Role play: should I or shouldn't I?

That sounds really really horrid. I wouldn’t go if I were you. Anyone who does something quite that vile for an interview is probably saving up even more revolting scenarios for you, should you ever get the job. Run away and then run away some more.

Posted about 1 year ago by anonymous

Oh god, that was my initial reaction too. But it’s for an organisation that I would like to work for, and it’s more money. AAAHHHH!

Posted about 1 year ago by anonymous

Do you know what role you have to play?

Posted about 1 year ago by anonymous

I haven’t been given any specifics, and was worried that it wasn’t really ‘the thing’ to ask.

I suppose it’s an experience, isn’t it. If it is really awful and I fuck it up then I’ll know never to do it again…

Posted about 1 year ago by anonymous

I guess the only solution then, is to throw yourself into it with gusto and try not to feel self-concious. Difficult I know but slightly less embarrassing than looking sheepish, umming, urring and generally going red and breaking out in a cold sweat.

Posted about 1 year ago by anonymous

If you start to get flustered, imagine all the other people in the room naked. That’s what I do. Most of the time really.

Posted about 1 year ago by anonymous

ah, a friend did one of these last week. For a project manager of all things. I had visions of “making” them inter-act with others in a really cringing way but it wasn’t quite that bad. They were given a real-life situation and asked how they’d handle the situation. eg do a task list, explain the project and sell it to your line manager. The only “role-play” bit about it was having to sit down and pretend that the person you were persuading to go ahead with the project was really your CEO. So hopefully it’ll be something like that, where you’ll treat it as a real-life situation. Think the only way to do it is be as enthusiastic as possible (as other poster mentions above, the “gusto).

I am dis-appointed this wasn’t about fetish fantasies though.. was looking forward to discussing the ins and outs of uniforms/leather and whipping sessions ;)

Good luck.

Posted about 1 year ago by anonymous

If you fuck up, you can always claim you were playing the role of someone who can’t do role-playing. For good measure, add “I thought I did rather well, actually.”

Posted about 1 year ago by anonymous

The only sensible thing to do is practice. In other words, do a role-play of the role-play. I once had to do a mock interview over the phone for a job on a newspaper, and they asked me how it went afterwards. “Ok”, I said, “apart from the ridiculous name of the person I interviewed – was that designed to test me?” “That’s his actual name”, came the reply – and he turned out to be the News Editor. Oops.

Posted about 1 year ago by anonymous

You could take lots of cocaine before attending. If you can’t afford this, ask someone to sit you in a chair and tell you how fucking brilliant you are before smacking you on the bridge of your nose with a rolled up newspaper.

Posted about 1 year ago by anonymous

It sounds truly grim – I feel nauseated on your behalf. That said, don’t worry about asking questions ‘not being the done thing’. Ask heaps of questions, you’ll get brownie points for enthusiasm and might even glean some more clues about what exactly you’ll be expected to do

Posted about 1 year ago by anonymous

Update:

So, it was ok. Not great, but ok.

Role play was actually half hour going through a big pile of press cuttings and then a ten minute phone call to the Head Press Honcho summarising the important stuff. Fucked it up a bit (went silent for a few seconds that felt like half an hour), but just glad it’s over – could feel my heart thudding against my ribcage the whole time!

Thanks all muchly for your advice: while not all of it was useful, it did make me feel a bit better!

Posted about 1 year ago by anonymous