Most unusual question
 

For those that have had interviews, what's the most difficult, unusual or amusing question you have ever been asked?

Why are you taking you clothes off...? :)

On a serious note an awkward one when un-prepared is "Now tell us a joke". You have to rapidly judge your audience and try and find a non smutty, non offensive yet still amusing joke! Quite hard really as you have spent all your preperation time thinking about aviation and HR related questions!!

Not at all related to flight crew interviews, but was at a university interview for Aeronautical Engineering...

Q: What is this, and what function does it play?

I was then handed a 2 inch square piece of aluminium that could have quite literally come from any part of the aircraft. However, asking the interviewer after the interview, they weren't necessarily looking for the correct answer, just wanted to see how you went about deducing what is could be.

It turned out that the aluminium was in fact a tiny section of fuselage and this could be told by the spacing between rivet holes!

Now I know that BA aren't likely to do that, but still be prepared for anything and if you don't know, say but do deduce what it might possibly be!!!! They want to see how you think.

Yeah, the tell us a joke one sounds pretty daunting...I read about it on the Wannabe Interview section on this site. Apparently it's quite a favourite of Air Atlantique...
Pretty difficult one for me...I love to hear a good joke, but I am rubbish at telling jokes in a situation like that... http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/frown.gif Ah well, I'll just have to impress them with my amazing flying skills...(Not that I have any...yet.) ;) - Regards,

Mike

Mine's got to be "How would you track a nuclear submarine?"

Job related, too :)

Mine was:

"Out of those that made it to interview, you had one of the lowest scores in our selection tests, so, what do you think about that..?"

Smile.... :)

I like the scenario one of my friends was given...

You arrrive at a hotel after a long haul flight. The Capt. says"I'll meet you in an hour for dinner etc...I'll come down to your room".

1 hour later, there is a knock on the door...and the Capt. is standing there wearing a dress...what do you do?

(the answer of course is not a lot...cos the Captain is a woman - they are looking to see if you recognised equal opps.).

Anyone for any more?

I'm curious. What did the "etc." part imply?

Jimmy Mack,
An alternative answer to that one is 'Buy her a drink'. No matter what the captain is (male/female) you'll get away with that answer! :)
Oh..by the way..the answer is copyrighted from somewhere else in pprune. Apologies to the author :)

MS

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G-XX...finals and hopefully land!

Don't know about the etc...not being in the business yet!!!

But I'll bow to others experiences!! (pun intended)

Mine is similar to Speedbirds.

I was told that I had scored well in all parts of a psychometric test, apart from the self-awareness component. They asked me what I thought about this.

My answer was " I'm surprised, but you would probably expect me to say that"

And no, I wasn't asked back.

regards

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Half man, Half jalfrezi.

The question I've always hated is "What are your weaknesses". Evidently the best answer I gave at a job interview where I was fairly confident of getting the job, and did. Never list your weaknesses, or say you don't have any. I said "We all have some weakness or other, I've identified mine and keep them under control thank you" I suppose this shows awareness and control.

Regards

Chap I know was asked by the personell women "whats your definition of pressure?" Quite quickly he came out with "It's Force over Area isn't it?" He got the job!!

PFD - Personally I agree, I would never ever say I had no weaknesses. Just by saying that you're showing you have one by not telling the truth!! Everyone has a weakness somewhere and they won't mark you down for telling them. Obviously telling them that you can't last 20 minutes without swigging gin from your hip flask won't get you anywhere so its a question you need to carefully prepare for.

If they ask you - identify something that may be a weakness but that you can turn into a positive thing. The classic line I use (copyright SB22 2001 :)) is something like the following :

'Well....*pause for effect*...some people say I can be quite impatient when people I work with aren't doing their jobs properly, but I use this to motivate them into performing as they should'

This might not be perfect for every job, but it got me into a years work experience at a good solicitors firm.

Good luck,

:) BAW22 :)

*Edited because I got an iccle bit confused along the way :) *

[This message has been edited by SpeedBird22 (edited 31 May 2001).]

Weaknesses...hmm...how about having too many strengths...bit cocky me thinks!

A question I got 'taught' to ask at interviews...when things are going a bit tough for the interviewer and you need a little breathing space...try....

"What drives you mad"

Sometimes it stops people in their tracks...sometimes you get something interesting to follow up on.

How would you answer this one?

A friend had an interview for a GV job.
The question he remembered most , was :
"what was the worst thing you can remember from your time at the kindergarten"
Those interviewers are nuts...

Weaknesses...hmm...

I just work too damn hard!

"Do you read PPRUNE ???"....... Oxford asked me that one, and it made me squirm a little to be honest.... I answered "Yes" because the invigilators/Oxford officials were talking about it during the testing sessions - so I couldn't lie. Didn't want me back though !!

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"Everything in moderation, including moderation..."

Real BA ones;

Why do you want to be a pilot?
Tell me about a time you've persuaded your friends to do something you want.
Tell me about a time when you've been innovative/ used innovation???
What is the share price today? - Whats been the trend recently?
Tell me the most recent BA story you've read in the media.
Give me an example of when teamwork has helped.
Why BA?
What will you do if you don't get in?

Thing is with questions like "What is the share price today ...?" - Do you reckon they are simply there to apply a little pressure and put you off guard so to speak ? I mean, surely people are only interested in specific share price values when they actaully have shares in that company (Or am I hopelessly ignorant here !?). I can understand an interest in trends etc... in order to help understand the financial/commercial position of the company you are hoping to join, but the exact value that day !?! I just think that if I'd known the answer to a question like that I'd feel "over-prepared". Basically, I believe most people would only make a point of learning such things if they explicitly knew that question might crop up. Just a thought that's all... It'd be interesting to hear from people who have answered both correctly and incorrectly to such questions....