Job Interview: What questions cause you the most anxiety?
- Thread starter ClanCy
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I've had this one before. I always say "I expect to be paid within industry standards and reflective of my skills and experience." It's a non answer, but I think it's on the interviewing company to tell the candidate what they think they're worth. To me, it can be an important data point.
Gotta go with Mitch Hedberg on this one..."Celebrating the 5th year anniversary of you asking me this question!"
I did that one or two times. Tell them that I just didn’t want to do entry level work.
Kind of related, PRO tip:
If you submit an application to someone on Facebook, it's probably a bad idea to have a picture of you painting a swastika on a wall as your latest post.
If you submit an application to someone on Facebook, it's probably a bad idea to have a picture of you painting a swastika on a wall as your latest post.
Never been asked in a job interview, but I was asked this question in a college admissions interview.
Hot interviewer asked me tell her a joke. And that's when I realized that I knew only inappropriate jokes.
Least favorite interview question: "Did you know your zipper is down?"
OK, that didn't happen. But I do have a story. I had a lunch interview at a fancy Italian restaurant in Chicago when I was in my 20s, very naïve, could eat like a bear, and never wasted food. I stupidly ordered clam linguini. Hard to eat under the best of circumstances. My interviewer ordered a salad. I hadn't finished my linguini, so the waiter asked if I'd like to take it home. I said "Sure!" Dinner tonight! He turns his attention to my host, who also had some of her salad remaining. He asked her if she'd like to take it with her. She says no, then turns to me and asks if I wanted it! Rough. Needless to say, that was my last interview for that position.
So, kids, don't take home leftovers from an interview over a meal.
OK, that didn't happen. But I do have a story. I had a lunch interview at a fancy Italian restaurant in Chicago when I was in my 20s, very naïve, could eat like a bear, and never wasted food. I stupidly ordered clam linguini. Hard to eat under the best of circumstances. My interviewer ordered a salad. I hadn't finished my linguini, so the waiter asked if I'd like to take it home. I said "Sure!" Dinner tonight! He turns his attention to my host, who also had some of her salad remaining. He asked her if she'd like to take it with her. She says no, then turns to me and asks if I wanted it! Rough. Needless to say, that was my last interview for that position.
So, kids, don't take home leftovers from an interview over a meal.
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I haven't interviewed for a job in nearly 16 years but not many questions tripped me up as the only thing you can do is be yourself and be honest. The people interviewing you probably have done countless interviews and knows when someone is full of BS. I guess I kind of "interviewed" maybe 8 years ago to keep my job when we had a re-org where they merged 2 groups together and part of their process on who they let go was going through an interview process. That was rather interesting because a couple of my coworkers wanted to bomb their interviews so they could get offered a severance package and move onto another job while some of us wanted to stay and were nervous how they were going to decide who stayed or got let go.
Maybe the 1 thing coming out of college doing first interviews was when they asked something about the pay for the job. It's one of those things that most times the pay was listed on the job posting, but if not it was an area I didn't like to get too specific with. The last thing you want to do is either make it seem like you have your sights set on an unrealistic number for that type of job but you also don't want to undersell and make it look like you'd work for cheap either.
Maybe the 1 thing coming out of college doing first interviews was when they asked something about the pay for the job. It's one of those things that most times the pay was listed on the job posting, but if not it was an area I didn't like to get too specific with. The last thing you want to do is either make it seem like you have your sights set on an unrealistic number for that type of job but you also don't want to undersell and make it look like you'd work for cheap either.
Google has some of the worst interviewing questions and interviewers ever so that wouldn't surprise me. IT has a lot of arrogant and bluntness especially at top tier companies like that, it can be pretty toxic at times. Even in college and can be pretty toxic. It's getting better though and definitely could've been asked better but sometimes it's just easier to cut through the crap.
When I recruit at the career fair, we're usually in the same area as Google since we're going after the same folks. People really complain about us when it comes to the fair but last one I went to we had close to 800 resumes given to us and we only gave the green light to the next round to about 20. We have 1min to make a decision on a person. I know it's not fair. I know it can be better but there's not much you can do when there's that many people waiting in line for you.
My favorite one is to ask is "Why do you want to work for (company name)?" and the number one answer is "Why wouldn't I want to work for you, you're (company name)!" Wrong answer. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.
I've been asked that one. I believe I said oak because I'm strong, dependable, etc etc. Dumb question though.
Yea the wrong part about that is "a few steps up". That tells the interviewer you EXPECT to be promoted consistently while barely doing the time required. Most companies, being promoted 3 times in 5 years is a massive jump. It's fine to be ambitious but keep it more ambiguous. Say something like "I hope to learn and grow in the role and become a leader in <department> among my peers". That leaves the door open to promotion to supervisor, shows ambition but without being arrogant about it.
My go to one on that one is "What's blue and smells like red paint?" "Blue paint of course!".
I did A LOT of interviewing my senior year. Even failed a class because I was absent too many times because of interviews. It was a career development class and I complained up and down to the dean about it but they still made me take it again. DEFINITELY NOT SALTY AT ALL! So I've had a lot of questions thrown at me.. some memorable ones were (and my answers):
If you were a soup, what kind of soup would you be?
Chili. It's gotta a bunch of different flavor profiles (skillsets), can be added to other dishes very easily (versatile), warms you up (good natured person) etc
Why is a manhole cover round?
Because manholes are round. You wouldn't put a square cover on a round hole!
The year is 1895, describe how you would tell someone to get to the Des Moines International Airport from your house?
First flight wasn't until the early 1900's so airports didn't exist and I couldn't possibly tell you how to get to a non-existent place.
He actually read it wrong and meant 1995... basically without gps/phone help, how would you give instructions. Basically just seeing how detailed you would be and if you're a landmark/visual person or a miles/numbers person.
How many basketballs can fit in this room?
Deflated or inflated? What's the pressure if inflated? Are we including the items in this room as well or is it going to be empty? What size basketball? etc etc.
Eventually you can do the math.
Without a scale, how would you figure out how heavy a plane is?
I would look it up in the manual and if it wasn't there I would ask the manufacturer.
You are on a desert island, and all you have is a pair of dice. You know that a plane flies over the island on the 30th day of the month. Using the dice, how can you make a calendar that always tells you the day of the month?'
One die is a 5 count and the other is a 1 count. E.g. Die 1 = 5 and Die 2 = 3. Day is 5x5=25 +3 = Day 28
Given the numbers 1 to 1000, what is the minimum numbers guesses needed to find a specific number if you are given the hint “higher” or “lower” for each guess you make?
1. If I got it right the first time, I would only need one guess so that's the minimum. If you're actually looking for an answer it's....(after some whiteboarding....) 10.
I didn't know if they were trying to trick me or asking me about binary search so I did both.
A lot of interview questions for technical roles aren't about actually trying to find an answer, it's about thinking out loud and having sound logic (even if your reasoning or assumptions are made up). Also they're asking you to see if you will run off and do something without asking questions and getting the whole picture first.
Faults was always my favorite question because you can take a general strength and really make it better. What I've said in past is at times I become too focused on the work and may lose sight of the bigger picture. So during a project I always consciously step away to get a better perspective on the work blahblahblah... You tell them you can focus on the job then also tell them you have the ability to take a step back and analyze from a different perspective... It also says you can self-reflect and self-correct on your own...
- Mar 27, 2006
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You got the manhole cover one wrong, btw. Well, not exactly wrong, but there's a correct answer, and that's not it
