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. .

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

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)

11. The first race has 5 horses. Eliminate 2 horses, and add 2 more from the stable. Repeat for each race until the stable is empty.

[gatherswool]

There's another way to do the penny problem...... and to cut the cake, you just need to think three dimensionally. I love these kinds of questions! Though I'd almost certainly have a seizure if asked to do the train one; I have severe Post Calculus Stress Disorder.

Re: "George" -- isn't the only way to succeed around surgeons to be both weirder and cleverer than they are? Luckily at least one of those isn't too hard.

The strangest interview I ever had was for an NP position in specialty Pediatric care. Hospital HR had me come in from a couple of states away to discuss this very specialized position, which I had very specialized experience for, and then proceeded to ask me questions about how I would deal with adult med/surg/cardiac patients as a floor nurse. No pediatric or advanced practice questions at all. It was truly surreal. I didn't get the job, possibly because I kept asking the interviewer if he was sure I was in the right interview!

[SweetBabyLPN]

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.

You're right. Plus I said the third box could be oranges and Not_A_Hat_Person already said oranges were pulled. Good Look. :)

[JeanettePNP, MSN, RN, NP]

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:

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

about 50

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))

one cut around the equator, 2 cuts across the top

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))

reach into the box labeled oranges & apples. you take out an apple. so you know that box contains only apples. that means the box labeled apples has only oranges, and the box labeled oranges has oranges & apples (or vice versa).

14. how many traffic lights are in manhattan? (reportedly from argus information and advisory services)

i dont' remember off hand how high the street numbers go, but i think they go up to 150? and there are 12 avenues. 12x150=1800 intersections. let's double that for both sides of the street, that's 3600. tack on a few more for where it's wider on bottom. let's say 5000.

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)

roughly 50%

17. how do you weigh an elephant without using a weigh machine? (reportedly from ibm (nyse: [color=#0f55c3]ibm - [color=#0f55c3]news))

measure the watermark in a pool and then put in weights to reach the same watermark.

22. what's the square root of 2000? (reportedly from ubs (nyse: [color=#0f55c3]ubs - [color=#0f55c3]news))

between 44 and 45

[JacknSweetpea]

Was it an African swallow or a European swallow?