The Best and Worst Interview Questions

[Robert Baratheon]

My employer breached my trust back in late August by not following through on a commitment it made to me. Rather than going all Breaking Bad on them in retaliation, I have instead been arranging a steady stream of interviews over the past two months to explore greener pastures. The quality of the interviewers and the questions has varied wildly, and it has got me thinking about how I would approach the task if the roles were reversed.

One of the worst and most cliched questions is without a doubt the eye-roll-inducing, "What is your greatest weakness?" I think this question is little more than a mind game employers play for their own benefit, which is unlikely to produce a useful response and could even damage an interview with an otherwise good candidate. A close cousin is the groan-worthy, "Name a time when you had a conflict with someone and explain how you resolved it." I could easily see getting back a combination of canned responses and outright lies - the hallmarks of a bad question.

I personally like when the interviewer eskews formalism in favor of a more "human" conversation with the applicant about the job. At the same time, I realize for larger organizations, especially retailers (e.g., Walmart, Target), some hiring consistency is desirable and this approach might not be effective. While I'm not interviewing for such positions, I know that a common retail question on the questionnaire is: "What is the value of goods you took from your last employer without permission?" While most of us will laugh at this question because it seems so absurd, I can't believe such sophisticated organizations are just stupid, and I've heard that these screening questions are effective on the basis that many in our society believe stealing from one's employer is normal and won't even bother to lie about it. I got my current position partially on the basis of a standardized test. Some of the questions were essentially asking me to rate myself, so I simply put 10/10 for everything on the basis that the grading system couldn't possibly mark down for arrogance because it would risk weeding out the few "real" 10's.

One of my favorite questions is the simple: "What interests you about the job?" It's amazing how many interviewers won't even ask such basic questions.

What do you think are some of the best and worst interview questions, and why?

[caroljane]

The strangest one I got was "Have you ever been sexually harassed on the job?" Maybe the company had had problems with that, but I didn't know that. Jeez.

[jts]

Obama (or whoever) applies for a job as prez (or whatever political office). Quiz him on his understanding of the proper role of government. If he doesn't know that, he doesn't qualify.

[Brant Gaede]

R U Vegetable or Mineral?

--Brant

[Selene]

One of the worst that I experienced was at a stress interview, wherein the female HR person asked:

If you had to kill your mother, would you use a knife, or, a gun?

My answer was ...niether.

She then said that I had to pick one.

I calmly replied that I did not have to pick one. If that ended the interview, I am leaving.

I thank you for your time. Out of curiisuty, is that restaurant around the corner a quality place to have lunch?

At any rate, the refusal to pick one was apparently an answer that nailed the job.

A...

Best time to look for a job is when you have one...

[Brant Gaede]

Those worthless interviews are worthless as are most hiring interviews. If the applicant seems personable enough for the work environment and his data checks out, put him to work on a short leash. HR hubris has bamboozled management into paying people for the wrong way to work in HR departments.

--Brant

and paying them too much too

[Robert Baratheon]

One of the worst that I experienced was at a stress interview, wherein the female HR person asked:

If you had to kill your mother, would you use a knife, or, a gun?

My answer was ...niether.

She then said that I had to pick one.

I calmly replied that I did not have to pick one. If that ended the interview, I am leaving.

I thank you for your time. Out of curiisuty, is that restaurant around the corner a quality place to have lunch?

At any rate, the refusal to pick one was apparently an answer that nailed the job.

A...

Best time to look for a job is when you have one...

Absolutely, which is why I'm looking now instead of quitting right away, even though I committed myself to leave the moment the breach occurred.

I hope you didn't take the job. That question is another good example of an interviewer "messing" with the applicant just for the sake of it, or to unnaturally prod some kind of distinguishing response. When I interviewed for a prosecutor position in Miami, I had three rounds of interviews, including one in person that necessitated a flight to the city (a colossal waste of time and money), and was posed highly complex hypothetical situations in each one. Most involved ridiculously contrived circumstances that required my character to either break the law or risk many innocent lives (the infamous "Terrorist-Torture" scenario, or some variant having to do with a serial killer). Perhaps it was my skepticism about their methodology that led to me not being selected, although that itself turned out to be a blessing from what I heard after the fact.

Those worthless interviews are worthless as are most hiring interviews. If the applicant seems personable enough for the work environment and his data checks out, put him to work on a short leash. HR hubris has bamboozled management into paying people for the wrong way to work in HR departments.

--Brant

and paying them too much too

You've touched on a larger issue. Many HR departments have become ends unto themselves in a vicious feedback loop. In fact, the grossly overstaffed HR department in my agency is most responsible for the broken commitment that led my current job search. They don't serve their current workforce and aren't held accountable, while every person in that office is earning over $100,000.

