There’s something to be said for an old-fashioned, slightly scary job interview

When I was a boss, someone else had to interview applicants in case I upset them by being too brutally honest

It may be scary, but there’s reason a job interview is so rigorous

Going for a job interview must be the most frightening experience any of us encounter. From choosing what to wear to trying to second-guess your interrogators, it’s a challenge on a par with sitting exams or going for a driving test.

I admit I’m not the best person to conduct job interviews, losing patience with candidates who haven’t bothered to read up on the job specification and who can’t even write a proper CV. When I was a boss, someone else had to interview applicants in case I upset them by being too brutally honest!

A large accountancy company called EY say they have come up with a fairer, “more modern” system: they have scrapped the hour-long interview and replaced it with a day of eight activities, in which groups of applicants are “monitored” by appraisers and allowed to express themselves more freely in different scenarios. The company has already abandoned CVs as well as minimum grades at A level and a 2:1 degree, using online testing instead.

Perhaps this works for accountancy, but what about jobs where staff have to interact with the public? Are we pandering to young people who say they can’t deal with the “stress” of entering the world of work in the old-fashioned way?