What are some seemingly Strange or Irrelevant Job Interview Questions you have b

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   Patty Inglish, MSposted 13 years ago

   What are some seemingly Strange or Irrelevant Job Interview Questions you have been asked recently?
   
   Creative, odd and irrelevant-sounding questions have been asked before, but in the 2010s, I think some may be more unexpected than usual, from what I've briefly heard. Is it a trend?

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   Sage in a Cageposted 13 years ago

   I was once asked, in the middle of a very serious interview, "So, tell me a joke that makes you laugh". At the time I was sitting at the far end of a long boardroom table with 6 people in suits and serious expressions facing me. We had spent the previous half hour dissecting my previous work experience and discussing potential work projects. Talk about being thrown a curveball!

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      Patty Inglish, MSposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I hate telling jokes, myself.

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   TechTrendyposted 13 years ago

   Q.) Are you on FaceBook? I'd like to learn more about you.
   A.) No, but I still use AOL Instant Messenger if that helps.
   
   Even though my FB account is locked down pretty good and I typically don't post personal stuff I'd rather not chance it.

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      Patty Inglish, MSposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, keep it locked.

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   Lynn S. Murphyposted 13 years ago

   I was asked if I was popular in high school. Like that was sooooo long ago and far away....

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      Patty Inglish, MSposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      In high school? Does that even count?

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   DanaTeresaposted 13 years ago

   I was asked during one interview to put together a wooden childrens puzzle while being timed. The interviewers asked me if I thought it was strange. It was definitely nothing I had expected, but I could see their logic. The position was an admin job in an emergency room. They wanted to see how well I could perform and stay coordinated under pressure. Ithought I did pretty well... No. I didn't get the job. /

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      Patty Inglish, MSposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It was an interesting task, though.

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   Old Empresarioposted 13 years ago

   I joined a colleague for an impromptu 2-person panel interview once on a guy who was on his second round of interviews. I was the third person to enter the room and I took my seat at the table. Halfway through the interview, my colleague suddenly blurted out to the guy getting interviewed, "I wanna know two things: 'do you like to bang women and do you like to drink beer'?" He counted these two items off on his fingers. The color left my face and I couldn't believe it. I was trying hard not to laugh. I tried to protect him by immediately asking a different question, but he then pointed at me and said "this guy here likes to wear PINK" (I was wearing a men's pink dress shirt). I know he thought he was being relaxed and boisterous, but he was asking the interviewee details about his sexual orientation. I realized that day that my very masculine friend sitting next to me was probably the only gay man in the room. When the interviewee was finished and he went in to do his HR interview and was asked, "Of what achievements are you most proud?" he felt the need to say, "Getting my future wife to go on our first date". I guess he thought something like that was important at our company, but his dumb answer cost him the job. My colleague wanted to hire the guy. I voted the guy down because he laughed when my pink shirt was pointed out.

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      Patty Inglish, MSposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I am speechless at all this.

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   Ciel Clarkposted 13 years ago

   A few years ago at an interview I was asked,  "What book is on your bedside table?"
   I talked about my love of books and what fiction  I was reading at the time, but didn't get the job-- even though I felt I was more qualified than the other candidates.  Later I found out it was a religious school... and I didn't mention THAT book.

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   Camille Harrisposted 13 years ago

   I was asked about my favorite movie (The Color Purple) during my interview for  this position. It actually broke the ice a bit more and helped me relax during what turned out to be a two hour process!

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   cperuzziposted 13 years ago

   You want a story?  I'll give you a good interview question that made me crazy for days.
   
   I was on a technical interview and the interviewer asked me this:
   
   "Pick a state and pick a number."  (I said New Jersey and 200,000)
   
   "You are in a city in New Jersey that has a population of 200,000 people.  How many barbers are there?"
   
   Okay, I promise, I'm not going to rant on how these pompous idiots torture people who are just looking for a job with insane questions but I'll tell you that the object of the question is to see how you think.
   
   My answer was, "Given that hair grows at approximately half an inch per month and that most people don't feel they need a hair cut until their hair reaches an inch longer than normal then people go to the barber once a month.  The average work day is eight hours including lunch (as defined by OSHA) and it should take an average barber approximately a half hour to cut one person's hair - meaning that they can cut 14 people a day.  Assuming that people are going to have their haircut locally and that their are a percentage say (10%) of people who are bald and don't require haircuts that 20,000 people don't go - leaving 180,000 who require haircuts every two months or 61 days.  1 barber can cut 854 people for two months.  854 into 180,000 is 210.  Approximately 210 barbers for that city."

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      Patty Inglish, MSposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That was good thinking.

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    MomsTreasureChestposted 12 years ago

    If you were an animal which animal would you be...all I could think was really, are you serious??

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       Patty Inglish, MSposted 12 years agoin reply to this

       I agree - I think it's a silly question left over from elementary school and junior high. In fact, we WERE asked that in 7th grade.  It was supposed to be a psychological kind of analysis,and a writing prompt as well, but I never found it useful.

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