Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions Of 2010

My answer? One of three, depending on how much I think I still want the job.

1) I'm very good at research. Let's look that up, shall we?
or
2) Why are you asking? What do you expect to get from the answer?
or
3) I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was interviewing for the position of puzzle columnist.
I don't want to take up any more of your time.

For question 13:

Say the box with the “Apples” label is box 1, the box with the “oranges” label is box 2, and the other box is box 3:

Take a fruit out of 3. If it's an apple, take the “apples” label off of box 1 and put it on box three. Now take the label off of box 2 and put it on box one. Then place the “apples and oranges” label on box 2. If box 3 had oranges, then take the label off of box 2 and put it on box 3. Then take the label off of box 1, put it on box 2, and put the “apples and oranges” label on box 1.

Simple

I was once asked, who initiates sex at home at an interview. When I responded my wife, I was then asked why? My response…. Cause I usually have a headache. The interviewer burst out laughing. And I began to sweat. RN from North Carolina

“What do wood and alcohol have in common?”

I have both in the morning.

The weirdest interview question I've ever been asked…
“What would you do if you got up one morning and found an elephant in your front yard?”

My answer…
“Got outside and check it out”

Interviewer said one of the answers she received from another applicant was…
“Shoot it” <huh, wtf?=”"></huh,>

lol interesting..

Who would you suggest to hire as an interview writer for a tech startup? A journalism student, or a tech blog writer?

FIRST of all, I have to ask: WTF bird flies at 100mph?
SECOND: is it of African or European decent?
THIRDLY: is it laden with coconuts, or unladen?

1- If you were the height of a pencil, climbing out of a blender would be easy, assuming it was not on and had no lid.
2- One less than indents, assuming a quarter is like a British 10p.
3- Everyone can have a fun time learning how to dance your way to a black belt at 11, despite having little fighting prowess.
4-6 Stupid Questions.
15- Could do in my head, given two minutes or so.
17- Water displacement.
23- Easy if you know how.
25- Cry. My Uncle is dead.

Elephant in yard – Look suspiciously around to see if the company that asked the question was behind this impossible coincidence.

These are far too interesting and curious. In 40 years of itnerviewing and working, nothing like these have ever been posed to me. It’s been Quite boring and Predictable, out there!

21. “How many bottles of beer are drank in the city over the week.”
Asked at The Nielsen Company.

Is the correct answer, “that would be 'drunk' not 'drank' and 'during' not 'over?'

This is crazy. I just got asked if I didn't have to work what would I be doing? I cannot answer that truthfully. If I didn't have to work I would be a stay at home mom and I enjoy cooking, reading, internet blogs, and making crafts. Pretty sure that they want to hear I want to travel the world, create my own startup company, join the peace corp. or something spectacular. If I didn't have to work, I wouldn't!

I was also asked if I had any pets and if I was a dog or cat person (keep in mind this job was no way affiliated with animals).

they were checking to see if you would be abscent if one of your pets was sick

And you wonder why corporate America is retarded…what do any of these questions have to do with the skill required to perform a certain job. I know that if I was asked any of these, my first question right back would be how that pertains to my skill set relative to the position in play. No good answer to my question, and I'd be out.

Geeze so i wonder how suprised they'd be since I already know all the answers

Geeze so i wonder how suprised they'd be since I already know all the answers

This is why if you have any brains, you would not work at any of these companies or most Fortune 1000 companies … they are out of touch. You are some type of sideshow with such dfumb ass questions they probably paid some expert consultant to dream up.

How about this question: How will you contribute to growing revenues, increasing value or differentiating our company? Maybe whomever made up thse questions should answer my question.

A “growth” company aka SMB — is where you can grow not at asinine companies playing mind questions.

3% of jobs created in the United States are created by the Fortune 1000 — the other 97% are created by those of us that care what you bring to the company to advance growth.

Questions like this are an insult to someone's intelligence. Afraid I'd have to shake my head and walk out. Jobs just aren't “that” tough to get folks.

