25 tough interview questions
 

From today’s Telegraph;
"25 tough interview questions. We outline twenty five interview questions you should be prepared to answer."

Some wag in the comments section provided the answers;

The questions:

1. “If you were to win £1m what would you do with the money?”
- Asked at PwC, Associate candidate (Birmingham, England)

Ignore the email its Nigerian 419 spam

2. “What do you think is the most useful function in Excel?”
- Asked at FirstGroup, Business Analyst candidate (London, England)

The little x in the top RH corner

3. “What makes you happy about work on a Friday evening?”
- Asked at Tesco, International Deployment Manager candidate (London, England)

Everyone else has gone home and I can steal the stock

4. “How do you fit a giraffe in a fridge?”
- Asked at UBS, Sales Trading candidate (London, England)

Show it a lion and open the door.

5. “What is it about this job you would least look forward to?”
– Asked at BP, Category Manager candidate (London, England)

Having a ******** like you as my boss.

6. “If you were the Head of Barclays Corporate what would your strategy be with the recent European Crisis?”
– Asked at Barclays, Risk candidate (London, England)

Resign with the usual executive payoff, £10m is fine.

7. “If your friend was seriously injured and you had to get him to a hospital, would you speed and go through a red light?”
– Asked at Barlow Lyde & Gilbert, Trainee Solicitor candidate (London, England)

It depends if I'm late for the pub quiz team.

8. “Would you rather fight a horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses?”
– Asked at BHP Billiton, Dry Bulk Marketer candidate (London, England)

How many bullets do I get?

9. “Tell me about a time when you failed at something.”
– Asked at Lloyds Banking Group, Analyst candidate (London, England)

Trying to understand what Igonikon Jack is on about

10. “What are the three words that your parents would describe you with?”
– Asked at YO! Sushi, Team Member candidate (London, England)

Our eldest son

11. “What have you done in the past to get out of a tricky situation?”
– Asked at Virgin Atlantic Airways, CSA candidate (Heathrow, England)

Blamed my boss

12. “Why is 99pc not good enough?”
– Asked at Parcelforce Worldwide, Delivery & Collection Manager candidate (Milton Keynes, England)

Political correctness is 100% wrong

13. “How many ways can you get a needle out of a haystack?”
– Asked at Macquarie Bank, Senior Java Developer candidate (London, England)

One giant magnet is all you need

14. “How would you explain Facebook to your Grandma?”
– Asked at Huddle, Sales Executive candidate (London, England)

Both my grandmothers are dead and you've really upset me

15. “If you entered into a room full of people with different interests, what would you do?”
– Asked at Ernst & Young, Actuarial Analyst candidate (London, England)

Tell them about UKIP

16. “What do you mean by ‘leadership’?”
– Asked at Moody’s, Marketing Strategist candidate (London, England)

Stand to attention when I speak; you 'orrible little man

17. “By what criteria do you judge your own performance?”
– Asked at Gatwick Airport, Project Manager candidate (Gatwick, England)

Did I get away with it.

18. “Which football team do you support?”
– Asked at Sky, Reporting Analyst candidate (London, England)

Depends on which pub I'm in.

19. “What is the main thing that gets you out of bed each morning?”
– Asked at Everything Everywhere, Customer Advisor candidate (Royal Leamington Spa, England)

Opening time.

20. “Describe the hardest decision you have faced in the past 12 months.”
– Asked at Accenture, Software Developer candidate (London, England)

Whether to plea bargain and plead guilty.

21. “Who is your biggest hero?”
– Asked at De La Rue, Procurement candidate (Basingstoke, England)

Homer Simpson

22. “Give me an example of your extreme levels of tenacity.”
– Asked at ALDI, Store Manager candidate (Chelmsford, England)

I've sued every single company I've worked for, all 99

23. “In a fight between a lion and a tiger, who would win & why?”
– Asked at Capco, Associate Consultant candidate (London, England)

The Tiger, the lion is busy scaring your giraffe into a fridge

24. “How would your delegates describe you?”
– Asked at Harvey Nichols, Learning & Development Manager candidate (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Godlike

25. “Do you think the quality of our menswear products are as high as our home department products?”
– Asked at Marks & Spencer, Technologist candidate (London, England)

How should I know, I never shop in your lousy stores.

Re: 25 tough interview questions
 

Why, oh why does number 17 sound like something I would say?!:lol:

Re: 25 tough interview questions
 

4. “How do you fit a giraffe in a fridge?”
- Asked at UBS, Sales Trading candidate (London, England)

Show it a lion and open the door.

All these years on and I still snigger at jokes/comments like this!

Re: 25 tough interview questions
 

My serious answers (to some very stupid questions, IMHO):

1. “If you were to win £1m what would you do with the money?”
- Asked at PwC, Associate candidate (Birmingham, England)

Set up a new charity, and make that the first 'donation'.

