creative interview questions
Oct 3, 2014 — TrackFive

Beyond the Basic: Creative Job Interview Questions

For most companies, the interview process is pretty standard.The prospective employees fill out the application, they come in for an interview, you ask some standard questions like:

    • Why do you want to work for our company/organization?
    • Why should we hire you?
    • What are your weaknesses?
    • Why do you want to leave your current position?

…and so forth. Most of these interview questions are designed to figure out three things:

  1. If the applicant is capable of doing the job.
  2. Why the applicant wants the job.
  3. If the applicant will fit into your company/organization.

It’s important to try and get to know the character of the interviewee before offering them your payroll. The last thing you want is to hire somebody completely out of place and miserable that could tarnish the image of your organization in a matter of seconds.

Get creative.

Interview questions are kind of like a first date, if you think about it. You want to learn as much about the person opposite you in a short amount of time without coming off as too pushy– I mean, how can you make a decision to go on a second date (or hire somebody) if the only information you know about them is what they like to eat for dinner.

The key to getting to know the interviewee is to be creative–get inside their head without being obvious. An easy way to do this is to compile a list of creative interview questions, or in this case just use a couple of the questions we have found for you!

Beyond the Basic: Creative Job Interview Questions

1. Why is a tennis ball fuzzy? This question allows you to see how creative the interviewee is. It makes he or she open up and gives you a little taste of what kind of imagination they have. Warning: you may get some scary responses.

2. What is the funniest thing that has happened to you recently? This is one of my favorite questions because it gives you a little bit of insight on the interviewee’s sense of humor (also, maybe their bad luck too). People love working with and being around others who know how to have a good laugh.

3. Name five uses for a stapler, without staples. Let’s hope you aren’t given answers such as: paperweight and hammer. This question is designed to reveal the interviewee’s abilities to think outside the box.

4. If we shrunk you to the size of a pencil and put you in a blender, how would you get out? This is the master of all random questions, no interviewee will be able to prepare themselves for it. The purpose is to see how well they can think on their feet. It gives you a chance to see if the interviewee gets flustered when they aren’t prepared for something or shows you their ability to handle out-of-the-ordinary situations quickly and calmly.

5. How many times in one day do a clock’s hands overlap? Now this is meant to throw your interviewee for a loop, but the point is not to get the correct answer in return. The point is to see how well they can work out issues without giving up as soon as they encounter a small issue (the answer is 22).

(Some of the above interview questions were found using this infographic)

Now, you don’t want to completely dispose of the “typical” interview questions. They give good insight as to why you should or should not hire a prospective employee. But, get to know them on a little deeper level with the creative questions and you’ll feel more confident and comfortable that your interviewee actually does belong within the confines of your company.

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