Question!!!

[mlb3c]

No, believe it or not this is a presentation that has to be given by about 80 students to be in with a chance of getting through to the next round of interviews for a job with a solicitors firm!
The topics bizarre but i thought it might be a term used by people in the know but ive googled it all day and its never been discussed in the way the problems been written, the phrase or procedure doesn't even sem to exist!

It may be helpful to understand the context in which the text is taken. If it's not a typo (the fact that you're sure it isnt, raises questions) If this is unrelated to DIY....then is it meant to demonstrate something else? The topic is bizarre....what topic? Since it is a demonstration....it seems it is meant to "teach" something....

 

[Helpplease!]

Thanks to all those who have tried to help me. There was no topic given just the line on how to correctly know a nail into a piece of wood' and instructions to give a three minute presentation on it. I dont think i'll be getting this job, whoever came up with the question is an idiot as it doesn't even exist!
I might approach it completely ignoring the word know and mentioning like suggested the different type of nails and wood etc

 

[jbonding]

No, believe it or not this is a presentation that has to be given by about 80 students to be in with a chance of getting through to the next round of interviews for a job with a solicitors firm!
The topics bizarre but i thought it might be a term used by people in the know but ive googled it all day and its never been discussed in the way the problems been written, the phrase or procedure doesn't even sem to exist!

It may be helpful to understand the context in which the text is taken. If it's not a typo (the fact that you're sure it isnt, raises questions) If this is unrelated to DIY....then is it meant to demonstrate something else? The topic is bizarre....what topic? Since it is a demonstration....it seems it is meant to "teach" something....

I was thinking along the same lines, i think you could spend 3 minutes discussing what everyone on here thought about how to correctly know a nail into a piece of wood' why they thought it was a error and what it should mean. who are we to say they made an error,maybe they wanted to see who would give up and blame it on an error. i can see it now at the interview.



Thanks to all those who have tried to help me. There was no topic given just the line on how to correctly know a nail into a piece of wood' and instructions to give a three minute presentation on it. I dont think i'll be getting this job, whoever came up with the question is an idiot as it doesn't even exist!
I might approach it completely ignoring the word know and mentioning like suggested the different type of nails and wood etc

so your gonna repeat what everyone said
im sure someone will get the job if theyve got the balls to stand up and not bullshit.

 

[securespark]

No, believe it or not this is a presentation that has to be given by about 80 students to be in with a chance of getting through to the next round of interviews for a job with a solicitors firm!
The topics bizarre but i thought it might be a term used by people in the know but ive googled it all day and its never been discussed in the way the problems been written, the phrase or procedure doesn't even sem to exist!

Just one question: How do you knock it is not a typo??

 

[mlb3c]

 

[Gary_M]

Here are my thoughts ...................

Firstly, you have been asked to give a 3 minute presentation on the statement, "How to correctly know a nail into a piece of wood" - if you start to think 'out of the box', then they haven't actually asked you to present anything about a nail or wood, so............why not give the talk on the importance of effective communication - bringing into the equation that the given statement was meaningless to many people, therefore it was a good example of non-effective communication. When communication is non-effective, people tend to start making assumptions. My guess is that if you are going for a solicitor's job the interviewers will want to see that you are a person who goes on 'fact' and not assumption ( I am sure that many people here will dispute this ). Perhaps it is a deliberately misleading question aimed at ascertaining which candidates are innovative and effective thinkers.

How I would start the talk would be to ask everyone to stand up - then say 'thank you' and YOU sit down - you will probably find that most if not all of the people will then sit down - then you say - "I did not ask people to sit down again, so you all assumed that if I sat down, you could sit down too............this leads me onto the statment given to me for the presentation.......and so on........."

Only problem is trying to make this into a presentation that will only last 3 minutes - there could be enough material here to last at least 1.5 hours

Anyway, good luck with the job

PS Personally I don't think you should ignore the given statement and give a talk about something that you are not sure about. It is worded the way it is for a reason.

 

[noodlz]

Gary_M...............................when can you start?

However, I must warn you that at our establishment, which we affectionately call 'The Firm', we have no place for people such as Mr jbonding alludes to, sic:

im sure someone will get the job if theyve got the balls to stand up and not bulls**t.

In fact, quite quite the contrary, for we think ourselves quite unique as a law firm as we require its employees to have finely tuned levels of bullshit

We do appreciate that at this present time, Mr M, you do not come up to our standards of bullshit, as you currently speak too much sense, however, we do see potential here.

 

[johnny_t]

Im coming to this a bit late, but I would definitely agree with people such as Gary. The question is probably deliberately mispresented with an obvious assumption to be made as I guess solicitoring (?) is a profession where you have to work on the information given without making any assumptions, however obvious.

Maybe the correct thing to do is to phone up and clarify the question before you put any effort into preparing an answer ? They are maybe looking for people who are sharp-eyed enough to spot the problem, not those who can give presentations on obscure subjects.

 

[Nige F]

Gary is dead right You do the presentation on the premise that the premises are occupied by fools and ejits and you tell them to sack their blond secretary Better still transpose premise for premises...you will **** them off after 2 mins. as I was @ a fire lecture by a fireman who did this @ every opportunity for a whole 2 hours .........in fact use this as an example of the need to be succinct ....Just ring the office of the prospective employer and query a typo on the instruction You`ll never be a pedant@ this rate

 

[splinter]

Looking at the sentence ,I would say it has not been written correctly,the most obvious word being KNOW. I think it is quite simple, the interveiwer knows the sentence does not make sense , but he would exspect you to see if it is any off the other words are wrong before claiming KNOW is the wrong word.A bit like what a good solisistor would do with a case

 

[Helpplease!]

Thanks everyone for your help and ideas i think im gonna base my presentation on what ideas and help you all gave me collectively. I may even pinch the scenario whereby everyone is asked to stand and sit down etc, i dont think i was thinking outside the box enough and assumed it was a logical technical problem that could be solved with a bit of research (its what 5 years of uni does to ya). Ive got about three weeks to work on it so hopefully i'll be struck by inspiration. Hopefully ive got the solicitor skills down as i didnt know the answer and sought help from people that know their stuff

 

[Helpplease!]

By the way the firm will not accept any correspondence with regards to the prtesentation, so unfortunately nothing can be clarified. so there is a method to this madness, at least from their prospective anyway!!!!

 

[JohnD]

You have attempted to ask the recruiter to check if it is a typo? How?

This would be a sensible thing for a new employee to do if given an instruction that they didn't understand (whether it was due to an error by the person making the request, or a lack of understanding by the new employee). You should make strenuous efforts to clarify what they want, and this must include contacting your client (the firm).

Do they specifically exclude "correspondence"? then phone them.

If you go in and bluff and ramble you will not make a good impression.

When you start your presentation, (after introducing yourself), by confirming the ToRs you were asked to work to, be sure to flash up (1) the original question (2) the condition that you were not allowed to clarify it

...then go on and describe your process of attempting to determine what they wanted.

If it was in fact a typo then the employer is an idiot, and should realise it very quickly.

 

[Helpplease!]

On the form it states ' please note that we will NOT answer any questions regarding the presentation prior to your interview day'.
They have covered all avenues which is why the stupid question must be as they want it!

 

[JohnD]

...prior to your interview day'...

best phone early, then!