Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions Of 2011

I was once asked ”if you were a cucumber inside a salad and you were about to be eaten, what would you do? ” I answered: I would make myself a little lettuce shield and attack.

5 uses for a stapler without staple pins, huh? I would tell my interviewer that it could be used as a weight to hold down your papers, it could help level out an unsteady table, it could prop open a door, it could keep open a window that keeps closing, and i’d let them know that it is on retainer to meet other needs in the office as they come up.

Not sure how I would get an elephant into a regular sized refrigerator, but I would definitely provide a good response by sounding out my thought process to the person interviewing me, then I’d ask them how large this refrigerator is, and I’d ask them if there were any concerns of the elephant getting too cold inside as I wouldn’t want to promote anything harmful or detrimental to this animal that would look bad on the company I work for. How’s that!!??

If I could be a superhero, I would want the ability to see into the future. This way, I could predict if our business model and business plans would be effective or not. If they are effective in the future, then we will proceed with them in the present. If not, then I can let my team know, we can change plans, and do something that is effective in the future.

My favorite oddball question to ask is “What is your favorite cartoon character and why?”.  It throws the candidate off guard a little bit and gives me insight into their personality and sense of humor.

I never believed anyone would ask questions like these for real.
Until I was asked “how many different uses can you think of for a traffic cone?”

I would ask how the question is relevant to the position.  If it isn’t, then quit wasting my time and yours.

these really aren’t that oddball, at least not the math ones asked by engineering companies.  I guess when you just aren’t that intuitive you just call something oddball?   Americans clearly are getting dumber…

Other than the GPA vs. Potential these are all irrelevant questions. I’ve written a book about this – Hire With Your Head – and tricky questions that are not job-related are impossible to accurately asses. While getting a thinking and problem-solving is an important right-brain skill, it’s better to ask job-related questions. If you’re developing a product that optically measures  height and you want to know the min-max specs, then the German question might be okay. The stapler question might be good for someone who needs to come up with more uses for duct tape, but irrelevant to a sw developer. In this case, you might want to show the person some code and ask how he could simplify it by 50%. 

If asked an oddball question, I’d suggest asking why this is relevant to the job. Then ask what the biggest problem the person taking the job would face, and ask the interviewer if he/she would like to know how you’d address this problem. If you get it right, you’ll probably get hired. If you get it wrong, you shouldn’t get hired. 

I was once asked “If you were part of a Big Mac, which part would you be?”  I knew everyone would answer meat…to easy.  So I said “the bread in the middle.”  They said they never got that answer before and wanted to know why.  I said “Without the bread in the middle, your just a double cheese burger.”  They all looked at me like I created the cure for cancer and I was some genius. At that point I decided I did not want the job.

wow these questions are crazy

I agree, except that I’ll buy some lottery tickets.

Every question, when answered — as irrelevant as it may seem —  is a door into who you are. If you choose not to respond because it seems insulting, then that tells them you’re overly-proud and are more of a stickler for rules than someone who answers, all the same, and creatively, which would tell them that your mind extends beyond the mundane/expected, and you know how to relax. It’s all about what they’re looking for in a candidate. It’s psychology, people, and the reason so many are just mere sheep. Funny how none of you, thus far, realized this.

I haven’t been on an interview in 18 years, these types of questions are exactly why.
I’d be nervous enough on an interview without this type of nonsense.

In my experience all the questions are asked for a purpose, no matter how irrelevant the question itself may seem to a candidate, or unrelated to a position. The general purpose is to determine what kind of a person lays within the candidate, hence no question is meaningless.

Exactly!  Tells me the interviewer doesn’t know what the position requires,  has no understanding of the skills and abilities needed to perform the position or is so disinterested in finding a good fit that he is sabotaging his company.  Either way, the interviewer should be out!

It’s also good as the topic of a really poor interview question.

Dan, your reply tells me alot about you.  Which is the reason behind alot of questions that seem “irrelevant”.   

Burt, your assumption that no one realized it is also very telling.  An air of superiority is definitely detected, along with book smarts versus practical smarts.   

