How desparate are you for work?

I don’t consider myself a prude. But when my daughter told me what happened during a recent group job interview at a chain specialty clothing store, I immediately found the company’s corporate headquarters (Thanks, Google) and gave them a call.

Initially, I was so proud of my 17 year-old daughter Ava because she had taken the initiative and asked a store manager if they were hiring while her younger brother and I looked for him a new pair of sneakers. I actually had no idea that she’d taken the initiative to speak up and ask for a job. But my daughter's assertiveness had landed her a group interview that same evening!

It began innocently enough. There were about 20 applicants who had shown up for the group interview and each person was asked to give a 30-second shtick about themselves and they had to include information about why they wanted to work at the store, why they should be hired and a little something about themselves that not many people knew.

Ava talked about the fact that she had a good memory and was friendly and approachable. She said that she remembered, from being in the store earlier in the day, that they were having some special sales and even told what they were. Both VERY good responses I thought. (I would have hired her on the spot!)

Then she said that the managers turned on music and told all of the applicants to dance. At this point I grabbed Ava’s arm, because we were still walking through the mall to get to the car, to ask her if she was serious. I made her promise me that she wasn’t just pulling my leg.

“Really, as God is my witness, they made us dance,” she told me.

I asked her if she did it and she said no. But other applicants seem to put it all on the line by gyrating and doing what Ava called “corndogging” a pelvic thrusting motion that simulates a sex act, that guys do. I couldn’t believe my ears!

I suppose with the economy the way that it is and many Americans desperate for jobs, employers can require just about anything of job applicants. However, I don’t think that asking employees to perform a dance or do anything else that could get you sued is the appropriate approach for finding the perfect employee.

At 17, I don’t want my daughter to think that what this one store asked her to do is appropriate or the “norm” for job interviews. I thank God that she had enough sense to turn down an offer to do something that made her feel uncomfortable. Asking applicants to dance was out of line in my book. Though the intent of such a request may have been to see which applicants would be uninhibited and “up for anything,” surely there are other ways to uncover which applicants can handle just about anything thrown at them.

Out of the nearly two dozen people who showed up for the job, only 3 were selected to go on in the interview process. I for one am somewhat relieved that my daughter was not chosen. Maybe her desire not to “drop it like its hot,” hurt her chances. But, I can only imagine what this employer might ask of her once she was on the payroll and beholden to them.