The Absolute Weirdest Questions People Have Been Asked In A Job Interview

Apple Jacks Is Even Better

"Went to a job interview at Applebee’s. After going over my extensive work experience in the service industry, the manager asked:"

"If you were a cereal, which one would you be?"

"Me: 'Mm, I don’t know. Cheerios?'."

"Him: 'Why Cheerios?'."

"Me: '…because I seem like a Cheerio kinda person?'."

"Him: 'Hmm. Most people say Fruit Loops, because they’re fun and colorful'."

"Me: 😐"

"I did not get the job."

~ Numerous_Age_3223

The Best Medicine

"Do you like to laugh?"

"Asked by the most stoic woman who worked in that office."

"I laughed in response and got the job. Apparently I answered correctly."

~ Danceinthepurplerain

Wut?

"Well, I already know your weaknesses. What are some of your strengths?"

"I had no idea what he was talking about since we never discussed weaknesses."

~ JoshuaByer

No, And Goodbye

"I was asked at an interview if I planned on having kids soon."

"I answered that I was 19 and still living with my parents so, no, I wasn’t but based off him asking that question I didn’t want to work for him and cut the interview short."

"He seemed entirely shocked but I could tell he was asking out of misogyny and not any other reason."

"He was an arse and I’d already decided I didn’t want the job—this was just an excuse to cut the interview short."

~ Chinateapott

"It was 2 guys interviewing me for an ICU RN job. I am female and this was several years ago."

"Their very FIRST question was 'So are you married? Have any kids?'.”

"Which yeah, is maybe small talk, but you can’t ask that in an interview and it’s not your business and why is that the VERY FIRST THING you are saying to me upon meeting me‽‽"

"I said 'Come on, you know you can’t ask that kind of stuff'."

"It was awkward after that and I didn’t get a call back."

~ Free-While-2994

"I was asked in an interview if I had any children. The guy even lamented he knows he isn't supposed to ask me that, but the hours are very strict and people use their kids as an excuse too often to not work their full hours."

"Little Miss Helpful that I was told him then that's how he should phrase the question so as not to appear discriminatory towards women. He looked surprised as I gave him a better script example."

"And then proceeded to answer the more PC version of the question I created and told him, 'I don't have any obligations that would keep me from working the hours and shifts I'd be scheduled for'."

"I was not given a job offer. No surprise there."

"Which was fine and dandy because I wouldn't have wanted to work there anyway for a variety of reasons."

~ NolaJen1120

Were They Applying At X?

"I had an interview where the CEO randomly sat in."

"When he learned about my heritage, the CEO asked what my views were about the current government of the country my parents are from."

"Even the main interviewer cringed and was speechless."

~ Craptardo

Gotcha!

"Interviewer: 'You don't have any kids?'."

"Me: 'No, not yet'."

"Interviewer: 'You're Mexican, aren't you?'."

"Me: 'You can't ask that during an interview'."

"Dude went bright red and apologized immediately before I burst out laughing. The interview was going well and I already had the job in the bag. At this point we were more or less just chatting."

~ messonamission

Is It A Job Requirement?

"If I hire you as the HR manager will you go and f*ck all the nurses? Because that is what the former HR manager did."

"Interviewer was the Hospital CEO."

~ heartofgold48

Run, Girl, Run!

"I got hired and quit the same day. I turned 19 and was looking for something full time. I got a call for an interview at some promotion business."

"I got called into a room where my potential new boss was sitting. He was very friendly and nice but it all became very very weird very quickly."

"He asked me normal interview questions: 'What made you want to apply? Do you have experience in promotion work? Where do you see yourself in this company?'."

"Eventually he trailed off to make small talk which would be normal if it wasn’t weird."

"He asked, 'How old are you? Oh wow, you’re young. I think you’ll have an easy time here, you’re very beautiful. Very beautiful. You know, as soon as you walked in here I just felt something. You have such strong energy, I don’t know if it’s that smile or your charisma'."

"I was very shy, I did not have a bubbly personality at all."

"He sent me 'out in the field' alongside another girl to test the waters I suppose. We stood in front of a well known bar where our 'mentor' told us that the promotion at his stand was to sell backpacks for kids in need of school supplies."

"After he explained that, he called my boss and said I was a good fit."

"Immediately after that my boss called and was like, 'I KNEW you had it in you. Ahh, I don’t know what it is about you, [my name] but you just have something amazing going on. I already decided not to go with [other girl's name] because it’s your name I want to see with mine'.”

"I told him I was late for class and sped back to campus where I told my teacher why I was late and what had happened. He advised me to quit immediately."

~ Advanced_District789

Not A Nanny

"What would you do if someone started shouting at you in a meeting?"

"I responded that I'd just leave the meeting. I don't get paid to babysit. if someone wants to act like a child I'll leave them to it. The interviewer seemed taken aback while the other guys where chuckled."

"Turns out the guy who asked the question had a habit of raising his voice to people who disagreed with him."

"I ended up getting the job and found out the guy was just super invested in the product he was developing. Like he had patents on it, books written, etc..."

"So when he's in a meeting and gives an input, and someone disagrees with him, he will not let it go until they are on board because in almost every case he IS right. He was a great guy and I miss working with him."

"He never raised his voice with me, though."

~ shaidyn

Just Plain Wrong

"During an interview my insulin pump went off (it does this quite often). My potential boss asked me if I had to wear it all the time."

"I said yes and explained I was a type 1 diabetic. They then asked me if I could leave my insulin pump in a locker for an 8 hour shift."

"Obviously I can’t."

"It got awkward and I didn’t get the job."

~ kayguy55

Not Long Ago, In An HR Office Not Far Away...

"My GF was recently asked in an interview:"

"What weapon would you want to have in a zombie apocalypse?"

"She answered 'light saber'. They asked why."

"She said because it doesn't run out of ammo or get dull."

"They seemed to like that answer."

~ freezingprocess

Did They Need Help With Theirs?

"How do you tie your shoes?”

"Opening question."

"It honestly helped calm me down and made the interview easier to get through. I brought up the TedTalk on how to properly tie your shoe and the lesson I learned from that."

~ i_like_pretzels

"They really wanted help figuring it out, all the other applicants couldn't teach them."

~ Just-Good-2851

I was the interviewer at different points in my career and I'm struggling to understand the point of some of these questions.

Maybe their lack of purpose is the point.

So what odd, absurd or just plain strange interview questions have you been asked?