Being in the creative world, there are some absolutely corking questions that you can dream up and Candidates will be less phased than if they were interviewing for a bank! I did a quick straw-poll in the office to see what the team had asked or been asked before, to firstly give you inspiration for Candidate questions in the future and secondly to make you think what your answers would be if you were faced with some of these questions!
Why ask a curve ball question?
If you are asked this sort of question it is designed to test your creative and reasoning skills and to a certain extent is a method of psychometrically testing you at the same time. There are usually better answers and worse answers but not necessarily wrong ones. They certainly say more than you think about you and you are likely to be remembered (either positively or negatively) for the curve ball answers, than on the skills you can demonstrate.
Some we have been asked in the past:
- If you were a colour what would it be?
- If you were an animal what would you be?
- If you were allowed to invite three people, historic or currently living to a dinner party, who would it be and why?
- What’s 7 x 8?
- If you were stuck on a desert Island, who would you most and least like to be stuck with?
- What celebrity do people think you most look like?
- Can you name one interesting skill you have that people might not know about you?
- If a tree falls in a wood, and there is no one around to hear it fall, did it make a noise?
- Where does your boss think you are now?
Delving into more depth on a few questions:
Colours and Animals?
The colour and the animal questions provide a very similar type of answer usually. These are taken directly from psychometric testing methodologies such as Myers Briggs and Insights and each animal or colour represents a different personality trait. For example someone who says ‘red’ is usually a driven and tenacious person but can have a short fuse and is likely to be quite argumentative. Depends on what you need for the role really?
- Example of a typically good ‘animals’ answer: – ‘I would say a swan. Calm and graceful on the surface but working hard under the water to move things forward.’
- Example of a typically bad ‘animals’ answer: – ‘Definitely a tiger!! Grrr!!!’
What’s 7 x 8?
Just try this one next time – this sorts the men from the boys! Especially if you just throw it in there in the middle of other questions. It is designed to completely throw the Candidate and see how they cope with swapping from one line of questioning to another. Of course, it is also about your math’s skills and if you can actually recall school lessons! Math’s is not always everyone’s forte but if you just panic when anything financial is asked (like I do) it is best to use your whit and charms to skip round the answer or whip out your phone and check the answer on your calculator app!
Where does your boss think you are now?
In other words, are you hiring the kind of employee who would openly lie to your face?
This question is a good measure of character, and shouldn’t be taken lightly.
The most reliable candidates will either explain that they booked a day’s leave in advance, or managed to work it into their current schedule. Notable exceptions include temporary or freelance roles, and redundancies.
- Example of a typically good answer: ‘I managed to book today as annual leave. I know colleagues who have lied about their whereabouts in the past, but it’s not something I’d be comfortable doing’
- Example of a typically bad answer: ‘I’m not sure really. I just kind of walked out…’
If you are looking for some help with your interview technique or are looking for further inspiration of interesting questions to ask in interview, please drop us a line and we would be happy to help.
Rebecca x
