The Apprentice Is A Form Of Abuse
By Jim Symcox on Apr 6, 2009 in Apprentice Series 5, Series 4, Sir Alan Sugar, The Apprentice, The Apprentice 2009
Table of contents for The Apprentice - series 5
- The Apprentice: A North South Battle!
- The Apprentice: The Girls Fight Dirty
- The Apprentice: The Food In-Fighting
- The Apprentice Is A Form Of Abuse
- The Apprentice: Empire is a Wash-up, Ignite Cleans Up
- The Apprentice – Floored By The Carpet
- The Apprentices Avoid Selling
- The Apprentice: The Cereal Killers
- The Apprentice: The Empire Strikes Out!
- 7 Top Traits Of Under-Achieving Apprentice Fodder
- The Apprentice Are All At The Seaside
To many The Apprentice is looked upon purely as a form of entertainment for all us unwashed masses.
In fact on the BBC Apprentice forums someone has (with a little tongue in cheek) suggested that The Apprentice is unfair and good bosses would train their apprentices before testing them in the way Sir Alan does.
In fact they make the point that this whole show is really a form of abuse as any “good boss” wouldn’t go to the lengths shown in the show.
It’s a good point.
However, as Sir Alan notes in his introduction this whole series is a job interview. That means he’s not training the candidates for the job of Apprentice. He’s seeing whether they have what it takes to be The Apprentice.
The Apprentice Testing Times
If you want to find out whether your new recruit can undertake a range of business tasks and still come up smiling any business would be pleased to have seen whether their candidate could.
If you look at the first few of last year’s tasks they are pretty representative of the type of tasks the Apprentices are set.
| Post | Task | What It Tests |
| A Fishy Start To The Apprentice | Running a fish stall in a market | Price setting, attention to detail, management of a stall |
| The Apprentice Jenny Celerier, Another Katie? | Running an industrial laundry | Getting sales, creating a system to deliver service to the right customer! |
| The Apprentices Try To Curry Favour With Sir Alan | Running a pub/restaurant | Organising roles, checking costs, creativity, advertising |
| The Apprentice: Ice Cream Wars At A Cinema Near You | Creating and selling new ice cream flavours | Creativity, task management, market research, selling |
| The Apprentice – Hot Shots They’re Not! | Setting up and running a photo shoot in a mall | Management, co-ordination, selling, creativity |
| The Apprentice Leave Their Brains In A Jar Outside Their Door | Creating a greeting card and selling to a wholesaler | creativity, market research, selling |
As you can see most of the tasks are testing how the teams are managed, how they go about getting customers, how they make a profit and the ability to sell themselves.
As the tasks continue each week it starts to become pretty clear as to who can cope under pressure. Which ones are able to manage their team effectively and bring in the profits. And also who is a team player and doesn’t always try and wriggle out of blame and/or out of work.
So in reality the Apprentice is a very entertaining and pretty effective method for sorting through your application pile!
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RobArtisan | Apr 7, 2009 | Reply
Jim,
if Alan wanted to conduct an interview properly and really find out who is best why does he not use psychometric training?
Rob
jimsym | Apr 7, 2009 | Reply
Rob,
Since doing a major chunk of psychology in a Management Sciences degree I’ve been a massive fan of psychometric testing. However, it just wouldn’t be as entertaining as the whole Apprentice approach is.
Also I always recommend my clients use psychometric testing (a particular one) when they’re about to recruit a sales person so I also practise what I preach!
Jim
@UKapprentice | Apr 8, 2009 | Reply
On a side note, if you’re on Twitter, don’t forget to check out the Apprentice prediction app! http://www.thrusites.com/apprentice
jimsym | Apr 8, 2009 | Reply
@UKApprentice Thanks for the URL, I’ve signed up and put down Ben as the one to go.