Bizarre Job Interview Questions

[choneofakind]

http://www.totaljobs.com/insidejob/w...iew-questions/



A recent topic of interest of mine. What's some weird questions you've gotten, how did you answer them, and what were the responses you've received? Anyone attempted to ask a bizarre question in return?

Please keep company names and personal issues with companies/bosses/interviewers out of the thread, that's not what I'm here for. Just interested in some real world examples.

....aaaaand GO!

[Ghostt]

When I was a manager, I would ask one question.

Who is Jim Morrison?

The interview questions are useless, the Jim Morrison question never failed me.

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

....aaaaand GO!

Those questions are not important and neither are the responses.
Serious employers who know the business and what they need will not ask you silly questions.
It depends of the type of position you are applying for as well as the position of the interviewer(s).

In general, persons working in Human Resources don't have a clue about the technical aspect of a particular position or about desirable skills or personalities.
Those are the worst interviewers because they stick to a script, word by word; they can turn you down if you don't say what they expect or name things exactly as they have been told.

Think from the perspective of your potential employer: what he/she wants from you: Normally, a non-problematic employee that produces much and well, is flexible and original, and does not cost a fortune.
If you have to be trained (for example a graduated engineer who will work with experienced engineers), they would like seeing a humble intelligent individual willing to learn quickly.

If I may ask:
Are you trying a full time mechanical engineer position?
With what type and size of organization?

[snot]

We need 3 mechanical engineers if you are looking. We have a shop in Dayton and in Cleveland (Eastlake).

[choneofakind]

Not about me for now. Just curious if anyone has experienced any particularly notable oddball questions during the interview process.

Snot, PM me some more particulars about what you're looking for if you don't mind. I'm from the Cleveland area but staying in Ohio is not plan A right now. Worth my time to look into though.

[Rifleman]

Originally Posted by snot

We need 3 mechanical engineers at the moment, if you are looking. We have a shop in Dayton and in Cleveland (Eastlake).

fixed it for you, ya'll need more mechanical engineers. They are like Lays potato chips, 1 is never enough. 3... well that just makes you realize you need 10 more.

Silly questions, none will ever beat some of the off the wall stuff i got when qualifying submarines, where is the "Angel of the boat"? One of the steel companies had an angel as their logo, there were three pump housings with an angel cast into them. How that made me a better submariner has yet to be determined.

[Rifleman]

you have a 6 foot log, you need to cut it into 1 foot pieces. Each cut takes 1 minute, how long does it take to cut the log up.

Answer #1 6 minutes

Correct answer 5 minutes, the first cut will give you a 1 ft piece and a 5 ft piece, cut 2 will produce 2x one ft and a 4 ft piece... the last cut (number 5) will actually produce 2x 1 ft pieces for a total of 5 cuts, in 5 minutes.

Even more correct answer, 2.5 minutes, I do everything twice as fast as everyone else.

[SLOWn60]

Originally Posted by Rifleman

Even more correct answer, 2.5 minutes, I do everything twice as fast as everyone else.

+/- 2.5"

[Panda]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

http://www.totaljobs.com/insidejob/w...iew-questions/



A recent topic of interest of mine. What's some weird questions you've gotten, how did you answer them, and what were the responses you've received? Anyone attempted to ask a bizarre question in return?

Please keep company names and personal issues with companies/bosses/interviewers out of the thread, that's not what I'm here for. Just interested in some real world examples.

....aaaaand GO!

A lot of notable companies ask brain teaser type questions that could be considered "weird."

They're difficult to prepare for since you don't know what you're going to get. The important thing to realize is that it doesn't matter if you get the right answer the interviewer is trying to understand how you reason.

Interestingly enough one of google's HR people admitted that there was no correlation between the questions and job success.

If you're interested in this topic because you're prepping for interviews I'd recommend you read this book - http://www.amazon.com/Who-The-A-Meth.../dp/B001H97LVO.

It's pretty short but it gives a good view of what interviewers are looking for and why they ask specific questions.

I've found that being interviewed was a lot easier once I reached the point in my career where I was interviewing frequently.

But if you're just interested in the weird questions feel free to ignore this post.

