25. Easily impressed
“How many lines of code have you written?”
Had just graduated, my first real job interview. I did some visualization of his many pages all my class projects would’ve been and multiplied that by how many lines of code might be on a page. He seemed impressed by the number. I got the job….and quit after the first day. The guy was indeed a clown.
26. Interesting Hobbies
I went for an IT job at a big U.K. Car insurance company. The whole interview was spent asking me questions about my jumping stilts club and then watching videos of it on YouTube. I literally had to ask if this was still an interview. They filled the vacancy internally but liked me so much they created a role for me. It didn’t include jumping or stilts but they always asked when would I be bringing my stilts in.
27. Everyone is a criminal!
“Have you ever stolen anything?”
uhh.. No?
“Incorrect, everyone has stolen something, like change from their parents.”
Okay …
All this to work at a stupid grocery store as a bagger. Stop with the stupid questions lady, I just want my minimum wage job!
28. Because short people can’t save lives, duh.
“You’re quite a lot smaller than any of the other candidates, how are you going to cope with that?”
Applying for a lifeguard at a pool and the interviewer said this. While yes I was slightly shorter than some of the other candidates I was way over qualified for the position but she focused on the fact I was 5’7 rather than the multiple medals I had with me…
29. Wait how many people are there?
A dam has burst, and you have two teams of people working in two caves downstream. If you do nothing, the water kills half the people in both caves. You have a lever that can redirect the water to one team or the other, killing 90% of the people in one cave to save 100% of people in the other. What do you do?
This was for a programming interview.
30. Hidden agenda
“Would you be willing to work part time with adult’s with severe intellectual disabilities?”
No I specifically didn’t apply for that position because I know what it takes and I am not cut out for it. It was ridiculous because I applied to work with teenagers with depressive disorders and children with intellectual disabilities. Made that clear in the pre-interview paperwork where you fill out 100 questions on what and who you would like to work with and in the interview, two weeks later was offered the part time position of working with adults with intellectual disabilities. I think they were trying to trick people into taking that position I heard through a friend that their roommate got the same run around with the same company. Worst part is if you didn’t read the job offer with a fine tooth comb you might not have noticed it because they hid it behind other words.
31. How much time can I kill for you?
I got asked that stupid question: “You drive by a bus stop and waiting there is the girl of your dreams, your best friend you owe your life to, and an older lady that needs to go to the hospital. You have room for one person in your car. Who do you pick up?” This question is complete crap and probably showed up on the interviewer’s Facebook the night before the interview. It supposed to be a problem solving question but really it’s selfish. The answer is to give your keys to your friend so he can get to where he needs to go and he can drop off the old lady, giving you time to spend with the girl. Great attitude for team building in a work environment.
I hate lazy interviews. The amount of terrible interviews I had to give to people we knew we weren’t hiring just to show face to HR that we care and convince them we didn’t already have someone in mind was mind-boggling. A colleague of mine would sometimes sit down with someone, ask one question, and wrap up the interview. It was humiliating and a total waste of the time of a person that clearly needs a job and could be doing better things with their time.
