What is the Worst Interview Question

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Replies

  • Guns_N_Buns
    Guns_N_Buns Posts: 1,899 Member
    If you were gifted a purple elephant, what would you do with it?

    Ride it. Duh.

    Well, my priorities told me to paint the damn thing orange first, because I hate purple.

    Okay, but why orange?
    Tell me what orange says about your personality.

    It's my favorite color.

    The fact that I didn't giggle and say "i don't know" says all they want to know about my personality.
  • climbing_trees
    climbing_trees Posts: 726 Member
    What is your greatest achievement to date? And your greatest disappointment?

    These were for my first job, I was 19 years old.
  • pleasurelittletreasure
    pleasurelittletreasure Posts: 236 Member
    Any question after they verify who I am. Even, "Did you find the place alright?" starts the sarcasm monster in my head saying, 'No. I'm just a figment of your overly active imagination.' and logic usually prevails with a loud internal, 'SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP FOR ALL OF OUR SAKES STOP TALKING NOW!' The whole interview is a war. I can't unleash ME on them until they know me. I have to pretend to be dull and corporate and succinct. I hate interviews. But the worst has to be, "Name your best quality and your worst quality." Seriously? Are they afraid they will uncover a mad puppy drowner or something? Or Martha Stewart? (You decide which is worse.) Does anyone answer that one 100% truthfully? Would they? So why even ask it?
  • odusgolp
    odusgolp Posts: 10,477 Member
    So we interviewed two guys yesterday (who carpooled) and one of our guys wanted to ask them these:

    If you were a flower, what would you be and why?

    Asiatic Lily

    Who would play you in a movie of your life?

    Maya Rudolph.

    Okay but why are you an Asiatic Lily? *patiently waits for a response*

    Because Asiatic lily's are quick and easy to grow as I am when given a new challenge in my career. They require no support or staking much like I am an independent worker. Plus, they're colorful, and there is no doubt I'm ****ing colorful *****.
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,961 Member
    How did you get your tan? (real question)
    The sun gave it to me :blushing:
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,961 Member
    Oh you know... I once did an interview where they handed me a booklet with their interview questions inside and we went through it together. They asked me, I kid you not, the SAME question 8 out of the 10 questions and expected a new example for each answer.

    It was ridiculous. I didn't get the job. Straight out of university with no real world examples? I answered twice and then basically had to give up. I don't know what they were expecting me to do.

    So if you're prepping for behaviour question type based interviews, make sure you have examples coming out of your ears!!!
  • Veil5577
    Veil5577 Posts: 868 Member
    'Where do you see yourself 20 years from now?"


    My typical response: "Old."
  • Pupslice
    Pupslice Posts: 213 Member
    'is that your real hair? what are you, mixed or something?'
  • TriNoob
    TriNoob Posts: 96 Member
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  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    What is your greatest achievement to date? And your greatest disappointment?

    These were for my first job, I was 19 years old.

    Those sound very standard. I guess it's a little funny that you were quite young, though, so maybe did not have a wealth of experiences to draw upon. If I asked a 19 year old those questions I'd probably expect to hear that their greatest achievement was graduating from high school with honors or some kind of sports/hobby related award. Their greatest disappointment perhaps some event in which they competed, gave it 100% effort, and came in third and thereby learned a huge life lesson LOL
  • wolverine66
    wolverine66 Posts: 3,779 Member
    During an interview with the Miami Dolphins, Dez Bryant was asked "Is your mother a prostitute?"

    I think that ranks as one of the worst.
  • MsBetteDavis
    MsBetteDavis Posts: 118 Member
    I haven't read the responses but the worst one for me is, "why do you want this job?"

    Because I ****ing need money to live you dumbass.
  • dcresider
    dcresider Posts: 1,272 Member
    Why do you want this job? (Because I need the figgin' job)
  • NotRailMeat
    NotRailMeat Posts: 509 Member
    You are in line at the bank when 3 armed men rush in and demand that everyone get on the floor. What do you do?


    Granted; I was interviewing to become a Deputy Sheriff at the time so maybe this question wasn't too far fetched...
  • odusgolp
    odusgolp Posts: 10,477 Member
    You are in line at the bank when 3 armed men rush in and demand that everyone get on the floor. What do you do?


    Granted; I was interviewing to become a Deputy Sheriff at the time so maybe this question wasn't too far fetched...

