I’ve written before about some odd questions candidates have asked… but of course, it is sometimes the interviewer that comes up with the off-the-wall question.
Odd interview questions I’ve been asked include:
If you were fruit (or an animal, a tree, a color, etc), what would you be, and why?
If you could have dinner with any one person, living or dead, who would it be?
If you could be granted superpowers, what superpower would you like to receive?
Most of these I answered without too much of a problem. The one question that that really tripped me up was “What is your favorite word?”
Here’s what went through my head in the next 1.2 seconds:
A favorite word? Are you serious? I mean ask me about my favorite movie (The Shawshank Redemption), my favorite book (Strange Universe) my favorite song (I am a Rock), or my favorite color (clear)! But a favorite word? Geez, can’t we go back to that question about what dead person I’d want to chat with over fettuccini? I mean really, a favorite word? There are lots of great words! Tintinnabulation (it’s just fun to say), thixotropicity (because no one knows what it means), gibbous (again, just fun to say), and multifunctional words like “stuff” and “smurf”. (And a more few you can't say in polite company!) Is this really relevant to job? Oh no, what am I going to say? I’m taking way too long! Wait! Wait! I’ve got it! I’ll give them something career related, something business savvy, something… something… something like...
In the end, I babbled something semi-coherent about “synergy” or some other meaningless buzzword. Needless to say, I was not offered that job.
Why on earth would someone ask this? This was a copywriting job, and so I can see a vague relevance, but it still rattled me. It wasn’t until later I learned that these odd questions are designed to do just that.
One of the most popular odd-ball interview questions is “Why is a manhole cover round?” Rumor has it this is a standard at Microsoft. A hiring manager I know often asked this question as a way to find candidates that could problem solve and think on their feet. He admits the best response to this question was “I don’t know, but you’ll have the answer in your e-mail by the end of the day”.
The answer, by the way, is that a circle is the only geometric shape that cannot fit through itself and therefore the cover cannot fall down the hole.
Have I mentioned I love trivia?
2 comments:
As both a hirer (gamekeeper) and interview coach (poacher) I h-a-t-e these silly questions. I have watched HR people and line managers from client companies using them and I never get the sense that they are doing anything other than attempting to put the candidate off balance. Fairly pointless, I would say, in most circumstances.
As to the manhole covers, yup I like the fact that they can't be dropped down the manhole to kill the worker below; but also the fact that they can be rolled into position, no matter how heavy they are by just one worker, and also that if you line up any part of the cover with the lip of the hole, the cover will drop neatly into place. And there's a bunch of other engineer-y reasons which propeller-headed candidates are forever impressing me with too ...
As to the "I'll email you an answer" approach; I wouldn't accept that as a response to a 'case question' in which I wanted to evaluate a candidate's thought process, but it's a really strong approach to any other question that is stumping you.
Great post.
I came across your blog coz i was searching the definition of "Thixotropicity"...its for work...of course this word seems to be somehow invented by a group of people who probably are in some mysterious cult that is obsessed with dentistry that wont allow common mortal like myself to even get a vague idea of what it could have meant... But hey...i enjoyed reading this blog though...lol...During a job interview the HR manager asked me if i ever smile..lol
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