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Job interviews are already stressful enough when the questions actually have something to do with the position. Unfortunately, some interviewers apparently prefer to find out what color you would be, how you would react to an unexpected elephant, or whether you have strong opinions about training turtles. Reddit users recently shared some of the strangest questions they have encountered while trying to land a job, and several were so confusing that even years later, they still have no idea what the interviewer wanted to hear. Others crossed the line from merely bizarre to surprisingly personal. Here are 15 people sharing the dumbest interview questions they have ever heard.
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What Would You Do With an Elephant?
One candidate was asked what their next steps would be after finding an elephant in their backyard. They happened to have visited a Sri Lankan factory that made luxury paper from elephant dung, so their answer unexpectedly turned into a discussion about that experience.
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Would You Fight a Kangaroo?
An interviewer at an Australian company wanted to know how candidates would handle coming face-to-face with a kangaroo. Apparently, kangaroos had previously invaded one of the company’s production facilities, and the real goal was to make sure employees had enough common sense not to try boxing one.
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Is Your Husband Okay With the Hours?
One woman was asked whether her husband would be okay with the hours required by the job. There was an immediate problem beyond the inappropriate nature of the question: she was not even married.
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What Would You Say to a Penguin in a Sombrero?
One interview required the candidate to draw a tree and explain what they would say if a penguin wearing a sombrero suddenly joined the Zoom call. They later learned there was apparently a desired answer to the penguin scenario, although the original version of the question was worded differently.
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What Are You Good at but Never Want to Do Again?
A candidate was asked to name something they were good at but never wanted to do again. Rather than immediately inventing an impressive interview-friendly response, they blurted out what they were actually thinking: “That’s an odd question”.
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If You Were a Color, Which One Would You Be?
Sometimes there is not even an elaborate scenario behind the weirdness. One person was simply asked which color they would be if they could become one, leaving them to figure out what their choice was supposed to reveal about their suitability for the job.
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Imagine It’s Raining. What Do You Do?
While interviewing for a trainee position at a frozen-food delivery company, one candidate was told to imagine that it was raining and asked what they would do. When requests for clarification got them nowhere, they finally answered, “I’ll take an umbrella with me”. They did not make it to the next round and still wonder what the expected answer was 20 years later.
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Solve a Problem Using a System We Haven’t Explained
One candidate received a hypothetical workplace problem and was expected to solve it entirely within the company’s existing internal framework. The problem was that nobody had explained that framework, effectively requiring an outsider to guess how the company operated and then produce the correct solution.
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Explain How You Go Grocery Shopping
One interviewer asked a candidate to explain, step by step, exactly how they shop at a grocery store. The strangest part came afterward, when the interviewer admitted the question had nothing to do with the hiring process and they simply loved asking people about it.
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Would You Rather Train a Turtle or Tame a Lion?
A candidate applying for a job cleaning a university cafeteria was asked whether they would rather train a turtle or tame a lion. Whatever profound insight the answer was supposed to provide about cafeteria cleaning remains unclear.
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What’s the Coolest Linux Command You Know?
A software engineering intern applying for another internship within the same company was challenged to name the coolest Linux command they knew and “impress” the interviewer. They found the whole exchange degrading, although things apparently worked out in the long run: 14 years later, they still work for the company.
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If You Could Be Any Tree, What Would You Be?
One applicant for a sales associate position at a hobby store was asked what kind of tree they would be and why. They were left wondering what their preferred species of tree could possibly reveal about their ability to sell hobby supplies.
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If We Offered You the Job, Would You Take It?
An interviewer asked one candidate whether they would accept the position if it were offered to them. That might have sounded promising at the time, except the company ultimately did not offer them the job at all.
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Have You Ever Been in Therapy?
After repeatedly reading a sentence from the candidate’s cover letter without actually asking anything about it, a recruiter suddenly asked whether they had ever received psychological therapy. When the candidate objected to the personal question, another HR employee stepped in, only to immediately ask about their family situation and whether they planned to have children.
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Would You Choose Your Wife or Your Team?
One candidate was asked what they would do if they were leading a production team and their wife called with an emergency. They answered that they would leave work and go home to their wife, only to discover from the interviewer’s reaction that this apparently was not the display of workplace loyalty they were looking for.
The post 15 People Share the Dumbest Interview Question They’ve Ever Heard appeared first on Den of Geek.
