Most unusual or cleverest interview question?
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John Rambo
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True story...a friend of mine is part of a two person interview panel. About two weeks ago they asked a guy 'What's your greatest weakness?' and the guy answered 'fat birds'. Apparently the silence made for a truly great tumbleweed moment...
do you like food??
CEO asked me,, still laugh to his day,, think he was getting at the fact the job involved travelling globally,, being alone for long periods and stying in hotels,,
got the job anyhow
and funny, here i am now in a hotel room,, starving,, time to go for food i guess,,,
CEO asked me,, still laugh to his day,, think he was getting at the fact the job involved travelling globally,, being alone for long periods and stying in hotels,,
got the job anyhow
and funny, here i am now in a hotel room,, starving,, time to go for food i guess,,,
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rsob
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Before we all answer, how do you define your terms 'unusual', 'best' and 'cleverest'?
Bank Manager
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My boss loves to ask the question 'what are you good at?' - seems simple enough - but try it..............!
Regards,
BM
Regards,
BM
A question that Standard Life were asking in their graduate interviews:
If you were babysitting a 2 year old and they got hold of a knife and cut themselves deeply along their arm what would be the first thing you would do?
I think a good answer was - " well they would not have got hold of a knife in the first place"
If you were babysitting a 2 year old and they got hold of a knife and cut themselves deeply along their arm what would be the first thing you would do?
I think a good answer was - " well they would not have got hold of a knife in the first place"
I remember a friend telling me of one that I found pretty interesting, it was for an engineering position to give a little context...
"How many petrol stations in Dublin City?"
On getting the position, he queried the rational behind the question. He was told that they asked it for two main reasons (and happily admitted that they had no idea what the figure was, nor did they mind if the person answered 1 or 1 million):
1) to see how the people reacted to a question they had not prepared and (chances are) did not know the answer to
2) to see what thought process the person used to come up with an estimate (this was the follow up question if the thought process wasn't explained in giving the answer [e.g. there are ten in such and such an area of the city, so extrapolating that out over the entire city gives x])
"How many petrol stations in Dublin City?"
On getting the position, he queried the rational behind the question. He was told that they asked it for two main reasons (and happily admitted that they had no idea what the figure was, nor did they mind if the person answered 1 or 1 million):
1) to see how the people reacted to a question they had not prepared and (chances are) did not know the answer to
2) to see what thought process the person used to come up with an estimate (this was the follow up question if the thought process wasn't explained in giving the answer [e.g. there are ten in such and such an area of the city, so extrapolating that out over the entire city gives x])
Made the last 50 for air traffic controller and was given plenty of info to learn prior to interview, basically about the general operations and requirements on the job and tons of info on the irish aviation authority. One of the first questions was 'what do you know about jet engines' it was made worse by the fact that two of the panel of three were nice and could feel my pain and tried to bail me out but the other guy kept pressing with things like 'how does the fuel system work etc.
I sometimes wonder was he reading from the wrong sheet.
I sometimes wonder was he reading from the wrong sheet.
you have me thinking now...remember years ago having an interview at the facility of a beef baron 
. The role as an admin role and the guy interviewing me came walking into the interview with a blood spattered white coat and wellies...He took the while coat off (thankfully) but I kept thinking about the white wellies under the table facing me...One of the questions was 'Do you like steak?'
. The role as an admin role and the guy interviewing me came walking into the interview with a blood spattered white coat and wellies...He took the while coat off (thankfully) but I kept thinking about the white wellies under the table facing me...One of the questions was 'Do you like steak?'I was at an interview for promotion in the Civil Service several years ago when one of the interviewers asked me something which had been asked earlier during the interview by another member of the board. I answered it again starting my reply with ' well, as I said earlier...' The interviewer said 'oh,yes so you did. I'll have to start listening to what you're saying'. Charming!
I once asked a candidate how she managed her time everyday - I promted that she could give me an example of what she did yeasterday.
She went into great detail about how made sure she was not late back from lunch and never missed her bus home which left @ 5.30 on the dot.
This triggered a question from me along the lines of did she ever work late to complete a task:
Again no problem here once she left the office @ 5.15 as she need that amount of time to make sure she did not miss her bus home which 'left at 5.30 on the dot'.
She went into great detail about how made sure she was not late back from lunch and never missed her bus home which left @ 5.30 on the dot.
This triggered a question from me along the lines of did she ever work late to complete a task:
Again no problem here once she left the office @ 5.15 as she need that amount of time to make sure she did not miss her bus home which 'left at 5.30 on the dot'.
If I am interviewing for a management/supervisory position, I always ask
"if you delegate something, who is responsible for ensuring the task is done, on time and correctly."
I guarantee, one in four people will answer wrong (the correct answer by the way, is not the person doing the task, it's the person who delegates it)
"if you delegate something, who is responsible for ensuring the task is done, on time and correctly."
I guarantee, one in four people will answer wrong (the correct answer by the way, is not the person doing the task, it's the person who delegates it)
Heard of an interviewer who was reading the paper at his desk, looked up in boredom, and said "impress me" and went back to his paper.
- the interviewee then calmly took out a lighter and set his paper on fire.
Excellent