Was: Conducting Telephone...Now Interview Questions

[Beth Agnew]

Any question is okay if it does tell you something useful about the 
candidate. I was once asked, "If you had a goose in a bottle, how would 
you go about getting the goose out of the bottle, without breaking the 
bottle or harming the goose?". (There were the same people who asked me, 
"What can you do with a brick?"). The position required a great deal of 
creativity, so I expected some off the wall questions (and I got the 
job, btw). As much as I liked those questions, I have never had occasion 
to use them in an interview myself.

The hardest things to discern in an interview are a person's values, 
integrity, work ethic, coping skills, and people skills. Yet these are 
the things that ultimately make a person suitable or unsuitable for the 
job. Ask, "Tell me about a time when you were treated unfairly on the 
job," and you will get some interesting responses.
--Beth

Paul Pehrson wrote:
> I'll admit to using the "manhole cover" question in job interviews.
> I'm not in an interviewing position currently, but in the future I
> wouldn't use the question anymore. I've decided (with a little bit of
> distance) that it doesn't tell you much that is useful about the
> candidate, and more often than not comes across as being
> unprofessional and dorky.