could somebody give me some interview question inspiration?

Question

Hi, I'm interviewing someone for a job as a systems engineer tomorrow. I'd like to start with a totally irrelevant question that will totally freak the kid out before switching to a more formal technique or asking questions that are relevant to the position advertised.

I watched stranger than fiction yesterday and liked the question "are you the king of anything?"

Could you make suggestions as to scenarios I might give this person or just insane questions to which he'll either freak out and run away or stand fast and find an answer. Cheers.

But Biz guru, I do work in a company that employs nut jobs and to be honest, I couldn't care less if this person knows what TCP/IP means or if he knows how to weave optical fibre cables with his teet. What I want to know is how he would react if he came face to face with a Dark Lord of the Underworld.

Answer 1

Diarmid, you are starting to sound like David Brent! How about:
- What would the world look like without shadow?

- Do you not think you should have dressed up for this interview?

Answer 2

One good interviewing technique is to do absolutely nothing for the first few minutes and see if the interviewee has the intuition to realise something is amiss and that the interview has in fact started. Walk into the room and introduce yourself. Then sit down. If the interviewee tries to get the ball rolling just raise a finger in the 'just a minute' manner while making some notes in a notepad about critical business matters. If you have a blackberry answer a couple of mails. Then close your note pad, put down your pen and your blackberry and just sit and wait occassionally look over at the door as if you're waiting for somebody. Don't do or say anything whatsoever. See how long it takes for the interviewee to say "Are we waiting for someone?"

If the interviewee asks this less than a minute after you have put the pen and the blackberry down answer this with "No not at all, but I'm very impressed with how quickly you asked that question, now, why are you here?"

If more than a minute then answer this with "No not at all, Thank-you for your time, Nancy(substitute with receptionists name) will show you out." Promptly get up and leave the room.

If the interviewee has made it to the second stage following the prolonged silence I can recommend the following interview questions :

- Last time I looked in the dictionary, my name's Ron Burgundy. What's your name?

- What you lookin' at?

- Do you carry your medical records around with you?

- How does a hundred dollars a month strike ya?

- A colleague has soiled his slacks at work and is blissfully unaware of having done so. He is wearing chinos and his mishap is clearly visible. How would you deal with the situation?

I'm actually interviewing 6 people over the next 3 days and plan to do exactly this.

Answer 3

A little cruel surely and not sure what benefit it would be to your company?

How about outlining a potentially disasterous situation such as the new sytem causing major problems with a bank. How do they respond and handle the situation?

This will give you an idea of how they can handle a difficult situation as opposed to do they want to work with a company that employs nut jobs?