Living near their world headquarters, I once heard that an IBM interviewer asked a college graduate interviewing for an entry-level position as the last question in their meeting, “What do the letters IBM stand for?”

When the interviewee didn't know, they were asked to leave. Game Over.

The questions are interesting. The way Glassdoor has presented them is HORRIBLE. One has to click 30 times to see an answer. How stupid can Glassdoor get?

I had a manager at Kellogg's ask me “What is the quadratic equation? All mathematicians should know this.”. I knew it but that stayed in my head the entire time on the drive home.

I had a manager at Kellogg's ask me “What is the quadratic equation? All mathematicians should know this.”. I knew it but that stayed in my head the entire time on the drive home.

I had a manager at Kellogg's ask me “What is the quadratic equation? All mathematicians should know this.”. I knew it but that stayed in my head the entire time on the drive home.

I would walk out. No one ever said the lid was on or that it was standing upright. I tend to have good fortune on my side and thus was the case on “blender day”. Additionally, before my shrinkage wore off, I was able to scoot into that space that no one could ever get into between the walls and I found stock certificates from 1986 for 500,000 shares of CCE stock. So…thank you for the opportunity.

Makes total sense to me–I would end the interview too.

Of course these question have nothing to do with the position you are interviewing for. The purpose of these questions is not to derive the “correct” answer. The purpose is to see how you derive an answer. They are very good at determining if you are capable of seeing problems from multiple perspectives or if you are limited by some self-imposed thought constraints. Judging by some of the comments on this article, the ability to handle these types of questions is more rare than I thought.

These are the types of questions that tempt me to ask for a reimbursement for my time and gas that the interviewer has just wasted. These questions are insulting and would make me feel as though I was never being considered as a serious candidate.

It's not about knowing the answer. They want to see how you think about problems and reason them out.

But you didn't supply the answers

But you didn't supply the answers

But you didn't supply the answers

I have worked for some of these companies, I believe everything most of them are justas dumb as they sound

I was asked similarly ridiculous questions by the CEO of Rally whilst interviewing for a coaching position. I am highly qualified for the job, was extremely excited about it (until I met the CEO), felt that it was a perfect fit, and have a list a mile long of satisfied customers who have written testimonies of my expertise in exceeding their expectations. He didn't ask me anything practical, like, “How would you handle this scenario…” or “Let's say I am a customer who has these unique challenges. How would you develop a solution to ensure that the customer walks away satisfied?”

No. He asked “A spaceship lands in your backyard. An alien gets out and asks you to come with them. What do you do?” I thought it was a joke. Guess not. I didn't get the job. Completely blew my image of Rally as a company and I have subsequently stopped recommending their products to my highly satisfied customers… What a shame.

Just because I don't have a job and I don't doesn't mean you can screw with me. Have a nice daqy.

Just because I don't have a job and I don't doesn't mean you can screw with me. Have a nice daqy.

Just because I don't have a job and I you do doesn't mean you can screw with me. Have a nice day

Just because I don't have a job and I you do doesn't mean you can screw with me. Have a nice day

Just because I don't have a job and you do doesn't mean you can screw with me. Have a nice day.

Aw forget it.

Best answer of all!

If I was asked these questions I would not want to work for these companies. that is why corporate america is so messed up! People dont get to the point to get the job done. they are more focused on stupid things like this instead of what is a persons past performance and how good of a worker will they be………………

If I was asked these questions I would not want to work for these companies. that is why corporate america is so messed up! People dont get to the point to get the job done. they are more focused on stupid things like this instead of what is a persons past performance and how good of a worker will they be………………

What color is the elephant?

Dave, I love your response! What company do you work for and do they have a location in or near Dallas? Ft. Worth? I am so with you on this. I once had to take an assessment with questions like this and it was pages and pages and it took THREE HOURS to complete. It was for Vari-Lite for a frikkin administrative assistant/marketing assistant position! I hear turnover there is high. Hmmmmm.

