When meeting a recruiter, candidates have to answer all questions. Some of them can even seem ridiculous. The website Glassdoor has listed the ten most absurd questions. Here are some of them.
Since candidates must be prepared for everything, Glassdoor has compiled more than 10,000 questions they were asked by recruiters over the past few years in job interviews. On this basis, the American site specializing in anonymous evaluation of companies has completed an annual rating of the ten oddest questions asked during real interviews. This rating has just been released.
More and more companies are doing away with traditional questionnaires focused on a person’s motivation or career, and are questioning the candidates in a more original way. Their questions are not aimed at throwing off the candidate, but more to get them to think differently. It’s also a technique allowing them to note the candidate’s reaction and reflection on an extraordinary situation.
Questions all over the place
“What would you do if you were the only survivor of an air crash?” This is the question ranked as the most original by the site. It was asked during a job interview for a fact finder’s position with Airbnb.
“What is your favorite 90s hit?” Though this question, #2 on the list, seems to be addressed more to thirty-somethings or older or music fans, it was posed during an interview for a client advisor position with Squarespace, a website design platform.
“If you woke up to find 2,000 unread emails and could only respond to 300, how would you go about it?” Original, yet the question relates more to the professional sphere; it was asked by Dropbox to candidates applying for a rotational program.
Stanford University took the spot for the 4th question: “if there was a fight between Spiderman and Batman, who would be the victor?” The candidates for a specialist position in medical simulation were asked this question about a possible clash between the Marvel and DC Comics superheroes.
The 7th question is one of the most interesting: “how would you describe the colour yellow to someone who is visually impaired?” It was part of a questionnaire given to candidates for a flight attendant position with Spirit Airlines in Florida.
Bose, specialist in home audio systems, lands at 8th place in an attempt to determine the following: “if you were asked to unload a Boeing 747 filled with candies, how would you do it?” Candidates applying to an IT Support Manager position were asked this question.
In the 10th spot: “who is your favourite Disney princess?” This was one of the questions responded to by candidates for a team member position with Cold Stone Creamery.