Burt – these questions are totally irrelevant from determining if someone is competent and motivated to do the job. There is no psych clue whatsoever. The goal is to get at thinking, planning, vision and creative skills – which is a good thing – but unless they’re job-related they are actually illegal, but more important, useless at uncovering what needs to be uncovered.

Very early in my career – many, many, many years ago – I was asked how to market a light bulb. I told the Director of Financial Analysis (at the time of the 35th largest F500 company)  that I didn’t have a clue. But I said I could tell him how to cost out the project and if it were a worthy investment. I then went on to do this on the whiteboard. I got the job and was promoted from a financial analyst to Director of Planning of their consumer electronics group in 2 years. 

The questions aren’t insulting, they’re dumb. And having the guts to tell someone they’re dumb, tells more about who you are than answering the question. Of course, you might not get the job, but at least you won’t feel like a sheep. 

Excellent!

 Thanks for enlightening us, it was such a complete mystery!

At a company I was with, one of my staff members routinely asked the person being interviewed what book they most recently read (assumming they in fact, could and did read…) – as an ice breakr, a way to help set the other person at ease.  It also helps set the stage to see how engaging the person is in general, can they carry on a conversation, etc.  “I don”t read.” – hmm, NEXT!  ”I recently read ABC…,” leads to “oh, why did you chose that book?”  Veering from the “standard” questions can be humorous as well as enlightening.  Anyone heard of the book “How Would You Move Mt. Fuji?”

Don’t forget the stapler as a hammer!

Probably a better answer than putting it in a giant blender and pouring it into the refrigerator!!

Whether or not you agree with the approach the interviewer is taking in asking these questions, if you respond the way Lou has suggested, I can pretty much guarantee you’re not getting hired.

Except that in the example you provided, you didn’t tell the interviewer he or she was dumb and you answered the question.   INMO, the question and your response proved to be very helpful in determining your fit for the position.  I bet few other candidate approached it the way you did.   Creativity and the ability to think on your feet are highly sought after skills.  Being able to put a candidate in the situation where they can’t rely on a rehearsed answer is a very important part of making good hiring decisions.

Not that this is an odd question, but I was recently asked, “Tell me about a time you did not reach a goal and tell me how you handled that.”  I told of a time I completely screwed up an order that cost the company a high-end customer, and all I could do was apologize to the sales person, his supervisor, and my supervisor.  The interviewer told me that she had never heard anyone talk about such an abject mistake where the person took the full blame.  I was thinking, “Um, don’t people own up to their mistakes?”  I guess not.

Someone mentioned this, but interviewing for engineering positions has changed in the last few years.  They are now asking these puzzle type questions.  They are not oddball and are a good way to see how someone thinks through a problem.

Phil…please spell “a lot” correctly.  That tells an interviewer “a lot” about you as well.

This morning I had a hilarious interview. The manager would blurt these odd ball questions like did I know so-and-so local politico. Of course I knew these glad handing politicians, but it had no relevance to the job. He also proceeded to insult the grant writing profession. He said it is all about connections and not about talent. And he also said that I had a few screws loose for not being subservient to him. But then he said he liked that. This guy had no filter and was absolutely hilarious. He should quit office work and become a shock jock. But no one should ever work for this man. 

Asses is about right. Oh, did you mean assess? Just kidding. I think the people who do this to candidates are cruel. I was asked “If I told you that I recently read some research that showed that patients do better when nurses who wear purple shoe laces and I want all the staff to wear purple shoelaces from now on, how would you respond?”. This was for a management position. I said that I would like to see the research for myself before I make a decision on how to respond. I did not get the job but I was relieved.

Elephant gun and a chainsaw?

I hate when they say “tell me about a time when…”. I usually draw a blank or never had that experience. I would rather they ask what if questions to see how I respond. But seriously, at least make it job related.

i hate these and the “what fruit would you be?” type questions.  My husband seems to think these questions and their answers are telling but what they are telling me is that ANY answer is usually better than no answer at all.  i mean really, if i was asked the Germans height question i would holler RACIST. how’s that answer?

