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30 People Share The Most Inappropriate Question They Were Asked During A Job Interview That Left Them Perplexed
A job interview can be a lot like a first date—your palms are sweaty, you’ve already changed three outfits, and you know the so, tell me about yourself is inevitably coming. Chances are you’ve already thought about the things you might be asked. But some questions can still surprise you.
Today, our list is dedicated to the less romantic of the two. We present to you some of the strangest things people have been asked during a job interview. Ranging from borderline offensive to simply bizarre, these stories have been shared by the ‘Ask Reddit’ community members. Make yourself comfortable and scroll down to find their accounts about such peculiar interviews.
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#1
Wasn’t a question, just funny/weird. I was in high school looking for a part time job, so I went to a local Chinese restaurant and asked for an application. They’re response, “what’s that?” I said I would like to work for them. So the person behind the counter told me to hold on for a minute, went into the kitchen to talk to the owner, and came back out to hand me a pen and a sticky note. He told me to write down some information. I write my name and phone number and ask if that enough and he says that it is.
So, I get a call over the weekend asking me to come in Monday after school. I thought, cool, got an interview. I show up and they tell me to pull my car around back. When I do, they come out of the restaurant with a bag of food and a GPS and say, “Here. Go deliver this.” Needless to say I got the job and worked for them for the next 6.5 years.
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#2
Not me but a friend was applying for a Christmas temp job and the last question was "Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?" Her reply was "No. It's a Christmas classic".
She got the job obviously.
3 Trash Pandas in a Trenchcoat 2 years ago
A guy runs around a tower at night avoiding Alan Rickman. It's obviously a Harry Potter movie.
#3
The boss’ “Where do I know you from?”. My wife and I had seen her at a swinger club and fooled around with her for a while. I didn’t know how to answer the question, so I just shrugged and moved along. She figured it out later. She was like “clothes threw me off...” and kept walking.
#4
“If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?”
I was interviewing for an analyst position so I went for a “decision tree” Got the job
#5
The idiots at the Northwestern State University of Louisiana asked me which church I would attend once I took the job. For those that don't know, that is an illegal question, and you should nope the f**k out if an employer tries to get into your religious business during a job interview.
#6
I was being interviewed by a young guy and two older ladies. The guy just kind of stared at me the entire interview while the women asked all of the questions. After they were done questioning me one of them asked him if he had any questions for me and before she could finish the statement he blurted out 'are your boobs real? They look really good!' I was in shock.
The woman in charge asked me to please wait outside, and after a minute both ladies met me in the hallway and offered me the position I interviewed for at $2/hour more than what the position tops out at. I'm still here 3 and a half years later, and I've never seen that guy since the interview.
Sergy Yeltsen 2 years ago
It's good to see they got rid of the creep. Most bosses wouldn't. I hope it's been a good place to work.
#7
If you were an animal, which would you be and why? I was applying for a cannabis shop, so I said I'd be a bald eagle because they get higher than any other animal on earth 🦅
Tucker Cahooter 2 years ago
So far we have had trees, bricks, fruit, vegetables and animals. If I see a question about what sort of rock you would be, or what sort of single cell organism you would be, then I will be calling "Bingo!" on the batsh*t interview questions bingo card
#8
"If you were a brick in a wall which one would you be?"
I'm sorry, I didn't know I was interviewing with Pink Floyd.
Edit: Maybe this is a good question after all. I'm learning so much about people.
Dan Padgett 2 years ago
Ugh, having to resort to metaphors is just annoying. "I'm the bottom one because without me, the wall falls down. Strong foundations are important" ugh, super annoying.
#9
I was being interviewed by a certain cell phone service provider. The interview was going great, the manager was really nice and charismatic but the last question really stuck out to me. “If this company implemented a policy that you thought was morally wrong, would you still follow said policy?”. I answered no and I said that if I thought the policy was wrong on a moral level that I would likely quit the job. That’s when I was dismissed from the interview. Needless to say, I don’t use that provider anymore...
