Silly Questions, Serious Interview

By Ed Orum

Five hundred resumes came down to one simple question:

If you were at a baseball game and a foul ball came your way, would you stand up and try to catch it or just wait in your seat and hope it fell your way?

No, the job opening wasn’t for a baseball team, but a $13-an-hour administrative assistant at a trucking company. That’s the story according to a recent New York Times article, which explains how hiring managers are getting creative in this competitive job market, with far more qualified candidates than openings.

One finalist said she’d wait for the ball to come to her, the other would reach up and grab for it. Who would you rather have on your team?

The go-getter ended up getting the job.

Often, we go into interviews with the mindset that it’s all about us, and many times it is. Hiring managers wants to know more about who we are as a person and an employee – abstracts not always easily reflected in a resume.

Right now, the market is flooded with qualified candidates, so hiring managers are getting creative with their filtering. A recent New York Times article tells the story of a recruiter attempting to sort through 500 resumes for a $13-an-hour administrative assistant job. First, overqualified candidates were weeded out – the reasoning being that they would simply jump ship when the economy improved.

In the end, the company decided on just eight applicants to bring in. Each was asked to answer over 100 questions, interviews took an hour.

These questions go far beyond your everyday skills. They run the gamut from straight up knowledge based facts to mind-teasing “What if’s?”

A friend who was interviewing for a tech job was recently asked:

“Just curious, what is the population of the United States?”

“How many apps are there for the iPhone?”

“Name three of the top tech blogs”

I once interviewed for a job that required a written news test. People, places, important historical dates – I felt like I was back in high school taking my AP history exam.

Does it really matter in this day and age of instant Internet search to be able to list off all nine Supreme Court justices? Probably not, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared for curve ball questions during the interview process.

Which brings us back to the administrative assistant job – the tie-breaking question ended up being whether a candidate would stand up to catch a ball at a baseball game or just sit back and wait for it to come to them.

Guess who’s answer got them the job?