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I had a job in college as a valet parker for a nationwide parking conglomerate (Central Parking). I made $200 a night and it was one of the best jobs I ever had. In the interview they gave you a questionnaire with questions like:
1. If you had extra money and knew you could get away with keeping it, would you?
2. If your grandma needed $50 in an emergency, would you give her money from your register?
3. If your friend needed to borrow $20 for an hour and they would pay you back by the end of your shift would you give them the money?
I can remember seeing cashiers not get hired because they failed the questionnaire! I couldn't believe how many times they asked the same scenario (like 5-6 times) in one questionnaire!
I don't see this as a trick questions. It's multiple ways of asking "Would you use money that doesn't belong to you without permission of the owner?"
[quote=dmills;39566492]I've been on many interview panels, and can say I have never seen or asked a trick question. Managers have more important things to do with their time than to play gotcha. EVERY question has a purpose. the purpose, although not always evident is to determine whether this candidate would be a god fit for the organization. The best thing candidates can do is to view the interview as a first date rather than an audition. Try to find out as. Much about the other party as you can possibly can, that's what they are trying to do. It doesn't serve ANYONE'S interest to fluff the answers. Many a candidate has g en the answer they thought the employer wanted to hear, only to be miserable in the job,
just being yourself is the best recipe to finding your dream job. - LOVE THAT!
Trick question or dumb question - If you were a tree what would you be?
If you were a cereal what cereal would you be and why?
Trick or dumb I do not know but now that I am older and wiser, I think I will end the interview and say that the fit is not right. It is a waste of time, how do they decide which answer was better?
What's the point of "Trick questions" on an interview?
I don't see the point of those questions
For one thing.... after becoming an expert on interview, I could easily get out of 99% of trick questions.
So what's the point of trick questions?
To make people nervous?
To see who can BS their way out of a difficult situation?
To have fun seeing a grown man/woman freaking out?
Honest people are the ones that are gonna do worse with trick questions
and liars and people that BS their way out of trouble are the ones that are always gonna do best with trick questions.
Is that the people that they want to hire?
Can you give some examples of "trick" questions at a job interview?
Can you give some examples of "trick" questions at a job interview?
Here's one that I made up
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dopo
I'm not talking about questions like "Why should we hire you?"
I'm talking about questions like "If you have to drive a forklift to a hospital to save a coworker, would you do it?"
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,585 posts, read 81,243,006 times
Reputation: 57825
Quote:
Originally Posted by oldtrader
You still do not get it. Those questions are to open up a prospective hire, and getting away from their prepared answers. I keep seeing posters on CD complaining that they were asked questions they had not practiced. Until you can get the prospect away from planned answers, you will never get to know what they are truly like.
Yes, this is the point of the so-called trick questions. There are many websites giving out sample questions and people spend a lot of time studying them and practicing answers. As a hiring manager (we make up the questions, not HR) we do not take pleasure in making people uncomfortable, nor playing games. We simply want to see how they think for themselves. The question "How many marbles does it take to fill up a bus" can reveal much about a candidate. They could take the easy way out and just guess. They would fail even if they got it right, though there couldn't be a right answer without more detail. The response I would be looking for would be "I don't know" followed by listing the additional information needed to calculate the answer, and possibly steps involved in the process. I have never used such questions, however, and prefer to ask situational questions requiring specific detailed examples, and do a 10-15 minute work sample project to test the validity of what they tell me in the interview. The last time I did that 4 of the 10 candidates who looked good on paper and had decent interviews failed the very simple project.
Oftentimes, especially nowadays when they get SOOO many applications of "similar" paper qualifications, they need to find something to narrow down the pool, and I guess they think stumping someone on their feet can do it, though I think it's perfectly mean.
Oftentimes, especially nowadays when they get SOOO many applications of "similar" paper qualifications, they need to find something to narrow down the pool, and I guess they think stumping someone on their feet can do it, though I think it's perfectly mean.
Why do you feel it is 'mean' when all they are trying to find out is how you think on your feet and interact with others as well as how you analyze things?
If you are being hired to just count widgets all day, day after day, over and over and over again that would be one thing. However, if they are hiring you for lets say a customer service position, working in a team environment or dealing with people on a daily basis they have no idea HOW you would work in those situations. They don't know YOU as an individual. Your resume won't tell them that and simply asking a direct yes or no question on whether you can or can't work in those environments is not going to tell them either. If it did then there would be no reason to interview. They could just go by your resume to hire you.
Now that they know your skills from your resume and it landed you an interview, they now want to get to know YOU, as a person. How you will think on your feet, how well you work with others, are you a team player, are you able to strategize and analyze situations, how well you work under stress, what your demeanor is like, etc., etc. So they ask 'situational' or 'hypothetical' questions. Not to trick you but to find out all of the aforementioned.
There are literally thousands of possible answers to those types of question and there are no right or wrong answers. It is simply a way to get to know YOU. And it is their only chance to do so. Hiring is not only based on your hard skills and experience.
Put yourself in the hiring authority's shoes for a minute and think about it. Would you hire anyone sight unseen without meeting them and finding out who they are, how they think, how they respond and interact, what their work ethic and thought processes are and whether they can think on their feet or not? I would hope not.
So embrace the questions and just be yourself and be honest when you answer them. Again, there is no right or wrong answer. You may not get the job but it is not because you answered something wrong unless, of course, you were being completely negative and blatantly proved that you were extremely lazy, dishonest and had absolutely no desire to work and put any effort towards anything.
So, the questions are asked for various reasons. 1) so you can't give canned answers and memorize them because that would not tell them who YOU are as a person and 2) it is not to 'trick' YOU....quite the opposite as a matter of fact. It is to not allow you to 'trick' THEM by giving just a canned/memorized answer that you feel they want to hear!
I'm curious to see whether the OP will actually give an example of a trick question. Many people have asked, but she hasn't given an example.
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