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Michiel Hendriks
Michiel Hendriks

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Terrible Interview Questions

Lets have some fun, and come up with the worst job interview question you can think of.

We have all heard about the job interview questions which are simply bad. Questions which test no practical skill, like asking people to write a quick sort implementation on a whiteboard. Or simply weird questions, which you have no idea about what they could imply, like "Are you a dog person or cat person?".

So let me hear the worst interview questions you can come up with. Which are so bad, that they become funny. (Bonus points if this was an actual question.)

Latest comments (87)

 
robertrodes profile image
Robert Rodes • Edited

No, I am not kidding you. We disagree on your main premise, as such, we disagree entirely. Compassion is invaluable and unlimited. To limit it is to say that something that is compassion is not.

Compassion is not the motivator of the stories in your scenario. Sometimes not attending someone's funeral is the compassionate thing to do (the "right" thing is never something upon which everyone agrees, which suggests that there really isn't any such), sometimes firing someone is the compassionate thing to do. A person may perceive himself to be a parasite, may be in denial about that perception, and at the same time act out that perception as if it were real. The compassionate thing to do might be to ask him to find some other line of work, in the hope that he will find something to do that he really cares about, and in so doing stop perceiving himself as a parasite.

If you hold these ideas about other people in your mind, you motivate yourself to emulate them. "Do unto others before they do unto you" sort of thing. You also justify your own approach to life with these sorts of judgments, not realizing that you are creating the circumstances that you judge, projecting them out into your world, denying that you have done so, and then taking the perception that this is the "real world" that you "see."

So, again, you see, we disagree entirely. :)

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sebbdk profile image
Sebastian Vargr

I think it BS not being able to ask, a sudden unplanned long term leave of an employer can mean financial ruin for small/startup companies...

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codemouse92 profile image
Jason C. McDonald

Not so much a question as an experience. I was interviewing for a remote interview company, and actually got to the final round. My interviewer then would have also been my supervisor had I been hired. We're discussing interview techniques and practices. Mind you, by this point I had been doing all the hiring for my own company for about five years, drawing on my academic background in communication and psychology.

Several times during the interview, I am able to demonstrate that I not only fully understand the scenarios she's asking about, but I actually know more about it than she does! The techniques she describes oversimplify assessments and make huge assumptions about candidates, whereas I know how to leverage actual interview techniques (and have five years of hiring history to prove my skill).

Afterwards, she says I "don't have enough experience conducting interviews". Fact is, I'd demonstrated more knowledge than her about hiring, and had two years experience on her (she said she'd been doing it for three years).

I walked away from that laughing: I wasn't hired simply because my potential manager felt threatened by my experience level.

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elmuerte profile image
Michiel Hendriks

I think she made a good decision for you. But a bad decision for the company.
People who are intimidated by people who are more skilled than they are, are a problem for the company. These people generally try to keep the people below them, below them.

To quote Steve Jobs

It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.

Also the thing about experience is that you want people to have the right experience, not just a lot of experience. Just because you have been doing thing wrong for 10 years doesn't make you good.

 
robertrodes profile image
Robert Rodes • Edited

That assumes that human minds have no effect on the color of the sky, among other things. But we can agree to have different metaphysical views.

The greatest problem with your position is that in order to maximize profit, one must move continually towards the ideal of selling precisely nothing for an infinite amount of money. Human compassion is not part of that goal, therefore, if your first statement is true, the second one must not be, because the company's reason for being is inherently greedy.

No man may serve two masters. In your terms you may serve either love or money, but not both. A for-profit company (and, generally, a not-for-profit company as well) is an institution that serves money first, and love only so long as it's profitable. Your statements are cases in point for an individual who wishes first to rise in the corporate world and bring money to himself, and second to be a compassionate and loving individual.

 
robertrodes profile image
Robert Rodes

Perceptions arise from the mind, and they are mirrors of the mind, rather than facts. When you say "I am not blue," you are saying "my body is not blue." But you are no more your body than your foot is your shoe. What you perceive the sky to be is a reflection of your belief of what the sky is.

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fatih123321 profile image
Ryan Stone

Interviewer: do you like tea or coffee?
Me: Water

 
pancy profile image
Pan Chasinga

I think you have avoided the first two points I mentioned which are more important.

What gender the candidates are is circumstantial. If only US had legal paternity leaves, then you could have had a valid claim.

Drawing connections between a gender and bad characters based on your limited experience and references you curated is generalization and biased. Drawing them to the fact that a business needs to earn money is a stretch.

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pancy profile image
Pan Chasinga

This isn't a question nor funny. It's an interview practice I'd wish gone. It's when a company thinks a candidate performs poorly enough on the first interview that she's not worth going further and should be escorted out.

If someone's worth being invited to an on-site, she's worth a few more hours.

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codemouse92 profile image
Jason C. McDonald • Edited

...maybe? I've seen some pretty terrible interviewees.

But granted, I can't imagine why you'd want to bring someone on-site for an initial interview...? Wouldn't it save everyone's time to conduct the initial interview over the phone?

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pancy profile image
Pan Chasinga

This has little to do with women or pregnancy. It has everything to do with

  • the candidates' character and sense of responsibility
  • your poor judgement of character

If those candidates were men, they would have done worse. I'd strongly recommend reflecting on the latter.

 
robertrodes profile image
Robert Rodes

Perceptions are not facts, but mirrors.

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