[Robert Baratheon]

A related problem is how to separate the bullshit from the reality on people's resumes in the resume-screening process and then later on in interviews. Most likely due to the sorry state of the economy - but also possibly due to a breakdown in public trust - all applicants today are claiming to have managerial experience, to have "overseen" an $X billion annual budget, to be in close working contact with top management, and so on. A lot of people are now claiming to have degrees they never actually attained, or will embellish their formal credentials a bit to fit the need. One fun fact is I've never had a single reference of mine called - even for the jobs I ended up getting. Lazy HR departments to blame? Or maybe references have become just another useless jump-through-the-hoop exercise that nobody wants to admit?

[Selene]

Great thread.

Have to go out for till late afternoon.

However, I shall return! Might even drag Doug with me.

[PDS]

Best interview question I ever heard was a question asked to one of my pals in grad school. After about 20 minutes of the usual, the guy asked my buddy: do you believe your own bullshit?

HIs answer: yes.

[Brant Gaede]

A related problem is how to separate the bullshit from the reality on people's resumes in the resume-screening process and then later on in interviews. Most likely due to the sorry state of the economy - but also possibly due to a breakdown in public trust - all applicants today are claiming to have managerial experience, to have "overseen" an $X billion annual budget, to be in close working contact with top management, and so on. A lot of people are now claiming to have degrees they never actually attained, or will embellish their formal credentials a bit to fit the need. One fun fact is I've never had a single reference of mine called - even for the jobs I ended up getting. Lazy HR departments to blame? Or maybe references have become just another useless jump-through-the-hoop exercise that nobody wants to admit?

Feel free to use me as a reference.

--Brant

I don't charge much nor do I speak truth to power

[Brant Gaede]

Best interview question I ever heard was a question asked to one of my pals in grad school. After about 20 minutes of the usual, the guy asked my buddy: do you believe your own bullshit?

HIs answer: yes.

Sad. Accepting the premise of the question endorses the proposition. The broader point, however, is there is no right and wrong answer; there is only right and wrong elaboration and if you don't elaborate I'd consider that wrong. I assume he elaborated.

--Brant

[Darrell Hougen]

The best interview questions are usually relevant to the job. Since I work in corporate research, we often ask candidates how they would approach a particular problem, either a problem we are considering or one closely related.

Another question that usually elicits interesting information is why a particular candidate has a gap in his or her resume. That may not be fair in this economy, but it can be helpful in deciding whether the candidate is a good fit for the job.

So, I'm going to diverge from the topic a little into interview experiences (rather than questions).

I was working for a company on a particularly stressful project. All corporate research is stressful. Anyway, one of the guys that was helping conduct the interview asked the candidate why he had a one year gap on his work resume. He admitted that he had been in a mental hospital being treated for stress.

Darrell

[caroljane]

Ah, the gap in the resume. "Got downsized and could not find another job immediately in this rotten job market" is not a viable answer. The right answer is to fill the gap with "freelancing and volunteering" when actually you were job hunting, or staring at the television and tearing your hair out.

I worked in an HR department for a year. Agree this is a great thread and will be back with some memories later.

[Darrell Hougen]

Since we were looking for research oriented candidates, a former employer of mine asked a potential applicant Archimedes problem. If a man with a brick in a boat in a swimming pool throws out the brick and it sinks to the bottom, does the level of water in the pool go up, down, or stay the same?

Darrell

[Brant Gaede]

Since we were looking for research oriented candidates, a former employer of mine asked a potential applicant Archimedes problem. If a man with a brick in a boat in a swimming pool throws out the brick and it sinks to the bottom, does the level of water in the pool go up, down, or stay the same?

Darrell

Three-card monte?

--Brant

in the boat the effective density has to do with the weight of the brick respecting the water displaced--the sinking brick loses that advantage to the extent of excess weight to the necessary sinking weight so the water level goes down (It doesn't sink in the boat so all the brick's weight is utilized in raising the pool's water level.)

is this right (I'm no scientist)?

[Robert Baratheon]

The best interview questions are usually relevant to the job. Since I work in corporate research, we often ask candidates how they would approach a particular problem, either a problem we are considering or one closely related.

This strikes me as logical because riding shotgun to their thought process on a real problem the selected candidate might face can offer a lot of insight into whether they have the right type of thinking, even if they don't come up with a neat solution. One frustration I've faced from time to time is the interviewer who assumes a lack of direct experience with a task means I wouldn't be able to perform it, as if skills aren't transferable or there is no room for learning. The response I'd always like to give (but don't) is somebody with 10 years experience might have been doing a sucky job for 10 years!

Since we were looking for research oriented candidates, a former employer of mine asked a potential applicant Archimedes problem. If a man with a brick in a boat in a swimming pool throws out the brick and it sinks to the bottom, does the level of water in the pool go up, down, or stay the same?

I have mixed feelings about this question for a couple of reasons. The first is the applicant has a one in three chance of getting lucky, which is very high. The second is the scope is fairly narrow and properly understanding displacement doesn't necessarily imply understanding in any other area. Maybe something that requires a mixed skillset or a bit more creativity would alleviate my concerns.

I would answer that the water level would stay the same, but I'm not positive in my response. I wonder: would I be marked down or alternatively receive credit for admitting my lack of certainty?

