25 Oddball Questions Asked of Job Candidates

When MBA students interview for jobs, potential employers often throw some wild curve balls at them. Years ago, an investment bank was banned from recruiting at one prominent business school after it asked female candidates if they would abort their children if pregnant in order to complete a crucial assignment for a client.

Each year now, Glassdoor.com lists 25 oddball questions shared on its website by interview candidates. In 2011, job applicants posted nearly 100,000 interview questions. Though all of the top 25 oddball queries were not directed exclusively at MBA students, many of them come from companies that literally make the MBA market, including Amazon.com, Deloitte, Google and Ernst & Young.

Here’s Glassdoor’s pick of the 25 most oddball questions of the year.

1. “How many people are using Facebook in San Francisco at 2:30 pm on a Friday?” – view answers Asked at Google. More Google interview questions.

2. “Just entertain me for five minutes, I’m not going to talk.” – view answers Asked at Acosta. More Acosta interview questions.

3. “If Germans were the tallest people in the world, how would you prove it?” – view answers Asked at Hewlett-Packard. More Hewlett-Packard interview questions.

4. “What do you think of garden gnomes?” – view answers Asked at Trader Joe’s. More Trader Joe’s interview questions.

5. “Is your college GPA reflective of your potential?” – view answers Asked at the Advisory Board. More Advisory Board interview questions.

6. “Would Mahatma Gandhi have made a good software engineer?” –view answers Asked at Deloitte. More Deloitte interview questions.

7. “If you could be #1 employee but have all your coworkers dislike you or you could be #15 employee and have all your coworkers like you, which would you choose?” – view answers Asked at ADP. More ADP interview questions.

8. “How would you cure world hunger?” – view answers Asked at Amazon.com. More Amazon.com interview questions.

9. “Room, desk and car – which do you clean first?” – view answers Asked at Pinkberry. More Pinkberry interview questions.

10. “Does life fascinate you?” – view answers Asked at Ernst & Young. More Ernst & Young interview questions.

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