Heh. In California that last one could get you fired.
Nice, I would hire you!
Though personally I hate hate hate those silly group work scenarios, they seem to be as much for the amusement of the interviewers as anything else.
btw a couple of days ago I read a chapter in a book which recounted the events of the ‘Lady Be Good’ lost bomber in WW2. Poor guys, staying with the wreckage or trying to walk to safety wouldn’t have done them any good.
Circa 1991, I’m interviewing at a major PR firm for an internship. Interviewer concludes with one last question: Who is your favorite broadcast journalist?
My first thought was “Broadcast journalism is an oxymoron. It’s journalism until you broadcast it, at which point it becomes show business.” And I probably should have just said that.
Still thinking that PR = part of journalism = People there actually care about the writing and stuff… I mumbled some stupid, poorly thought out answer about Connie Chung, who I despised then and still do, but I was having trouble coming up with a female broadcaster who did anything of substance. (Red flag!)
What they were probably actually probing for is a reaction to the image they’d crafted for one of their clients, and the internship probably went to whomever actually chose one of their clients. I’m not sure but I can tell you that I didn’t get the internship. I ended up at the Fox affiliate in Cleveland.
I once applied as some sort of computer/IT guy in the county’s school system HR department. Wasn’t my sort of job, but the qualifications didn’t entirely count me out, so what the hell, I applied. Got an interview, even.
I get to the interview location and there are all sorts of forms to fill out. Applications, release to authorize a credit check, privacy statements, all sorts of stuff. More forms than I’ve ever seen for a simple interview.
Now I’m at the interview and I’m given a scenario where somebody did something wrong but the only evidence was another employees word of mouth (the scenario had it so that both employees weren’t my greatest producers and were a pain in the ass as they didn’t like each other), so, with no evidence what would you do?
It was then that I realized that I was completely wrong for the job, so I started snickering. The interviewer asked me what was funny, and I, gathering my things, told him that I appreciated his time but I’m obviously not a candidate for this position because my first response belied my small business background - “Fire both of their asses, I don’t have time for their drama.”
The interviewer agreed that my answer wasn’t really how things worked with union contracts, shook my hand, and went to the next guy.
This what I’ve always heard. Give a weakness, but explain how you manage it, maybe even turn it into a positive.
I was once asked if I had to sum myself up on bumper sticker, what would it say? I paused and said I have no idea (what, like Free Mustache Rides!). I did get the job.
“How do you determine how long your sentences should be?”
Huh. This one totally stumped me, mainly because it was the very last thing I’d ever have expected. Wait - that’s not accurate. It wasn’t even on the list. I mean, they’re as long as they need to be, right?
Absolutely floored me, and totally threw me for a loop. I’m a technical writer, and it’s true that I can get wordy, but my content is always well-written and as correct as I can make it. As well as pitched at the correct level for my audience. If you can’t handle clauses, maybe this isn’t the place for me. Didn’t get that job.
And it is true that I am more careful about the length of my sentences now, so maybe it helped me professionally. Still, weird.
“What’s the biggest mistake you ever made at work?”
Assholes. I have a good answer for the question now, but I was stumped for a good thirty seconds. I did get the job, but the company was a POS.
That’s not a terrible question; it’s the part that goes unsaid that’s the problem. What they really want is the “and how did you admit to it and make it better” part of the answer, but they didn’t ask for it outright.
Well, at another interview the interviewer had actually read the book. It got me the interview and a callback (which I had to decline).
And the best interview I had was for a job whose advertisement was talking about computer skills. I focused my resume on that.
At the interview, they told me my computing skills looked good, but the job included a lot of writing. Did I have any background in that?
I grinned and said, “I’ve worked as a technical writer; I have a Masters Degree in Writing; I’m a published author; and here’s a copy of my novel.”
I hate programmed interview questions, although I understand why they do it in some places. The dumbest one I got was from one of six people conductiing the interview. It was right at the end, and she had not contributed shit throughout. Her question: What single noun best describes you?
WTF? A noun? Are you sure you don’t mean adjective or adjective-noun combo, dear?
Honestly, I mulled it over for a few seconds, coming up with zip, then asked her, pointedly: A noun?
