Just recently in the news there was a story about an Internet company called Image Net who conducted job interviews on Mt. Fuji in Japan. Image Net sells mostly womens clothing on the Internet and I think its safe to say Image Net thinks outside the box.

Lets examine why and see if this outside the box thinking is conducive to hiring new job applicants.

When they put out their ad for the job there were 50 applicants. 21 were invited to climb Mt. Fuji to be interviewed. 15 of those applicants showed up and only 11 made it to the top to interview. Out of those 11 three to four were offered jobs.

The president of Image Net, Mr. Daiji Kanda, climbed the mountain with the applicants and at different levels of the climb would stop and tell the applicants about the company and their business.

Mr. Kanda and his staff gave lots of encouragement to the applicants as they climbed.

When they reached the top of the summit they were told to video tape models and then they were interviewed.

I believe this type of interview process is going to catch on with forward thinking companies and Ill tell you why.

The climb provided several different opportunities for management to see how the applicants helped each other. Which ones were natural leaders and taking responsibility.

One applicant when interviewed said he was soaking wet from the rain and climb and was not properly prepared for the climb clothing wise. Obviously he was not one of the ones hired. Would you hire someone who could not even show up for an interview properly attired? Sometimes a suit and tie just doesnt cut it.

This type of interview also gave the company a chance to see who was lazy, who was determined, which applicants were team players, unselfish, and prepared for the unexpected.

Your typical job interview is not going to bring out these traits in applicants nor is it going to show you these personality traits.

With many resumes being nothing more than hype and exaggerated truths I see this trend in unique job interviews growing. Apparently so has Hollywood. I am sure youve seen The Apprentice with Donald Trump and now the latest one with Martha Stewart.

If youre a hiring manager and want applicants where you can actually see their work habits and personality in action I suggest you take a lesson from Image Net.

Its also a bonus to note that this company got huge PR from this single job interview.

The company is based in Japan yet we heard about the story all the way across the pond in North America.

All in all I would say Image Net came out a big winner. Great new employees plus a ton of free publicity for the company.