2. “What do you think is the most useful function in Excel?”
- Asked at FirstGroup, Business Analyst candidate (London, England)

The one you use most often.

3. “What makes you happy about work on a Friday evening?”
- Asked at Tesco, International Deployment Manager candidate (London, England)

Nothing - it's an intrusion into my family life, and I would try to do it as seldom as I possibly can.

4. “How do you fit a giraffe in a fridge?”
- Asked at UBS, Sales Trading candidate (London, England)

You can't.

5. “What is it about this job you would least look forward to?”
– Asked at BP, Category Manager candidate (London, England)

Not having anyone with my skills and my knowledge to discuss problems with.

6. “If you were the Head of Barclays Corporate what would your strategy be with the recent European Crisis?”
– Asked at Barclays, Risk candidate (London, England)

I'd keep quiet - Barclays partly caused it.

7. “If your friend was seriously injured and you had to get him to a hospital, would you speed and go through a red light?”
– Asked at Barlow Lyde & Gilbert, Trainee Solicitor candidate (London, England)

Yes, and so would you.

8. “Would you rather fight a horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses?”
– Asked at BHP Billiton, Dry Bulk Marketer candidate (London, England)

Are you actually qualified to interpret my answer correctly? Stop wasting my time with stupid questions.

9. “Tell me about a time when you failed at something.”
– Asked at Lloyds Banking Group, Analyst candidate (London, England)

I have failed so many times at so many things, it would take too long.

10. “What are the three words that your parents would describe you with?”
– Asked at YO! Sushi, Team Member candidate (London, England)

They couldn't describe me in so few - but at least their grammatical knowledge is better than yours.

11. “What have you done in the past to get out of a tricky situation?”
– Asked at Virgin Atlantic Airways, CSA candidate (Heathrow, England)

Lied, blatantly.

12. “Why is 99pc not good enough?”
– Asked at Parcelforce Worldwide, Delivery & Collection Manager candidate (Milton Keynes, England)

It is good enough - I usually aim for about 85 pct.

13. “How many ways can you get a needle out of a haystack?”
– Asked at Macquarie Bank, Senior Java Developer candidate (London, England)

Burn down the haystack - the temperature will not be high enough to melt metal - you will find it in the ashes later.

14. “How would you explain Facebook to your Grandma?”
– Asked at Huddle, Sales Executive candidate (London, England)

It's like sending and receiving letters without having to know someone's current address.

15. “If you entered into a room full of people with different interests, what would you do?”
– Asked at Ernst & Young, Actuarial Analyst candidate (London, England)

Pick someone at random, and go and introduce myself. Why do you assume this is difficult or challenging? It happens all the time.

16. “What do you mean by ‘leadership’?”
– Asked at Moody’s, Marketing Strategist candidate (London, England)

I never try to define the word - I just lead.

17. “By what criteria do you judge your own performance?”
– Asked at Gatwick Airport, Project Manager candidate (Gatwick, England)

Whatever I do, I know I could have done it better.

18. “Which football team do you support?”
– Asked at Sky, Reporting Analyst candidate (London, England)

Hopefully one that nobody else here supports.

19. “What is the main thing that gets you out of bed each morning?”
– Asked at Everything Everywhere, Customer Advisor candidate (Royal Leamington Spa, England)

The thought that I have already wasted too much time.

20. “Describe the hardest decision you have faced in the past 12 months.”
– Asked at Accenture, Software Developer candidate (London, England)

I haven't - I am very lucky to lead a life in which getting things 'right' or 'wrong' rarely matters.

21. “Who is your biggest hero?”
– Asked at De La Rue, Procurement candidate (Basingstoke, England)

My father.

22. “Give me an example of your extreme levels of tenacity.”
– Asked at ALDI, Store Manager candidate (Chelmsford, England)

I'm not tenacious - I don't need to be.

23. “In a fight between a lion and a tiger, who would win & why?”
– Asked at Capco, Associate Consultant candidate (London, England)

Depends on your definition of winning - they would both suffer huge amounts of blood loss and both would die.

24. “How would your delegates describe you?”
– Asked at Harvey Nichols, Learning & Development Manager candidate (Edinburgh, Scotland)

I don't have delegates, so the question is meaningless.

25. “Do you think the quality of our menswear products are as high as our home department products?”
– Asked at Marks & Spencer, Technologist candidate (London, England)

No idea - you don't make anything that fits me.

Re: 25 tough interview questions
 

An interesting set of responses. I think quite a lot of us on here would agree wholeheartedly with your answers to 11,15,17 and 21. I know that, having seen your responses, they are very close to what I would have said.

I don't agree with all yor answers, but differing opinions is what makes us individuals.