25 Weirdest Interview Questions of 2010

[64BonnieLass]

Happy Friday!! Not sure how bored ya'all are, but here are some interesting questions...Courtesy of Yahoo! Finance!

Think you're prepared for your next interview? Well, if you can answer these, you probably are:

1. If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?
2. How many ridges are there around a quarter? (Reportedly from Deloitte)
3. What is the philosophy of martial arts? (A spokesperson for Aflac (NYSE: AFL (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=AFL) - News (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=AFL&t)), where this question was used, says she hopes the candidate quoted Kwai Chang Caine from the 1970s TV show Kung Fu: "I seek not to know the answers, but to understand the questions.")
4. Explain to me what has happened in this country during the last 10 years (Reportedly from Boston Consulting)
5. Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 how weird you are (Reportedly from Capital One (NYSE: COF (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=COF&ql=0) - News (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=COF&t)))
6. How many basketballs can you fit in this room? (Reportedly from Google (NasdaqGS: GOOG (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=GOOG) - News (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=GOOG&t)))
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? (Reportedly from Bloomberg LP)
8. If you could be any superhero, who would it be? (Reportedly from AT&T (NYSE: T (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=T) - News (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=T&t)))
9. You have a birthday cake and have exactly three slices to cut it into eight equal pieces. How do you do it? (Reportedly from Blackrock Portfolio Management (NYSE: BLK (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=BLK) - News (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=BLK&t)))
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? (Reportedly from Facebook)
11. If you had 5,623 participants in a tournament, how many games would need to be played to determine the winner? (Reportedly from Amazon (NasdaqGS: AMZN (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=AMZN) - News (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=AMZN&t)))
12. An apple costs 20 cents, an orange costs 40 cents, and a grapefruit costs 60 cents. How much is a pear? (Reportedly from Epic Systems)
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 its box. 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? (Reportedly from Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=AAPL) - News (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=AAPL&t)))
14. How many traffic lights are in Manhattan? (Reportedly from Argus Information and Advisory Services)
15. You are in a dark room with no light. You have 19 grey socks and 25 black socks. What are the chances you will get a matching pair? (Reportedly from Convergex)
16. What do wood and alcohol have in common? (Reportedly from Guardsmark)
17. How do you weigh an elephant without using a weigh machine? (Reportedly from IBM (NYSE: IBM (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=IBM&ql=1) - News (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=IBM&t)))
18. You have 8 pennies. Seven weigh the same, but one weighs less. You also have a judges scale. Find the penny that weighs less in three steps. (Reportedly from Intel (NasdaqGS: INTC (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=INTC) - News (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=INTC&t)))
19. Why do you think only a small portion of the population makes over $150,000? (Reportedly from New York Life)
20. You are in charge of 20 people. Organize them to figure out how many bicycles were sold in your area last year. (Reportedly from Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=SLB) - News (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=SLB&t)))
21. How many bottles of beer are [consumed] in the city [in a] week? (Reportedly from Nielsen)
22. What's the square root of 2000? (Reportedly from UBS (NYSE: UBS (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=UBS&ql=1) - News (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=SLB)))
23. A train leaves San Antonio for Houston at 60 mph. Another train leaves Houson for San Antonio at 80 mph. Houston and San Antonio are 300 miles apart. If a bird leaves San Antonio at 100 mph, and turns around and flies back once it reaches the Houston train, and continues to fly between the two, how far will it have flown when they collide? (Reportedly from USAA)
24. How are M&Ms made? (Reportedly from USBank)
25. What would you do if you just inherited a pizzeria from your uncle? (This question comes from Volkswagen (Stuttgart: VOW.SG (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=VOW.SG) - News (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=VOW.SG)). A spokeswoman for the company tells BNET while the question is certainly not standard, the company's business analysts often have to take over and manage projects started by other people, so this question may have been a manager's attempt to see how a job candidate would run a project they 'inherited.')

[dallas]

My personal favorite interview question, which I use in every interview, is:

Your office is having a pot luck, what dish would you bring?

[Kim-n-Dean]

I was asked in an interview what would I do if I was given a large, gray elephant. I guess they weren't concerned with what I would do with a small, yellow one.

I told them I would sell it. WTF!!!

It's always nice to be interviewed by some mental midget!

[asp_125]

Happy Friday!! Not sure how bored ya'all are, but here are some interesting questions...Courtesy of Yahoo! Finance!

