***Reposted from my previous blog in 2016***
One of my least favorite business activities that I have to perform is the interview. I dislike having to be in an interview and feel sorry for when I have to perform an interview with a prospective candidate. It may be tied to the unfortunate cookie-cutter questions that our Human Resources department explains we must adhere to as a deterrent to a lawsuit, but it drives me insane. Typically we have the same few questions, “Tell me about your most difficult decision, tell me about what your boss would say, tell me why you are better than little Johnny, blah blah blah.” Last week I was reading through an article from Inc. Magazine and came across an interesting article, “How Richard Branson, Elon Musk, and 28 Other Successful Entrepreneurs Get to Know Job Candidates.” I found this article to be inspiring of hope that maybe one day we will be able to adopt a more abstract interviewing process when mankind is less interested in lawsuits and more interested in having a more thoughtful interview. Here is a list of some of the questions from the article which stuck out to me most.
- What didn’t you get a chance to include on your resume? (Richard Branson(Virgin)) – I really like this one just because we are so tied to an automated resume system now that the computer is only looking for keywords that will separate the wheat from the chaff. Wouldn’t it be great that we could tell a more complete story of who we are rather than the ho-hum set of verbiage that will get you in front of an interviewer only to be asked the cookie-cutter questions?
- Are you the smartest person you know? (Sydney Finkelstein(Oracle)) – Like Admiral Ackbar would say, “It’s a trap!” this answer could send you in one of two ways. 1. If you aren’t the smartest please let me know who is so I can hire them or 2. You’re the smartest huh, don’t think too high and mightily of yourself do you?
- On a scale of one to 10, how weird are you? (Tony Hsieh(Zappos)) – Zappos has an interesting culture where doing things not so by the book is okay. They look for those that think outside of the box but don’t go to crazy or you may not be manageable.
- You are standing on the surface of the Earth. You walk one mile south, one mile west, and one mile north. You end up exactly where you started. Where are you? (Elon Musk(SpaceX)) – Of course this most off the wall question would come from the guy that must have said in his head, “Why should NASA have all the fun going to space, why not me?” Mr. Musk has been the outside of the box thinker that brought you companies such as PayPal, Tesla and now SpaceX. Why would any of think that a question you are presented from him would require us to do some thinking? The answer is the North Pole in case you are wondering.
- What do you want to be when you grow up? (Stewart Butterfield (Flickr)) – The ultimate question if you ask me. We are constantly growing and evolving ourselves into what other’s want us to be. If the ball was in your court to break from the path, what would you choose to be when you have to “Adult”?
- How old were you when you had your first paying job? (Hannah Paramore(Paramore Advertising)) – Were you earning bank at an early age? Many people do not get their first job until they have finished college. In an age of interviewees which parents believed that their child could have better grades and finish school more quickly by not holding down a job, we find candidates with a strong amount of book knowledge and no “Street Cred.” Personally, I believe a good balance of work and school gives a stronger candidate when the day is done and shows me a potential employee who has seen some real-world experience. (BTW I had my first job at 12 pulling wood from an old bowling alley being converted to a grocery store.)
So, these are but a few of the many off-the-wall interview questions that are asked in the article. I would advise using the link in the first of this article and check out the full series. Have you been lucky enough to have experienced some interview questions such as these? Add your experiences in the comments below!
Resources
You can find a bunch of books on interviews here!