I’m pretty direct, so I probably said it was near-dumb, or irrelevant, but would absolutely suggest that most candidates NEVER EVER tell the person the question is dumb-like. However, it would be good to quickly ask “what is the biggest challenge the person taking the job would face?” Then go on to answer this one. I suggest asking this question as part of the interview, even if the interviewer doesn’t ask one of the odd-ball questions. 

Dear Burt aka Captain Obvious, 

We all know the reason they ask the dumb questions – you’re not enlightened.  

Thing is… if a candidate did their homework, they would be ready for the ‘dumb’ questions and just roll with them. The company needs drones and sheep that follow yet think for themselves – just not too much. They need the balance of surf vs. bishop.

I can’t believe you would encourage someone to blow an interview just to (possibly) prove a point that the interviewer asked a dumb question. Not only will it probably deter them from getting a job, it’s also rude. I hope you’re not upper management somewhere because I can only imagine how you’d treat your employees if you have the audacity to be rude to an interviewer.

I never rely on such silly questions to evaluate candidates. Common sense, how they interact with me and the other evaluators and, more in general, being present and really “listening” to them are all that you need to get a good impression and understand if someone is a good fit for your team. It’s all about human interactions, not checking boxes and fitting into a ‘profile’.

i’d probably answer with “i wonder if there’s any other cucumber inside this person’s stomach” 

Then you’re falling in the second case depicted by Lou “If you get it wrong, you shouldn’t get hired”, and I totally agree with him.

Thought provoking questions are fine, but if the actual hiring manager asked me some of these…I’d take it as a very bad harbinger.   I don’t know of any business owner (not hired help) that would use this tact.

What a spectacular group of interview questions! Smart, smarmy, and insightful. I will use a few during my next interview just to see what happens. Thanks for pumping life into the interview process. 

So right Phil!
 

Ty – how many people have you interviewed, hired, placed and tracked? If not over 100 then think before writing. (I”m close to 2000+ and counting.) Check me out on LInkedIn if you want some insight, then comment again. These questions are dumb, irrelevant and useless. Answering them will generally not get the person the job, since most interviewers don’t know how to judge good vs. bad (Point: my company trains 1000+ hiring managers per year around the world). As part of this we urge loudly that non job-related problem-solving questions should not be asked, EVER. However, a job-related version of the problem is quite acceptable and necessary to address right brain thinking skills. Google – Adler’s performance-based Anchor and Visualize question for more. 

Wow, you’re just going to skip over that it’s rude to tell someone that they’re asking a dumb question. I haven’t interviewed/hired anyone. I’m a recent college grad but I refuse to hinder an opportunity with a company I want to work for by being rude to the interviewer. I’m not sure if you’re insinuating that it’s not rude to tell someone they’re asking dumb questions, but I beg to differ if that is your belief. I’d rather answer a “dumb” question that contributes to me being hired, than to be rude and detrimental to my chances of getting the job.

 
At the end of the day, if there was a candidate that had similar qualifications as me, but I answered the “dumb” question in a fun and thoughful manner while they skipped over the question, guess who will get the job. =)

Maybe our opinions differ because I’m younger than you and just now starting my career, while you probably have decades of work experience so you have a certain sense of “I’m better than this clown asking these stupid questions so I don’t have to put up with this sh*t.” Either way, your method has worked for you, and my method has worked for me getting a job (and promotion) in the career field I wanted. =)

I didn’t realize you were just out of school, so your reason for not being “straight-forward” is understandable. However, next year, you’ll agree with me that the question is useless. And if someday you have a choice among different job offers, regardless of your age, you’ll realize that good interviewers wouldn’t ask these types of questions, and you’ll think less of the person asking them. Of course, you still might not want to say the person is dumb to his/her face, but you’ll be thinking it. They’re rookie questions and a good manager should know they are not appropriate when it comes to assessing thinking and problem solving skills unless they’re job related. 

But great retort and good luck in your new job!