Think you're prepared for your next interview? Well, if you can answer these, you probably are:

..
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? (Reportedly from Bloomberg LP)
9. You have a birthday cake and have exactly three slices to cut it into eight equal pieces. How do you do it? (Reportedly from Blackrock Portfolio Management (NYSE: BLK (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=BLK) - News (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=BLK&t)))
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? (Reportedly from Facebook)
11. If you had 5,623 participants in a tournament, how many games would need to be played to determine the winner? (Reportedly from Amazon (NasdaqGS: AMZN (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=AMZN) - News (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=AMZN&t)))
16. What do wood and alcohol have in common? (Reportedly from Guardsmark)
17. How do you weigh an elephant without using a weigh machine? (Reportedly from IBM (NYSE: IBM (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=IBM&ql=1) - News (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=IBM&t)))
18. You have 8 pennies. Seven weigh the same, but one weighs less. You also have a judges scale. Find the penny that weighs less in three steps. (Reportedly from Intel (NasdaqGS: INTC (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=INTC) - News (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/h?s=INTC&t)))
22. What's the square root of 2000? (Reportedly from UBS (NYSE: UBS (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=UBS&ql=1) - News (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=SLB)))


I am bored. :D
7. 6 races: 5x5, then run the winners of each race and pick the top 3.

9. Two slices vertically (into 1/4's) and one slice horizontally.

10. 1 - if your guess is correct the first time.

11. One game, 5623 people in a burning airplane, one parachute. :D.. oohhh alright, a foot race then.

16. Carbon molecule

17. Archimede's principle - elephant will displace its own volume of water, then calculate the weight from the specific gravity of water. (1gm / cc at 4*C)

18. step 1- weigh half the pennies on each side of a scale, take the lighter 4. Step 2- weigh those pennies, and take the lightest 2, then step 3- weigh those two remaining pennies. One will be lighter.

22. 44.72 (2 decimals)




Yes I are a enjuneer.

[64BonnieLass]

Years ago I interviewed for a Sales position.

They asked me, if I had my choice, would I rather:

1) Go to prison
2) Be sent to a deserted Island (I assumed tropical)

I chose the deserted tropical paradise. I didn't get the job because I wasn't considered "extroverted enough". Ha! Riiiiiighhhhhttt!!!!

[dallas]

I would have chosen the island too. Who wants to go to prison? There are people in there who have done bad things.

[Depths_of_Mind]

My personal favorite interview question, which I use in every interview, is:

Your office is having a pot luck, what dish would you bring?

He does as that question though.

[puckstr]

ha ha ha
For any of those questions the correct answer is screaming "Snyergy" and the donkey punching the interviewer.

[LambeauXLIV]

18. step 1- weigh half the pennies on each side of a scale, take the lighter 4. Step 2- weigh those pennies, and take the lightest 2, then step 3- weigh those two remaining pennies. One will be lighter.


You can do it in two steps:

1. Weigh 3 pennies against 3 others. If one set weighs less, grab that, if not grab the other two.

2. Weigh two pennies (either from the set of three or the remaining two against each other). If they tie, the last penny is lighter, otherwise, the lighter penny is lighter.

[64BonnieLass]

15. You are in a dark room with no light. You have 19 grey socks and 25 black socks. What are the chances you will get a matching pair? (Reportedly from Convergex)

My Answer: 100% chance. (in the dark :yes:)

[fasterlaster]

1. If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?
2. How many ridges are there around a quarter?
4. Explain to me what has happened in this country during the last 10 years
5. Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 how weird you are (Reportedly from Capital One
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?
15. You are in a dark room with no light. You have 19 grey socks and 25 black socks. What are the chances you will get a matching pair?
23. A train leaves San Antonio for Houston at 60 mph. Another train leaves Houson for San Antonio at 80 mph. Houston and San Antonio are 300 miles apart. If a bird leaves San Antonio at 100 mph, and turns around and flies back once it reaches the Houston train, and continues to fly between the two, how far will it have flown when they collide?
24. How are M&Ms made?


This is fun, some selected smart-assery
1) Ask the person who shrunk you.
2) 0 - a quarter has no ridges that go around, only from the 2 sides.
4) Everyone that hasn't died has gotten 10 years older, all others just didn't make the most of the last 10 years.
5) I'm most definitely a 'Q'
10) 1 guess is the minimum (assuming you get it right)
15) 100%, because I'm going to grab 3 socks on the way out.
23) About 5 miles before it's shot. There is no way a Texan in San Antonio will miss the chance to shoot down a 100mph bird.
24) I'm not really sure this is a proper place to discuss the reproductive cycle of delicious candies that melt in your mouth not your hand.