Each year I like to watch The Apprentice on BBC1 and see if there is anything new to learn. Based on the first few weeks, I am not sure that there is but it is still worth commenting on.
From the opening minute of Episode 1, one candidate was being so annoying and was clearly going to be a nightmare to work with and should have been fired. Surprisingly, they were not fired till a later episode.
The first episode involved the teams selling an experience to tourists in Austria. As usual with these tasks, they struggled to sell after setting the price too high. They always define a price for one person even though anyone who came on the trip was almost certainly going to come with someone else so they should only ever define a price for a pair of tickets to make it seem more attractive.
One of the sellers had given no thought to what a good customer looked like and tried to sell a physically demanding tour to a 93 year old!
In both episodes 1 and 3, the teams were obliged to “negotiate” but only ever haggle and always make insultingly low opening offers. For example, someone asked for £20 for an item and the candidate offered £1.50. That really is insulting. They seldom attempt to actually negotiate and offer something in return for a drop in the price.
In Episode 2, the teams were required to create a virtual pop star in one day. This included writing their own song which is just so unreasonable and unrealistic. It also required them to do all of the design and branding for the pop start and then get brands to buy into the concept. That they got any orders at all is amazing.
It is always amusing to watch the technical team who are helping them with all of the work. The candidates are busy high fiving each other and telling each other how great they are and the technical people are looking at them as if they are mad, clearly knowing just how bad their creation is!
Quite often, the teams are given tasks that involve specialist skills that are seldom required for business and their success is based on how well they do. This is really not very fair in my mind and often results in someone being fired for not appearing to put in enough effort when others make very poor business decisions and get away with them.
There is no one standing out as yet as a great candidate but it always takes time for the good ones to actually shine. Let’s see how the next few weeks play out.