Weird Interview Questions and How to Answer Them

Glass Door just came out with their annual Top 25 OddballInterview Questions of 2011. This article covers some of the most unexpected – and often strange – interview questions that are reported on their site www.glassdoor.com. Among this year’s winners are questions like, what do you think of garden gnomes?, name 5 uses of a stapler without staples in it, and how much money did the residents of Dallas/Fort Worth spend on gasoline in 2008.

You may think of these types of questions as new ways that devious employers have come up with to torture you. You may be right, however most of the time these questions are designed to get the interviewee to drop their interview “game face” and show their true personality. These questions can be a way for employers to assess how the candidate can think on their feet, how they solve problems, how they handle stress, and also evaluate their critical thinking skills.

With so much being read into the answer to these types of questions, you should be sure you are ready for them. There is no way to truly prepare for these types of oddball questions. However, being prepared to answer the mainstream questions will make you less nervous, and you will therefore feel more at-ease and less likely to be stumped by these oddballs.

The most important note is that you should never forget to bring your personality with you to the interview. Be yourself and show your true colors in the interview. Some people fear that if they show their personality that it will cost them the job. That may be true, but wouldn’t you rather be screened out than work in a job where you don’t fit in?