#10
I was asked "Can you stay a few minutes and help me move some furniture?". It was for an IT job at an engineering firm, years later I was told that he was both trying to figure out whether I was a "No, that's not what I am being hired for" kinda guy or a "Sure, I'll do whatever needs doing" kinda guy. Also, he did have a couple of desks that he needed help moving. I did stay and help, and I did get the job.
#11
Completely technical interview. Then at the end of the interview, they asked me if I was a fruit or a vegetable, what would I be and why. I laughed, and asked them to repeat the question. They did, quite earnestly. I said I would be a granny smith apple, since I was a little tart, but once baked into a pie with other apples, I was delicious. It was a group interview over the phone. They murmured that it was a good answer and thanked me for my time. I did not get the job.
#12
Weird series of questions:
Interviewer (picks up phone): what’s your wife’s number.
Me: um, she’s in the US and it’s 2 am there. Why would you want to call my wife?
Interviewer: is your mother also in the US?
Me: yes. Why?
Interviewer: well, say I would call your wife or mother. What would would they say is your most annoying habit?
#13
*"Can you provide proof that you are not 100 snakes inside of a hollowed out man?"*
#14
Did you have a close relationship with your father? I'm a woman (engineer) and this was a totally out of left field question.
Edit: this was in the late 90's and people would be shocked by the s**t female engineers in very male dominated specialities had to go through.
Dan Padgett 2 years ago
Yeah, that's fúcking bad juju. Hope you got the job but also hope you got a better one after it.
#15
"What's your name?"
Was only weird because I knew the guy already, and we were on a first name basis. I laughed, assuming he was joking. He didn't laugh. Apparently they are supposed to ask the exact same questions to everyone.
#16
Not a question but when I tried to get a job that would involve a fair amount of driving, I half jokingly wrote down 'drivers license' under work experience. My interviewer took one look at the application and said "valid drivers license, good. You're already ahead of the other guy".
S Mi 2 years ago
You'd be amazed how often it happens. During one screening for a job that lists a vehicle, driver's license and insurance on the job ad, the hr asked 'do you have a reliable vehicle?' Person said yes. At interview, they tell us they have the vehicle, but don't yet have a license....🙄
#17
You obviously have a great resume. Why haven’t you gotten another offer yet? Is something wrong with you?
#18
"Do you believe in aliens?"
Obviously a super serious interview for the arcade I worked at in HS. They also asked me to be on their laser tag team in the tourney that night.
#19
I was being interviewed for a IT Helpdesk job at a bank a number of years ago and was asked "Why are manhole covers round?". I was later told after answering wrong that it was to see if the person would say "I don't know" (Correct answer) or just try and BS their way out of it.
#20
“You want a beer?” No lie, just like that. I hesitated because I was not expecting that, but he opened the fridge and it was filled with beer- half Budweiser, half coors light.
I passed on the beer, still have the job.
#21
I was asked a question regarding my GPA during college.
"You finished with a 3.2, but had failed a bunch of classes your first year and a half, what the f**k was up with that?"
I was poor in the dorms and couldn't afford my books or Pearson™ Online Study Questions Portal Code™. They thought it was a suitable answer.
Got offered the job.
Ginger Ghost 2 years ago
good thing they asked about it and let you tell the true situation that it wasn't you, it was your lack of resources
#22
I was interviewing a potential employee with my supervisor and the last question he asked her was “How are you with dealing with....stupid people?” It was completely out of left field and informal based on the questions we were previously asking. You could tell the question threw her but she answered. And she ended up getting the job.
Dan Padgett 2 years ago
"I seem to have managed this whole interview, so I would say pretty good".
#23
"So, I see that you're married. do you f**k around?"
I was interviewing for a supervisors position. The job was open because they had just fired a supervisor for having sex with a woman that worked under him and they were sued.
#24
"If you could be any of the original 150 Pokemon, which one would you choose?"