[csmith12]

I was once asked "Do you put both shoes on before tieing them or tie as you go?" lol

[SLOWn60]

As an employer; the most important question I ask no matter what the position offered is: "Do you like bicycles and/or motorcycles?"

[DCMoney]

Was interviewing for a mechanical engineering position, or at least that's what it was advertised as.

Asked what kind of tool box I owned.

Brand of calipers I use.

How many kids I had.

How old I was.

If I was married.

Medical issues.

What kind of car did I drive.

Came in did a written test where if you didn't score high enough you didn't get the 2nd test. Took roughly 4 hours to do the test. Questions were harder than someone my college class questions. Passed got the interview, old fat dude in overalls asked all the questions.

At the end of all the questions offered 10 an hour... I laughed out loud and said "That's a total insult" he put his pen down said "wish you the best of luck", I left. was so pissed I wasted 4 hours of my time! Guy called back about 2 hours later offering 11/hr tax free, his words! Still laughed. Called back again 2 days later offering 12/hr told him to multiple it by 4 and I would consider it.

[choneofakind]

Keep it coming, this is good so far

[VaFish]

Originally Posted by DCMoney

Was interviewing for a mechanical engineering position, or at least that's what it was advertised as.

Asked what kind of tool box I owned.

Brand of calipers I use.

How many kids I had.

How old I was.

If I was married.

Medical issues.

What kind of car did I drive.

Came in did a written test where if you didn't score high enough you didn't get the 2nd test. Took roughly 4 hours to do the test. Questions were harder than someone my college class questions. Passed got the interview, old fat dude in overalls asked all the questions.

At the end of all the questions offered 10 an hour... I laughed out loud and said "That's a total insult" he put his pen down said "wish you the best of luck", I left. was so pissed I wasted 4 hours of my time! Guy called back about 2 hours later offering 11/hr tax free, his words! Still laughed. Called back again 2 days later offering 12/hr told him to multiple it by 4 and I would consider it.

3 of those questions were illegal for them to ask.

Well technically not illegal, but they are opening themselves up for a discrimination lawsuit if they don't hire you.

[DCMoney]

Originally Posted by VaFish

3 of those questions were illegal for them to ask.

Well technically not illegal, but they are opening themselves up for a discrimination lawsuit if they don't hire you.

I know, the lack of money, plus then the offering of money under the table told me enough.

[snot]

Originally Posted by Rifleman

fixed it for you, ya'll need more mechanical engineers. They are like Lays potato chips, 1 is never enough. 3... well that just makes you realize you need 10 more.

We promoted 2 and one is an addtion in Eastlake. so, we need 3, they are considered over head....

[dcj13]

These aren't bizarre questions...

What are your qualifications for this this position?

Tell me about a time when you had a conflict with a coworker/manager.
What was the situation?
What did you do?
What was the outcome?

Tell me about a diversity experience you had in the workplace/school.
What was the situation?
What did you do?
What was the outcome?

[choneofakind]

^^ yeah, those are normal. I'm humorously interested in the goofy questions. They're good for reading through

[dcj13]

A Microsoft interview question:

Why are manhole covers round?

[InvisiBill]

I've been asked how I thought M&M's were made. How many pennies would you have to stack up to reach the top of a skyscraper. One of my recent interviews gave me the lottery question.

The job I just started is looking for more people, so I also got a bit of insight about my new manager's questioning strategy in interviews. He said he likes to go down the troubleshooting line, and keep going once you've gotten to what should be the last possible problem. It helps show where your mind goes when "everything" checks out ok and there's still an issue. Can you think outside the box and come up with other suspects, or do you just explode because you checked every box on the list and it still isn't fixed (and/or you don't actually know what you're doing but memorized the standard troubleshooting steps listed on Google)?

The questions may seem silly, but they should have an underlying point. I've heard a number of people in this field say that specific skills can be taught if you have the right mindset, but if your personality doesn't fit you'll never be able to work along with the team or grasp the fundamental concepts behind everything that's being done. These odd questions can give insight into how you think about things.

