Would You Get The Job???

[moneywhisperer]

If you were asked these questions at an interview . . .
From a Money Talk News Article by Michael Koretzky
www.moneytalksnews.com/2011/01/03/top-25-oddball-job-interview-questions-of-2010/?utm_source=Money+Talks+News+Updates&utm_campaign=535d6bef67-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

If you think it’s tough to find a job in this economy, imagine how much tougher the job interviews have gotten. The career website Glassdoor.com has compiled some of the weirdest questions employers asked their prospective employees in 2010. These are real questions, as evidenced by the links below…

1. “If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?” – Goldman Sachs, analyst
2. “How many ridges [are there] around a quarter?” – Deloitte, project analyst
3. “What is the philosophy of Martial Arts?” – Aflac, sales associate
4. “Explain [to] me what has happened in this country during the last 10 years.” – Boston Consulting, consultant
5. “Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 how weird you are.” – Capital One, operations analyst
6. “How many basketball can you fit in this room?” – Google, people analyst
7. “Out of 25 horses, pick the fastest 3 horses. In each race, only 5 horses can run at the same time. What is the minimum number of races required?” – Bloomberg LP Financial, software developer
8. “If you could be any superhero, who would it be?” – AT&T, customer sales representative
9. “You have a birthday cake and have exactly 3 slices to cut it into 8 equal pieces. How do you do it?” – Blackrock Portfolio Management Group, fixed income analyst
10. “Given the numbers 1 to 1000, what is the minimum number [of] guesses needed to find a specific number if you are given the hint ‘higher’ or ‘lower’ for each guess you make?” – Facebook, software engineer
11. “If you had 5,623 participants in a tournament, how many games would need to be played to determine the winner?” – Amazon.com, manager
12. “An apple costs 20 cents, an orange costs 40 cents, and a grapefruit costs 60 cents, how much is a pear?” – Asked at Epic Systems, project manager
13. “There are three boxes, one contains only apples, one contains only oranges, and one contains both apples and oranges. The boxes have been incorrectly labeled such that no label identifies the actual contents of the box it labels. Opening just one box, and without looking in the box, you take out one piece of fruit. By looking at the fruit, how can you immediately label all of the boxes correctly?” – Apple, software QA engineer
14. “How many traffic lights in Manhattan?” – Argus Information & Advisory Services, analyst
15. “You are in a dark room with no light. You need matching socks for your interview and you have 19 grey socks and 25 black socks. What are the chances you will get a matching pair?” – Eze Castle, quality assurance
16. “What do wood and alcohol have in common?” – Guardsmark, staff writer
17. “How do you weigh an elephant without using a weigh machine?” – IBM, software engineer
18. “You have 8 pennies, 7 weigh the same, one weighs less. You also have a judges scale. Find the one that weighs less in less than 3 steps.” – Intel, systems validation engineer
19. “Why do you think only a small percentage of the population makes over $150K?” – New York Life, sales agent
20. “You are in charge of 20 people, organize them to figure out how many bicycles were sold in your area last year.” – Schlumberger, field engineer
21. “How many bottles of beer are drank in the city over the week?” – The Nielsen Company, research analyst
22. “What’s the square root of 2000?” – UBS, sales and trading
23. “A train leaves San Antonio for Houston at 60 mph. Another train leaves Huston for San Antonio at 80 mph. Houston and San Antonio are 300 miles apart. If a bird leaves San Antonio at 100mph, and turns around and flies back once it reaches the Huston train, and continues to fly between the two, how far will it have flown when they collide?” – USAA, software engineer
24. “How are M&M’s made?” – U.S. Bank, leadership program development
25. “What would you do if you just inherited a pizzeria from your uncle?” – Volkswagen, business analyst

We have no idea what the proper responses to these questions are. If you do – or if you’re one of the employers who asked them – we’d love to hear from you.

[kristi28]

Ooh. I love puzzles. For number 18:
1) Choose 6 pennies - three for each side of the scale.
2a) If the scale in 1 balances, compare the remaining 2 pennies.
2b) If the scale doesn't balance, take 2 of the three pennies from the lighter side to compare again. If they balance, then the third penny is the one. If they don't balance, then take the lighter one.