    Pretty sure that was a good question then *LOL*
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
    I hate it when they ask you if you're applying/interviewing anywhere else. I'm not really sure what the correct answer is for that.

    There isn't one. This is one of those where they want to see what kind of person you are:

    Do you lie/adapt to please your sup,
    or
    Do you tell the honest truth and own up?

    Generally, honesty is the best policy always.

    ETA: And this...
    You explain why this company is your ideal fit.

    Not necessarily true. What many of these weird questions (especially the classics such as "what is your worst defect?") try to determine is if the candidate prepared for them. They want to see if, going to a stressful situation involving an opportunity, you will have prepared adequately.

    No one really wants to know/should know what you like to do with peanut butter and puppies. Or that you cheat your romantic partners unstoppably. Or that you haven't filed taxes in 7 years. They just want to know if you're a good fit for the job - and as a candidate, it is your "job" to prepare for this by doing some research on the corporate culture there, main projects, main problems, etc.

    I have to disagree. I pretty much never put in much effort to prepare for an interview and I get asked questions like this all the time. I always just wing it, go by the seat of my pants. I always have a good answer and I've landed some good jobs after having interviews with questions like those.
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
    I haven't read the responses but the worst one for me is, "why do you want this job?"

    Because I ****ing need money to live you dumbass.

    lol, what they should ask instead is, "Why do you want to work here as opposed to some other place?"

    I often get asked in interviews why I left or why do I want to leave my previous employer.
  • 365andstillalive
    365andstillalive Posts: 663 Member
    I work in the charitable sector, but I'm not a religious person, so interviews with me are pretty funny. I know they can't ask me if I'm religious or not (thank-you law of Canada) but they will do every thing they can to confirm their suspicions, including gauging your reaction to things like "I think god's put you on this path, to help people."

    Charitable sector comes with lots of weird questions, like: "If you were a superhero, what would your power be and why?" which sounds kind of odd, but standard you get weird questions in interviews however they follow it up with things like "Now in under two minutes tell me why I should be passionate about your superhero and choose to be a part of their support team rather than the enemy. Go."

    I'm also typically interviewing for management positions, so they ask lots of those "If so and so did blah blah blah, how would you handle the situation?" 2 minutes later, "what if that didn't work?" I swear they're literally trying to see how many steps I'll let things go before firing people.

    I don't think I've done a single interview since graduating that was less than an hour :/
  • SuperVixen2B
    SuperVixen2B Posts: 218 Member
    "Want a hit?"

    It was an "on the job" interview for a sales position. I went along with one of the sales people on several appointments so I could get a feel for what he did, how he handled clients, and if I thought I'd be a good fit. As we were driving from one appt to the next, he took out a pipe and asked me if I wanted a hit. :noway:
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    I hate it when they ask you if you're applying/interviewing anywhere else. I'm not really sure what the correct answer is for that.

    I'm a talented asset. Just as you're talking to several candidates, I am as well. :)
  • ShrinkingKari
    ShrinkingKari Posts: 52 Member
    Do you smoke?


    I'm ready for 99% of "real" interview questions and interview very well. But this one's hard because not only is it fairly inappropriate and irrelevant, but the only times I've been asked it was because the interviewer was a smoker and/or the company was very smoker-friendly.

    I don't smoke...so I felt that I sounded like a bit of a goody goody or holier than thou by saying "no". I'm not going to say something like, "But I'm totally okay with it" because I think it's a terrible and dangerous habit. I just felt on the spot due to that question.

    I had a relative that worked for a company with insanely low health care premiums because no smokers were allowed to work there. You had to sign a contract saying that you don't smoke and if you were ever caught smoking, at work/home/etc, you would be fired on the spot.
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
    You are in line at the bank when 3 armed men rush in and demand that everyone get on the floor. What do you do?


    Granted; I was interviewing to become a Deputy Sheriff at the time so maybe this question wasn't too far fetched...

    Pretty sure that was a good question then *LOL*

    BFOQ
  • TriNoob
    TriNoob Posts: 96 Member
    You are in line at the bank when 3 armed men rush in and demand that everyone get on the floor. What do you do?


    Granted; I was interviewing to become a Deputy Sheriff at the time so maybe this question wasn't too far fetched...

    Pretty sure that was a good question then *LOL*

    BFOQ

    Nope.

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