What is the Worst Interview Question

Guns_N_Buns

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

What is your greatest achievement to date? And your greatest disappointment?

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

pleasurelittletreasure

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

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

How did you get your tan? (real question)

The sun gave it to me :blushing:

VeryKatie

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

'Where do you see yourself 20 years from now?"


My typical response: "Old."

Pupslice

'is that your real hair? what are you, mixed or something?'

TriNoob

seltzermint555

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

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

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

Why do you want this job? (Because I need the figgin' job)

NotRailMeat

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

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

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

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

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

"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

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.