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'Why Is A Tennis Ball Fuzzy?' The Craziest, Hardest Job Interview Questions Tech Companies Are Asking Right Now

black woman smiling resume job interview
black woman smiling resume job interview

Chris Hondros/Getty Images

Job interviews at tech companies are notoriously hard. Not only will they test your technical and business knowledge, they'll also throw some strange ones in to see how you respond and get a sense of your personality.

Jobs site Glassdoor just released its annual list of Top 25 Oddball Interview Questions. It sifted through tens of thousands of actual interview questions shared by job candidates over the past year to come up with this list. (Here's the full list of 25 questions.)

So before your next interview, study the list below. We've offered suggested answers, too.

1. "If you could throw a parade of any caliber through the Zappos office, what type of parade would it be?"

The Zappos Family, Customer Loyalty Team Member interview. More Zappos interview questions.

Suggested answer: It would be a high caliber parade, of course.

2. "How lucky are you and why?"

Airbnb, Content Manager interview. More Airbnb interview questions.

Suggested answer: I'm extremely lucky. Out of all the people who have applied for this job, I'm the one who's going to get it.

delivery pizza
delivery pizza

marcovldz/statigr.am

3. "If you were a pizza delivery man, how would you benefit from scissors?"

Apple, Specialist interview. More Apple interview questions.

Suggested answer: They can cut pizzas and double as a screwdriver.

4. "Are you more of a hunter or a gatherer?"

Dell, Account Manager interview. More Dell interview questions.

Suggested answer: Hunter, definitely.

5. "If you were on an island and could only bring three things, what would you bring?"

Yahoo, Search Quality Analyst interview. More Yahoo interview questions.

Suggested answer: A knife, matches and duct tape. (Duct tape is good for everything.)

6. "Why is a tennis ball fuzzy?"

Xerox, Client Manager interview. More Xerox interview questions.

Suggested answer: The fuzz slows down the ball and keeps it from bouncing too high.

Job interview
Job interview

Flickr

7. "What is your least favorite thing about humanity?"

ZocDoc, Operations Associate interview. More ZocDoc interview questions.

Suggested answer: Cruelty.

8. "How would you use Yelp to find the number of businesses in the U.S.?"

Factual, Software Engineer interview. More Factual interview questions.

Suggested answer: A better source for determining the total number of U.S. businesses is the U.S. Census Bureau, which keeps track of that very statistic.

9. "How honest are you?"

Allied Telesis, Executive Assistant interview. More Allied Telesis interview questions.

Suggested answer: Completely.

10. "How many square feet of pizza are eaten in the U.S. each year?"

Goldman Sachs, Programmer Analyst interview. More Goldman Sachs interview questions.

Suggested answer: Over 3 billion. Three billion pizzas are sold in the U.S. every year. The average pizza size is 15 inches.

Origami crane
Origami crane

Wikimedia

11. "Can you instruct someone how to make an origami ‘cootie catcher’ with just words?"

LivingSocial, Consumer Advocate interview. More LivingSocial interview questions.

Suggested answer: Probably not.

12. "How does the Internet work?"

Akamai, Director interview. More Akamai interview questions.

Suggested answer: The Internet is a series of connected computers that all use the same method of communicating with each other, called the Internet protocol (IP) and a central way of keeping track of IP addresses, called the Domain Name System . (The explanation gets complicated from there.)

13. "If there was a movie produced about your life, who would play you and why?"

SinglePlatform, Inside Sales Consultant interview. More SinglePlatform interview questions.

Suggested answer: Meryl Streep. She can play anyone.

14. "It’s Thursday; we’re staffing you on a telecommunications project in Calgary, Canada on Monday. Your flight and hotel are booked; your visa is ready. What are the top five things you do before you leave?"

ThoughtWorks, Junior Consultant interview. More ThoughtWorks interview questions.

Suggested answer: Exchange money. Make sure my data plan covers Canada. Wish my family good-bye and whatever else I need to do, I can do on the plane.

FORD inflatable seatbelts
FORD inflatable seatbelts

Ford Motor Company

15. "Describe to me the process and benefits of wearing a seatbelt."

Active Network, Client Applications Specialist interview. More Active Network interview questions.

Suggested answer: Stick the two metal ends together and one day it could save your life.

16. "Have you ever been on a boat?"

Applied Systems, Graphic Designer interview. More Applied Systems interview questions.

Suggested answer: Yes.



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