I also had to take a Caliper test. It was obvious that they were using a bunch of questions to profile your personality, but it was done in a rather odd way. There were sections where you had to solve logic and pattern problems, and where you rated stuff about your personality on a 1-10 scale. But about 2/3 of the ~100 questions gave you four options, and you had to select the ones that most and least matched your views. However, the four options were completely unrelated to each other, and repeated in various configurations for the different questions. So it would be like A) I like to get up early. B) At parties, I start conversations with strangers. C) I get angry easily. D) I forget things if I don't write them down. Taken as a whole, they would show how you rank each of the statements relative to each other. But it made for some weird individual questions - some were four things that all matched me pretty well and some were four things that were very unlike me.

My biggest issue is coming up with questions to ask the interviewer after they're done questioning me. Good interviewees are supposed to have some questions to ask them too, as it shows that you've actually taken some time to look into the company. If I can't come up with any at the end, I at least try to mention that they've already covered questions that I had, so that it doesn't just look like I haven't put any effort in.

[CynicalC]

Originally Posted by DCMoney

Was interviewing for a mechanical engineering position, or at least that's what it was advertised as.

Asked what kind of tool box I owned.

Brand of calipers I use.

Perfectly reasonable. That's to weed out the fresh out of school "engineers" who have only ever engineered things on paper.

[DCMoney]

Originally Posted by CynicalC

Perfectly reasonable. That's to weed out the fresh out of school "engineers" who have only ever engineered things on paper.

Position ended up being a QC spot, thats why he asked about the tool box and calipers wanted to make sure I had my own tools to roll around to different stations... He didn't care if I had an engineering degree or not just wanted someone cheap.

I get the weeding out questions though, graduated with a lot and I mean a lot of guys that couldn't use a wrench. No practical engineering knowledge.

[choneofakind]

Originally Posted by CynicalC

Perfectly reasonable. That's to weed out the fresh out of school "engineers" who have only ever engineered things on paper.

Disagree. Let me explain.

Easiest way I've seen for companies to do that is to require 2-5 years experience, not by asking about their tools. That rules out almost all recent graduates in one fell swoop, including co-op students. Unless a student had a recurring position on-again, off-again at the same company and/or worked the same job for a consult firm at the same time as taking courses, (which there are 1 or 2 of in my class) they won't have 2+ years.

If someone asked me that, it would scream of a cheap employer not wanting to supply their own tools to me. I don't think that's a perfectly reasonable weed-out question at all, that's a cheap/unreasonable employee job scope question. I'd have the same response as DC to those questions. I don't mean to sound entitled but I don't think that guy had a reasonable expectation of job scope vs. pay vs. education requirements. I'd walk out. At-will employment is a two way street.

[DCMoney]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

Disagree. Let me explain.

Easiest way I've seen for companies to do that is to require 2-5 years experience, not by asking about their tools. That rules out almost all recent graduates in one fell swoop, including co-op students. Unless a student had a recurring position on-again, off-again at the same company and/or worked the same job for a consult firm at the same time as taking courses, (which there are 1 or 2 of in my class) they won't have 2+ years.

If someone asked me that, it would scream of a cheap employer not wanting to supply their own tools to me. I don't think that's a perfectly reasonable weed-out question at all, that's a cheap/unreasonable employee job scope question. I'd have the same response as DC to those questions. I don't mean to sound entitled but I don't think that guy had a reasonable expectation of job scope vs. pay vs. education requirements. I'd walk out. At-will employment is a two way street.

If there was a like button I would have hit it.

[toEleven]

Originally Posted by Motofool

In general, persons working in Human Resources don't have a clue about the technical aspect of a particular position or about desirable skills or personalities.

That is the real life I've encountered. Even if someone who does know the important aspects is involved, they're still handcuffed by the corporate policy HR has written (and thinks very highly of, naturally). I often wonder what it is HR types do know, and I hope someday I'll find out.

Link to original page on YouTube.
Have you considered more post-grad stuff? School was significantly more interesting than real life.

[CynicalC]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

Disagree. Let me explain.

Easiest way I've seen for companies to do that is to require 2-5 years experience

Right and that magically makes you good at your job? That sort of thinking is exactly why they'd ask practical questions; to weed out all the "engineers" who met your 2-5 year requirement by hiding behind a desk doing menial crap like digitizing prints that an intern would be lucky to be paid for doing.

