Would You Get The Job???

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

The answer to how many traffic lights are in Manhattan is: A lot.

[shanendoah]

14. “How many traffic lights in Manhattan?” – Argus Information & Advisory Services, analyst

Based on the company and job, I'm guessing they don't care about the actual answer. They most likely want to know how you would go about finding that answer out for a client.

[thyme4change]

So, the answer is "I don't know, but I can call the City of Manhattan and ask."

Gee, I bet that really sheds worlds of light on the hiring process.

[quotequeen]

Jan 5, 2011 12:12:19 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

So, the answer is "I don't know, but I can call the City of Manhattan and ask."

Gee, I bet that really sheds worlds of light on the hiring process.

Almost all of these questions are intended to gauge how you react to being asked this type of question.

[thyme4change]

I guess extreme laughter, followed by disbelief and anger wouldn't get me the job.

[kinetickid]

Jan 5, 2011 12:01:34 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

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.

Except that they would like be interviewing in Manhattan, so by default, every interviewee would have been there before.

I *assume* that you don't necessarily have to give a number answer. That is, I would imagine I could say something like, "Okay, let's assume all city blocks are square and the same size. And let's assume there are X city blocks on Manhattan and each one has 4 traffic lights (one on each corner). Of course, neighboring blocks "share" traffic lights..."

And so on...

[kinetickid]

Jan 4, 2011 18:02:56 GMT -5 @moneywhisperer said:

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.

1. “If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?” – Goldman Sachs, analyst

Stand upright in the middle and let everything swirl around me???

5. “Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 how weird you are.” – Capital One, operations analyst

Assuming there's no requirement to stick to integer values, I would say, "pi squared" (which is about 9.87).

6. “How many basketball can you fit in this room?” – Google, people analyst

Take the volume of the room--assumed to be simply shaped with straight/flat walls and orthogonal dimensions--then divide by the volume of a basketball. This would give you the number of balls that could fit in the room if the balls could occupy the whole space. However, as any math person knows, the maximum packing efficiency for spheres in 3D is about 74%. So the maximum number of balls would be (.74)*(volume of room)/(volume of ball)

17. “How do you weigh an elephant without using a weigh machine?” – IBM, software engineer

Archimedes principle?

[thyme4change]

Except that they would like be interviewing in Manhattan

As I said before - I will assume that the company was actually in Manhattan - but if it wasn't I'd be pissed. There is nothing on there that says it was a NY based question.

It is nice to think that these have some reasonable application - but really - what about the martial arts questions, for an Aflac rep? Is there some Kung-Fu/Aflac association of which I am not aware?

[shanendoah]

thyme: They aren't asking you to know a martial art, just to understand the philosophy behind them. And, I think the basic philosophy of the martial arts is self defense, training now to be able to protect yourself in the future. That's the same philosophy that all insurance companies are based on, especially Aflac, which is a not-traditional type of insurance.

[thyme4change]

I don't know the philosophy behind martial arts and I don't care. It doesn't make me more or less of a finance person. I bet I know more about insurance and the business of insurance than 90% of people who understand martial arts. I would most likely be a better employee.

[Deleted]

And, I think the basic philosophy of the martial arts is self defense, training now to be able to protect yourself in the future.


Actually... I think the basic philsophy of martial arts has more to do with self discipline, with inner balance, centering and knowledge...

[thyme4change]

Bow to your sensi

[Cookies Galore]

1. “If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?” – Goldman Sachs, analyst

Stand upright in the middle and let everything swirl around me???
I was going to say knock over the blender and walk out.


5. “Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 how weird you are.” – Capital One, operations analyst

Assuming there's no requirement to stick to integer values, I would say, "pi squared" (which is about 9.87).
And there's perfect 10!

[zibazinski]

Can you imagine anyone with half a brain asking these stupid questions and trying to seem intelligent while they did it?

[jennml]

Jan 4, 2011 18:31:46 GMT -5 shanendoah said:

#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)

Thank you, thank you, thank you...this one was killing me. Clearly, I would NOT get the job

[8 Bit WWBG]

Sure I'd get the job if they liked my smart alec answers. Eg.

1. “If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?” – I'd wait until other pencils got thrown in and climb over their backs.

2. “How many ridges [are there] around a quarter?” – I don't carry cash. CCs have NO ridges.

3. “What is the philosophy of Martial Arts?” – If I practiced them, I'd kick your butt for asking such a silly question.

4. “Explain [to] me what has happened in this country during the last 10 years.” – I'm still trying to figure it out myself (or, I was smart enough not to live here)

5. “Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 how weird you are.” – I give myself a Q

6. “How many basketball can you fit in this room?” – Inflated or Deflated?

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?” – If I was good at picking winning horses, I wouldn't be sitting here.

8. “If you could be any superhero, who would it be?” – Magneto, but he's a villain.

