If you head into a job interview thinking you’re fully prepared for the most routine questions asked by a hiring manager or HR professional – think again. You might be thrown a curve like one of these:
- “Who would win a fight between Spiderman and Batman?”
- “How many people flew out of Chicago last year?”
- “What’s your favorite Disney princess?”
Glassdoor, the jobs and career website, scoured tens of thousands of unique interview questions asked by companies across America to come up with its annual top 10 oddball list this year – and the three mentioned above made the 2015 cut (at numbers 4, 9 and 10 respectively). But Glassdoor didn’t stop there. The company rounded up some of the most unexpected questions asked by firms in Canada, the U.K., France and Germany as well. (Moral of the story: When you’re interviewing for a new job, be prepared for anything.)
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Here are 17 more unexpected questions asked by companies recently in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom, with relevant details for each:
“What would you do if you were the one survivor in a plane crash?” – asked at Airbnb (U.S.)
“What’s your favorite '90s jam?” – Squarespace (U.S.)
“If you woke up and had 2,000 unread emails and could only answer 300 of them, how would you choose which ones to answer?” – Dropbox (U.S.)
“If you had a machine that produced $100 dollars for life what would you be willing to pay for it today?” – Aksia (U.S.)
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“What did you have for breakfast?” – Banana Republic (U.S.)
“Describe the color yellow to somebody who’s blind.” – Spirit Airlines (U.S.)
“If you were asked to unload a 747 full of jelly beans, what would you do?” – Bose (U.S.)
“If you could high-five one person, living or not, who would it be?” – Lululemon (Canada)
"What would you take to a lonely island with you and why?" – Urban Outfitters (U.K.)
“If you were an inanimate object, what would you be?” – Starbucks (Canada)
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“How do you get a plastic ball out of a cup without touching the cup?” – TD Bank (Canada)
“If you own a grocery store and you have to sell apples, how would you determine how many different types of apples to sell?” – Bombardier Aerospace (Canada)
“Can you calculate how many tennis balls are used during the course of Wimbledon?” – Accenture (U.K.)
“How many calories are in a grocery store?” – Google (U.K.)
“How would you sell a fridge to an Eskimo?” – Harrods (U.K.)
“What’s the wildest thing you’ve done?” – Metro Bank (U.K.)
“What was your opinion of the Blair Witch film project?” – Jefferies & Company (U.K.)
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