Looking for a New Job? Put On Your Thinking Cap

[FiveRinger]

I don't know what they would think of me. Most of the you would have to think outside the box.

What would you do if you inherited a pizzeria from your uncle?
I don't think I would be doing a job interview, I'd be giving them....trying to figure out who was going to run my new business?

Why do you think only a small portion of the population makes over 150K?
Are these the crooks?

What do alcohol and wood have in common?
They burn

Question about labels and apples and oranges?
I'd label the boxes fruit and call it a day

An apple costs 20 cents, an orange costs 40 cents, and a grapefruit costs 60 cents, how much is a pear?
If this were an oral question, I honestly would have said a pair of what--apples, oranges, or grapefruit?

I don't know what an employer would think of me, but my initial thought would be that the questions are so silly/ridiculous that I couldn't really answer them thoughtfully.

[overedge]

I don't think these questions are so wack for analyst/researcher type jobs. If you explain how you would answer such a question, even if you don't come up with an actual answer (or the right one :) ) describing the process shows how you think through uncertainties or unknowns, which is a big part of those kinds of jobs.

[mkats]

An apple costs 20 cents, an orange costs 40 cents, and a grapefruit costs 60 cents, how much is a pear?
If this were an oral question, I honestly would have said a pair of what--apples, oranges, or grapefruit?

I thought of that too, but the boyfriend said it was a written question on a list that included a bunch of others. At least according to his way of thinking, it has nothing to do with fruit.

[Prancer]

I think it's better to concentrate on how people have behaved in similar situations in the past that throw a lot of trick questions at them.

I think in some fields, the ability to think on your feet is important enough to lob ugly balls across the net during an interview. If you are in high-pressure sales, you have to be able to shuffle your feet really fast and convince people you are an expert tap dancer.

But I'd rather know how someone would handle the actual job in most cases, and think that asking about past methods and presenting candidates with typical problems and asking how they would approach finding a solution would be more effective.