I had to take a test that was THREE HOURS long with a bunch of questions and word problems. It was for Vari-Lite for a frikkin marketing ASSISTANT job. Questions like: “You have forty cents in your hand, how many nickels do you have?”. Multiple answers: 1 (quarter, dime, nickel), 8, 3 (quarter and 3 nickels), etc etc. OR “George is taller than bob. Bob is shorter than Larry. Who is the shortest?” Sheesh. AND for a sales job at Super Media I was asked for five things you can do with a paper clip. I suppose that means cuz in SALES you'll be doing a lot of paperwork. Still, I never shy away from these questions, I usually make it a joke and make them laugh.

Unlike HP, does IBM still use “International Business Machines” as their 'real' name?

I used to do some consulting for CDW — which was once Computer Discount Warehouse — and their CMO at that time was obsessed with having the PR team write any editor that used that name and demand corrections. Lol.

Are these questions geared towards entry level positions? I would think the harder and more applicable questions would involve real life examples representing your work history — unless you have no work history. I don't know…though…I'm biased, as I hate this kind-of BS/riddles. I just don't think the answers to these questions help you to make a good hiring decision. Also, the term “wanker” keeps repeating over and over in my head when reading these questions. It's like mental masturbation or something. Some geek consultant thought these up and thinks they're the best questions ever and so darn tricky. Barf!

I had a really painful series of interviews some years ago at a management consulting firm that had been rolled in to March First (remember them? they went out off business in the middle of the night. really bright people. lol.). They were really condescending and plain rude. After the second guy couldn't 'break' me with stupid deductive reasoning questions, they sent in a third guy with increasingly pointless and convoluted questions.

He started asking questions that you'd find on finals in a liberal arts class. When he asked about famous philosophers of the 19th century, I said “would knowing this be considered a requirement of this job, because philosophy doesn't really interest me.” He was taken aback pretty seriously. Really had no answer. I was supposed to meet with 'mr. big' after this guy, but told him I wasn't much interested in working there as I was concerned that their hiring process couldn't possibly result in the type of staff necessary to do quality work. And left.

I had a really painful series of interviews some years ago at a management consulting firm that had been rolled in to March First (remember them? they went out off business in the middle of the night. really bright people. lol.). They were really condescending and plain rude. After the second guy couldn't 'break' me with stupid deductive reasoning questions, they sent in a third guy with increasingly pointless and convoluted questions.

He started asking questions that you'd find on finals in a liberal arts class. When he asked about famous philosophers of the 19th century, I said “would knowing this be considered a requirement of this job, because philosophy doesn't really interest me.” He was taken aback pretty seriously. Really had no answer. I was supposed to meet with 'mr. big' after this guy, but told him I wasn't much interested in working there as I was concerned that their hiring process couldn't possibly result in the type of staff necessary to do quality work. And left.

I was asked another interesting one…
“Without using any reference material, estimate how many barbers are in your community.”

These types of questions are meant to see if you can think on your own, think on your feet, stay focused/ on task, and come up with a reasonable answer. Personally, I'd rather answer questiona like this than all of the behavioral (leading to canned, memorized answers) interviewing nonsense being touted nowadays. Besides, these types of questions can lead to some interesting conversations later!!!

Another question posed (but not responded to) was “how many pencils would it take to draw a line all the way around the equator?” (Too many variables to really answer that one with any accuracy, although my answer remains 'infinite' since you cant draw with a pencil on water– or the ocean floor)

While many are intended to 'assess the thinking process' some are poorly constructed and become obscure trivia questions. The eight penny question and the scale is a good example of a critical thinking question, as is the 'how many basketballs can you fit in this room'.

How much beer is consumed would be a classic bad one. If you knew exactly how much beer an average American consumes in a year, and how many people live in NYC, it would be a simple arithmetic problem. Absent knowing those two facts, it's just a stupid question.

Most of these are the normal logic/math questions that you might get asked in a technical (engineering) interview. They may have been “oddball” questions 20 years ago, but now I think they're pretty par for the course. They want to see how you reason things out – not if you know the answer immediately.

