Here are 25 of the weirdest job interview questions you'd never expect

During an interview for an engineering position at Gore I was asked to estimate how many barbers there are in the entire country and explain how I got that number. Probalby more surprising is that type of "show me how you think" question isn't that unusual, at least based on this survey.

Most of these questions hail from the Microsoft school of interviewing: "What does the interviewee do when we throw him a curve ball?" This might be useful if the interviewers actually knew how to interpret the answers they get back. Most interviewers are not actually that skillful, but ask this type of question anyway because it is the "hip" thing to do.

Some interviewers go so far as to expect a real answer from a nonsense question. It is at that point that an interview can turn ugly.

My answer to the cow question? "There are exactly the correct number of cows in Canada to meet the demand. Neither one more nor one less."

Another day, another fad. This too shall pass into oblivion. Thomas Acquinas already beat them all by postulating how many angels could dance on the head of a pin.

My son was asked in a job interview to "write an SQL query that finds how many times Elder Holland has been to Georgia."

My son responded, "Which Georgia?"

He got the job.

People must be desperate to want to work at any of these companies.

It is a test. Never accept the question. How quickly can you think under pressure?

It's not a fad. These have been staples of interviews for 20 years.

An interview question for the editorial staff of the Deseret News should have been "Describe what a list is." (Hint: it's not a slideshow.)

Alternatively, another interview question might have been: "Explain why it's unethical to deceive readers by promising a list and delivering a slideshow."

Regardless of what the question is, the answer is Chuck Norris. You'll be sure to get the job.

AT HSTucker:

A defition of a "List" that seems to be very popular is:
A series of names, words, or other items written, printed, or imagined one after the other: a shopping list; a guest list; a list of things to do.

Regardless of whether the components of the list are one below one another or whether the lists include pictures.... they sure are consecutive in the fact that they are one after the other...

I got the 'Which Kitchen Utensil would you be?' question. I thought about it maybe 10 seconds and then said I would be the the sharpening steel in a knife block, or a piece of oiled whetstone--then my core responsibility would be to maintain all those with whom I came in contact at their optimal level of performance.

I was complimented on my correct usage of grammar and syntax, and I was offered the position of executive admin assistant. Once in my life I did something right.

Please make your "lists" user-friendly instead of an annoying tool to increase you web page-views!