Fanciful Extremes

Why You Should Avoid Crazy Interview Questions

“If you could be a superhero, what power would you possess?”

“How many basketballs would fit in this room?”

“Room, desk, or car — which do you clean first?”

Does your company ask these kinds of quirky interview questions? Do you find them helpful? If you are employing these types of questions in your interviews to test your candidate’s ability to think on their feet, you should consider rethinking your strategy.

Studies have shown that “brain teaser” interview questions are easy to cheat and may deter you from hiring a qualified candidate. Brainteaser-style interview questions rose to popularity when large software firms like Google and Microsoft started using them in the early 2000s. Unfortunately, they’ve remained a fad even though Google has denounced the practice. Laslo Bock, who was Google’s Head of People Operations, said that questions like this are “a waste of everyone’s time. They don’t predict anything, and they primarily serve to make the interviewer feel smart.”

So let’s discuss three reasons why these questions don’t get you the answers you need and why hiring managers should avoid asking these questions during an interview process.

They’re Easy to Cheat

One of the main problems with brain teaser questions is that they can be easily cheated. For example, a quick internet search on “how to answer the top 100 brain teaser interview questions”…