I said Ditto, because I could be any of them, but that was a lie. If I could be any Pokemon, I would be Pidgeot.
Edit: Thanks for the... silver?
#25
The job entailed a lot of filing of papers, so I got asked "How do you best file things in folders alphabetically?"
I was like "Uh... with a folder for each letter, and then put the folders in alphabetical order..."
She said "Good... good..." and jotted down some notes.
#26
You've got a broad set of shoulders on you, you ever do any modeling or wrestling?
"Hey, thanks for your time. I don't think this would be a good fit for me."
#27
¿How old do you think I am?
Hmm.. I don't know... 40?
You have the job. I'm 60.
Wow...
Dan Padgett 2 years ago
Men, all over the world know how to respectfully lowball this without it seeming ridiculous. It's a learned survival skill.
#28
I was once asked in an interview, "Do you look at your s**t after you wipe?" Which they asked me to see if I would lie or not. Apparently it is a natural instinct that nearly EVERYONE does, which, back in our caveman days, used to be a way to see if you were getting sick or not via the color of your steaming dung. I laughed and said yes.
#29
My friend had an interview at Panera which ended up being three separate interviews and she said they made them sit in a circle and talk about the texture of bread and how it made them feel....
#30
This was during a "mock interview" while I was in college. The professor had her husband come in and we had to go in, one by one, and do an interview. Just like in real life.
Well, everyone is going in and coming out smiling. Not taking too long so I thought it would be a cake walk.
My turn is next. I go in and everything is going smoothly. He takes a look at my resume and sees that I was in the military. He asks "Tell me about your time in the military". So I tell him what I did, that I worked with a variety of different people from different backgrounds, with different views on life and opinions, and that I supervised people, etc.
He says "Ok, good", and continues with the interview. Asks a few more questions, then says "Tell me about your time in the military". I figured maybe he didn't realize he already asked me that, or maybe it was a test, so I repeated what I said.
He starts turning slowly in his chair, looking at the ceiling and says again:
Tell me about your time in the military
I just looked at him. He stopped spinning in his chair and looked at me. After about 20 seconds, he says "Ok, we're done here."
I got a B.
#31
Not me, but my husband was asked who he voted for and his personal feelings on his daughter's ability to, one day (she was only like... 7 months old at the time), get birth control without his permission. He told the guy that his personal opinions on such things didn't seem relevant to an accounting position. He didn't get offered the job.
#32
It was for a tech job at a small company when I was young, Google had just become trendy and cool not long before...
It was something like, "How many windows are in New York?"
I asked if they were serious, and they said yes it was an exercise to see how I'd work out the problem and they wanted me to answer.
So I went with it, cause I wanted to the job, spoke through my reasoning.
Then the guy smiles like a jackass and says, "Yeah, really, the answer is 'if I needed to know I'd just google it'".
It was such a d**k move and I was such a cocky little s**t that I just walked out.
Tucker Cahooter 2 years ago
And if you Google it you will get umpteen different answers, from people calculating it different ways with different assumptions, so which one would you like Mr Interviewer?
#33
One interview in particular stands out in my mind. I hadn't even applied for the job, they found me on LinkedIn and since I was looking I figured, what the hell?
The guy interviewing me came with a list of questions, which is pretty normal. But the questions he asked were pretty weird. One was "If you could have any super power, what would it be and why?" My answer was to fly because it would be fun and super easy to travel. He liked that answer.
Then he asked me to rate things on a scale of 1-10. One was "How much do you value honesty?" So I said 9 since I'm an honest person and value honesty in others. He liked that answer.
A few questions later he said: "How much do you value getting things done on time?" I said 7, because you can't always anticipate how long things can take to be resolved and sometimes there are complications. He asked me "So you don't value getting things done on time then?" And I said "No, it's not that, but I told you earlier that I value honesty more." He really liked that answer.
