Questions

Back when I ran PC Week edit, I used to ask job candidates the following question:

"Think back to the last time you laughed really hard -- we're talkin' a deep-down belly laugh. What were you laughing at?"

I always felt that a sense of humor was the single most valuable asset a worker could have. And what a person thinks is funny reveals a lot about them.

Now look at these questions -- the kind that HR asks of job candidates at Google and Microsoft.

What do they reveal?

Comments

[Jonathan Yarmis]

Let's see. Microsoft revenue, tens of billons. Google revenue, tens of billions. Sam Whitmore revenue...?? I guess it says Sam's in it for love and fun. I'll drink with you, and work with them. :)

Love ya, buddy.

[Dave Donohue]

They reveal that answering these questions incorrectly doesn't have a great impact on hiring for non-engineering positions (for Google and MSFT). Or else the PR depts in both companies would be ghost towns.

And also that I wouldn't pass muster at IKEA :)

[Phil Gomes]

When I was in college, I submitted to a campus interview by Anderson Consulting.

I didn't really want the job. I just wanted the interview experience.

The guy asked me "How do you get a giraffe into a refrigerator?"

I knew the "correct" answer to be "Open the door and herd it in." It was supposed to test whether I made assumptions based on past experience, in this case, the relative size of the average fridge.

Instead, I spun my answer out into a five-minute-long, incredibly demented solution.

It involved tranking the giraffe, giving it sodium chloride to stop its heart, chainsawing it into 1'x6" blocks, puree'ing said blocks, and putting the puree'd giraffe into highly compacted vacuum-sealed freezer bags.

By the time I walked from the interview to my dorm room, I already had a message that Anderson Consulting would not be continuing with the interview process, wishing me the best of luck.

I bet my interviewer still has nightmares about that one.

[Phil Gomes]

Errrr... That was supposed to be "potassium chloride". Duh... (Though too much sodium chloride will stop your heart eventually, contributing to high blood pressure. For the purposes of this exercise, I just didn't have that kind of time.)

[Jamie Lee]

Mostly, I think they reveal that someone has too much time on their hands.

...and that your friend Phil is not someone to mess with.

Thanks for the giggles.
A sense of humor is truly a mark of intelligence...at least that's what my dad used to tell the boys that wanted to ask me out...right after he'd tortured them with some obtuse conversation that was meant to catch them off guard. Thanks, Dad.

[Sam Whitmore]

Phil, that was hilarious! The thought of applying for a job today... it's just humiliating. Employers today check your credit rating and surf Google. Tomorrow they'll download your genome and ask their health insurance company whether you're too risky to hire.