Glassdoor has a compiled a list of the “Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions”
According to the Q4 Glassdoor Employment Confidence Survey, one in five employees plan to look for a new job in the next three months assuming the economy stays the same or improves. So, to help you prepare for tough and sometimes wacky interview questions, Glassdoor has combed tens of thousands of interview questions shared by job candidates over the past year to compile its list of the Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions for 2013.
The questions run from the irrelevant (“If you were to get rid of one state in the US, which would it be and why?”) to the ridiculous (“A penguin walks through that door right now wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why is he here?”) to aspirational (“Jeff Bezos walks into your office and says you can have a million dollars to launch your best entrepreneurial idea. What is it?”).
All in all it’s an entertaining read. And according to Donna Fuscaldo, who believes as I do, oddball questions can be a very good thing.
“Strange or oddball questions are not primarily asked to trick a person, but to uncover qualities about a candidate that can’t be determined from a resume or two-minute drill,” says Susan Ruhl, a managing partner at OI Partners – Innovative Career Consulting in Denver. ”They are designed to uncover how you think, handle unexpected problems and situations, whether you are a good fit for their culture, and how creative you are.”
In other words, both interviewer and interviewee need to understand each other. Oddball interview questions do give good insight into who the applicant is and sometimes more importantly, who the company is. After all, interviews aren’t one-sided. They are looking at us as much as we are looking at them.
We all need to be on our toes.
[Picture via The Huffington Post]