Here is a link to an article discussing some "different" questions asked during interviews this past year. Some favorites:
- "There are three boxes, one contains only apples, one contains only oranges, and one contains both apples and oranges. The boxes have been incorrectly labeled such that no label identifies the actual contents of the box it labels. Opening just one box, and without looking in the box, you take out one piece of fruit. By looking at the fruit, how can you immediately label all of the boxes correctly?" — Asked for a software QA engineer position at Apple.
- You are in a dark room with no light. You need matching socks for your interview and you have 19 gray socks and 25 black socks. What are the chances you will get a matching pair?" — Asked for a quality assurance position at Eze Castle.
- What do wood and alcohol have in common? — Asked for a staff writer position at Guardsmark.
- You are in charge of 20 people. Organize them to figure out how many bicycles were sold in your area last year." — Asked for a field engineer position at Schlumberger.
Some of them are funny, some of the tough to answer, but hopefully all give some insight into the job candidate and are related to what he or she will be doing. Make sure anyone conducting interviews on behalf of the company asks appropriate and legal questions. A script is nice but the standard questions may not get you the insight to the person you need. Asking "illegal" questions can be easily avoided.
