I suspect this would not happen in France - but is it such a bad thing, real jobs normally involve time for preparatory work and as long as all applicants get the same info so that it is a level playing field I don’t see that it’s a prblem.
Also, many applicants might be more relaxed if they have had chance to prepare - giving the interviewer to get a more “natural” picture of the candidate.
Wish that had been the case when I sat my GCE’s.
I would certainly have been more relaxed and ben able to research/revise the specific questions rather than the entire subject.
Mind you my results would probably been the same!
It all depends on what you want from the interviewee. Can they think on their feet, perform under pressure (or bohemian rhapsody) what are their natural reactions to certain things etc. A substandard individual might be able to appear competent with good coaching and prep. OTOH this would allow the less agile to shine for the kind of jobs that don’t require quick thinking and spontaneity, but rather a methodical and steady approach.
Ah GCE’s (or CGSE’s these days) are a bit different - though loads of University courses have “open book” exams.
All that happens is that the questions are adjusted to compensate
Eg: maths exam with no calculators allowed - “calculate the surface area of a rectangle with sides 12cm and 5cm”
Maths exam with calculators allowed - “calculate the surface area of a rectangle with sides 7.485cm and 5.934cm”
Looking at the questions that may be asked, I could probably have guessed candidates would be asked most of these without John Lewis telling me them in advance…
Phew… so glad I never had to undergo such a grilling… my mind goes blank more often than I’d like… 
I once interviewed for a NATO job and they handed me a list of the questions they were about to ask and gave me some time to review them (I forget how long, I was only a whippersnapper at the time). If I recall, it was a mix of technical and situational questions and I’m not really sure that it made much difference in reality. Technical, you either know it or you don’t (it was before everyone had the world’s knowledge in their pocket) and for situational it might give you a few minutes to get your thoughts together but all the candidates are in the same boat.
Are you sure that wasn’t a Navy job?
Agree, there’s nothing there that I wouldn’t have expected in any basic interview for junior/mid level jobs. Perhaps these day people are unused to preparing at all as they normally have access to instant answers?
On the different side of this coin it took a long time for my BIL, who is a phenomenally intelligent man, to be diagnosed with dementia as he ran rings round the assessors. After a lifetime of facing interviews and harsh questioning he could cover up his loss of memory by diverting and deflecting. It is a skill like any other really.
One of the most tiresome things about interviewing graduates in more recent years was how over-prepared they were for the interview process. Really overtrained.
Tired of pat answers, politically correct scripts applicants telling me what I wanted to hear I concentrated my energies on ways to get who the person is, their style and whether they’ll truly be comfortable in our environment. Because they’ll all, always tell you they will be.
We didn’t care about specific knowledge or skills as we always gave them those. We took a certain level of ability for granted, although we did tend to like a 2.1. The most important thing for us to know was would they be happy ‘in their skin’ with us and would they get from us what they needed. Pat answers only obfuscate that so you had to avoid them.
But so does stress.
Yes the trick is to get behind that quickly. Especially in the early rounds where you might have only 15mins with them and have to decide go/nogo for next round.
I don’t do Stress… and I’ve only ever applied for 2 jobs, both in my early working life.
After that, I was head-hunted… and that proved very satisfactory for all concerned.
I had a job come up on my message board yesterday. Disciplinary Manager, now that I might enjoy 
Pass the mind bleach! 
Sales & Marketing = S&M
Building and decorating = B&D
I was honestly concerned that this companies work force were so bad that they needed to advertise for such a position. You only create a new roll when you have a new problem.
