We’ve all heard stories of strange interview questions and we’ve come up with some of our own on the Artisan Blog. Glassdoor recently published their list of 2014’s Oddest Interview Questions and some of them were definitely off the wall. Here’s our take on a few favorites:

Are you more a hunter or a gatherer?

This question from a hiring manager at Dell is interesting and we wonder which answer they were looking for. Which works better on a team? Hunters have to strategize and use each other’s strengths to succeed. Gatherers must work together and have a common goal in mind. We recommend you think for a moment and answer honestly whichever you think is true of you, and be sure to find a positive quality about your choice.

How lucky are you and why?

This is indeed an odd question, but we like it. What a great opportunity to talk positively about what you bring to the table, what you are passionate about. Are you feeling lucky? You’ve got a job interview–of course you are!

If you were a new kind of crayon, what color would you be and why?

This question is harder. You don’t want to pick the hiring manager’s least favorite color (even though it wouldn’t be fair to judge you on that) or even your own favorite color since that’s not a terribly creative answer. Our suggestion is to talk about a quality you like in a color–contrast, saturation, value, etc.–and how those qualities reflect your work or your personality, rather than a particular hue.

You can never know what a hiring manager will ask. They might have a particular strange question they ask everyone or be looking for a genuinely creative response and think they have the perfect question to get one. The secret is to listen actively, take your time thinking and answer honestly. And it’s okay to laugh sometimes. A sense of humor might be just what they’re looking for.

There is no doubt that preparation is key to having a great job interview. Writing out answers to typical questions and even having mock interviews with friends can make a huge difference in the quality of your responses, your presentation, and your confidence.

What about atypical questions?

It’s true that you can never know what an interviewer will ask. He might stick with “What are your weaknesses?” and “Tell me about yourself,” but there is always a chance that a hiring manager has a favorite question that he uses to compare candidates or even a strange question he asks just to see what people will say. We have written about unusual interview questions and how to prepare for them on our blog.

But do strange questions really work?

The consensus seems to be not really.

Google VP Laszlo Bock said in a recent interview that “[t]hey serve to make the interviewer feel smart.” Which might be why they can be frustrating for candidates. From what we have read and experienced, off-the-wall interview questions are more likely to make a candidate uncomfortable than elicit valuable information.

Only in rare cases, at more creative companies, can these kinds of questions really provide valuable insight into one’s ability to brainstorm, concept, or work with a team.

Hiring managers have their own style and a company’s culture will be reflected in the questions asked in interviews, whether those questions are traditional or not. Listen carefully, take time to think about your answers, and remember that you are interviewing the company as much as they are interviewing you. Most of all–don’t worry about your answers to odd questions. Maybe they were just trying to find out what kind of a tree you are.

Wendy Stackhouse, for Artisan Creative

They say timing is the secret to comedy, but it’s also one of the secrets of good job interview technique.

Of course, you can never know exactly what questions you will be asked and you should take the time necessary to answer them as fully as possible, whatever they may be. However, there are some good rules of thumb for both conciseness and verbosity that all of us should remember.

How short is too short?

• One word is too short unless you are clearly getting a yes-or-no question. Can you lift 50 pounds? Yes. Do you mind working on weekends? No.
• If you haven’t actually answered the question, you haven’t said enough. Make sure you are practicing active listening during the question so that you know what the meat in the answer will be. It’s easy to lose track of the point of the question if you are planning your answer during it.
• A moment of silence when you’re done is okay. It doesn’t mean you haven’t said enough—it means they were really listening, which is excellent. Don’t be tempted to fill the silence with more if you have answered the question.

How long is too long?

• You have between 30 and 90 seconds of good listening time from your interviewer. Past there, you had better be telling a pretty compelling story or they will tune out and get ready to ask the next question.
• If your interviewer breaks eye contact with you, you have probably lost their attention. Wrap it up.
• If you think you might be going on too long, you can say something like, “I could tell you more about it, but I had better stop here.” They will be glad that you were aware of how long your answer was and either be happy to move on or ask you for more of your story. Both of those are good.

The real secret to great job interviews is practice, and the length of your answers can be planned and rehearsed with a trusted friend or colleague. Practice enough to get a good feel for when you have reached that magic 90-second mark and you will never see an interviewer check her watch again.

Wendy Stackhouse, for Artisan Creative