When I hear questions like these…I assess the interviewer as a control freak with a sadistic streak or not really interested in finding out the skills of the candidate…or a poorly trained interviewer… or all. People interview and answer best when neither has the ‘interview beanie’ on…like at a party… People find out more about a person at a party out of interest than they do playing ‘interview’… Really listen to the answers without being judgemental, learn how to be real, know your own biases and a higher percentage of accurate assessments are the outcome.

I interviewed for the position of Account Director at an ad agency and I had to jump through many hoops. One of the interviewees I met with was their CFO who asked, ‘If I were on a merry-go-round, what song would be playing.’ I was so taken back, I thanked him for his time, and left. I was surprised to get a call from their HR Manager letting me know how much they liked me. I simply told him it was definitely not the right fit for me.

From your statement I infer you believe Americans were once not as dumb as they are currently. I counter with we’re not “getting dumber,” but are simply stagnant in our intellectual development, i.e. we’re as smart as we ever were.

It’s “you’re”… So I wouldn’t have offered you the job solely based on your answer only later to find out you don’t know the difference…

Or I’m asking the question and you’re not getting hired. But then you probably don’t want to work for any of the top companies on this list that ask these questions.

It is “its”, not “it’s”. Where did you go to school? Are you in the Army?

Uhh, sorry Karen, it is ‘it’s', as in ‘it is’.

Best answer until now. Methinks most HR people pursue fitting people into profile ‘boxes’ believing that asking questions like these, out of context, will give them an accurate vision of somebody’s talent.

These are comletely inappropriate questions and ALL of them have the potential to land the company in court becasue (a) they could be proven to disadvantage people and therefore be discriminatory and (b) they do not go to the essential functions of the job or allow a candidate to display in a fair and undicriminating manner how they can do the job. Disgraceful ego-feeding stupid and ignorant interviewers

To all the people that think these questions are dumbb and irrelevant, these questions are actually relevant.  Lets remember a few things about these types of questions:

1.  They are used to assess the person’s creativity and or problem solving skills beyond the regular job description
2.  They are used to assess the candidate’s ability to think on their feet
3.  They are used to throw the person off track of their canned script.  Many people interview very well even though they are below average candidates. They interview so well because by the time you interview them, they are on their 10th interview that month.    Many  of these questions are used to throw the candidate off their canned script and see how they handle the question,  stress and whether they will now fumble through the rest of their interview.
4.  These questions are not the end all be all of getting the position.

I was just asked this, you have 3 light bbulbs in an outer office controlled by 3 switches in another office. You can only go to the outer office one time. how do you tell which switch controlls which light?

I would love to know what type of positions these questions were asked for. For all the engineering jobs, critical thinking, imagination, process, etc., are so important. I think some of these are great questions to see how a person thinks, the process they use, and the action they would take to try to solve the problem at hand. Technical knowledge questions can always be asked, but how a person thinks can only be challenged with questions outside of the norm!

Actually, the Light Bulb one can be relevant. It’s an odd ball way to see if the person knows how to use the method of going to the center and testing, then going to the center of that half, etc.

So go to floor 50, test. If it breaks, go to floor 25, if not, go to floor 75. Test again. That method would use a maximum of 7 light-bulbs to find the lowest floor the light bulb will break from. 

Mind, I agree most of the questions are irrelevant and inane.

It seems like another aspect of these odd questions is not being discussed – who is the interviewer and how will they impact you in your position if you should land the job?

If the person is HR, it seems that it would behoove the interviewee to answer the question as best they can, while reminding themselves this person will not impact their daily work life.

If person is in the department of the open position, or the prospective boss, how you handle the question may be different.  And may be a good reason to run for the hills.

I agree that these questions are pretty lame, though if it is for a position where you’re regularly thrown curve balls and have to think on your feet, it may be useful after all.

FYI the Army is what defends your right to make such idiotic comments.  By the way the Army concerns itself and deals with more important issues than to ask anyone if they were a Big Mac. In the Army the overwhelming response would be “Are you serious? WTF kind of question is that?”

