Job interviews can be anxiety-inducing, especially if you really want the job. Your resume and cover letter were good enough to land the interview, but meeting face-to-face (or via Skype or Google Hangouts) is a whole other story. And nowadays, it’s not enough to ask the standard interview questions. In fact, many top companies ask their potential candidates an array of surprising and unfamiliar questions to help get your creative juices flowing and see how you respond on the fly to thinking analytically and developing solutions. It’s a chance for you to loosen up, relax, and show the interviewer the real you.
We’ve put together a list of real-life interview questions from top companies around the world courtesy of Glassdoor and beyond, from companies including Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon, Intel, and Trader Joe’s. Try practicing answers to questions like these, and see what fun answers you come up with on your own!
- If you could only choose one song to play every time you walked into a room for the rest of your life, what would it be?
- Choose a city and estimate how many piano tuners operate a business there.
- If you could be remembered for one sentence, what would it be?
- Why are manhole covers round?
- Design an evacuation plan for this building.
- How many Big Macs does McDonald’s sell each year in the U.S.?
- 25 racehorses, no stopwatch. 5 tracks. Figure out the top three fastest horses in the fewest number of races.
- How much do you charge to wash every window in Seattle?
- If I was talking to your best friend, what is the one thing they would you say you need to work on?
- How many children are born every day?
- If you were a pizza delivery man, how would you benefit from scissors?
- How would you breakdown the cost of this pen?
- If you have 2 eggs, and you want to figure out what’s the highest floor from which you can drop the egg without breaking it, how would you do it? What’s the optimal solution?
- How would you solve problems if you were from Mars?
- Design a spice rack for the blind.
- What do you think of garden gnomes?
- You’re a new addition to the crayon box. What color would you be and why?
Image by Meilun.
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