We have run columns on this over the years to determine the most ridiculous interview questions and answers. Have you got any to add to the following list?
1. Why do you want to be a solicitor (also Why did you want to be a solicitor?)
What a ridiculous question. If you are recruiting for a training contract, sit back and prepared to be bored rigid by some nonsense about the law being a passion, the interviewee excited by the interesting developments and some reference to a childhood yearning to be in a courtroom. If you recruit someone more senior and ask them this question I would hope that from time to time you would get a response such as: “Good question. Why on earth did I want to be a solicitor, earn peanuts and sit here listening to idiots like you asking me stupid questions? I’m off to do something more constructive with my life….”
2. If you could take one person with you to a desert island, who would it be and why?
Again a ridiculous question. At one stage the answer used to be either Margaret Thatcher or Ronald Reagan, but these days the stock answer appears to be Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan or Mother Theresa. What do the interviewers get out of asking this question, apart from a deep sense of excitement as the candidate squirms in their seat worrying about whether to say Belinda Carlisle, Englebert Humperdinck or Captain Sensible….
3. If you were a tree what sort would you be and why?
Try asking this question in your next interview. Go on, try it…. Fascinating responses are guaranteed. A ridiculous question, but sometimes produces interesting answers mainly through ignorance both from the interviewer and the interviewee as to what constitutes a tree…
Any more? Email your questions or answers to cv@ten-percent.co.uk – we usually award a prize to the best/worst question/answer.