Final answer:
The former student likely played the role of conducting a disguised interview with Ferguson, aiming to assess his candid behavior and suitability for the college's workplace culture without his awareness.
Step-by-step explanation:
The role of the former student in Ferguson's scenario seems to be conducting a disguised interview. This is a technique where the job candidate does not know that they are being evaluated, often implemented to assess their natural behavior and responses. It seems that the former student was there to informally chat with Ferguson, but in essence, was evaluating him for the interview. While not a formal part of the recruitment process, disguised interviews can provide insights into an applicant's personality, ethics, social skills, and suitability for a workplace culture.
In the context of the provided information, interviews, whether open-ended or disguised, serve as a tool for organizations to gather candid feedback or evaluate potential candidates. For instance, in the human services agency scenario, interviews were aimed at understanding the work environment from the employees' perspective. Similarly, Jeremy Iversen's experience in High School Confidential can be seen as a form of disguised anthropology, where he could elicit honest behaviors and opinions due to the perception that he was a student, not a researcher.