Keeping with our current Interviews theme in C&A, here’s the next thread about Wild Card questions that some of us have faced and at the time we may have thought have little or nothing to do with how well we can perform in our prospective jobs.
The truth is that employers just want to see how well candidates can think on their feet and whether they get flustered or handle stress with creativity. Besides, these days, candidates have a lot of resources on hand to prepare for interviews and by throwing a curve ball question, the recruiter’s interested in seeing how the candidates get past their pre-planned answers.
So – do you remember any such questions? How did you handle them? Did you think they relate even marginally to the role you were going to be in? directly or indirectly?*
Here are a few that I have been asked personally:
Thinker Questions – I’ve been asked a couple of these over multiple interview instances:
If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?
If you had only six months left to live, what would you do with the time?
If you won ten million dollars in the lottery, what would you do with the money?
if you could be any animal in the jungle what would it be?
If I were to drop this glass on the floor and it were to break, how many pieces would it break into?
Consulting practices and technology firms are notorious for their interviewing styles. Here are two that I remember from my interviews:
Explain what a database is in three sentences to your seven year old nephew.
How many gas stations would you say there are in the United States?
I’m sure there are others that I’ve been asked but I can’t remember them right now. I’ll post my answers to these in a couple of days… feel free to respond to these yourself though.
amazingly parsimonious questions, Umer Bhai. i'm sure you had given v. smart answers to all of them.
you're right these questions test the mental acumen of the person being interviewed and in it is covered honesty, confidence and something which perhaps they can hold you up to, later.
one that a professor asked of me very candidly, would you leave the country for whatever reason, in a year of this research position, or will you stay if we gave you, a very lucrative packet of compensation?
one may reflect, what is the interviewer's problem?
no one else with any stories about odd-ball interview questions ??!!
Anyways, here are some of my responses to the questions that I remembered along with some afterthoughts:
If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?
"Telekinesis" since it covers a broad range of powers including matter transportation, transformation, shape shifting, influencing thoughts and events etc.
A colleague later told me that whatever you say, NEVER say that you would like to go invisible… since it implies eavesdropping, spying, curiosity and disappearance – hardly the personality attributes that would be cherished in an organizational setting.
Makes sense!
If you had only six months left to live, what would you do with the time?
I guess everyone can respond to this one in whatever way they want – as long as it's not something generic like "live every moment" and the answer shows some thought put into it.
I said that I'd like to do a few things… spend more time with the people I love – my family and friends… make sure my will was up to date and that my family was taken care of after I'm gone… write letters to all the people I care about to tell them just that… plan a trip back to the places I've grown up in... and try to write a journal of happy memories that I recall and pass it down to the people I'd like to see smile after I'm gone
I’m sure everyone can give their own personalized responses to this one.
If you won ten million dollars in the lottery, what would you do with the money?
Again, my guess is that it’s not the actual list of things that matters – as long as you can express your thoughts in a logical manner.
I said that I would first create a trust to protect my anonymity and hire an accountant to help me with any tax related issues ;
And do the following in order of preference: pay off my family’s debts ; put some funds into a long-term savings account for my kids in the future ; split a portion of the money into diversified dividend investment funds, venture caps, franchises and/or real estate depending upon market prospects and advice from my financial advisers; design and build my own custom dream house ; go on a tour and visit some of the places that I’ve been recommended by friends and family.
If you could be any animal in the jungle what would it be?
I guess Lion & king of jungle is too cliché but typically that’s what a lot of people would say…
I said I’d be a gorilla (with a little humor inserted in there) – and because I would be strong and I could climb trees to get a good view of what’s going on in the rest of the jungle.
Another good answer that I’ve heard for this question is to be a wolf since it can adapt to various climates and environments and are known to survive adversities. They also tend to move in packs (teamwork).
i went in for an interview
it was an IT job
they asked me! do you know how many components are there in a computer case, what are their names and what they do.
i started laughing hysterically
and he said i can understand that
i started laughing even louder
he was surprised how confident i was and quickly i was mixing with em
Was once having a very intense discussion that propped up during an interview. The interviewer in the middle of a sentence asked me what 9 times 12 was.
Umar bhai,
Kisi achee company main job interview kay lee-a ja ya karow. Choti moti company tow aisay he sawal karain gee. :D. Motorolla, Microsoft, Oracle, IBM main aisay sawalat nahi poochay jatay.
On a serious note . These are some I encountered.
1. Tell me something about yourself. ( Stupid you do not have my resume' in your hand. What is that you are looking at)
2. What salary are you expecting ( if I ask for a million dollars will you give it to me ?)
3. Where do you see yourself in 5 years ( I want to be CEO , will you help me ?)
4. Sell yourself to me. ( Am I a Qurbani ka janwar ?)
^ Mirch bhai...
those are not "wild card" questions... in fact they're "run of the mill" questions that everyone can prepare for.
As for the companies you listed... the funny thing is... I've interviewed with 3 out of the 4 listed and worked for 2 of them. Lest it be said... the questions I posted above are from my experience with these firms. Add GE to the list too.
wohee , wohee , baat samajh aa ga-e na. I was just pulling your leg. As for the questions I posted they are not wild card but they are so stupid and ghisay pitay.
When asked I give them not a run of the mill answer but I give them the answers they never have heard in their life and that appeals to their sense of humor.
:D
One I've had come my way a while back was "If you had the choice of trading places with one person in the whole wide world, who would it be?" and I know which movie she got that one from lol
This was once the last question in the CSS exam of Pakistan: At the end of each interview, the panel members would point to a 2 inch long by 3 inch wide marble paper-weight, and asked if this was broken, how many pieces would it break into?
There were only 2 candidates who were selected in that batch. Both of them had the guts to get up from their chair, pick up the marble paper-weight, and smash it on the ground.
This is a true story. Moral of this story: I will let you decide.
I am sure it would help many people as it has helped me.
Some of the questions that i want to share from my own experience:
Introduce yourself...
i was wondering where do i start.... but just started from my best and moved on ...
Why do you want to join this place... and leave your current job..
I think its never a good idea to bad mouth where you already work. I just said, I am fine, love the place and being paid well also...however, feel that there was room for improvement but change was not being managed well. I wanted to contribute a lot more but somehow felt limited by the work practices and the system.
Why should we hire you?
this was all i could recall at this moment. There can be quite a few difficult questions. The ones i mentioned are i think quite easy.
I am sure it would help many people as it has helped me.
Some of the questions that i want to share from my own experience:
Introduce yourself...
i was wondering where do i start.... but just started from my best and moved on ...
Why do you want to join this place... and leave your current job..
I think its never a good idea to bad mouth where you already work. I just said, I am fine, love the place and being paid well also...however, feel that there was room for improvement but change was not being managed well. I wanted to contribute a lot more but somehow felt limited by the work practices and the system.
Why should we hire you?
this was all i could recall at this moment. There can be quite a few difficult questions. The ones i mentioned are i think quite easy.
Hi everybody,
I uploaded one file. But It can not display. I used internet explorer 8.0.
How can I repair? Or some problems happened to IE8?