9. “You have a birthday cake and have exactly 3 slices to cut it into 8 equal pieces. How do you do it?” - Give it all to the birthday boy.

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?” - The minimum number is one, assuming you get it right the first time.

11. “If you had 5,623 participants in a tournament, how many games would need to be played to determine the winner?” – 5622.

12. “An apple costs 20 cents, an orange costs 40 cents, and a grapefruit costs 60 cents, how much is a pear?” – Slap the word "organic" on there, and we can charge whatever we want.

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?” – Make up new names for them that nobody else knows.

14. “How many traffic lights in Manhattan?” – As was said earlier, "too many".

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?” – If I don't have money to pay for electricity to light the room, I have bigger problems than whether my socks match.

16. “What do wood and alcohol have in common?” – They are both things that have been in my kitchen.

17. “How do you weigh an elephant without using a weigh machine?” – Will I be weighing many elephants here?

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.” – I'd never have figured this out.

19. “Why do you think only a small percentage of the population makes over $150K?” – My energy is better spent figuring out how to become one of the ones that make OVER $150k.

20. “You are in charge of 20 people, organize them to figure out how many bicycles were sold in your area last year.” – "Last one back gets paddled."

21. “How many bottles of beer are drank in the city over the week?” – I'm a wine guy.
22. “What’s the square root of 2000?” – Where is your calculator.

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?” – That is one STRONG bird.

24. “How are M&M’s made?” – Mergers and Mergers?

25. “What would you do if you just inherited a pizzeria from your uncle?” – Eat very well.

[The J]

19. “Why do you think only a small percentage of the population makes over $150K?” – My energy is better spent figuring out how to become one of the ones that make OVER $150k.

That's not very smart-alecy of you. The correct answer is "statistics".

[thyme4change]

You got #9 wrong - it should be "Chocolate or Vanilla?"

You also got #24 wrong - but I love the way you are thinking. The actual answer is "Well, when 2 M&M's love each other very much, provided that one is a male M&M and one is a female M&M..."

[Deleted]

LMAO We will...

[8 Bit WWBG]

...:::"That's not very smart-alecy of you. The correct answer is "statistics".":::...

I had also entertained that when the "more than $150k" question comes up, to say something like "I hope my salary here will fall into the 'above $150k' category.

For number 9, I was also thinking of saying that cake belongs in the garbage because we only eat gateau.

...:::"provided that one is a male M&M and one is a female M&M..." ":::...

Actually, in some states including the district of columbia, two same-sex M&Ms have the right to wed.

[thyme4change]

Yes, but being married isn't necessarily how babies are made. And the lack of marriage doesn't seem to have any bearing on babies being made either.

[8 Bit WWBG]

...:::"Yes, but being married isn't necessarily how babies are made. And the lack of marriage doesn't seem to have any bearing on babies being made either.":::...

There are a few science fiction movies where one gender killed off the other after figuring out how to procreate without them.

[thyme4change]

Maybe the answer to #9 is "Is it a regular round cake, or is it one of those wack-a-doo specialty cakes that they make on Food Network? It could be a rectangular shaped sheet cake."

[zibazinski]

WWBG, love your answers!!!!

[kinetickid]

Re: the martial arts one.

Perhaps this is a question reserved for applicants who say in their resumes they have a mastery of martial arts? That is, as a check to see if they've padded their resumes, etc. After all, if you've spent 15 years practicing karate and are a 9th degree black belt, you should know something about the philosophy of martial arts...

[Nazgul Girl]

My favorite question, which is always asked at interviews, is "Where do you see yourself in ten years ? "

There is no good answer to that one. Stating that I hope to win the Powerball jackpot is unwise. Stating that I will be your boss' boss is unwise. Stating " I don't know, but you're a douchebag" is unwise. I guess the best answer is, " I will be helping others, but it will be somewhere making a difference, because I'm such a people person !!! " Yeah, that 's the ticket.

I'm at the age now where I say, " Where's my desk ? Now get out of my way and let me get some work done." Of course, that's after being put on 8 hours a week mandatory overtime per week to clear out the work of another coder who is a cute little kitten and likes to play all the time....Neph, anyone ? Sigh. I made a bargain with the boss that after I get her lazy A$$ caught up with her Neph. coding, I don't have to start doing the Cardiology coding. As I told her, I don't want to work overtime for somebody else all month. Geeze. I put in tons of extra time as it is. Plus, the little doll called in sick today, and won't be in tomorrow. I'll have 11 hours of overtime in for the week, in the meantime.

From what I can tell, as long as I remain relatively civil and can move through the consult notes in our system to codes that will turn into money, it doesn't really matter how I answer the questions. Pfffffttttthhhhthhhh

[kinetickid]

Jan 6, 2011 23:13:39 GMT -5 Nazgul Girl said:

My favorite question, which is always asked at interviews, is "Where do you see yourself in ten years ? "

Answer: In prison for embezzlement???