Search executive encourages firing of managers who use stress’ interview technique.

Many managers and hiring officers in the human resources profession think that keeping job applicants “off-balance” and on the defensive by asking somewhat obnoxious questions is the best strategy to find out exactly what the job-seeker is “made of.” And they also are convinced it’s a good way to observe how candidates think and react with no time to prepare.

But “stress” interviewing is not popular with job seekers who think it’s unfair. Job applicants complain to me about being asked if they had a happy childhood, how do they react to authority, what they would do if they found one of their colleagues was spreading ugly rumors about them and what animal would they like to be?

And that’s just for openers.

Bob Moliski, president of Moliski Partners, an executive search and executive development firm in Chicago, weighs in on the side of employees. He believes such disconcerting questions by hiring officers are unprofessional.

“I take exception to stress interviews and would highly encourage any company to fire a recruiter or HR manager who does this,” said Moliski, who has a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering and an MBA.

“The great U.S. Navy admiral Hyman Rickover is said to have sawed off chair legs just to see how candidates reacted when the chair collapsed under them. Another interviewer told me he required candidates to tie their shoes in front of him because he believed their tying technique revealed great insight into their potential.

“These are terrible ideas.”

Moliski, who has been in executive search since 1995, says it takes a trained psychologist to “read” the reactions correctly. Another reason: Many candidates “won’t stand for this nonsense – even if they’re desperate for a job.”

Health coverage is top want

In other words, don’t take the abuse.

What really matters: What’s the most important item of consideration when a new employee accepts a job offer and then starts to negotiate the details?

According to a recent survey of 1,092 adults by Medco Health Solutions, Inc., a company headquartered in Franklin Lakes, N.J., that manages prescription plans for employers, nothing is more important to new hires than having health coverage.

“When taking a new job, respondents overwhelmingly – 58 percent of them – chose participation in a healthcare plan as their first benefit of choice,” the study found.

Healthcare, in fact, “far surpassed” other options, even that of a $5,000 salary increase, which only 14 percent chose. At the same time, being able to participate in a 401K program was selected by only 12 percent of those studied.

Seniority shouldn’t count

Seniority shouldn’t count: “I am not in favor of staff programs that reward seniority,” asserts Tom Markert, author of “You Can’t Win a Fight with Your Boss & 55 Other Rules for Success” (Harper, $14.95)

“The stakes for a new employee should be the same as those for a long-term employee. You deliver, you move ahead. You also get paid more.”

Carol Kleiman is the author of “Winning the Job Game: The New Rules for Finding and Keeping the Job You Want” (Wiley, $16.95). Send e-mail to ckleimantribune.com.