“Yes.”
“Humanoid.”
Then the leader of the pack asked if I had anything else to say and I told them “Yes, you should hire my wife, who is also interviewing for this position. I’ll give you 100%, but she’ll give you that and more.” They hired her.
Years ago my sister was interviewing for a job that required using some equipment out in the field. One of the questions asked was, “Can you carry a box across a room?”
My sister asked, “How heavy is the box and how big is the room?”
The interviewer paused, and admitted the list of questions didn’t clarify.
I wonder how many candidates figured they could carry a cereal box across the kitchen, so yes, they definitely met the requirement
I got one like this once; It was “What would they put on your tombstone?” and I was too floored to come up with an answer. That question may have cost me the job too, but at this point, I definitely don’t regret it.
Probably twenty years ago, I interviewed for a technical writing job. The interview seems to be going well; we’re talking about projects I’ve worked on, and I’ve brought some samples. Then, completely out of the blue, the interviewer asks,
“Do you play cricket?”
Now, understand that despite Canada’s British heritage, cricket has never been very popular here. It is played, but mainly only by recent immigrants from India, Pakistan, and the West Indies. I obviously do not look like I come from any of those places.
It turned out that a number of people at this company did play, and they were always looking for another. I didn’t get the job, but I suppose that they eventually did find a cricket-playing technical writer.
After half an hour speaking on the phone in English, “do you speak English?” No, dude, we’re having the interview in Bable.
One that leaves me wondering whether the other person can read with any comprehension (as opposed from “turning little coded pics into sounds”) is “are you familiar with business processes?” Uh, well, yes, with quite a few of them, but you know (or should), as a consultant I’m supposed to start by learning the customer’s specific ones…
In high-school, I was applying for a seasonal position to pull items from the warehouse at Best Products and the interviewer asked me “how big are your hands?”
I held them out, palm up, and said “this big”.
Got the job.
Weirdest question I got in a job interview was, “What’s so American about apple pie?”
Weirder still, I knew the answer.
This happened to my best friend, in an articling interview (for non-Canadians, “articling” is a sort of mandatory appreticeship for lawyers).
He was having an ordinary interview, when the partner interviewing him in his office found out through some casual remark that he’s Scottish.
The partner’s face lit up, and he asked “so, have you ever wielded a claymore?”
My friend said no, he had not. So the partner went to a closet in his office, opened it up, revealing a bunch of different swords on pegs. He took down a Scottish claymore. He asked “would you like to?”
My friend said he would, but he’s not sure what he’s supposed to do with it.
The partner, looking dissapointed, said, “you do this! And this!” and started to hack at the banker’s boxes of files stacked in a corner of the office. “Are you SURE you are Scottish?”.
He didn’t get the position.
However, that isn’t the wierdest thing to ever happen at an articling interview in Toronto. That honour goes to the partner who liked to impress the incomming articling students by bouncing his body off the window in his firm’s boardroom. One time, he did that and the window popped out of its frame, and partner and window fell 24 stories to the street.
When I’ve had interviews it’s particulary upsetting to be asked what I would do in hypothetical situations.
I give what I consider a sensible answer: Go to someone who has authority over me and knows the applicable rules. The interviewers called this “running to your supervisor.” That’s not fair. I don’t think people have innate knowledge (or even schooling) to cope with special situations; they should have some training to learn the rules.
I was once asked (during a preliminary telephone interview) if I’d mind working for a medical group that was engaged in constant conflict with the hospital where it was contracted to work, and if it would bother me to live in a city where one of the main industries was reprocessing spent nuclear fuel.
I got the feeling they didn’t really want me applying to work there (probably because the existing members of the group were women and they evidently wanted to add a female co-worker).
Not exactly a job interview, but it was my meeting with my new supervisor after a re-org. I worked in a Navy command and most of the higher-ups were military, as was this guy. After the preliminary getting-to-know-you chit chat, he asked if I was more interested in the management track or the technical track. I told him I wanted to stay technical because I didn’t like being a boss. He proceeded to tell me why I was wrong.
I’m still not sure what he hoped to accomplish by his little tirade. Fortunately, we had yet another re-org shortly thereafter and I reported to someone else.