25 Craziest Interview Questions of 2010

[SweetBabyLPN]

hey all!

i just read this on yahoo and balked!! if i had to answer these interview questions, i would never get/have a job!! these are the top 25 craziest interview questions asked in 2010!! here we are in a supposed "recession" and employers have the time to come up with this garbage! lol!! read below:

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: [color=#0f55c3]afl - [color=#0f55c3]news), 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: [color=#0f55c3]cof - [color=#0f55c3]news))

6. how many basketballs can you fit in this room? (reportedly from google (nasdaqgs: [color=#0f55c3]goog - [color=#0f55c3]news))

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: [color=#0f55c3]t - [color=#0f55c3]news))

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: [color=#0f55c3]blk - [color=#0f55c3]news))

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: [color=#0f55c3]amzn - [color=#0f55c3]news))

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: [color=#0f55c3]aapl - [color=#0f55c3]news))

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: [color=#0f55c3]ibm - [color=#0f55c3]news))

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: [color=#0f55c3]intc - [color=#0f55c3]news))

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: [color=#0f55c3]slb - [color=#0f55c3]news))

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: [color=#0f55c3]ubs - [color=#0f55c3]news))

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: [color=#0f55c3]vow.sg - [color=#0f55c3]news).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.')

the only question i think i could answer is #25. i am horrible at being put on the spot. i have a tendency to freeze up and i doubt i could answer these on a good day, let alone during a job interview!

anyway, would you be able to answer these interview questions on the spot?

is your personality charismatic or humorous enough that you could get around giving an actual answer? lol!

what (if any) are the craziest questions you've been asked during an interview?

just thought this might make an interesting discussion. .

[talaxandra]

1. if you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?

i'd sit at the bottom of the blender crying until i filled the blender, float on the salty water, swim to the edge and pull myself out (but i suspect i wouldn't have a job)

2. how many ridges are there around a quarter? (reportedly from deloitte)

australia is quarter-free so i have no idea

3. what is the philosophy of martial arts?

i like the zen answer provided but think this interviewer's nuts! if someone does provide her preferred quote will her happiness at that override more qualified applicants?

[color=#0f55c3]

4. explain to me what has happened in this country during the last 10 years

i suppose that gives the interviewer an idea of what the applicant thinks is important, what they pay attention to and how wide their interests are (eg world events, politics, sports, film releases, celbrity gossip)

5. rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 how weird you are (reportedly from capital one

is weirder better or worse? 6

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?

do you validate parking? bye!

8. if you could be any superhero, who would it be?

batman - wealthy, philanthropic, no reliance on supernatural powers

9. you have a birthday cake and have exactly three slices to cut it into eight equal pieces. how do you do it?

you want me to share?!

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?

i was thinking about the number of questions needed to narrow it down by halving the pool each time, but of course, as aleah_rn pointed out, the answer's one

12. an apple costs 20 cents, an orange costs 40 cents, and a grapefruit costs 60 cents. how much is a pear?

30c. do i also have to justify my pricing?

16. what do wood and alcohol have in common?

they both come from plants, both words contain the letter "o" twice, they're both associated with seduction (woodfire),

24. how are m&ms made?

i imagine the chocolate is made from half-circle moulds which are 'glued' together when set then coated with a spraypainting of coloured liquid sugar

25. what would you do if you just inherited a pizzeria from your uncle?

gain weight?

[One2gofst]

EEESH!! I think if you answered that way, they would find you to be indecisive and not hire you!! Lol!!

I had an interview the other day where I was asked what my worst quality/weakness was and I had a really hard time answering. She had to help me along quite a bit, which made me feel like I was coming off as conceited or overly confident in my abilities. The thing that made that (very easy) question difficult for me was I felt like anything I said might make her NOT want me! LOL!! So you can just imagine me trying to answer one of these questions!!! "uhm, can I google it?".

(BTW, I did get offered the job!)

