Like mentioned above it's not what you pick but the process that you go through in order to make that decision. From the 5 options that we had on the day, geothermal wasn't one of them and picking one that wasn't on the list wouldn't put you in good stead. This is from my point of view. I don't know how it would appear in the eyes of HR and the training dept.
I'm on the assumption that the 5 options we had were the same as every other day but I could be wrong with this.
In the 30 minutes we had to prepare our discussion I was looking equally at each possibility and each option had it's pros and cons. Oil and Gas for example would make the island less dependant on the middle east ensuring a smooth supply of oil and gas, another revenue stream could be opened up with exporting the resource easing the financial pressure the country currently faced, infrastructure was already in place, it meet current and future demands....
There isn't a right or wrong answer and that includes the fossil fuels. Yes, it may be bad for the environment, but when discussing your reasoning behind choosing it, you will see that it addresses many of the other issues the country faces while wind for example may not. However, with wind you don't have the issue of pollution. So every one has it's ups and downs and they just want to see that you have reasoned with all of them before committing to your final choice and back it up with the data extracted from the table.
I guess they look at other things aswell such as eye contact, understanding and answering questions correctly, body language (nervous or open and confident)...when I got asked as question, I had to give 3 advantages and 2 disadvantages (perhaps this tested me to see if under pressure I remembered what I had to do...a little memory game or I'm just looking it too much!)