[thyme4change]

Probably not - unless I got question 18 - that is easy.

I think these are those questions that are clever the first time someone did them. Then they were trendy, and that is when they became stupid. If anyone is still asking the question "How many quarters do you need to stack on top of each other to get to the moon?" I would think they are probably a pretty ineffective hiring manager.

I would like to see any proof that these types of stupid questions actually produce better employees.

[kristi28]

Oh. And since I do statistics, number 15 is easy:
1 - 2*(19*25)/(44*43) = 0.4979

[kristi28]

I largely agree with thyme, although I do know that when hiring some engineering/stat type positions, managers are looking to make sure that new graduates have actually learned how to think. Some of the questions make sense for the position being interviewed.

[thyme4change]

Although, I will say, I will probably use #5 the next time I have to hire someone. Really, I would only do it at the end of the whole process with my last candidate or two, but it would just be test to see if someone would find me funny enough to put up with me on a daily basis.

[moneywhisperer]

I think I'd only get the job if the correct answer was "Let me Google that & get back to you" . . . of course that wouldn't work so well if the interview was with Microsoft ;D

[quotequeen]

13 is pretty easy too. Really, they don't know the answer to any of them?

[shanendoah]

#7: 5, assuming you have a stop watch
#9: cut in quarters (2 slices) then cut in half (depth wise)
#10: The minimum is always 1
#11: 5,622 (You always need 1 less game than there are participants)

[jitterbug]

Since I am math and science challenged and would probably always be applyiing for a job in retail, secretarial, marketing or some other non-technical job, I think my response would always be "ARE YOU KIDDING ME???"

Although I COULD answer the sock question, since my husband is usually still sleeping when I get ready for work (in the dark) and so I have my socks sorted into piles of color so I have a better chance of grabbing the right color! So MY answer would be that I would be organized to ensure that I grab the right color. But I know they are looking for a mathematical answer.

[robbase]

For most of these questions unless it somehow uniquely fit for the position at that point in the interview I think I would tell the interviewees- thank you for the opportunity to interview with XYZ (insert company/ org name) but I don't think this will be the correct fit for me. Politely rise, shake hands, and quickly depart

[Deleted]

My answer to all of those questions:

I'm sorry but could you repeat the queston....I was picking my nose & didn't hear you.

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

This type of interviewing BS is highly indictative of interviewers that do not know how to interview a candidate; as well as clueless Human Resources Departments that are staffed with liberal arts majors.

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

Jan 4, 2011 20:56:04 GMT -5 @robbase said:

For most of these questions unless it somehow uniquely fit for the position at that point in the interview I think I would tell the interviewees- thank you for the opportunity to interview with XYZ (insert company/ org name) but I don't think this will be the correct fit for me. Politely rise, shake hands, and quickly depart

I agree with you on this one. This is illustrative of a company mired in intellectual and philosophical BS.

[The J]

Jan 5, 2011 9:39:04 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

This type of interviewing BS is highly indictative of interviewers that do not know how to interview a candidate; as well as clueless Human Resources Departments that are staffed with liberal arts majors.

In other words, you wouldn't be able to answer the questions, therefore it's the interviewer's fault. Ever wonder why you're sitting at a job you hate, year after year?

Some of these questions remind me of law school exams -- you can avoid an actual answer by discussing all the relevant factors in making a determination.

[Deleted]

Of course I would get the job. I am a charming son of a bitch.

[Cookies Galore]

Hrmm... I would totally rock these interviews. I wouldn't answer them right, but my responses would be legendary!

[Deleted]

Jan 5, 2011 9:39:04 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

This type of interviewing BS is highly indictative of interviewers that do not know how to interview a candidate; as well as clueless Human Resources Departments that are staffed with liberal arts majors.

Since I went to a Liberal Arts school I'd probably discuss the philosophy and bs with them a little... I'd actually be able to answer several correctly, but I might play with the interviewer a little, too.

