs for IT means they call someone on another floor, hopefully describing the problem adequately; the call is logged and then the IT person contacts the person who logged the call who must then drop whatever they’re doing and go take them to the worksite.
For me, its a no brainer even if its meant to be a loaded question. I’d say yes, then explain that I live in a small block of units, and because there may be weeks where my bin may be full, I might use someone elses, and vice versa. As a result, bins become a shared resource, with the extension being that people put multiple bins out as needed.
Being a shared resource, it doesnt mean I’ve contributed to what needs cleaning up, but likewise, it also means that at some other point, someone else is probably doing the same and cleaning up after me.
Yes, I would, BUT …
If there is someone who is employed to look after this sort of thing, they’re probably making less money than me (ie receptionist vs marketing manager) so it might not be the best use of my time to be doing it consistently.
If the receptionist is away or too busy, then I’m absolutely willing to help. But I’d hate for the company to be paying someone $50/hr to load a dishwasher.