I thought long and hard before posting this because I wouldn’t want to waste anyone’s time with reading silly past experiences. But my friends, Lisa and Jean urged me on thinking that the topic of ridiculous job interview questions is as popular as ever. At a time where unemployment is reaching its peak in most countries, one can never be over-prepared for a job interview.
So here are some of the most outrageous job interview questions I came across in the legal field:
(a) Are you a heavy drinker?
Well, I was applying for a legal position not a bartending position so I was a little bit shocked with this. Excuse me? That was my reaction. Wrong! But at 22 you hardly expect me to have known better, yeah?
(b) If you were born a cookie, what kind of cookie would you want to be and why?
At the time, I was munching on Millie’s cookies any chance I could get so that was an easy answer for me. When I elaborated on the mouthwatering chocolate chips that melt in the mouth, I noticed a couple of my interviewers licking their lips.
(c) There’s been a terrible car crash and you run first to the scene. There are four people down, a crying baby, a mother who’s silent, a father who’s screaming in pain and a five year old boy who’s trying to climb out of the broken window. Who do you attend to first?
I was going to say the crying baby but then I thought for another second and replied the silent mother. There should be something wrong with her if she simply lay there silent.
(d) What do you think of sexual harassment in the workplace?
This was a tricky one. What do you say to that?
(e) Use your hands and gesture to us how you imagine the future.
No comment
(f) Here are three bricks, use them as you think fit.
Another tricky one. What do you think I did with them? What would you do?
Needed to add another question which I found rather interesting, even though it wasn’t posed to me:
x) If a rival law firm offerred you a better position, and a better salary package than your current one, would you take the job?
Boy am I glad I’ve never had to face this dilemma…yet
Bella Nars 
I went through that once and found it hilarious. They should just hook an interviewee onto a lie detector test. Do you steal from the stationary department? (etc) The thing is, there are lots of people who MAKE MONEY out of compiling silly questions and, at the end of the day, do they really get what they need? No matter how tricky the questionnaire is, they have devious ways -supposedly- to know if you’re telling lies, some folk know how to beat the gamers.
Cyprus is great in many ways, but nepotism is rife…it’s a small island (see my recent blog post http://wordpress.com/) some folk get the jobs while others line up to take exams, interviews etc and have no hope of the position – which is filled before the ads for vacancies are posted sometimes. Now that beats silly questons by a mile. be well.
Hey Colette,
Thanks for this. It really is a jungle out there. Getting a job is like participating in the Hunger Games, with head-decapitating results.
I suppose clever interviewers should care more about the reaction of the interviewee and less about the answer as such. The reaction is 70% the answer.
I will check ur blog on nepotism and get back to you 🙂
B.N
I think I would have a hard time working for someone who asked me such stupid questions. Total loss of respect.
Love this one: (e) Use your hands and gesture to us how you imagine the future.
I would probably make a heart and say something about a peaceful world. Wow, not sure.
Funny that you would make a heart. That’s so sweet and positive. I was tempted to raise a finger you see…
thx!
B.N
Does the question about sexual harassment mean they’re likely to engage in it and want to make sure you’re ok with it as well… Weird.