Job interviews can be nerve-wracking, and sometimes interviewers ask questions that catch you off guard, or that are just plain...weird and terrible.
What's the worst question you've ever been asked in an interview? And how did you respond? 👀
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Latest comments (21)
There is a service now that scans GitHub, LinkedIn od, to find candidates, and then sends a mail "peronal mail" it like to sound like a personal contact but its not.
And this can be fun.
Sade ok, to get a meeting and listen, but it starts with "Way did you apply to this work?"
Me: You send me a mail ask for a meeting !
sometimes I feel they ask me a question just to hope to see my fail... why? Because I listed a really high GPA and a top 3 CS school on my resume. Sometimes I feel they just gave me the toughest question and see in fact they are better than me or something. So now, I don't list my GPA any more, and in fact, I do feel more friendly interviewers and I get an offer more easily than before.
I was asked something like prove for any prime number p > 3, p^2 - 1 is always divisible by 24 in a technical interview.🙂
Interviewer was expecting the whole proof, not just by considering few prime numbers and prove it by example. He need a perfect math proof.
“How do we know that you are ready to work as a developer and not someone who is still learning it?”
I mean it’s kinda legit question but isn’t it that web development is all about continuous learning?!
Why did they setup an interview with you if they were not sure about that? Didn't they check your CV or portfolio? (This happens a lot and get me mad each time...)
When I was approached by a companies recruiter while I wasn't even actively looking for a new job, the first question in the interview was "Why do you want to work for us?"
My answer was: "Well, that's what you'll have to tell me."
Not an interview per se, but in my worst interview, the interviewer mentioned an IQ test to see if I was smart enough to work with them. The interview immediately finished for me at that point.
"What's your current salary?"
There are ways to turn this question around, such as talking about what range you're looking for based on your qualifications and the job description, or asking the range of the position and then re-framing your salary expectations there. However my interviewer ignored all my other answers and kept asking this exact question repeatedly 4 or 5 times in a row until I gave a number. That was a definite red flag.
I was asked what my dream job would be — not a bad question.
But, when I answered that I was interested in writing the storyline for a video game, the interviewer (who was the CEO of the company) told me that games are a waste of time. He ranted for a good bit and I think was trying to get under my skin, which he kinda did. I responded that some of their biggest customers are game developers and perhaps they need someone on the team who can relate with these people. Epic was one of their big customers at the time and I pointed out that they were essential income to the business, so while gaming may feel like a waste of time, having someone on the team that can appreciate and communicate with game developers is a good idea.
I later learned that the CEO had once attempted to create a game, and when it failed to take off, he soured on the whole gaming industry.
I left that interview thinking for sure that I'd be rejected. A day later, I was offered the job. 😅
Silliest question ever "Is that a MacBook? We are a Windows shop here!"
And the saddest part was that I didn't want to interview with that company, worst use of my time ever...