Glassdoor Reveals Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions for 2013

Contributed to by: Samantha Zupan and Scott Dobroski

Sausalito, Calif. (January 11, 2013)One in five employees plan to look for a new job in the next three months assuming the economy stays the same or improves, according to the Q4 Glassdoor Employment Confidence Survey. With more people entering the job market, candidates will have to compete to land coveted jobs. To give job seekers a leg up in the interview process, Glassdoor, a jobs and career community, released today its annual list of Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions, which is compiled from the tens of thousands of interview questions shared by job candidates over the past year. This list is designed to help job seekers prepare for challenging or unexpected questions that may arise during an interview.

Glassdoor’s Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions for 2013:

1. “If you were to get rid of one state in the US, which would it be and why?” – Asked at Forrester Research, Research Associate candidate. More Forrester Research interview questions.

2. “How many cows are in Canada?” – Asked at Google, Local Data Quality Evaluator candidate. More Google interview questions.

3. “How many quarters would you need to reach the height of the Empire State building?” – Asked at JetBlue, Pricing/Revenue Management Analyst candidate. More JetBlue interview questions.

4. “A penguin walks through that door right now wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why is he here?” – Asked at Clark Construction Group, Office Engineer candidate. More Clark Construction Group interview questions.

5. “What songs best describes your work ethic?” – Asked at Dell, Consumer Sales candidate. More Dell interview questions.

6. “Jeff Bezos walks into your office and says you can have a million dollars to launch your best entrepreneurial idea. What is it?” – Asked at Amazon, Product Development candidate.

More Amazon interview questions.

7. “What do you think about when you are alone in your car?” – Asked at Gallup, Associate Analyst candidate. More Gallup interview questions.

8. “How would you rate your memory?” – Asked at Marriott, Front Desk Associate candidate. More Marriott interview questions.

9. “Name 3 previous Nobel Prize Winners.” – Asked at BenefitsCONNECT, Office Manager candidate. More BenefitsCONNECT interview questions.

10. “Can you say: ’Peter Pepper Picked a Pickled Pepper’ and cross-sell a washing machine at the same time?” – Asked at MasterCard, Call Centre candidate. More MasterCard interview questions.

11. “If we came to your house for dinner, what would you prepare for us?” – Asked at Trader Joe’s, Crew candidate. More Trader Joe’s interview questions.

12. “How would people communicate in a perfect world?” – Asked at Novell, Software Engineer candidate. More Novell interview questions.

13. “How do you make a tuna sandwich?” – Asked at Astron Consulting, Office Manager candidate. More Astron Consulting interview questions.

14. “My wife and I are going on vacation, where would you recommend?” – Asked at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Advisory Associate candidate. More PricewaterhouseCoopers interview questions.

15. “You are a head chef at a restaurant and your team has been selected to be on Iron Chef. How do you prepare your team for the competition and how do you leverage the competition for your restaurant?” – Asked at Accenture, Business Analyst candidate. More Accenture interview questions.

16. “Estimate how many windows are in New York.” – Asked at Bain & Company, Associate Consultant candidate. More Bain & Company interview questions.

17. “What’s your favorite song? Perform it for us now.” – Asked at LivingSocial, Adventures City Manager candidate. More LivingSocial interview questions.

18. “Calculate the angle of two clock pointers when time is 11:50.” – Asked at Bank of America, Software Developer candidate. More Bank of America interview questions.

19. “Have you ever stolen a pen from work?” – Asked at Jiffy Software, Software Architect candidate. More Jiffy Software interview questions.

20. “Pick two celebrities to be your parents.” – Asked at Urban Outfitters, Sales Associate candidate. More Urban Outfitters interview questions.

21. “What kitchen utensil would you be?” – Asked at Bandwidth.com, Marketer candidate. More Bandwidth.com interview questions.

22. “If you had turned your cell phone to silent, and it rang really loudly despite it being on silent, what would you tell me?” – Asked at Kimberly-Clark, Biomedical Engineer candidate. More Kimberly-Clark interview questions.

23. “On a scale from one to ten, rate me as an interviewer.” – Asked at Kraft Foods, General Laborer candidate. More Kraft Foods interview questions.

24. “If you could be anyone else, who would it be?” – Asked at Salesforce.com, Sales Representative candidate. More Salesforce.com interview questions.

25. “How would you direct someone else on how to cook an omelet?” – Asked at PETCO, Analyst candidate. More PETCO interview questions.

While job candidates should be ready to take on some challenging and oddball interview questions, they should also expect to be asked some basic or common interview questions. For example, many candidates should prepare to respond to questions like: “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”, “Why did you apply for this job?” and “Where do you see yourself in 5 years?” Glassdoor has also compiled a list of the Most Common Interview Questions.

Interview questions are part of the Interview Reviews feature on Glassdoor which offer insights into the interview process for specific jobs at specific companies – all for free. To date, more than 235,000 interview reviews and 300,000 interview questions around the world have been collected. Interview Reviews include details from actual job candidates about the entire hiring process, including the interview format, how the interview was achieved (e.g. applied online, connected via a recruiter, etc.), average duration, and ratings on the overall interview experience. Each review also includes details as to whether a job offer was made and whether it was accepted or declined, along with any negotiation tips.

See past Oddball Interview Questions on the Glassdoor Blog:

http://www.glassdoor.com/blog/tag/oddball-interview-questions/

MULTIMEDIA PRODUCERS/EDITORS:

A video featuring employees answering Oddball Interview Questions is available to embed and for broadcast use: http://bit.ly/TXyi3B.

About Glassdoor

Glassdoor is a career community that is changing the way people find jobs and companies recruit top talent. Members can uncover Inside Connections at a company through their Facebook network, see the latest job listings, as well as get access to proprietary user-generated content including company-specific salary reports, ratings and reviews, CEO approval ratings, interview questions and reviews, office photos, and more. Plus, employers can get involved in the conversation through Glassdoor’s suite of recruiting solutions that influence target job candidates when they’re making career decisions. Glassdoor, founded in 2007, is backed by Benchmark Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures, Battery Ventures and DAG Ventures. More information about Glassdoor can be found on its blog, and by following the company on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Glassdoor.com is a registered trademark of Glassdoor, Inc.

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