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

Jan 5, 2011 9:45:50 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Of course I would get the job. I am a charming son of a bitch.

<< eyes rolling >>

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

Jan 5, 2011 9:52:54 GMT -5 @rosebaby said:

Jan 5, 2011 9:39:04 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

This type of interviewing BS is highly indictative of interviewers that do not know how to interview a candidate; as well as clueless Human Resources Departments that are staffed with liberal arts majors.

Since I went to a Liberal Arts school I'd probably discuss the philosophy and bs with them a little... I'd actually be able to answer several correctly, but I might play with the interviewer a little, too.

ROFLMAO

[Deleted]

Jan 5, 2011 9:52:58 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

Jan 5, 2011 9:45:50 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Of course I would get the job. I am a charming son of a bitch.

<< eyes rolling >>

If all else failed, I would belt out the finale from Mama Mia.

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

<<If all else failed, I would belt out the finale from Mama Mia. >>

They sang about 10 songs. Would you be in costume?

[thyme4change]

I hope that they expected the person answer #3 to answer "I don't know."

I really don't want my insurance salesman to karate chop me in the middle of his pitch.

[thyme4change]

25 sounds like the person that had the job before that up and quit suddenly because they were going to run the pizza joint, and the boss didn't want to be hosed again.

[thyme4change]

Kristi, I would 18 differently.

4 v 4 - split the lightest pile
2 v 2 - split the lightest pile
1 v 1

[shanendoah]

I should note that I've had job interviews that included questions like a lot of these. Never asked by the actual interviewer, but I've had to take IQ/problem solving tests as part of the hiring process, including for my first job at the company I work in now (it was a departmental requirement, not a company one). Mostly they want to see how well you can think on your feet, solve complex issues, and prioritize. You see, most of these tests specifically state that you will be judged based on how many you answer, and then how many of those you got correct. They never expect you to answer all of them, so there is no penalty to skipping questions. The clue is to read through the question and if you don't know, or can't come up with the answer in 30 seconds or less, you move on to the next one. You prioritize and accomplish as much as possible in the time you have available.

The superhero question is for a customer sales rep. Its purpose is almost certainly to see how quickly people can change modes to interact most effectively with different types of customers.

The question about why so few people make over $150k also seems pretty relevant to a sales agent for New York Life, given their product portfolio and customer base.

The pizzaria question is for a business analyst, so it seems pretty obvious to me what type of answer they are looking for there - not a snap judgement, but a process by which the person would analyze the business, determine the potential risks and rewards, and then make their business decisions.

Most of the math/problem solving outside the box quesitons appear to be for engineers or for people who are working in an engineer/technology heavy compnay/industry, so they're testing for the type of thinking you need to be able to do in those environments.

I will note, though, that if asked how many streetlights there were in Manhattan, my answer would be: I don't know. I take the subway. But if you give me a few minutes, I can find the answer for you.

[quotequeen]

Jan 5, 2011 11:47:50 GMT -5 shanendoah said:

The question about why so few people make over $150k also seems pretty relevant to a sales agent for New York Life, given their product portfolio and customer base.

That seemed like the dumbest question to me.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I wouldn't get the Capital One job because I am very weird, that's why I don't work someplace like Capital one and instead work in a research lab.

[thyme4change]

I'd be pissed if someone asked me about the streetlights in Manhattan. I have news for you - a very large portion of Americans have never even been to New York City. I hope that company was in the area.

[shanendoah]

quotetoqueen: And maybe it does seem extra dumb to someone who's on YM, and therefore of the mindset that $150k isn't something that just happens to people but something they work for and is quite acheivable. But not a lot of people don't have that mindset. A New York Life sales guy is trying to turn one of those "I'll never make $150k/yr, its all luck, my industry doesn't pay that mcuhc" etc kind of person in to someone who sees $150k as possible and doable for him, based on the right kind of investments, etc.
But to be the person who can help someone make that turn around, you have to understand their mindset, and the challenges they face first.