Craziest Interview Question

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by Onetor
I would NOT kill for no amount of $$$$. Even the most insignificant insect. Boy, the lasting implications for those that would even pose that question.

We need to make our World a better place!


I don't know how many insects I've killed. I once killed a bunch of flies. I have no idea how they got into my basement, but there was a huge swarm of them, those regular flies. Anyway, went to the hardware store and got a can of fly killing spray. Sprayed it and I was really impressed by it. Not sure what was in the can, but they were literally dropping like flies. When the spray hit them, they'd just drop to the ground, move like mad for a few seconds and then died. Sprayed the whole swarm and they all died.

I didn't even get paid either, had to pay for the can myself. I even had to pay my handyman to vacuum up all the dead bodies.

 

[gman2304]

If you saw your mother stealing from the company, would you report her to management? I answered yes! I retired from the company!

 

[DriveHard]

Originally Posted by Onetor
I would NOT kill for no amount of $$$$. Even the most insignificant insect. Boy, the lasting implications for those that would even pose that question.

We need to make our World a better place!


So you don't drive your car? You kill thousands of insects every time you get behind the wheel
So you don't spray around your house? You kill thousands, and leave countless more homeless
So you carefully walk with your head down looking for insects? You step on many ants during a normal summer walk
So you don't vacuum your house/wash your sheets? You kill thousands of dust mites with this practice...

Seriously...a bug??? I have killed many beautiful butterflies just driving, riding my motorcycle, even by riding my bicycle.

 

[DriveHard]

The questions I ask...(among others)

In what way have you used your engineering talent to improve your own day to day life?
What kind of car do you drive and why?
What are your hobbies?
Do you consider yourself lucky and why/why not? (this one is priceless)
How do you fit a fill size elephant in a normal size fridge?
How many airplanes are in the air at any given time?

That along with a few technical questions gives me most of what I want to know.

 

[PandaBear]

My answer would be: may I ask what is the reason behind the question? and why is this an interview question?

If someone pull this in an interview I'd just walk away, telling them I'm not interested. This is more of an intimidating and hazing ritual. If my direct report ask this question and the interviewer walk off because of this, I'll fire that direct report.

My craziest interview question: what would you do if your customer wants you to design something that is "incorrect". Yup, a [censored] if you do [censored] if you don't question. I managed to pull it off with those two wrong make it a right design and "never let this out of the bag" policy. In the end customer is happy, we are happy, and damage localized and self-contained.

 

[Lolvoguy]

Originally Posted by Rand
How many days a year will you miss/call off?

I'd reply with:
"Depends on how stressful the job/team is"
Let them answer that question for themselves.

 

[das_peikko]

Originally Posted by kschachn
How do you drive anywhere then? Or walk, for that matter.


There's a difference between killing a living creature on purpose and killing one by accident. I do my best not to kill insects unless they're a threat to my family.

 

[wings&wheels]

I did a fair amount of campus recruiting of business/econ/finance undergrads and MBA's. We were a high flying tech company and had high standards for pre-screening, so we were getting strong candidates...and most of them knew it.

After we discussed their experience, their successes, why they want to work for us, etc. I always asked: "We are both at this table because of our successes, but I find I learn best from my mistakes. Give me an example of a project, case study, whatever, that cratered or went pear shaped on you and 1) what did you learn and 2) when should you have realized it was going bad?"

I cared about the answer, but was most curious about their reaction. Most looked somewhat surprised (they'd been talking about their accomplishments for the past ~20 minutes) and pulled up a reasonable answer. Some stumbled more before providing an attempt at an answer which showed an opportunity for better thinking on the fly, but was usually fine assuming the rest of the interview went well.

I did have one gentleman who looked me in the eye, almost incredulous at what I was asking and said something to the effect of "None....never. When I do something, I don't fail." I said to him "confident, very good", and thought to myself "You will make a great Analyst for somebody....not us...but somebody..."

 

[DriveHard]

some of these replies are almost comical...

Let the economy turn, and lets see how the answers are...
Lose your current job, and lets see how your answers change...
Be facing a foreclosure on your house and see how your answers change...

Not all these questions apply to all ranges of possible employment opportunities. I'm looking for "out of the box, R&D thinkers"...so you answer one of my "off the wall" questions with a snorty retort, and the interview is likely done in short order. In the same way, I would never expect a blue collar guy to come up with an estimate of how many planes are in the sky...just not relevant.

Oh...I would never fire someone for asking a certain "silly" interview question. I value my people more than that. Yup, there are HR lines that can't be crossed...but to fire someone for trying to lighten the mood or get an insight on how someone thinks surely isn't worth the investment already made in that person.

