^{This article originally appeared on Business Insider.}

You go to a job interview at 1:00 p.m

Around 10 p.m., you get this text: “Hey, Tim. This is Ben. I work at Vanderbloemen. I was out of the office today. I heard you were there. I heard everyone was impressed with you. I'm More sorry I didn't get to meet you. I'd love to hook up with you sometime. I hope it can work out.”

Do you answer? If so, how long does it take?

Your decision may affect whether you are hired.

The creator and moderator of the test case is William Vanderbloemen. He runs an executive search firm in Houston. Vanderbloemen's company uses the text message test after job interviews for certain roles at his struggling firm or for jobs where clients expect workers to be super responsive.

Instant messaging can increase your chance of snagging work, at least at Vanderbloemen's 45-person firm.

It sounds simple enough. But the text is also a reminder of the constant pressure that has driven some workers ditch hustle culture. The text message test joins other quirky quizzes intended to help determine whether a job candidate should receive an offer letter. It's the husband's interview over dinner. And have the coffee cup test: A hiring manager shows interviewees where the kitchen is, offers them a coffee, then turns away those who don't bus their plates.

The text message test is also a reminder of what it can be like hard to find a job even though the overall unemployment rate in the US is low and many industries are struggling for workers. But in fields like technology, where many large employers have cut jobs in the past two years, some workers have been left sending them abroad. a large number of resumes. And when job seekers get a bite, interviews can drag on for round after round.

Vanderbloemen is quick to note that how you respond — or don't — to an after-hours text from someone who says they're with his firm won't stop you from getting a job. And he said even responding within 24 hours would put most candidates well ahead of their competition. “We're just terrible as people at reacting,” he said.

But send messages within the one-minute response time that its sales and marketing teams operate by? “Then we're like, 'Yeah, no, he might be the same kind of crazy that we are,'” Vanderbloemen said. “Is that normal for any job? No. Would it work for every company? No.”

The test came after Vanderbloemen hired several people who seemed promising but then fell short of the company's quick turnaround time for clients, which he said is essential for some roles. That led Vanderbloemen to determine that he needed to measure speed—before he was hired—for jobs in fields like sales and marketing.

So about a decade ago, Vanderbloemen asked one of the people on his team to text someone who would be great in an interview. The colleague sent the text around 10:30pm and the candidate responded immediately. Bingo.

William Vanderbloemen. Courtesy Vanderbloemen Search Group via BI

Vanderbloemen, founder and CEO of Vanderbloemen Search Group, decided that the text message test could be a good measure of whether a candidate would connect well with a client with a fast-moving culture. He likened it to performing a successful organ transplant by finding matching tissues. “Oh, you do things the way they do,” he said. “It doesn't make it normal. It doesn't make it right. But you guys match each other.”

Changing the location of the interview

Vanderbloemen doesn't just rely on the text message test. Once, in New York City, he returned and realized that he did not have time to go to the coffee shop where he had planned to meet a job candidate. So he contacted the man and asked if they could meet somewhere else. The man replied, “No, I don't care. I like the change.”

Vanderbloemen was impressed. Now he will sometimes change the location of an interview 30 minutes before it takes place to see how a candidate responds.

He said it's not something he does all the time. Some jobs don't require that kind of flexibility or speed. Even with the message, he said, it's often someone at his firm, not the one who can send it. As a boss, he understands that it is more intimidating if it comes from him. “It's not fair because I'm the guy with the name on the door, and now I'm just being abusive,” he said.

Setting some rules

Vanderbloemen, who has a degree in religion and philosophy, said his company has guidelines intended to protect its workers from having to work all hours. After-hours emails should receive a response within 24 hours, he said. Evening Slack messages are rare, but should get a response that night “because it's like Defcon 3,” he said. “Defcon 2 would be if I texted you after hours, I need an answer like now,” he added. “And if I call you after hours, pick up.”

He said the firm followed the rules. That meant he and some colleagues had to give up a group text about Game of Thrones on Sunday nights.

Vanderbloemen said the text message test still has its place in a world where some workers try to avoid calling all the time.

“For our company, especially certain teams within our company, it's a direct indicator to us if you're dysfunctional like us,” he said.