These types of questions are asked to see how you “think.” Oftentimes, there is no right or wrong. They are used to try and gauge your personality and how you may fit into a specific team or organization overall.

I was once asked on a interview if I could be any kind of animal, what would I be? Weird

Unfortunately, competence is not what get’s people hired. It’s compatibility and chemistry. Typically, if you get an interview, they have determined you have the competence to do the job. For the type of job were going for, your answer was probably what they were looking for. However, if you were going for a Sales or Marketing position, they may have looked for a different type of answer. There is always a method to the madness.

Questions such as these are often used to determine how fast you are on your feet. Are you easily flustered? Are you creative? Are you logical? I would hope that more people would ask why the question was being asked rather than type out a knee jerk reaction. Also, if the answer was verbal, I seriously doubt anyone would be rejected from the candidate pool for spelling. Just saying…

This is a good conversation, but there are too many perspectives providing comments to sort out the good from the mediocre and the bad. It seems like most people commenting are candidates. Some of you are top-notch professionals who have interviewed a lot and some of you are rookies. My perspective is as a recruiter working with top-notch managers placing senior managers and executives. In addition, my company trains thousands of managers per year on how to conduct accurate and validated interviews. I’ve written a Amazon Top 10 bestseller on this topic – Hire With Head. Based on this, here’s the quick truth – the questions as posed are stupid and meaningless, unless they are job related, then they are great. But only if the interviewer knows the difference between a good answer or bad one. 

Second truth – your beliefs, emotions, or stories might or might not be valid. Much of this depends on your perspective, either interviewer or candidate. If you’re an interviewer only ask these types of questions if they are job related. If they’re not, they are illegal! How could you justify not hiring someone? This is a set up for lawsuit due to discriminatory hiring practices. For example, you ask harder questions like this to someone you don’t like (age, race, first impressions, etc.) as a means to justify not hiring the person. To make them valid you’d have to correlate answers with on the job success. This is impossible to do unless the questions are job-related. 

If you’re a candidate, ask the manager how the question relates to the job and then answer the question from this job-related perspective, Top notch candidates are not afraid to push the interviewer. Your chances of getting the job will improve this way, not diminish them.

The real idea of the question is to get at problem-solving ability and how you think on your feet. This is good stuff, if it’s job related. But if you get one of these trick questions, answer how you would figure out how you’d come up with the answer rather than providing the answer itself. It’s the process of solving the problem that’s most important and you can demonstrate this as part of your response. Then go on to give the person some examples of other problems like this you have solved. If you do this, you’ll be one of the few called back for more. 

‘I need to see the PO for this elephant’!

We have Grade Point Averages in Canada. This guy hasn’t attended university.

I would as if the elephant was dead or alive, if they said alive I would say I would take apart the refrigerater and rebuild it around the elephant modifying it to fit as best I could.  If dead I would say I would make ground meat.

I’m sorry to say . . . but they condemn today my generation when employers used to ask you legitimate questions such as this one I was asked when I applied for the prep seminary school of the NY Archdiocese:  “What will you do when your child is sick?  Will you take off?”  I looked the priest right in the face and said:  “Im sick now and I’m here on this interview.”  Those questions pertaining to your children, your age, your marital status are now against the law to ask.  No offense, but I would rather have a potential employer ask me legitimate questions that I can answer, than to have potential employers ask me the stupid questions they come up with today.  None of them have to do with squat!!  Today’s generation spends more time asking brain teasing questions, trick questions and worry about how old your stupid shoes are than asking questions such as:  “How often are you on your phone for personal calls and texts?”  If I were hiring someone, that is what I would want to know.  Professionalism is out the window!  The first job I had back in the 1970′s, if the phone rang more than once, you were fired!!!  Now, THAT’S CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!!!!

A recruiter at Deutshce Bank asked, “Do you notice any differences between the classes you are taking now for your LLM and the classes that you took when you obtained your JD.”  Since I was being interviewed by alums of law school, I couldn’t say “Why yes, none of the students talk in the classes at this school.”

These are crazy questions.  No wonder the country is in the shape its in.