 

[Gebo]

Originally Posted by das_peikko
Originally Posted by kschachn
How do you drive anywhere then? Or walk, for that matter.


There's a difference between killing a living creature on purpose and killing one by accident. I do my best not to kill insects unless they're a threat to my family.


I respect your beliefs. But I do have one more question. How do you feel about abortions?

 

[Lyman]

Many years ago I had been out of work for months. I was trying to get on with a local Gas Supply Company. 5 Interviews the last one being with a Private Eye. He asked me why I was a month behind in child support. I just looked at him and said "I NEED this job! " He laughed and told me that I had his approval.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted by Blkstanger
Many years ago I had been out of work for months. I was trying to get on with a local Gas Supply Company. 5 Interviews the last one being with a Private Eye. He asked me why I was a month behind in child support. I just looked at him and said "I NEED this job! " He laughed and told me that I had his approval.

Yeah that's another thing... Why multiple interviews? I could understand the pre-screening one to weed out the weirdos and clearly folks that don't fit and then maybe a 2nd one for the upper brass wanting to meet you but why 3,4,5 interviews before an offer.

If I don't have the upper brass meeting by the 2nd interview and then an answer or offer, I tell them I have found something somewhere else. (yes I have done this)
That's nonsense. Taking 5 separate times out of your schedule, wasting gas and in some cases paying for parking. WHY? Get your $#!@ together and stop wasting peoples time especially when all jobs come with probationary periods.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

I did have one really interesting interview in Silicon Valley that just came to mind...I had started off meeting with this company with the idea of opening an office for them, but at this point I was just looking to come in as an individual contributor.
I had been looking for a position for a while, but had a rock solid offer from elsewhere in hand so wasn't too stressed about the trip.
I had 2-3 talks with the technical folks that went fine, then they told me that the CEO meets personally with everybody who is interviewing for higher level positions.
Walked into his office, introduced myself, we shook hands, I sat down...and he just stared at me.
For about a minute.
I figured that he was waiting to see if I would get nervous or crack somehow, so I just met his gaze with a slight smile on my face and waited for him to begin.
We ended up talking about his business for about ten minutes and he told me he felt I could handle the job.
Then he asked me when I was going to be moving, and I told him that my understanding was I would be working remotely (the recruiter and I talked about this several times)...he said no way, I had to be in the office every day.
That was the end of that!
The CEO had a few choice words to share about that headhunter...

I read up on that CEO after the trip, turned out he was quite an innovator in our industry...maybe I should have been more intimidated!

 

[Cujet]

During an interview, I was immediately told "I'm going to call your current boss and ask him to tell me what kind of (fill in the 7 letter bad word) you really are"

That kind of shock tactic has no place in professional negotiations. If I ever get asked a question like that again, I'm standing up immediately, turning around and walking out without saying a word.

 

[Kestas]

I heard a story of being interviewed for a job at the FBI. They would ask, "Have you ever smoked marijuana?" If you answered 'no', they'd assume you were lying.

I also remember one good technical question given at an interview... Why does a mirror invert images side-to-side, but not up-and-down? I believe we discussed this here on BITOG at one point.

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted by Cujet
During an interview, I was immediately told "I'm going to call your current boss and ask him to tell me what kind of (fill in the 7 letter bad word) you really are"

That kind of shock tactic has no place in professional negotiations. If I ever get asked a question like that again, I'm standing up immediately, turning around and walking out without saying a word.


That's wild. My company interviews using a technique along the lines of: Tell me about a time when __________. For example, you had to make an unpopular decision, you had to choose between competing priorities, etc.

 

[Gebo]

In my most humble and submissive position, I'm starting to understand why I sometimes see tempers flare on bitog.

Things that wouldn't even phase me can be very upsetting to others. I guess it's hard for me to understand why
some people are so easily upset. It's gotta be a rough way to live.

If it helps you relieve tension, you can talk about my Mama. I'll understand. I'll know you don't mean it....

 

[kkreit01]

"If you were a cartoon character, whom would you be, and why?" This was asked back in college when applying for a Faculty Assistant position.

 

[nomas]

Interview board for a Reserve Police Officer position years ago . " Where is the strangest place you ever had sex " ? As God is my witness ….I'm serious .
I asked him to define " strange " . He laughed and said " ok , we'll skip that one ."

 

[nomas]

Originally Posted by Leo99
Originally Posted by Cujet
My company interviews using a technique along the lines of: Tell me about a time when __________. For example, you had to make an unpopular decision, you had to choose between competing priorities, etc.

Very common these days . It just makes it easier to give them the answers they want . Warning , knowing your potential supervisor helps with that .