Your clever interview questions

Am I the best looking person who has interviewed you.

I have always tried to keep those to a minimum.  Between the specific tasks and qualifications questions, and the impression that you get from the interviewee demeanor during the process I think is more than enough to make a decision.

I personally believe that some of the interview processes now days are just plain silly and unnecessary.

Tell me about how you got to this point in your career. Bad choices

What are you passionate about? / What drives you? Food / taco bars

Who was your hero growing up? Why Eddy Murphy  he cuffed alot

May of these questions are geared towards working in a team environment but I find many of them helpful.

What are the important qualities a person should have to become an effective team member?

What type of people do you work best with? 

How do you handle stress?

List 5 traits that you feel are most important when servicing customers

Can you tell me about a time when you did some thing extra, which was not part of the routine activities assigned to you, but you did it for the benefit of the customer? 

Have you ever felt, during course of your work, that the existing systems and solutions are not sufficient to meet the needs of customers properly and/or that they need to be changed?  If so, tell me more. 

Give me an example of when you had to present complex information in a simplified manner in order to explain it to someone. 

Give me an example, from your past work experience, about a time when you were part of a project or team and you never knew what was happening with the other action items or participants.  How did you handle this situation? 

Describe a creative solution that you have developed to solve a problem.

Tell me about a situation that got out of control. How did you handle it?

When your team encounters a problem, such as irritation with a co-worker, how do you reach a good solution?

When you are part of a high-performing team, what do you think are the key reasons for success?

Q: where do you see yourself in 5 years?

My answer was: Not sure if I'll still be in this company. 

being a 24 year old fresh with only 1 year of contracting experience, that was an honest answer.  I got the job.  I am still in the same company after 14 years.  Different department though.

God willing, laid up at home with some work-related injury! 

(I stole this from a comedian) 

I actually had someone give me this answer . . . . he didn't get the job.

I end every interview with:

"What do you want me to know about you that I didn't ask?"

Name your five favorite movies.

Says a lot about a person!

Although if I answered the question myself, I would never get hired... probably committed.

What exactly does that "say" about a person, and how would that impact if they got the job or not?

My favorite movies are comedies or drama/action movies... what does that say about me? I'm curious  

I was asked this by the plant manager and HR manager when I interviewed.  Told the plant manager I expected to be ready for his job by then.  Its been 6 years and he can keep it.  I'm good where I am.

Honestly - it was a bit of a joke.  I don't have a "favorite" question.  I don't ask the typical, stupid questions "where do you see yourself in 5 years?"  I'm in the IT industry and for me the interview is about only three things...

1. Can you really accomplish what you say you can in your resume or is your resume full of fluff and BS?
2. Do you have the character to work and succeed in a manner I expect?
3. Do you have the character to work and succeed relatively long-term in this organization because every company has it's own culture.

I've hired lots of people that may not have had the perfect skills on their resume, but had the perfect character.  What I've found is that with the right character - they can learn the skills.

Interesting!
I used to have a horribly messy car (mostly because I was always transporting work out stuff, didn't go home between events, etc.), but my desk and work areas are always spotless.

Is being "neat" a job requirement in your line of work?

I've never been a big fan of all the "standard" interview questions, mostly because any competent interviewee already knows them and can deliver a canned answer that reflects what the interviewer wants to hear.

I usually start off with "tell me what you know about our company and why you think it's a good fit for you."  I'm not looking for a specific answer, but really just to see if the candidate has bothered to look into the company to find out something about our business, our culture, our customers.  If they haven't, then we're really just socializing for the rest of the time, cause the interview part is over.

I also think that reading Malcolm Gladwell's Blink and especially this article changed my perspective on interviewing.

Do you mind if we look at your Facebook right now?

See if they get nervous or not.

A king is selecting his Grand Vizier from three wise applicants.  He tells them that he will blindfold them and will place a hat that is either white or black on their heads.... you know the rest of the question.

What's your daddy do? Just kidding, but it has come up.

What's your BT name?  Just kidding.

Can't think of a real one.

I guess I am out of clever today.

obviously, you have never had young kids.