20 of the strangest interview questions you'll hear this year

interview questions
Christian Schappel
by Christian Schappel
2 minute read

This appears to be the year of the oddball interview question. First, there was the NFL Combine and its litany of crazy scouting questions. Now, there’s this … 
Job site Glassdoor, which allows job candidates to post the questions companies are asking them, just released a list entitled, “Top 10 Oddball Interview Questions for 2016.”
To compile the list, it combed through hundreds of thousands of interview questions shared on its site by job seekers within the United States.
Here’s what made the 2016 top 10 (keep reading for the Canadian list):

  1. “When a hot dog expands, in which direction does it split and why?” Company: Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX). Job title: Propulsion structural analyst.
  2. “Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck, or 100 duck-sized horses?” Company: Whole Foods Market. Job title: Meat cutter.
  3. “If you’re the CEO, what are the first three things you check about the business when you wake up?” Company: Dropbox. Job title: Dropbox rotation program.
  4. “What would the name of your debut album be?” Company: Urban Outfitters. Job title: Sales associate.
  5. “How would you sell hot coco in Florida?” Company: J.W. Business Acquisitions. Job title: Human resources recruiter.
  6. “If I gave you $40,000 to start a business, what would you start?” Company: HubSpot. Job title: Account manager.
  7. “What would you do if you found a penguin in the freezer?” Company: Trader Joe’s. Job title: Any interviewee.
  8. “If you were a brand, what would be your motto?” Company: Boston Consulting Group. Job title: Consultant.
  9. “How many basketballs would fit in this room?” Company: Delta Air Lines. Job title: Revenue management co-op.
  10. “If you had $2,000, how would you double it in 24 hours?” Company: Uniqlo. Job title: Management trainee.

Now here’s what our friends north of the border are asking.
Glassdoor’s “Top 10 Oddball Interview Questions – Canada“:

  1. “What was the last thing you Googled?” Company: Tim Hortons. Job title: Leadership development program.
  2. “Which Game of Thrones character do you like most?” Company: Bench Accounting. Job title: Accounting associate.
  3. “If you could sit next to one person on a transcontinental flight, who would it be?” Company: Salesforce. Job title: Sales representative.
  4. “How do you calculate the number of red cars in a city?” Company: Manulife. Job title: Actuarial associate.
  5. “If you were a utensil, which one would you be and why?” Company: Jack Astor’s. Job title: Cocktail server.
  6. “If you had only 24 hours left on planet Earth, how would you spend it?” Company: Iridia Medical. Job title: Executive assistant.
  7. “Do you ever feel like a plastic bag?” Company: Canada’s Wonderland. Job title: Monster.
  8. “We meet on an elevator, and you have until we reach the 10th floor to convince me that you’re right for the job. Go!” Company: Sunwing Airlines. Job title: Seasonal flight attendant.
  9. “If you were a Prime Minister for a day, what one law would you change and why?” Company: Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg. Job title: Student-at-law.
  10. “How would you shuffle a deck of cards?” Company: StackAdapt. Job title: Software engineer.