[caroljane]

Robert, without wishing to intrude on personal areas, I am wondering in what way your employer breached your trust, and specifically if you had a written contract of employment at the outset of commencing work. I am not just being nosy, as mentioned above I have worked in HR and once considered law school, where I would have gone for employment law. It is a field of continuing interest to me as it is so paramount in our lives.

[Robert Baratheon]

It's complicated - the shortest answer is my boss, and my boss's boss, and my boss's boss's boss all agreed I was doing a phenomenal job and agreed to promote me when I became eligible after three years with the agency. They filed the paperwork to make it happen a year ago, but the paperwork got "stuck" in our extremely bureaucratic and hostile HR department, and nobody in my chain of command is willing to take any additional steps to get it unstuck out of fear of reprisal. Months have elapsed with no end to the toxic situation in sight, and my boss continues to assign me work above my pay level (because I'm the only one who can do it) and pretending nothing is wrong. Most likely, they would argue they've done all they can and their hands are tied. As I've let them know, I'm upset they haven't done more and expect me to keep carrying my office without fairly compensating me for it.

[caroljane]

Ethically you are being screwed over.,As I understand it, after three years of exemplary work you were promised a promotion, verbally, by the company ,, which I hope you have written records of. You have continued to work at your same level, in good faith waiting for the promised promotion, and if you are doing work now concomitant with the promotion level work, you might have a case for compensation whatever happens.

[caroljane]

Employment situations are always complicated, but employee rights are always simple.

1, Employment contract, spells out the relationship at the outset. These can be disregarded however, if proven to be signed by the employee under threatof not being hired or not being given time to consult with a legal advisor. Or if by happy chance it is signed after the employee has commenced working.

2jSignificant changes to job conditions if not agreed at outset of employment. Can be challenged by employee or considered as part of Constructive Dismissal.

[Robert Baratheon]

I appreciate the input, and I would completely agree if not for a few additional wrinkles I didn't mention (part of the "longer answer"). Work rules prevent my agency from promoting me without publicly advertising the higher position and allowing others to apply. This is, theoretically, supposed to promote merit hiring and discourage institutional cronyism, but in practice it only interferes with the hiring and promotion process by adding additional layers. The universally adopted workaround for years has been preselection of a candidate (in this case me) by management, HR publicly posting the position, and then selection of the candidate out of the applicant pool. Unfortunately, this means I wasn't able to get anything in writing, and I have no legal claim to the promotion. Having said that, nobody is disputing that I deserve the promotion - they're just telling me I have to wait whatever amount of time HR takes to post it. The problem is that could literally take years, or it might never happen without management elevating the issue to a sufficiently high level. I do have a valid legal claim for being assigned work above my pay grade, which is a violation of the contract, but that would only prohibit management from giving me the work - not the outcome I'm seeking.

[Brant Gaede]

It's complicated - the shortest answer is my boss, and my boss's boss, and my boss's boss's boss all agreed I was doing a phenomenal job and agreed to promote me when I became eligible after three years with the agency. They filed the paperwork to make it happen a year ago, but the paperwork got "stuck" in our extremely bureaucratic and hostile HR department, and nobody in my chain of command is willing to take any additional steps to get it unstuck out of fear of reprisal. Months have elapsed with no end to the toxic situation in sight, and my boss continues to assign me work above my pay level (because I'm the only one who can do it) and pretending nothing is wrong. Most likely, they would argue they've done all they can and their hands are tied. As I've let them know, I'm upset they haven't done more and expect me to keep carrying my office without fairly compensating me for it.

This is simple, if not easy. 1) Stop seeing yourself as a victim. 2) Keep looking for another job. 3) In the meantime keep doing your present job.

Number 1 is most important.

Decades ago I was in a similar situation. When I decided I had had enough I collected my paycheck and walked out the door without a word to anybody and never went back. It was a low-paying job and I could afford to do that. The guy who had screwed over me watched me leave. The company, State Farm, mailed me a check for my residual pay. The guilty party was retired navy and I knew he had spent his career manipulating the men he was responsible for. There were similar people in the army. After my 18 months of training were over I couldn't stand garrison duty at Ft. Bragg so I wrote Billie Alexander in Washington asking her to send me to Vietnam, which she did. Billie was famous in Special Forces assigning enlisted men all over the world. She could and did pry NCOs off general officers who didn't want to lose them by locking them into their personal command structures. I should have asked her to send me to Thailand. I could have spent a year getting laid, but I wanted to kill gun-bearing communists.

--Brant

I still have the these acute and chronic urges, so I know I'm not old--yet

[caroljane]

Oh I see Robert, it is a public or govt agency. It is all political and everybody's hands really are tied, except the unknowables with the real influence .

Keep on interviewing, if I had done that when in my first job I would be rich by now.

[Robert Baratheon]

I had an interview last week. I have another interview this week. I'm confident I'll hear back about a third interview soon. It could all work out for the best, but keeping commitments is VERY important to me and I'm upset about being led on. As for seeing myself as a victim, I suppose I do to an extent, but it's inspired me to take things into my own hands to remedy the situation, and I think that's the appropriate response.