[tgold]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

Disagree. Let me explain.

Easiest way I've seen for companies to do that is to require 2-5 years experience, not by asking about their tools. That rules out almost all recent graduates in one fell swoop, including co-op students. Unless a student had a recurring position on-again, off-again at the same company and/or worked the same job for a consult firm at the same time as taking courses, (which there are 1 or 2 of in my class) they won't have 2+ years.

If someone asked me that, it would scream of a cheap employer not wanting to supply their own tools to me. I don't think that's a perfectly reasonable weed-out question at all, that's a cheap/unreasonable employee job scope question. I'd have the same response as DC to those questions. I don't mean to sound entitled but I don't think that guy had a reasonable expectation of job scope vs. pay vs. education requirements. I'd walk out. At-will employment is a two way street.

You're assuming the interviewee isn't lying about their experience with the 2-5 yr thing. And you can treat much of the "required experience" items are as a wish list. If I applied to a position based simply on the required skills listed, I'd be be getting my 20 year pin from Wendy's.

It doesn't mean that a company is cheap if they ask you about a caliper. It is a question to see if you know tools. They are likely looking for a hands-on engineer and not a theoretical type engineer. I had a good friend in engineering school who was in the honors program. He was a very smart dude, (in fact he went into the Navy's nuclear program) yet I had to explain to him how a four-stroke engine worked. That really surprised me. I thought every mechanical engineer was a gearhead.

[tgold]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

Disagree. Let me explain.

Easiest way I've seen for companies to do that is to require 2-5 years experience, not by asking about their tools. That rules out almost all recent graduates in one fell swoop, including co-op students. Unless a student had a recurring position on-again, off-again at the same company and/or worked the same job for a consult firm at the same time as taking courses, (which there are 1 or 2 of in my class) they won't have 2+ years.

If someone asked me that, it would scream of a cheap employer not wanting to supply their own tools to me. I don't think that's a perfectly reasonable weed-out question at all, that's a cheap/unreasonable employee job scope question. I'd have the same response as DC to those questions. I don't mean to sound entitled but I don't think that guy had a reasonable expectation of job scope vs. pay vs. education requirements. I'd walk out. At-will employment is a two way street.

You're assuming the interviewee isn't lying about their experience with the 2-5 yr thing. And you can treat much of the "required experience" items are as a wish list. If I applied to a position based simply on the required skills listed, I'd be be getting my 20 year pin from Wendy's.

It doesn't mean that a company is cheap if they ask you about a caliper. It is a question to see if you know tools. They are likely looking for a hands-on engineer and not a theoretical type engineer. I had a good friend in engineering school who was in the honors program. He was a very smart dude, (in fact he went into the Navy's nuclear program) yet I had to explain to him how a four-stroke engine worked. That really surprised me beause I thought every mechanical engineer was a gearhead.

[tgold]

Originally Posted by toEleven

Have you considered more post-grad stuff? School was significantly more interesting than real life.

I have found that you can make anything interesting if you're willing to look into it deeply enough. It takes a lot of patience looking, relooking, thinking, etc., to do.

There was a problem with a welding wire process (how interesting can drawing wire through a hole be?) that I once had to work on, and I studied the heck out of it. Even looking at the defective wire under a microscope. It became fascinating as I started to understand the process. I spoke to a fellow engineer about the problem and his comment was: " You've told me more about that in the last five minutes than anyone has told me the whole time I've worked here."

Real life can be very interesting if you want it to be.

I have to get back to work.

[choneofakind]

Originally Posted by CynicalC

Right and that magically makes you good at your job? That sort of thinking is exactly why they'd ask practical questions; to weed out all the "engineers" who met your 2-5 year requirement by hiding behind a desk doing menial crap like digitizing prints that an intern would be lucky to be paid for doing.

No, it doesn't make you magically good at your job. "Experience" doesn't mean you're good at something. Same reason I scoff at riders who claim they're experts because they've ridden for 10 years and have 40,000 miles under their belts. But does owning a tool box and calipers make you worthy of holding a QC position? I own calipers but no toolbox. My tools stay in smaller portable bags. But I've taken my engine apart and it runs again. So your example falls short too. Practical questions are great! But asking what brand of tools you own isn't a practical application question, that can be asked so much better.