Just a helpful hint that has always worked for me in such situations is to point out whatever you may think is a weakness and discuss how you have implemented steps to remedy it. For example rather than saying, "I procrastinate" and leaving it at that, you could say something like, "In the past I have procrastinated and it led to being time crunched. I recognized that, while I was completing all my tasks on time and adequately, I could be more productive and produce higher quality work if I budgeted my time better. Since that time I have made a schedule for myself outlining things I need to get done and a timeline to do so. Along with budgeting time throughout my workday, this has allowed me to become more productive and effective at what I do."

Everyone has weaknesses. The key is to both not focus on them and also not pretend they don't exist.

Just my $.02

[rn undisclosed name]

Just a helpful hint that has always worked for me in such situations is to point out whatever you may think is a weakness and discuss how you have implemented steps to remedy it. For example rather than saying, "I procrastinate" and leaving it at that, you could say something like, "In the past I have procrastinated and it led to being time crunched. I recognized that, while I was completing all my tasks on time and adequately, I could be more productive and produce higher quality work if I budgeted my time better. Since that time I have made a schedule for myself outlining things I need to get done and a timeline to do so. Along with budgeting time throughout my workday, this has allowed me to become more productive and effective at what I do."

Everyone has weaknesses. The key is to both not focus on them and also not pretend they don't exist.

Just my $.02

I like that one and it is so true. I couldn't live without writing down things on my to do list and refer back to it very often.

[Forever Sunshine, ASN, RN]

I don't think I'd be getting this job.

[MassagetoRN]

I recently went on a new grad OR job and the strangest question (atleast to me, and I HATE the OR) was:

We do alot of diagnostic surgeries or biopsies. What would you do if you asked the surgeon what to lable the specimen and he told you to call it "George"?

[MassagetoRN]

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: [color=#0f55c3]aapl - [color=#0f55c3]news))

you can tell by the smell of the open box and the other boxes.....

[nyanbensmommy1]

Wow, I would be **** out of luck

You and me both. These are ridiculous questions to ask on an interview.

I think they do this because they have to interview a certain amount of people before taking the job off the market so to say. It's a waste of time.

[handyrn]

Ok, the birthday cake one was pretty easy. Beyond that, I'm lost.

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

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: [color=#0f55c3]aapl - [color=#0f55c3]news))

i figured this one out: pull one piece of fruit from the mixed box. if you pull out an orange, that means mixed box is full of oranges, the orange box is full of apples, and the apple box is mixed.

if you pull an apple out of the mixed box, that means the mixed box is full of apples, the apple box is full of oranges, and the orange box is mixed.

[tvccrn, ASN, RN]

#18 is an easy logic problem. Step 1; Put 4 pennies on each side of the scale, the lightest group contains the light penny. Step 2; divide the lighter group and put 2 pennies on each side of the scale, again the lightest group contains the light penny. Step 3; take the lightest group (2 pennies) and put one on each side of the scale.

You're one smart cookie. Good for you!

[SweetBabyLPN]

I figured this one out: pull one piece of fruit from the mixed box. If you pull out an orange, that means mixed box is full of oranges, the orange box is full of apples, and the apple box is mixed.

If you pull an apple out of the mixed box, that means the mixed box is full of apples, the apple box is full of oranges, and the orange box is mixed.

Not necessarily, because the orange you pulled could have still been part of the mixed box and you just happened to have pulled an orange as opposed to an apple. Assuming however that the orange is from the mixed box, the box labeled orange could be mixed and the box labled apple could be oranges, and vice versa.

It can go either way!

[canigraduate]

Not necessarily, because the orange you pulled could have still been part of the mixed box and you just happened to have pulled an orange as opposed to an apple. Assuming however that the orange is from the mixed box, the box labeled orange could be mixed and the box labled apple could be oranges, and vice versa.

It can go either way!

Actually, Not_A_Hat_Person is right. It says in the question that all of the box

are mislabeled so the "mixed" box can't be mixed.