Anyway, they ended up offering me the job and I turned them down. So they called me back with a better offer and I still said no. At this point the nice HR lady asked me why I was turning them down so I told her: "I never even applied for this job! You called me to setup the interview. And the interview I had with your company was one of the weirdest I've ever had, so I don't think it would be a good fit."
#34
This one was sort-of my fault, but I was being interviewed and the interviewer asked how I would handle termination, and I said "I would want o know why..."
She cut me off an apologized and said she meant how would I approach terminating an employee. I asked for the context and she said
"Imagine you had to fire me, how would that go?"
I was confused because I wasn't applying for a position superior to her, so I asked what she was being fired for and she (I believe) innocently said "I don't know. I did something really inappropriate to you ... with you ... I mean, just something inappropriate"
It was really weird because neither of us seemed to know how to handle the interview at this point, though I did get the job.
#35
Not me, but wife was asked if she knew how to bake... This was for an accounting job.
Apparently the office is pretty big on 'treat days', so they wanted to know if she'd bring stuff
#36
"Do you have a girlfriend? Why did you broke up with your old girlfriend? " In a technical interview with a few senior employees of the company, when I replied " I don't see how this is related to the job I'm applying for" they all got defensive and were like " For example, we are all married, we're asking if you have any social problems" I was seriously confused and still unemployed afterwards.
#37
Interviewer: “I see you graduated from [school] in 2013. Did you know a Ms. Jane Doe?” Me: “Oh yeah, I know her! She was in my first year classes.” Interviewer: “Ms. Doe interviewed yesterday. Why should we hire you over her?” I basically responded with “You should hire us both, ideally.” Then I said why I’d be good for the job overall. Neither of us got the job.
#38
"Tell me some things you noticed about the building as you were coming in." Naturally, I was focused on the upcoming interview, and couldn't think of a single goddamn thing I'd noticed about the building. The rest of the interview seemed to go well, I'm a good interviewer. But that question threw me so bad, I didn't even have a graceful non-answer. I just kind of stammered for a minute.
Jan Rosier 2 years ago
'it has a front door, a lobby with a desk and a receptionist, and there are elevators'
#39
"What are you?" This came after them dancing around the issue for quite awhile by asking different variations of more PC-versions. I'm mixed and this happens a lot (said in the exact same way, as if I'm some type of dog breed rather than human) but it took me by surprise in the interview even though I knew they were leading up to it. Needless to say, I turned down the offer.
#40
In an interview for a tech support position at a software company, they asked me "Okay, imagine that you're a quality assurance person for a toaster company, how would you test the toaster out to see if you could make it fail?" and I went through every iteration I could think of that would "break" the toaster (stick non-bread/food items into it, operate it upside-down/stuff like that) there was clearly a specific "correct answer" they were looking for and after like 10 minutes we just had to move on. I did not get the job, and I will never know what specific thing it was they were looking for with that question.
PotatoNinja5000 2 years ago
All valid methods, but it sounds like they were looking for the simplest answer: don't plug it in.
#41
I had an interview a few years ago at a video rental chain called "Family Video". They mainly questioned me about my family and upbringing. My parents are divorced, I was raised by a single mother and I don't have a relationship with my dad. This was really awkward to explain to the manager who clearly wasn't happy with my broken family and upbringing. I didn't get the job.
#42
They joked about whether or not they would ask me a question throughout the interview. They didn't for most of it, but by the end, I just had to know what the question was. I had to defend not liking Ready Player One. As part of checking that I'm not a psycho on social media, they came across my Goodreads review summing up why I didn't like the book. One of the interviewers loved it. I'm pretty sure I ended up not getting the job because I got a little too focused on the discussion about the book with that interviewer and the other interviewer wasn't interested.
Katarzyna Drozd 2 years ago
I guess what they were really testing was how you handle the situation when someone have different opinion than yours
#43
"What's you astrological sign?" I should have left right there - but the interviewer guessed, and guessed correctly. So it'd have to be some kind of awkward 'you got it right but I still don't believe you' conversation, or straight up accusing her of using the birth date on my CV. It did kill the mood for the rest of the conversation, and I won't ever work with the recruiter in question again.
