A footwear store made job applicants put bags on their heads and imitate farmyard animals in a bizarre 'ice breaker'.

The Sheffield Meadowhall branch of the footwear giant Schuh asked 25 people to perform the humiliating task during a two-hour interview.

No individual questions were asked during the group exercise, which was described as 'degrading' by A-level student Dom Wright, 17, who took part.

The Sheffield Meadowhall branch of Schuh where the 'humiliating' group ice breaker took place

The participants were competing for a sales role.

Mr Wright told the Sun: 'I got there and all 25 of us were given a bag and an animal we had to pretend to be. They said I had to be a cow.

'We had to make the noises until we found the other person in the room who had been given the same animal.

He said that he didn't see what the exercise had to do with the job and that he felt awkward.

Other interviewees imitated chickens and horses.

Mr Wright did not get the job.

His mother Tracey, 52, slammed the store for the degrading and humiliating exercise.

A Schuh spokesman told the Sun: 'We are appalled that this ice breaker was used and do not condone it.'