How many cows are in Canada? And other strange interview questions (video)

11 Jan 2013

According to Glassdoor, one in five employees plan to look for a new job in the next three months, but what would these job seekers say in an interview if they came up against one of the site’s Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions for 2013?

The jobs and career community compiles this list each year based on tens of thousands of interview questions shared by interviewees on the network.

There are 10 10 tech companies represented on the list – more than any other industry – showing just how tough it can be to get a coveted position in some of the world’s most highly rated companies.

Challenging and head-scratching questions asked in the search for top tech talent were:

  • How many cows are in Canada? (Asked at Google, seeking a local data quality evaluator.)
  • What songs best describes your work ethic? (Asked at Dell, seeking a consumer sales representative.)
  • Jeff Bezos walks into your office and says you can have a million dollars to launch your best entrepreneurial idea. What is it? (Asked at Amazon, seeking a product development.)
  • Name three previous Nobel Prize winners. (Asked at BenefitsCONNECT, seeking an office manager.)
  • How would people communicate in a perfect world? (Asked at Novell, seeking a software engineer.)
  • What’s your favourite song? Perform it for us now. (Asked at LivingSocial, seeking an adventures/city manager.)
  • Calculate the angle of two clock pointers when time is 11:50. (Asked at Bank of America, seeking a software developer.)
  • Have you ever stolen a pen from work? (Asked at Jiffy Software, seeking a software architect.)
  • What kitchen utensil would you be? (Asked at Bandwidth.com, seeking a marketer.)
  • If you could be anyone else, who would it be?” (Asked at Salesforce.com, seeking a sales representative.)

 

To date, Glassdoor has collected 300,000 interview questions from community members. The full list of 2013’s bizarre queries can be found over on the site’s blog.

Cows image via Shutterstock

Elaine Burke
By Elaine Burke

Elaine Burke was editor of Silicon Republic until 2023, and is now the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. Elaine joined Silicon Republic in 2011 as a journalist covering gadgets, new media and tech jobs. She later served as managing editor before stepping up as editor in 2019. She comes from a background in publishing and is known for being particularly pernickety when it comes to spelling and grammar – earning her the nickname, Critical Red Pen.

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