Photographed by Dominique Fierro. What makes interviews so nerve-wracking is the fear of the unknown. Will your knowledge of the company and your own résumé get you through the nail biting chat, or will you be asked about your hopes and dreams? Should you map our a potential five year plan to run by them, or seriously consider who you'd invite to a dinner party, dead or alive?
Based on Glassdoor's Top 10 Oddball Interview Questions for 2016, the only thing you can be sure of is that you'll never be 100% prepared for what the person on the other side of the desk might ask. Glassdoor, a jobs and recruiting site, looked at over 100,000 interview questions applicants shared over the past year to select the most unusual bunch.
Some of the questions gathered seem like fun — "Who would win in a fight between Spiderman and Batman?" was asked at Stanford University. Still, any question could be stressful if the right answer stood between you and your dream job.
An interviewer at Squarespace asked an applicant for their "favorite '90s jam," while someone at Cold Stone Creamery went a whimsical route, asking a job seeker to name their favorite Disney Princess.
Though it highlights the element of uncertainty in the job hunting process, the list can give you some comfort. However awkward it felt to describe your ideal vacation to your last interviewer, at least they didn't ask, "If you were asked to unload a 747 full of jelly beans, what would you do?" Unless, of course, you were interviewing with Bose.
1. Asked at Airbnb:"What would you do if you were the one survivor in a plane crash?"
2. Asked at Squarespace:"What's your favorite '90s jam?"
3. Asked at Dropbox: "If you woke up and had 2,000 unread emails and could only answer 300 of them, how would you choose which ones to answer?"
4. Asked at Stanford University:"Who would win in a fight between Spiderman and Batman?"
5. Asked at Aksia:"If you had a machine that produced $100 dollars for life, what would you be willing to pay for it today?"
6. Asked at Banana Republic: "What did you have for breakfast?"
7. Asked at Spirit Airlines: "Describe the color yellow to somebody who's blind."
8. Asked at Bose:"If you were asked to unload a 747 full of jelly beans, what would you do?"
9. Asked at Redbox:"How many people flew out of Chicago last year?"
10. Asked at Cold Stone Creamery: "What's your favorite Disney Princess?"
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