Other ones – I don't know where those are coming from. Are they looking for someone who seriously knows about M&Ms or Martial Arts? Or are they looking for business/marketing types who can think on their feet?

Some of the questions seem illogical and provocative. Answering the questions from an A-type of personality point of view:
1. F**k y*u!
2. F**k y*u!
3. Who cares?
4. Who cares?
5. Zero.
6. F**k y*u!
7.Who cares?
8.Your spouse, because anybody that has deal with you is a superhero.
9. I wouldn't do it.
10. One.
11. One if they are all playing at the same time.
12. 80 cents because I say so.
13. This question can only be answered by a person who is a “fruit” if you know what I mean!
14. Too many.
15. The chances are not very good.
16. Both found at your mama's nightstand.
17. Have him sit your mom's face.
18. I'm not a judge so I can't answer that question.
19. Inbreeding.
20. Give 19 people a day off with pay and ask the other person to look up the answer on the computer.
21. Since nobody else matters in this city but me and that I don't keep count how much beer I drink, your question is as stupid as you.
22. Your mama's a**hole.
23. Can't tell because one of the birds may have been shot down by your mama for dinner.
24. Chocolate cows are fed multicolored constipation medicine and forced to crap in plastic bags.
25. Have a slice of pizza.

I have all the answers to these questions, however, they have all been classified Top Secret by the CIA, so I cannot divulge them. Do not despair, however, the answers will soon be divulged by wikileaks.

Well said, lot of clicks..wats the point glassdoor trying from the surfer? click test???

If these questions are asked seriously or they don't accept your joke as an answer – this is not a right job.

Оя ебу

I never had crazy questions in an interview but I've had to take a personality test. I answered honestly and failed outragiously. I aced it the second time. Anyone who could pass that test honestly is too naive to live.

As one poster basically said, this kind of grilling is sheer idiocy as it's irrelevant to the tasks at hand. There are plenty of ways to test a person's reasoning skills without resorting to such incredible stupidity.

Had an interview for a temp position at Facebook that I wasn't hired for (happily, a recruiter contacted me last weekend for the same job, but as a permanent employee! I have a phone interview for later this week). The question I was asked was: “How would I find a needle in a haystack, and had an unlimited budget to solve the problem” In retrospect, my solution would have been too expensive; if I'm asked the same question again, I think I have a better answer.

No, it isn't b/c there is no correlation (or performance outcome) between the question, answer, and what someone actually does in the position.

Sound like you work for HR! America would be a better place if corporations would fire their HR and legal departments and start over. They all need to go through the hiring process again to have a better perspective.

Awesome!

All stupid questions!!!! Far away from reality; don't worry these interviewers are all insane. This is not real Intel

I think the answer should be: burn the haystack and sift through the powder ashes with a magnet. How damn important is this needle?

It is free meat!

“Good night… A ringa-ding-ding-ding-ding…”

Looks like you have a future writing these stupid questions.

When applying for a high position in a top company, they want to see how you manage difficult situations by confronting you with challenging questions which require some reasoning and creativity. It's very 'hip' nowadays to look for what is called lateral thinking in employees. The people who don't understand this and find this kind of interviews stupid… wouldn't fit in those companies anyway, because they also want workers who won't question their procedures, I guess.
In the other hand, there are some long 'final exam' type of interviews used for non specialized jobs, which are used not to find the smartest appliers, buy to discard both them and the dumbest, using the 'Gauss bell curve', since they want their workers as dull as possible (you know, because a smart worker may do too many questions, and a dumb one can ruin the job…).

(English is my second language. Sorry for the mistakes) (^_^)

Thank you for some reality worth discovering

I would much rather be answering silly questions than putting up with a boss who is pissed cause i wont sleep with him. and id much rather answer the questions a second time than deal with my union

Yep! It's just another way to try to trip you up and, certainly serves as red flag that the workplace could be straight out of “The Office” or “Office Space”. They were based on people's real life experience.

BTW–in the '80s for one interview I was asked what astrological “sign” I was. When I answered that I was a Scorpio, the New-Agey interviewer panicked and the interview was pretty much over. Glad I didn't work there.

