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20 Craziest Job Interview Questions and the Right Answers
MoneyWatch ^ | May 30, 2011 | Lynn O'Shaughnessy

Posted on 08/05/2011 10:53:16 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows

Nobody has to tell you that it’s a rough job market. So when you do finagle a job interview, you’ll want to shine.

-snip-

Procter & Gamble: Sell me an invisible pen.

Facebook: Twenty five racehorses, no stopwatch, five tracks. Figure out the top three fastest horses in the fewest number of races.

Citigroup: What is your strategy at table tennis?

Google: You are climbing a staircase. Each time you can either take one step or two. The staircase has n steps. In how many distinct ways can you climb the staircase?

Capital One: How do you evaluate Subway’s five-foot long sub policy?

Gryphon Scientific: How many cocktail umbrellas are there in a given time in the United States?

Enterprise Rent-A-Car: Would you be okay hearing “no” from seven out of 10 customers.

Goldman Sachs: Suppose you had eight identical balls. One of them is slightly heavier and you are given a balance scale. What’s the fewest number of times you have to use the scale to find the heavier ball?

Towers Watson: Estimate how many planes are there in the sky.

Lubin Lawrence: If you could describe Hershey, Godiva and Dove chocolate as people, how would you describe them?

Pottery Barn: If I was a genie and could give you your dream job, what and where would it be?

Kiewit Corp.: What did you play with as a child?

VWR International: How would you market a telescope in 1750 when no one knows about orbits, moons etc.

Diageo North America: If you walk into a liquor store to count the unsold bottles, but the clerk is screaming at you to leave, what do you do?

Brown & Brown Insurance: How would you rate your life on a scale of 1 to 10?

(Excerpt) Read more at moneywatch.bnet.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Humor; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: napl
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To: Darksheare

Don’t you mean, “ping pong”?


41 posted on 08/05/2011 11:18:39 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: glock rocks

Nope, two maximum. See #29.


42 posted on 08/05/2011 11:18:48 AM PDT by ctdonath2 ($1 meals: http://abuckaplate.blogspot.com/)
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To: Slings and Arrows

Some of you are forgeting it’s a BALLANCE SCALE< not a regular scale. Once is correct, twice with a regular scale.


43 posted on 08/05/2011 11:19:13 AM PDT by bigjoesaddle ("Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged". - Reagan)
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To: Slings and Arrows
What is your strategy at table tennis?

"The only winning move is not to play."

44 posted on 08/05/2011 11:19:17 AM PDT by ctdonath2 ($1 meals: http://abuckaplate.blogspot.com/)
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To: Larry Lucido

I use a sling shot.


45 posted on 08/05/2011 11:19:28 AM PDT by Darksheare (You will never defeat Bok Choy!)
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To: Darksheare

Gatling gun.


46 posted on 08/05/2011 11:20:37 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows (Would you like Satan fries with that?)
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To: Abathar; bcsco; ctdonath2

The answer is indeeed “once.”

Take two random balls. Weigh them. If one is heavier than the other, that’s your answer.

Admittedly, most of the time, you won’t select one of the heavy balls if you randomly picked two. But it’s possible that you might. the interviewer asked for “the fewest times possible.”

I’d either get the job on the spot or be asked to leave and not come back.


47 posted on 08/05/2011 11:20:46 AM PDT by Our man in washington
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To: Pessimist
What’s the fewest number of times you have to use the scale to find the heavier ball?

NONE.

48 posted on 08/05/2011 11:20:49 AM PDT by MestaMachine (Guns don't kill people, the obama administration does. (Gunwalker Ping List))
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To: glock rocks

;-)


49 posted on 08/05/2011 11:21:18 AM PDT by humblegunner (The kinder, gentler version...)
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To: ctdonath2

I know. I should have put quotes around my reply. I was imitating an interviewer.


50 posted on 08/05/2011 11:21:30 AM PDT by glock rocks (Primary is a VERB)
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To: Our man in washington

Right, so you had to weigh twice, once for each.


51 posted on 08/05/2011 11:22:24 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: Slings and Arrows

Potato Cannon.

“Serve!” *FOOOOOOOOM!*


52 posted on 08/05/2011 11:22:29 AM PDT by Darksheare (You will never defeat Bok Choy!)
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To: Slings and Arrows

What is the smallest number divisible by 225 that consists of all 1’s and 0’s?

I would answer - 225 converted to binary

but if you were to remain in the decimal system, I would venture a guess that there is no such number. My logic would be that since 225 ends with a 5, the other factor would have to be a an even number. And since none of the single digit even numbers product the result required, that the answer would require the addition of the resulting long multiplication, and since no product of 2 and an even number produces a result with a zero .... that such a number does not exist.

(I’m likely to be wrong so don’t take my answer)
FR math gurus - Am I right or wrong?


53 posted on 08/05/2011 11:22:29 AM PDT by taxcontrol
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To: ctdonath2

How do you do twice?

I see three times: 4 each, then two, then one on each balance plate.


54 posted on 08/05/2011 11:23:55 AM PDT by FroggyTheGremlim (Democrats: the Party of NO!)
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To: Slings and Arrows

On the eight marbles, you could answer one if you are lucky and two if you are smart. I wonder if that is what they are after.


55 posted on 08/05/2011 11:24:25 AM PDT by Ingtar (Together we go broke (from a Pookie18 post))
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To: KarlInOhio

Sell it as a battle field intelligence gathering device or as an augmentation to signalling by being able to read signals from futher away.


56 posted on 08/05/2011 11:24:42 AM PDT by taxcontrol
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To: Darksheare; Slings and Arrows
One of these!


57 posted on 08/05/2011 11:25:38 AM PDT by glock rocks (Primary is a VERB)
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To: bcsco
Twice.
Split them into 2 groups of three with two balls leftover. Weigh the groups of three. If they are even, it's one of the leftover two balls. Weigh them against each other and you're done.

If the weighing of the groups of three balls are not even, discard the lighter group. You have narrowed it down to the three in the heavier group.

Weigh two balls from the heavier group against each other.

If they weigh even, it's the ball you didn't weigh from the group. If they are not even, it's the heavier of the two.

58 posted on 08/05/2011 11:27:00 AM PDT by Mikey_1962 (Obama: The Affirmative Action President. Alea iacta est!)
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To: Pete

But what if the lighter group was the heaviest ball & the three lightest balls. you would have eliminated it on the first try.


59 posted on 08/05/2011 11:27:15 AM PDT by KosmicKitty (WARNING: Hormonally crazed woman ahead!!)
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To: glock rocks; Slings and Arrows

Say menacingly “I feed on spleens!” before serving the ball?


60 posted on 08/05/2011 11:27:18 AM PDT by Darksheare (You will never defeat Bok Choy!)
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