What am I thinking right now? What is your coping mechanism when you're having a bad day? You’ve sorted your outfit, researched the role and company, practised your interview technique in front of the mirror and then out of the blue, the interviewer asks a question which completely throws you.
You’re not alone in this heart-pounding scenario… everyday potential candidates face questions which almost can never be prepared for, however – that doesn’t mean you can’t answer them.
David Whitby, UK country manager at recruitment site Glassdoor says, “Preparing for an interview thoroughly means being ready for anything, even a curveball question not directly related to the job,”
“Remember, it’s not necessarily about getting the right answer, more how you cope under pressure.”
Glassdoor dug into its database and selected the 20 hardest questions asked in Britain, to help you to prepare for what to expect.
- “What on your CV is the closest thing to a lie?” – Marketing and Communications Employee, The Phoenix Partnership
- “What am I thinking right now?” – Regional Director, TES Global
- “How would your enemy describe you?” – Advertising Sales Grad Scheme, Condé Nast
- “If you had a friend who was great for a job and an identical person who was just as good, but your friend earned you £2,000 less, who would you give the job to?” – Associate Recruitment Consultant, Hays plc
- “What’s the most selfish thing you’ve ever done?” – Graduate Consultant, PageGroup
- “You are stranded on the moon with a group of other astronauts and you need to travel 200 miles back to base, here is a list of 15 items salvaged from the wreckage of the spacecraft you were travelling in. List them in order of importance.” – Sales Employee, Turnstone Sales
- “If your best friend was here what advice would he give you?” – CCP, American Express
- “Describe your biggest weakness. Then describe another.” – Forward Deployed Software Engineer, Palantir Technologies
- “How do you cope with repetition?” – Product Specialist, Tesla Motors
- “How would you describe cloud computing to a 7 year old?” – Graduate Scheme, Microsoft
- “There are three people, each with different salaries, and they want to find the average of them without telling any of the other two their salary. How do they do it?” – Technical Delivery Graduate, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence
- “Who is your hero, and why?” – Product Quality Employee, GE
- “What’s your the biggest regret managing people so far?” – Area Director, Regus
- “What would you ask the CEO if you met him one day?” – Performance Analyst, British Airways
- “You have 50 red and 50 blue objects. Split these however you like between two containers to give the minimum/maximum probability of drawing one of the colours” – Operations Analyst, Clearwater Analytics
- “What does social justice mean to you?” – Content Marketing Manager, ThoughtWorks
- “What is your coping mechanism when you have a bad day?” – Consultant, Switch Consulting
- “Are you a nice guy?” – Product Manager, Badoo
- “Provide an estimate for the number of goals in the premier league.” – Management Accountant, VAX
- “Tell me about your childhood.” – Learning and Development Employee, Next
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