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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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.
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.
A guy runs around a tower at night avoiding Alan Rickman. It's obviously a Harry Potter movie.
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.
“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
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.
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.
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.
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 🦅
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
"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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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?
*"Can you provide proof that you are not 100 snakes inside of a hollowed out man?"*
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.
Yeah, that's fúcking bad juju. Hope you got the job but also hope you got a better one after it.
"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.
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".
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....🙄
You obviously have a great resume. Why haven’t you gotten another offer yet? Is something wrong with you?
"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.
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.
“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.
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.
good thing they asked about it and let you tell the true situation that it wasn't you, it was your lack of resources
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.
"I seem to have managed this whole interview, so I would say pretty good".
"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.
"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?
"Don't know who or what Pokemon is but is there one that doesn't get asked stupid questions ?"
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.
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."
¿How old do you think I am?
Hmm.. I don't know... 40?
You have the job. I'm 60.
Wow...
Men, all over the world know how to respectfully lowball this without it seeming ridiculous. It's a learned survival skill.
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.
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....
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.
Note: this post originally had 55 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
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.
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.
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... 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.
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.
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...