Article - 23 Real Job Interview Questions You Don't Want To Be Asked

[Guest]

http://www.businessinsider.com/23-real-job-interview-questions-you-dont-want-to-be-asked-2011-9#

Thought this may be prevalent for the certain few that are practicing for interviews.

I personally used it as a mental exercise and answered all the questions as if I was in an interview (minus the nerves).

These are the few that I personally pray I won't have to tackle at my next interview. The below aren't necessarily sorted in order of mental anguish.

1)Sing a few lines of your favorite song. (Job: Trainee Network Engineer at HCL Comnet Systems and Services Limited)
2)Tell me a joke. (Job: Investment Banker at JPMorgan Chase)
3)Why are manholes round? (Job: Supply Chain at Schlumberger)

The 3rd question regarding a "manhole". I know that this question was also asked to an graduate analyst for Macquarie Group a few years back during interviews. Other questions proposed during that time were guesstimate questions i.e. how many doors are there in the American Express building across the road.

I can come up with a decent answer for the "manhole" but I haven't been able to come up with an outstanding answer. I refuse to google this up and research it.

Interested to see what other questions people find daunting.

[alee228]

Have you ever stolen pens from work?

This is an interesting one.

If you say "no", you are almost certainly lying.

If you say "yes", then you are admitting to stealing property from work, which shows that you lack the social awareness required to know that "stealing" and "admitting to stealing" are both actions which demonstrate anti-social behaviour.

How would you answer this one?

[Guest]

Hi Tom,

I didn't find this question all that difficult personally. I answered taking into consideration exactly what you stated

If you say "no", you are almost certainly lying.

So what is this question really testing for? Integrity. The only possible answer is YES, though the hard part is why YES.

My Answer:
Yes, though never as a conscious decision and only the occasional pen here and there.

If i wanted to go further, I'd explain scenarios where if you've had a busy day and you end up walking out of the workplace with the pen still sitting in your pocket.

I wouldn't go so far as to state that I believe one missing pen is an immaterial fact but if I miss out on a job due to taking one pen home subconsciously, I'd rather be asking myself "Do I really want to work here?"

Your thoughts?

Jason

[alee228]

Hi Jason,

Your approach sounds fine.

For this question, I think it is interesting, and helpful, to note that stealing involves two parts: (1) the act, and (2) the intention.

In Australia, theft is broadly defined as "taking with the intention to permanently deprive". So, if you take a pen home from work at night, and have an intention to bring it back to work the next day, then this is not stealing.

[CbrConsultant]

 

I can come up with a decent answer for the "manhole" but I haven't been able to come up with an outstanding answer. I refuse to google this up and research it.

Interested to see what other questions people find daunting.

 

Having a circular manhole cover makes it impossible to drop it into the manhole; preventing much nuisance being caused with Manholes left open. 

 

You say "yes but it doesn't stop someone from walking away with the cover anyways?" - that's why quite a few manhole covers are secured to the inside of the manhole by a chain long enough to remove the cover and keep it out of the way when required (definitely seen this in developing countries where selling the manhole cover as scrap metal could feed someone for a week!) .