Employers are increasingly testing candidates with curveball questions in interviews. Above, a jobs fair held by Ingeus at their Norwich offices to prepare candidates for work. Photo by Simon Finlay.
What’s the strangest question you’ve been asked in a job interview?
Mark Shields
Monday, August 20, 2012
3:50 PM
Interviewers are increasingly testing jobseekers with weird and wacky questions – including the best way to get an elephant into a fridge and why manhole covers are round. What is the strangest interview you’ve had?
Two in five jobseekers have been thrown a curveball question during a job interview, new research shows.
Favourites include: “How would you get an elephant into a fridge?” and “Why are manhole covers round?”
A survey of 1,000 people showed that jobseekers were failing to prepare properly, and were left “bamboozled” by the strange question.
So we want to know – what are the strangest questions you have been asked at interview? How did you respond? And did you get the job?
Many of those surveyed said they were concentrating on making a good first impression, with 40pc of people worrying about their appearance
Just 25pc said they spent a lot of preparation time practising interview questions or researching interview technique.
Dean Ball, of recruitment firm Michael Page, which carried out the research, said: “It’s understandable that weird interview questions are unnerving for some candidates but they are becoming increasingly common in interview situations so it’s important that candidates are prepared for them.
“Being able to tackle these questions confidently can help candidates stand out to prospective employers, who are looking at ways to differentiate between similarly qualified candidates.
“They can also provide a moment of light-heartedness in an otherwise formal situation so should be embraced by candidates as a chance to show their originality, creativity, how they apply logic and their sense of humour.”
Post your curveball questions and job interview stories below...
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14 comments
I was worried stephen watson, who's business is it what time I go to bed and get up hey? Come on interviewers ask some meaningful questions.
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sprowstongal
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Love your comments Citizen of EUSSR, all those cliches are just so cringeworthy, thinking outside of the box, ASSUME (never assume as it makes an ass out of you and me), blue-sky thinking etc... I could go on. Probably thought they were being young and trendy but these phrases have been around (and grossly overused) for many moons.
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sprowstongal
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
i would have to think to myself what has this question really got to do with the job i have applied for ????? also what time i go to bed has nothing to do with this interviewer unles they are thinking of coming to bed with me!!!! its time to bring back the proper interviews for a real job and get away from this tick box world
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stephen watson
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Well, one of my interviews that was peppered with idiotic questions like these took a turn for the worse when one of the trendy young interviewers said to me "Of course, there is no 'i' in team", to which I replied "No, but there's 2 'i's in IDIOT"!
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Citizen of EUSSR
Monday, August 20, 2012
One criticism of interviewers is that they are so keen to tick off the boxes and rattle through the interview that they actually forget to ask the candidates a few personal questions. I've been to so many interviews where it just seems like they don't really care about the actual person. A few carefully crafted questions, like the one in another reply here (who to trade lives with for a week) would be really interesting.
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sprowstongal
Monday, August 20, 2012
I had 2 interviews with a Norwich company who twice asked me what time I got up in the morning and what time I went to bed! The interviews at creative agencies and the like are always the wackiest; one I had was, tell me 10 ways to get to Edinburgh for free (much like the sugar bowl and elephant in the fridge) creative types love to quiz interviewees to see if they can think on their feet and outside of the proverbial box. I've also been asked to spell words and perform calculations, all very good as basic maths and English is so important. There was life before spellcheckers and calculators you know!
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sprowstongal
Monday, August 20, 2012
“How would you get an elephant into a fridge?” Chop it into small chunk might not be the correct answer
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chebram71
Monday, August 20, 2012
Mr C. How about quick fire questions about the job applied for to actually show 1) a working knowledge of the job subject and 2) ability to think quickly about problems that may be encountered in that same job. Not all this lefty, rubbishy business speak.
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"V"
Monday, August 20, 2012
Personally, if I was interviewing someone for a managerial or supervisory position I would ask them what they would do if an established member of staff wanted to be rid of a member of staff who clearly is either learning more quickly than they ever did or are seen to be more popular than the complainant. This is dealing with the workplace "trolls"!
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Lynda Edwards
Monday, August 20, 2012
AE & "V" ... Give examples of "much better ways"! I, for one, think this is a very good way to show off an ability to think quickly. They're not at all stupid questions; it's all relative. I have to say, if I was employing somebody for my own job, I would be far more interested in which person they'd like to trade lives with for a week, (shows their creativity, interests, compromise) than how their friend would describe them in three words.
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Mr.C
Monday, August 20, 2012
I was asked to come up with 15 alternative and creative uses for the ceramic sugar bowl that was on the table. Completely threw me! Amazingly, I managed it (although I struggled with the last couple!)
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Lanie
Monday, August 20, 2012
How many weddings do you think took place in the UK last year? Interesting way to get people to find a logical system....
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Robert Coyle
Monday, August 20, 2012
It just goes to show the level of intelligence of the interviewer if they have to ask such stupid questions.
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"V"
Monday, August 20, 2012
Ridiculous. There are much better ways of testing peoples ability to think on their feet or to appraise their ability to think laterally. It is nothing more than power trip for the interviewer or question author who clearly thinks that this is clever. Unfortunately most people feel obliged to humour the interviewer which makes them think this is successful.
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AE
Monday, August 20, 2012