You are driving along in your car on a wild, stormy night, when you pass by a bus stop, and you see three people waiting for the bus:

1. An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
2. An old friend who once saved your life.
3. The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.

Which one would you choose to offer a ride to, knowing that there could only be one passenger in your car?

This is a moral/ethical dilemma that was once actually used as part of a job application. You could pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus you should save her first; or you could take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to pay him back. However, you may never be able to find your perfect mate again.

The candidate who was hired (out of 200 applicants) had no trouble coming up with his answer. He simply answered: "I would give the car keys to my old friend and let him take the lady to the hospital. I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the partner of my dreams."

Sometimes, we gain more if we are able to give up our stubborn thought limitations. Never forget to think outside of the box.

However, we all know the correct answer is to run the old lady over and put her out of her misery, have sex with the perfect partner against the bus stop, then drive off with the old friend for some beers. ;)

VFE.

PS: Anyone got any other HR gems they wish to share?

Pretty contrived though - in truth, they don't want lateral thinking at all - what they want is for you to come up with the set-up answer that's been built into the question.

Hate job interviews - they always ask you some poxy question like "have you got any weaknesses ?"

Damn right I do - I always get violent when some tw@<hidden> asks me a stupid no-win question like "have you got any weaknesses ?"

to the have you got any weaknesses question, just dont answer it in true politicail style

say...

i used to have a weakness which was x, bt then i did y to solve this problem, so x is one of my strengths now...

Nice one, NB - although it still stinks of a set-up. That is to say, there is an expected "formula" answer to the question which is rewarded, rather than genuine original thinking.

Let's try you on this one: I go into the interview, sit opposite the guy, we talk for a few minutes. Secretary comes in, places two cups of tea on the desk in between us and walks out. Interviewer takes cup of tea. As soon as I reach for the other cup, he goes: "I always have two cups of tea." :rolleyes:

This really happened to me. What would you do ?

"............except today!"

Drink tea and either leave or smile and wait.

I had this one a few years back. In the interview & the guy asks if I speak French. I reply I do, at which point in walks a lady, who proceeds to start talking French to me. I reply to her asking does this company always indulge in bulls:mad: t set ups to job candidates?

Risky, but she laughed & kept her counsel. They offered, I turned 'em down, bunch of goons.

Many years ago, I was interviewing with Tesco, just one on one in a room with two cups of coffee on the table. I was asked a question & feeling relaxed & confident, I started to reply, leaning back in the chair. Unfortunately, I leant so far back, that the chair tipped up & my foot swung up in a reflex, kicking the underside of the table & hoofing the coffee cups up into the air.

I will never forget the look on the guy's face as he sat there mopping up coffee with my C.V. Needless to say, I never heard from them again:}

I always hate the old one 'what do you think could you offer our company?' or 'why do you want to work for this company?'... Because I wan't a f:mad: ing job you stupid t:mad: at

How about this for a dilema:


You are the President of the U.S.A. and you've just learned that there is an asteroid headed for France that will wipe out their entire country.

It is scheduled to hit about 2.30 a.m. in just two days time from now.

You have enough ships and military personnel nearby to evacuate them safely,but they are on stand-by in case of war with Iraq.



The question is:

Do you set the VCR to record the asteroid hitting France, or do you stay up to watch it live?

:-)

While we're on the subject of job interview stories (although it's not actually about an interview question):

A friend of mine used to work at McDonalds. One of his colleagues was a Chinese bloke, called Michael Chang. One day, in one of those silly moments, someone decided that every Chinese person would, from that day on, be known as Michael Chang's Brother - I don't know why, that's just the way it was.

Then Michael Chang's younger brother applied for a job.

Michael's brother walked up to the nearest till, introduced himself, and said he was looking for a job. The person working on the till went to speak to the manager, and the conversation apparently went like this:

"Michael Chang's brother is here looking for a job."

"Ok, ask if he can come in tomorrow at 2pm for an interview."

"No, I don't think you understand. It really is Michael Chang's brother"

"Oh, right - in that case, tell him he's got the job and ask him when he can start!"

I gather he was a very good worker, just like his brother, but that the use of the phrase Michael Chang's Brother to indicate a Chinese person had to stop because it just got too confusing!

FFF
-----------

"............except today!"

BE: That was pretty much what I did. Was a nice cup of tea, as well, but that incident was enough to persuade me that I didn't want to work for them anyway.

There's a wonderful story in Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff" about the NACA/NASA astronaut selection process back in the earlies.

There was a lot of psychological profile testing and at one point candidates were given a blank sheet of paper and asked to describe what they saw. Most gave safe and sensible answers (whatever they might have imagined) like "A field of snow.."

Al Bean (I think it was) looked at it carefully for a while and then said suspiciously to the psychologist, "But it's the wrong way up!"

Did not endear him to the white-coat fraternity....

Brillant ! Reminds me of Feynman's many stories of messing with the psychologists.

At one point, the guys in line ahead of Feynman were each told to hold out their hands, then turn them over (remember those school dinner queues ?).

When it was Feynman's turn, the guy goes:

"Hold out your hands"

Fenyman puts out his hands: one palm up, the other palm down.

"Now turn them over"

Feynman now has one palm down, the other palm up.

Psychologist completely flummoxed, doesn't know what to say.

Classic :D

'why do you want to work for this company?'

A little while ago, in a moment of apparent madness (and slow business while self-employed), I applied for a job with the UK CAA. After fighting with the UK traffic system for about 4 hours, I really wasn't in the mood but went through the stupid process anyway.

The final part of the "interview" was an actual organic interface with four sleek, self satisfied civil servants... so when it came round to the inevitable "do you have any questions for us" I said 'Yes, why should I come and work for the CAA..." There was a wonderful collective blush, and an awful lot of umms and errs - it wasn't a multiple choice question of course...

No, I didn't get the job, thankfully.....

"Have you got any weaknesses?"

Of course I do... I work far too hard, am a perfectionist, and am addicted to producing results. :rolleyes:

I tried that tack, Aerbabe, it didn't work either. 150+ job applications, fifty interviews later I started my own business, it was easier and I only had to work with one wierdo.

:ugh:

.............am addicted to producing results
My kinda gal ! :E ;)


(Don't tell me -- "Hook, line and sinker" coming up !) :(

A perfectionist would know what Chippie spin strakes do. :p

Me too MIB.

I ran a warehouse some years ago for one of the big four supermarkets. We had 250+ staff onsite & no HR function. Guess what, the whole thing ran ok, with the HR lady from head office popping her head in once in a while as needed.

I subsequently ran one for another retailer, which had an HR manager with a team of eight staff & guess what? endless interfering, pointless training, jargon laden team building exercises involving straws & plasticine & a general round of work creation by the Human Remains team. What a waste of money & time that was.

Put me off interviews, selection panels, residential courses & the like for life.:{

I remember having my interview with this jumped up HR guy once, after the interview he said to me that I was either taking the pi** with the paper or really not that suitable for their operation, it was about this time that I mentioned that their chairman had just head hunted me and had already paid a substantial signing on bonus and did he question the chairmans judgement?
Funny he then looked at my scores in quite a different light!:O