#44
I was interviewing for a teaching position at a high school in a tiny town. Both the superintendent and principal were asking me questions when the principal asked me “You’re very pretty, are you going to be able to not sleep with the students?” Apparently, the school needed an English teacher because the last one slept with a student....
#45
Are you a virgin?
#46
If your friends were here, what would they say about you? I didn’t get that job. Maybe a little less honesty required
#47
“You’re from Russia?... you’re not a spy are you?” This was for an associate attorney position. It wasn’t for me.
Michael Largey 2 years ago
"Of course not. If I was, I would already have a job with one of Trump's law firms, wouldn't I?"
#48
Why did you say good morning when you know perfectly well it's afternoon
Dan Padgett 2 years ago
Bit of a cúnty question. I can see they are checking to see if you sleep in and wake up late.
#49
"What's the last book you've read?" Probably not as strange as some of the others are/will be in this thread but just strange enough to throw me off. I'm not much of a book reader, and certainly don't read many books in my off-time that relate to my career. It was like "I know what answer you're looking for, but I can't truthfully give it to you".
#50
It's a tie, at two different interviews: 1. If you were a shoe, what would you be and why? 2. If you were a food, what would you be and why? The first interview was for a job at my college and the second was for a catering job at a different college.
#51
"What is your opinion on wealthy people?" I was 22, fresh out of college, and my first interview was working at a private, small bank. I wasn't expecting that question.
#52
If I have a child or not. I am female and was only interested in freelance position for one month. They also asked me how many jobs have I applied and have I heard from them and If is it hard to find this kind of job in this city.
JESUSLOVESYOU 2 years ago (edited)
what is freelance ???????????????????????????????????????? i feel the need to ask even if no one answers but someone plz answer
#53
That if I was interested in the job. "Hey Jim you lil piece of s**t, listen carefully, I wouldn't be here in the first place if I wasn't interested."
#54
This isn't the position you are interviewing for. What is it you'd rather be doing?" Didn't see that one coming.
#55
"How do you think you did?"
Tucker Cahooter 2 years ago
Not good. I couldn't make up my mind what sort of tree, brick, fruit, vegetable, animal, shoe, or food I would be
What do you think ?
Carol Emory 2 years ago
Safeway district office told me that the previous woman in this position left because she had a baby. Then they asked if I was planning on getting pregnant anytime soon. I got up and collected my things. She said "I guess that's a yes." I said "Nope...this is me not wanting to work for a company that doesn't understand that it's illegal to ask such questions in an interview for a job. It's called discrimination and violating privacy." And I left.
censorshipsucks 2 years ago
Fortunately in my country it's illegal to ask questions relating to family planning, sexual orientation, religion, or political affilliation. You can report them if they do. Of course, small companies might do this, but not any serious or big company.
Squirrelly Panda 2 years ago
Illegal in the U.S. as well (assuming your country is not U.S.) but it doesn't stop many interviewers and how do you prove they did it?
Load More Replies... Carol Emory 2 years ago
Safeway district office told me that the previous woman in this position left because she had a baby. Then they asked if I was planning on getting pregnant anytime soon. I got up and collected my things. She said "I guess that's a yes." I said "Nope...this is me not wanting to work for a company that doesn't understand that it's illegal to ask such questions in an interview for a job. It's called discrimination and violating privacy." And I left.
censorshipsucks 2 years ago
Fortunately in my country it's illegal to ask questions relating to family planning, sexual orientation, religion, or political affilliation. You can report them if they do. Of course, small companies might do this, but not any serious or big company.
Squirrelly Panda 2 years ago
Illegal in the U.S. as well (assuming your country is not U.S.) but it doesn't stop many interviewers and how do you prove they did it?
Load More Replies...
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