@privatebanker, if I were at that lunch, I would just say, “No thank you, I don’t like vegetable soup,” because I don’t. If that was the dealbreaker, I wouldn’t want to work for the company.
Well, my daughter is legitimately allergic to many soups and would have to pass on that offer. Many years ago, when I was looking for my first job out of college, I had a full day interview at either Goldman Sacs or Solomon Bros (can’t remember which). After the morning sessions, you were taken to a nice lunch by an employee (really fancy wall street place). Meanwhile, back in the office the people you had spoken to in the morning discussed you. If they were no longer interested, they sent you home right after lunch. If they were, you were asked to stay for the afternoon and interview with more people.
Right after my husband got his bachelor’s degree, he interviewed at a huge engineering firm in Chicago. The company had a young engineer take him out to lunch. To DH’s surprise, the young woman told him, “You DON’T want to work here. They’ve had me doing nothing but designing column baseplates for months. It’s not a great place to work.” I’m thankful for her, because that’s when he decided to go to grad school, where we met. 
@privatebanker, I think that would be a weird test. After all, vegetable soup would be about the least challenging thing on the menu at most restaurants and to my mind taking that advice could indicate the possibility that the candidate doesn’t like to think for themself. Same for the salt and pepper.
I agree. Maybe it was chicken soup. Lol but probably to avoid vegan issues etc and more about how they think. I see the adding salt without tasting perhaps. I don’t recall if this was told to me by their senior advisor or if someone told me they heard type of thing. Or if it’s a myth out there. But it wasn’t an entry level deal. Ceo and senior exec type deal.
If true, sounds like a boss to avoid.
Yes @doschicos but if your looking to be a coo or cfo opportunity at a major corporation, you wouldn’t necessarily be able to avoid quirks in leaders and walk away from an important step/opportunity career wise.
As many of these puzzles outside of tech oriented positions and tree comparisons are strange to me outside of a large scale entry level culling process.
It was just a weird thing I recall consistent with this thread.
I would have failed anyway as vegetable soup always needs more seasoning for me. ?
The “soup test” seems like an attempt to make eating habits a proxy measure for the desirability of a potential employee in a job that apparently has nothing to do with food or eating habits.
Or maybe not a proxy measure, but just a gratuitous weed-out measure by an employer who has far too many applicants who pass previous gateways (resume review or whatever) and wants to shrink the number down to a manageable number to interview.
It definitely wasn’t a large scale process.
One on one with the ceo of major international bank, not that in any way. It’s a finalist for a major role.
And a quirky way for her to determine in a subtle way how people think. I don’t believe it’s right or accurate. But it was what I heard.
And I’m not sure it was pass or fail. I think it was more to inform her how to approach or interpret this colleague on big or hot issue decisions with a little more insight.
I do think there can be value in assessing a candidate’s ability to handle themselves at a business lunch in industries where a lot of client contact is the norm. Don’t order the most expensive item on the menu. Don’t order alcohol. Don’t chew with your mouth open. Make polite, apolitical conversation.
I just don’t think “Don’t salt the soup” should be among those guidelines.
My husband is always horrified when people order their steak well done, feeling it ruins the meat. If he’d used that as a rule of thumb in hiring he’d have missed out on at least one of his best managers.
I’ve heard a variation of the soup test about old-school IBM interviews. The key point is the salting without testing first.
@stradmom old school IBM- That could be it exactly. As I said I don’t remember exactly.
Maybe it just means odd interview Ideas have been around.
It’s just hard to think of the 80s and 90s as old school. I still feel so young in my mind. Lol.
So after exactly 4 weeks, my daughter got a phone message from the recruiter at the company where she went onsite and phone interviewed with the CFO to say she didn’t get the job. I am glad they provided closure.
I remember having lunch at the Downtown Association with a senior securities partner while working as a summer associate. I was staffed on a sexy IPO that he was heading. He suggested I try the “fabulous” raw clam appetizer. Never had raw shellfish before, but who was I to say no. I figured worst come to worst, I could swallow them like little pills. Turns out there were 6 pretty massive clams that required some chewing. Had to put on a good face, chew away and put down all six. I wasn’t going to let 6 pesky (but oversized) mollusks get in the way of a favorable hiring review!
Today my daughter has the onsite interview for the job that she spent a lot of time over the Thanksgiving holiday working on a case study for. She was told that in one of the interviews they would discuss the case study (it had to be submitted in advance). The recruiters from this company have been very helpful, even calling her in advance to tell her a little about each of the people she will be meeting with. She has three interview slots, plus a welcome and wrap up with the recruiters. This feels more reasonable than some stuff she has had to do, at least she will be discussing her work with people (not working on something for hours that she sends to an HR black hole.)
I just read somewhere about a job applicant who had to submit a plan as part of the interview process. They didn’t get the job, but the person who did used their plan to a T. This is really sketchy to me and one reason why doing hours of work for an interview just doesn’t seem right.
BTW - my daughter didn’t get the job she worked on over Thanksgiving. They were at least nice enough to promptly email her and have a follow up conversation explaining why they didn’t go with her.
@kiddie - sorry your daughter didn’t get the job. I hope she will get something soon.
My favorite job interview joke: The manager got a stack of resumes for 1 open position. He threw half of the resumes into the garbage can, the secretary asked him why. He said “We don’t want to hire unlucky people” 
The job quest continues. She is scheduling a second on-site interview day at a company she is interested in. Already did a series of interviews on-site, this would be with more people. A lot of time and effort for each job she is pursuing (at least this one didn’t give her homework - but they did do white borad SQL tests when she was on-site).
Fingers crossed.
Second on-site for a job she wants went well today. The recruiter told her they haven’t liked anybody enough besides her to even invite back for a second on-site.
Another job she is applying to just gave her a case study to do. Do some analysis and prepare a presentation. Then give the presentation on line to people. More homework!