I have to agree that if a question cannot be related to prospective performance on the job/career, it is more a sign of poor interviewing skills than useful in making a hiring decision. 
Are you really going to make a hiring decision on how well a candidate dazzles you with some far-fetched scenario? Do you like potentially giving the candidate soft-control over the interview by letting them roam around an irrelevant and open-ended question?

Wouldn’t psychometric testing get you to results much faster and probably more accurately? What’s more it is widely available today and not expensive. Should you take this route, I see only 4 areas are left open to address in an interview: the candidate’s fit with the team and culture; client-readiness (depending on the environment); aspirations; and values. The oddball questions don’t help you to uncover any of these four areas.

The oddball questions are more apt to satisfy curiosity about a candidate, which is understandably human, subjective and not helpful in hiring.

I think better of Amazon asking the question on how to cure world hunger.  That is an excellent and thought provoking question to consider. It suggests this company is looking at the bigger picture and may care about the employees, customers and society at large.  Like this!

I was asked the same question, my reply was, I know this question and its answer. They asked me next question without further discussion on this question. (its little physics, you turn on 1 switch (A), wait 2 mins, then turn off, turn on another switch(B), and enter room…heated lightbulb belongs to switch A, and rest you know.:)

Agree…most a waste of time except perhaps the Google question. I would consider that a great question if you were a web data analyst and using their tools. I will definitely end an interview at this point, depending on the attitudes of the interviewer(s) and revelence. I’m not here to entertain or be psychoanalyzed…can’t we just talk and be as honest as possible? It’s a job people. Been unemployeed too long and I might also say, I am creative and have a giant sense of humor, so are you ready for this? It would be difficult for me to focus afterwards, so a good ice breaker perhaps, however, I might not do the best I could do on the interview afterwards.

I’d take the elevator up with a bulb. When the bulb broke, I’d know I was close. I’d then go down, take another bulb up to a floor just below and walk up untill it broke again, then you’d know the exact place.

What’s you biggest fault ???     

I’m too humble…..

I would probably b!tch-slap the vast majority of these people who ask such stupid questions.

The questions are obnoxious.  They might as well just try to hump you like a dog does when trying to show superiority.

My answer: bend over and I’ll show you one.

Exactly.

Like I wrote earlier: if I’m asked those kinds of questions I feel like I’m getting humped like a dog does when it tries to show superiority.

I actually once told an interviewer to go f–k himself because he had the gall to start asking those stupid, obnoxious “Microsoft Questions.”  I then got up and walked out.

… that company folded less than a year later – go figure.

I’m an IT manager that has had the opportunity to hire 15-20 times in the last few years. I strongly prefer to NOT ask any questions like these. I don’t have the appropriate psychological education or background to appropriately assess answers to these questions. Also, I feel that they are all a waste of time. I typically have an hour to interview a candidate. There are enough technical and specific soft skills that I wish to assess that I ask straightforward, non-trick questions. Of course I ask the questions in an open ended way and sometimes follow-up with more questions. Also, I know how stressful and challenging it is to arrange one’s life to be at an interview in the middle of the day. I feel it important to be respectful to candidates and their time.

Some posters have commented that the ‘tricky’ questions are a great way to throw candidates a curve ball and ask a question that the candidate didn’t prepare for. I respectfully disagree with both points. First off, many candidates are already quite nervous. I’m doing everything I can to put them at ease so I can get a realistic gut feel for who they are as a person. I don’t use it as a deciding factor but it’s nice to know how someone might fit into team/corporate culture. I believe curve-ball questions are counterproductive to this objective. Also, it is not difficult to ask a position related question that candidates could not have prepared for.

I do like to ask a problem solving question. Unlike the trick questions it is always very related to the job the candidate is interviewing for. I present it as a written problem that is not overly difficult and has all the facts and info the person needs. Candidates are welcome to ask questions if they feel they need more info. When we start that part of the interview I tell the candidate to relax and take their time. I explain that correct answers are nice but what I’m really wanting to see is how they go about solving the problem (which is all true). I ask them to talk through what they are thinking and describe how they would go about doing it. Using whiteboards or paper or just talking are all acceptable. I’ve had some candidates flat out say they have no idea what a problem question is talking about. On the other extreme I’ve had a few candidates engage in a lovely discussion about some of the technical trade-offs between various approaches to solving the problem. Those candidates often rise to the top of the list.

