Why Do Employers Ask Oddball Interview Questions?

Employers use these questions to assess creativity, adaptability, and cultural fit. They aim to uncover your thought process and how well you handle unexpected situations.

What Are Some Strategies for Handling Bizarre Interview Questions?

Stay calm, think creatively, and relate your answers to your skills and experiences. Highlight how your unique perspective can bring value to the role and the company.

Are Oddball Interview Questions Common in Job Interviews?

While not the norm, oddball questions are increasingly used by innovative companies. It's advisable to prepare for them to showcase your ability to navigate unexpected situations.

Do Oddball Interview Questions Impact the Hiring Decision?

While they're just one aspect, your responses to oddball questions can provide insights into your personality and problem-solving abilities. They may influence the overall impression you leave on the interviewer.

Oddball Interview Questions You Should Prepare

“Tell us a board game you love to play?”

If you are wondering what this question has to do with your job, understand why recruiters ask such questions! While this uncommon interview question seems illogical, the intention of asking it is to understand the candidate’s strengths, interest areas or likes. Chess game would reveal your interest and capability in making strategic moves and face challenges, monopoly game shows your interest in playing independently as an ambitious person, etc. Therefore, this is another chance for you to share one more strength to employers.

“How many balls could you fit in this cabin?”

Such questions definitely do not need an accurate answer nor the employer is looking for the one. Such questions are asked to see your problem-solving and logical thinking skills.

So whatever you tell, give plenty of explanation for whatever you say. You are more likely to be asked such types of questions when applying for a technical role that requires strong analytical and problem-solving skills. With a well-thought answer, your purpose should be to demonstrate that you can think analytically.

“If you were to become a kitchen appliance, which would you prefer to be?”

This is a question to test your imagination, sense of humor and of course, creativity. Think of an appliance that can be related to your personality to support your answer. In a way, this interesting question can allow you to share your traits with the employer. For example, “I would be a blender that helps to blend and complete its task in seconds. You can also add to convey how easily you blend with people or are focused to achieve your targets within or before a deadline.

Practice more such oddball questions to get an understanding of how to handle them. Here are some more questions asked by global companies:

“Why are manhole covers round?” – Google

“How would you solve problems if you were from Mars?”- Amazon

“On a scale from 1 to 10, rate me as an interviewer.”- Kraft Foods

“What kind of tree would you be?”- Cisco

“If you could be any cartoon character, who would you be and why?”- Virgin

“How many tennis balls could you fit in Wimbledon?”- Exxon Mobil Corp

Asking out-of-the-box or uncommon questions in job interviews is a way to know more about your personality and find the best fit. While you can easily give quick answers to common interview questions like “tell us about yourself”, or “why should we hire you?” it is crucial to be prepared for such wired questions for which you cannot have a ready-made answer. So, use your wits and apply logic before randomly answering any of such questions.

All the best!