Larry, that is funny. I'd love to use that, but I'm a girl.

#20 made me burst out laughing. That's exactly how I'd do it. What a waste of ℉ukin' time!

Gary is correct. It's because the want to see yow you think about problems, etc. That said, these questions go to show they are so stupid and narrow minded, that the questions are ridiculous, and UNIMAGINATIVE. That's the MBA way. American corporate culture is FULL of IDIOTS!

MBA business managers are so MORONS. They think they are being smart and divergent thinkers by asking STUPID questions meant to encourage imagination. It doesn't work. You people are just too goddamned stupid to “think out” of your stupid little “box.”

Damn right! He's really good at it!

Yes, that's the correct name and they told that story at orientation when I was hired years ago.

Ironically enough, that's exactly how they do things at Schlumberger

Some of the answers below make me laugh…especially for #15 ….you have to pick up 3 socks…just THREE socks….cause a pair is 2 socks…so if you pick up 3 you can be sure you have 2 of the same color….DDDUUUHHH!!!!!

I've heard that line dozens of times, so much so that it is a completely trite and empty sentiment. On most of these questions all they will learn is whether you have heard that particular riddle before. If they were honest with themselves the people who ask these types of questions would admit that they are just bored with the interviewing process and either a) trying to amuse themselves; or b) trying to prove how smart they hare to the candidate despite the fact that they themselves looked up the answer on the Internet

BTW: The grammar and spelling in this article is horrible. Who wrote this?
.

1. Sounds like a hostile workplace. I'd call HR for help then file a grievance with them.

2. 25 cents worth

3. Do unto others before their foot doeth unto your head.

4. I'd sing this to the tune of Billy Joel's “I didn't start the fire”

5. Eleventeen.

6. one, with tons of room to spare. Wanna play? You be 'skins'.

7. I pick Flicka, Silver, and Mr.Ed. Zero races are required by law in this country.

8. Probably Superman. Not that I'd want that, but with my luck I'd probbaly wind up as a now handicapped superhero.

9.Across the width, Across the length, then across the depth. I can also sing Happy Birthday in a falsetto if that is required.

10. One. One very lucky guess.

11. One. I'd split them into two teams of 2811, and make one the referee.

12. Not info info to answer question. What, you say it has something to do with the number of letters? Sounds more like correlation than causation to me.

13. Sir, I am going to do a very thorouugh job for you and quality is important to me. While some candidates might get lazy and just open one box, I'd open all of them and make sure of the labeling!

14. Manhattan, Arkansas? That town is tiny. I think they only have 2.

15. Zero, I have no fashion sense at all. In fact I dressed with the lights on and my socks don't match.

16. They both leave you with a headache when applied liberally.

17. If you didn't use a “weigh machine” then I'd argue you aren't actually weighing it. However, I'd assume you'd do it the same way they do with horses. Measure the distance around it from the withers and look it up in a chart.

18. 4 on each side. Note which side is heavier. Take two off each side and repeat observation. Cut problem in half like this until you know which group the light coin is in.

19. Because there are very few people with the advanced sock matching and fruit pricing skills it requires to command such high salaries.

20. Can I change my answer to #19? If it takes 20 people to do an Internet search it isn't surprising that they can't afford pay each one very much.

21. That depends, are we talking Boston or Salt Lake City?

22. 42 plus or minus 10

23. I grew up in Houston (Huston) and it is only about 160 miles from San Antonio. Also, they put trains on different tracks so they would never collide. So I suppose the answer is infinity or however the bird could fly before it died of exhaustion.

24. I'm sorry, I thought I was applying for a job as an analyst. Are you looking for a confectioneer?

25. Go to the funeral. Comfort my mother for her loss. Then after an appropriate mourning period go collect on my free deep-dish chicago style with pepperoni!

Procter and Gamble has a horrible pre-screen asking very annoying questions like these for A FACTORY POSITION.

Awesome collection of Interview questions. Really great collection. I am going to bookmark this.