Unusual Job Interview Questions Help Select
the Best
Unusual Job Interview Questions Supplement Behavioral
Questions
Are you interested in a new trend in job interview questions - or perhaps an old
trend newly revived? Lynne Sarikas, director of the MBA Career Center at the
Northeastern University business school, believes that more and more businesses
are asking unusual job interview questions as part of their candidate job interview
process.
Microsoft's job interview questions are legend (examples include: How many golf
balls does it take to fill a 747? Why is a manhole cover round?). (But, Microsoft, at
least in their developer interviews, appears to have moved away from puzzle
questions and is asking candidates to solve white board code problems during
interviews.)
But other employers are using unusual questions in their candidate selection
process for new reasons. The job search advice industry is so prolific that any
candidate who researches knows he should prepare brief responses in advance to
frequent standard questions. These include job interview questions such as: "what
are your strengths and weaknesses" and "what makes you the most qualified
candidate for this job."
Interviewers use unusual job interview questions to assess how well the candidate
responds to an unexpected question or scenario. Most unusual job interview
questions do not have right or wrong answers. These job interview questions
provide the candidate with the opportunity, according to Sarikas, "to demonstrate
quick thinking, poise, creativity, and even a sense of humor."
She says, "The interviewers are trying to catch a glimpse of the unrehearsed
candidate in an unguarded moment. There is no way to prepare for these off-the-
wall job interview questions so the interviewer is able to observe how the
candidate responds and composes his or her thoughts. Some interviewers also ask
unusual job interview questions to gain insight into the candidate's thought
processes … they want to see how the candidate will think about the unusual job

Simply, behavioral interview questions ask how the candidate handled similar
situations in the past. They don't ask a candidate to look into a crystal ball and
predict their future behavior. Sarikas suggests the following questions as general,
basic behavioral job interview questions. (My suggested behavioral job interview
questions follow.)
• Describe a situation when you took a risk professionally. What was the
outcome?
• Tell me about a time others disagreed with your recommended course of
action. How did you persuade them to your plans and what were the
results?
• Describe a situation where you worked effectively as part of a team to
accomplish a goal on time and within budget. What was your role? What
did you learn?
• Describe a situation in which you worked as part of a team but your
team failed to accomplish the goal on time and within budget. What was
your role? What did you learn?
• How would your current boss or a team member describe you? What
would he/she say are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
• Describe a complex problem you had to solve and walk me through your
thinking as your solved it.
• Tell me about a creative solution you developed for a challenging
situation or problem.
• Describe a situation working in a group or team where there was
interpersonal conflict. Describe how you approached the conflict. What
worked and what didn't? How did you manage the outcome?
• Describe a situation you feel you should have handled differently.
• Describe a situation in which you aspired to reach a goal. What obstacles
did you confront along the way? What did you do to overcome them?
• What is the most stressful situation you have handled and what was the
outcome?