If you want this job, you better have a good putt

In preparation for your big job interview, you've donned your best suit, you've done your research on the company, and you've rehearsed your answers in front of the mirror. But how's your putting?

The U.K. office of a Vancouver-based web hosting company is asking its job candidates to play a round of mini-golf as part of its selection process.

But company managers are looking for more than the ability to score a hole-in-one.

Peer 1 Hosting, whose European operations are headquartered in Southampton, U.K., says it created an indoor golf course at the office so that recruiters can see how applicants handle themselves and interact with others.

The game also helps the company determine whether applicants take risks and assess how they deal with the unexpected, for instance, how they recover from a bad putt.

"[O]r team is made up of passionate individuals who can multi-task, perform well under pressure and thrive on challenges. They also need to be able to be great at building relationships with clients," Dominic Monkhouse, the company's managing director, said via e-mail. "The golf test is a last part of the recruitment process for those that get to the final stages. It tells us much more than we would ever learn from talking to candidates over a desk."

While the unorthodox employee-selection tactic is not yet used at Peer 1's Canadian offices, Mr. Monkhouse said it has been working "really well" at the U.K. location, and noted it may be introduced globally.

Golf, however, might not be the sport of choice for assessing job applicants in this country, he suggested.

"Possibly in Canada it should be ice hockey!"