I've seen so many job listings that say "2-5 years experience in a related field", if that's on there, I don't apply because I only have one year of experience and it's not always super related.

But here's what you need to remember; jobs aren't handed out based on the application. The application just allows you to qualify for an interview. So for all I care, let the liars and barely qualified candidates in. They'll flounder, and the initial interviewer can flush them out of the system. That's the job of the initial interviewer. They're supposed to sift through the bull.

You seem to dislike young engineers. Maybe it's warranted based on a previous experience, maybe it's just personal bias, idk. But remember that everyone has to start somewhere. You're right, some college grads are useless, but don't assume we all are. That kind of thinking is combative and aggressive for no reason.

Let's get back on topic maybe.

[CynicalC]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

You seem to dislike young engineers. Maybe it's warranted based on a previous experience

I wouldn't call it dislike. It's more about attitude. The majority of "fresh out of school" (I'm refraining from using the word young here) engineers expect a Sr level position before the ink on their precious diploma is dry, meanwhile they couldn't engineer their way out of a wet paper bag with a chainsaw. Learning is done on the job, and most don't seem to realize that.

And yes I'm biased because as a fabricator, I often get the **** end of the stick due to engineering ineptitude.

[choneofakind]

Originally Posted by CynicalC

I wouldn't call it dislike. It's more about attitude. The majority of "fresh out of school" (I'm refraining from using the word young here) engineers expect a Sr level position before the ink on their precious diploma is dry, meanwhile they couldn't engineer their way out of a wet paper bag with a chainsaw. Learning is done on the job, and most don't seem to realize that.

And yes I'm biased because as a fabricator, I often get the **** end of the stick due to engineering ineptitude.

this is the greatest description of this issue that I've seen. I'm aware of the attitude issues that come with self-confident new engineers.

It sucks to see because learning from the machinists during my year of co-op was often the best part of my day. Tough love, constant teasing, brutal honesty, but those guys would go out of their way to help you if you were genuinely interested in learning what they were doing. They were an awesome double check for ideas because they've seen/done it all and have a pretty realistic head about things.

I've seen your posts in the welding thread, good stuff!!

[ninjamunky85]

I've never been asked anything strange other than the generic bs questions.

I do remember one that was a local story from a few years back when the Blue Jackets were interviewing for a new coach. Apparently one of the questions asked in the interview for hockey coach was "if you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?

[toEleven]

Originally Posted by ninjamunky85

Apparently one of the questions asked in the interview for hockey coach was "if you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?

That sounds unrelated at first read, but it could also be the intro to an epic analogy that underpins a locker room speech.

[choneofakind]

^^ "Oak, because it's long and hard!"

[iamjacob]

Originally Posted by dcj13

A Microsoft interview question:

Why are manhole covers round?

It's the only shape that can't fall in the hole.

[chemist]

Unfortunately, there is a TON of red tape in what can be asked from the interviewer. That being said, some of my questions try to get to the red tape loopholes. I can get people talking about movies/sports/hobbies pretty easily.

[tgold]

Originally Posted by iamjacob

It's the only shape that can't fall in the hole.

Unfortunately that is not correct. I can think of just about any shape that won't fall into the hole. All depends on how you design it.


I take it as a personal challenge when someone says: "This is the only way."

BTW, this is proportioned so that an actual person would be able to use it:

[iamjacob]

Originally Posted by tgold

Unfortunately that is not correct. I can think of just about any shape that won't fall into the hole. All depends on how you design it.


I take it as a personal challenge when someone says: "This is the only way."

BTW, this is proportioned so that an actual person would be able to use it:

You're right, any shape will work if you make the lip wide enough. If that is proportioned large enough for a man to fit through the lip holding up the cover is 3".

[tgold]

Originally Posted by iamjacob

You're right, any shape will work if you make the lip wide enough. If that is proportioned large enough for a man to fit through the lip holding up the cover is 3".

Actually the triangular manhole cover above is similar to the round manhole cover in that any lip on the lower part of it will prevent the top from falling in the hole. You could have a half inch lip and do the job.