I agree with the comments by the LouAdler poster. In fact – if this is the same Adler as the Adler Group website I want to say thank you! I have read much content on your site as I’ve developed my interview style over the years. I find my hiring decisions have been consistently in a tier higher than that of my peers, some of whom actually do ask what animal you would be.

Thank you.  Thank you!  THANK YOU!!!

My answer: ‘Every time I’ve needed to get an elephant into a refrigerator, I opened the refrigerator’s door, pointed into the refrigerator, and said “Go inside, Dumbo!”.  It worked fine.’

Oh yeah?  The light bulbs are LED’s.  You gonna know which one is warm?

Who told you they are LEDs? It is not in the original problem statement, and indeed this age-old puzzle is about incandescent bulbs.

My favorite cartoon character is Zurgotte the Devourer.  It eats annoying people.

Carim, do you have Lou Gehrig’s disease thus causing you to have to speak using a typewriter?  Quit making superfluous comments and go  floss your cat.

I would like to work for someone like YOU.  I so agree with you.

There are enough questions that can be asked that are relevant to a given position–from admin to IT architect–that these “puzzle” questions really are just stupid.

Also, Jonathan is correct:  Unless you are interviewing WITH A PSYCHOLOGIST, most interviewers are not qualified to really assess a candidate’s response and parse the meaning of that response sufficiently to know if they are a good fit.
Waste of time.

is it possible?????

The BIG CORPORATIONS know that Generation X Americans aren’t exactly the brightest bulbs on the tree…You know, Autism has only increased 1,000% since 1990…The Fortune 500 Companies know all this and they take advantage of it. These types of interview questions, its no wonder why so many Americans, even Americans with a BA or Masters Degree are getting paid minimum wage. Fluoride can lower the IQ of developing children by 20 points by age 6.

The Army? Really, you want to go with that as your “spicy” reply?

It’s also TOO not “to easy”… calm down “genius”

Oddball when stated without any setting, but many of these when put in the context of the interview (companies business combined with role and expected expertise) aren’t oddball at all.  When considered it changes many of them to questions that test the candidate to 1) apply the proper amount of thought to a question before answering given the setting after being caught off guard and 2) test knowledge and skills relevant given company business, position, and required skills.  I’ve been asked a few of these and in the context of the interview they made sense.  Many structured thinking and analytic thinking questions can come this way, especially if the interviewer is not experienced, but are pivotal in separating yourself from the pack of applicants.  Some questions that seem the strangest on the surface I have both been asked, and asked, have been the ones that got me the offer or caused me to consider or dismiss candidates.  

Unless interviewing for a meaningless position it is rare to be asked meaningless questions.  That being said there are just some bad interviewers who ask inappropriate or even illegal questions regularly.  Early in my career before going through proper training there were a lot of questions I heard asked regularly that are illegal.  

I’d of accepted it,-It sounds like an easy job.

Are these questions legally defensible in court in terms of job relatedness?

Great reply/ defense Ty. Best so far in this “stupid” discussion . Seems like you are one of the few thinking and responding appropriately, instead of reacting.

Don’t listen to sour grapes. Experience is only worth so much- great attitude like yours is refreshing.

Pretty wise for a young kid. I would hire you.

After the interviewer told me about the job while looking at her shoes all the while, she then asked me why I wanted to work for the company. I told her I didn’t know that I did, that I was interviewing them as much as they were interviewing me. She repeated the question. I repeated my answer. She repeated the question. I left (after she told me that my application would include having to write three essays on a bizarre array of topics).

It’s “I’d HAVE” or “I would have” or ‘I would’ve”.  NONE of you poor spellers would’ve been offered a job at my company; you’re all too dim.

WTF is YOUR problem?  Carim was totally correct.