Last week, I wrote about what to do if a difficult question makes you panic during an interview, but today I want to talk about what some of those questions are.
There are lots of strange and challenging questions out there. Here are some I’ve heard, and what the thinking behind them is (at least as far as I can tell):
- If you were an animal/ice cream flavor/tree/bird/color, what would you be?
This is a deeper who are you? question that is designed to surprise a more interesting answer out of you. By the time they ask this, they know a bit about who you are professionally, but since they may well share a workspace with you, they often want to know a little bit about who you are on a more personal level. - If you were a pizza delivery driver, how could you use a pair of child safety scissors?
This one’s looking for creativity and outside-the-box thinking. As with many of these, your actual answer matters less than what’s behind it, so if you get this or something like it, have a good, creative think! - How would you solve problems if you were from Mars?
While this shares a piece of creative thinking with the previous one, it also adds a layer of more complex problem-solving. If you can answer this one in an interesting way, you can demonstrate to your interviewers that you can think your way to a solution, even under strange conditions. - What would you do if you won the mega-millions lottery?
Don’t spend time answering with run-of-the-mill stuff like paying off debt and traveling the world. This question seeks info about a) whether you really want this role and b) if you have goals larger than your own needs. If you really want the role, say that, and then talk about something big that you’d like to with untold riches—a charitable foundation or unending puppy rescues or daily massages for all your coworkers. Part of your answer can be silly, but be sure to note anything bigger than your own needs. - Are you a hunter or a gatherer? Or its creepily racist cousin, Are you an Indian or a chief?
Okay, so if you get asked that second way, please take that as a giant red flag. In fact, feel free to say something like, “Wow, that feels like a really racist question to me.” That is not a remotely acceptable way to ask the question, and should be shot down at every turn.
BUT if you get asked the first way, what they’re looking for is some insights into how you work and what some other possible strengths and weaknesses are. For instance, if you’re seeking a leadership role, you may want to speak more to the “hunter” answer, but if your position would involve research, that may well be a little more “gatherer.” - What are you reading now?
This seems simple on the surface, but it’s a question that frequently makes people draw a complete blank: What AM I reading right now?
The purpose of the question truly isn’t to put you on the spot; it’s to get a sense of who you are by understanding what you enjoy reading. If you love biographies, for example, you can talk about how you like learning other people’s stories. If you are into murder mysteries, you might talk about how you love learning how the detective solves the puzzle. And if you do draw a blank, talk about something you’ve read recently—they don’t need to know you finished it last week. - How many square feet of pizza are eaten in the US each year?
Unless you’re looking for a role in something like engineering or some sort of high-level analysis, you probably won’t get this question, but essentially it’s about logical thinking. You don’t need to get it right, of course, but show your thinking: your best guess at the average size of a slice of pizza, your best guess at how much a single person eats per year, and a rough estimate of the US population (331,893,745 in 2021, according to https://usafacts.org/, so around 300 million is a good rough estimate).
- How lucky are you?
This question gets at your sense of positivity and wellbeing, and your general sense of gratitude. You can be fairly honest with this one, but try hard not to sound like you’re morose or entitled. - If you could have an hour with anyone, living or dead, real or fictitious, who would it be?
In other words, who are your role models? Whose life or work do you admire? Be sure to answer this one with information on why. This can be very telling information because it’s often said that what we admire most about others are the qualities we have, ourselves. - Why are manhole covers round?
This one is mostly about what your thought process on a logic question is. You’re welcome, of course, to be cheeky (“Because manholes are round!”) but give a little more of your thought process for a more thoughtful answer. - If you could rob a bank without anyone knowing, would you do it?
Be careful! This is an ethics question. You can admit to being tempted, or you can say you might do it for a noble goal, but ultimately you really want to say no.
These are, of course, just a sampling of some of the stranger interview questions out there. So now it’s your turn: have you ever gotten another difficult or wacky interview question, and how did you answer it?