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How Would You Answer These 21 Unexpected Interview Questions?

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by Simon Lythgoe

Interviews are an essential part of the recruitment process and if you’re keen to get your dream job then you’ll need to be prepared for anything. Some of the most challenging interview situations can involve tackling the most unexpected interview questions. If you can answer these 21 questions then you will be well prepared.

 

  1. If you were a car what car would you be and why would you choose that particular make and model?

  2. If you had to describe the colour purple to someone who couldn’t see how would you do it?

  3. Three switches on a table are connected to three signs hidden behind a curtain. Each of the switches will turn on one of the signs. The room is dark and you can’t see behind the curtain but you need to establish which of the switches controls which of the signs. How do you do it?

  4. What would you do if you found a polar bear in the fridge?

  5. How would you sell ice cream in the Arctic?

  6. Would your rather fight one cow sized magpie or 100 magpie sized cows?

  7. How many netballs do you think you could get into this office?

  8. Tell me about the most hilarious experience that you’ve had in the past six months.

  9. If you were a Deliveroo driver how would you benefit from having a pair of scissors with you?

  10. If you could only choose one piece of music to play every time you walk down the street what would it be and why?

  11. If you could celebrate any festival at work what festival would it be, and why?

  12. Why do you think a tennis ball is fuzzy?

  13. How would you cope if you were the only person to survive a shipwreck on a tropical island – what would you do first?

  14. How do you imagine that human beings would communicate if they lived in a utopia?

  15. A reindeer walks through the door wearing a pair of sunglasses, what does it say and why?

  16. You wake up one morning and you have 20 unread Whatsapp messages. You can only read 5 of them. How do you decide which ones to read?

  17. If you could buy a winning lottery ticket that would definitely pay out £150 a day for the rest of the your life how much would you decide it was worth?

  18. What is luck? Do you think that you have it and, if so, why?

  19. Choose a country in the world to get rid of and explain why you would opt for this particular location over all the others.

  20. Why are traffic lights red, orange and green?

  21. If you were a paint box colour what colour would you be, and why?

 

Unexpected interview questions are usually designed to get a candidate thinking differently, demonstrating problem solving abilities and/or revealing something personal that a standard interview question wouldn’t uncover. It’s often useful to practice with the more unusual interview questions so that you’re not thrown off if an interviewer decides to take an unconventional path. With any interview question it’s important to give yourself time to stop and think – consider the response before you give it and make sure you’re happy it represents you, your views and goals.