What is the point of silly/random interview question?

[PhewitsFriday]

I had a teaching interview this week, didn't get the job but the questions really threw me off.
Literally every single question was one of these:

"If you could go on holiday right now, where would you go?"

"Which superhero are you most like?"

"If you could come back as any animal, what animal would you come back as?"

And many more,

Honestly the way I answered these questions will forever be in my memory bank as most awkward interview of my life

"Where would you go on holiday?"

"Ermmmm Hawaii because it's hot and I like the hot weather"

What animal would you come back as?

"Ermmmm (pause) ermmmm a cat? Ermmm because cats are independent. And ermmm I like cats... ermm yeah a cat"

And I am cringing.

Also if you want, add any awkward interview experiences you have had to make me feel better

Sorry OP just read your updates so realise you know all of this already.
I’ll skip off now 😆

Back in the ‘80’s my dad’s friend went for a management position at an airline which shall remain nameless but is an anagram of Aritish Birways. He was asked whether he looked behind him after he’d done a poo. Apparently the correct answer is yes because it means you check your work.

I once had the superhero one and I literally couldnt think of a superhero at all!

The only superhero I could remember eventually was captain america - not even a superhero. And I could literally only remember that he had a sheild. So I wittered on for about 5 minutes about a fucking sheild

To answer your original question I think there's a few reasons for asking them. Firstly they want to see if you can think on your feet and secondly they want to see if they can establish rapport. It's also surprising what can come out under pressure when people don't know what to say.

They are idiots. It would be a crap place to work. Honestly... If you want to put someone under pressure in a teaching interview there are any number of actually relevant questions you can ask.

My friend went to a marketing job group interview and had to dance in a silent conference room with the other interviewees, in broad daylight, and pretend they were in a nightclub.

I would have walked out there and then.

Just no.

This was 'a thing' in the 1980s, when we were all thrusting young things. Those sort of questions were those asked, in interview, for ambitions public school boys heading into finance... and look where, in 2008, that got us.

I recall NHS HCP interviews at that time where you'd walk in, and they'd say 'take a seat', but there wasn't a seat.

I'd go, 'oh, hang on, I'll fetch one', and do so. The standard of those interviews never rose, and I took pleasure in rejecting those offers as all of them came in. You cannot run a coconut shy, I don't want to work for you.

The Big Question is always- what skill are they asking of you? Answer the (stupid) 'What animal?' one with a smile, and 'it's great when you ask the kids young people what questions they'd like to ask!' (Subtext: 'Christ, I hope this isn't your standard of interview question!')

Captain America is a superhero. He is given the supersoldier serum and VitaRays and becomes super strong and can jump off buildings etc. I realise this is not the point but feel compelled to say this.

@catinb0oots hahaha i laughed just thinking about the nightclub scenario!
Interviews are awkward enough without some silence dancing added in

Thank you for your responses! They've made me feel so much better after my mess-up of an interview

I also want to clarify that when i said the 'lesson went well' it was a zoom call and i had to explain a lesson plan i wrote

Yeah, that was a stupid thing to do. The point about having the kids ask questions is to see how you deal with the kids, not what answers you give.

And yes, everyone knows that the moment the interviewer asks about safeguarding you start talking about The Disclosure Procedure and must remember to say Designated Safeguarding Lead (and if you can remember from the website who that is extra points) ...

.... but practically no-one mentions any other aspects of safeguarding, not even e-safety not even when it was the Next Big Thing...

(I'm a primary school governor. There was only one other question that caused us more angst in how to phrase it, and that was the Church School one...)

Sometimes it’s to see how you think and how you work under pressure.
Sometimes it’s to get a ‘feel’ for your personality.
And sometimes it’s a bit of a power exercise and shows the interviewer’s lack of recruiting experience or lack of understanding how to interview someone well.

So unless thinking of amusing and trivial answers to stupid questions is a key competency for the the job, then it’s stupid and discriminatory. IMHO.

Well, if you do react like that when I ask you a silly question, it shows me exactly what kind of temper you have and give me an idea of the way you'd behave at work. So in your case, they work and absolutely have a point 🤷

They might not be the questions I would ask, but nowadays you have to walk on so many egg shelves and it's so difficult to ask any legal question that are not strictly work related, you might as well go for silly ones.

And still someone manages to find superhero and animal discriminatory

In teaching, these questions are generally asked by extremely serious year 7 students. ‘What’s your favourite joke?” Can’t think of one. ‘What animal would you be?’ Fuck knows, how is this relevant to my amazing teaching results?! I know, I know, the teacher at the back is clocking my responses to the charming little children and how empathic I am, then the kids get to give their opinion of each interviewee (we liked the fun one! Despite him being ‘let go’ from his last post!)

I think the students’ opinion is relevant, but only based on the teaching they received, not asking what the favourite joke is. How they learn is so important, but having a good relationship is too.

@jokolo shows how little I know about my chosen superhero!

Shit I've got an interview this week and I can't think of a decent superhero either.

They want to see how well you think on your feet and how quickly you can formulate a well-reasoned answer/solution

No they don’t. They went on a crap ‘how to interview candidates’ course paid for by the local education authority in which some failed HR person suggested questions like this. Back in real life the internal candidate got the job.

Some candidates are so well prepared for "normal" interview questions that their responses are like mini speeches they have memorised and use vocabulary that is not natural for them. Throwing in a question for which they can't possibly have prepared gives useful information to the interviewer. The answer often doesn't matter, but how the question is dealt with is more important.

What animal would you come back as?

Candidate 1 (looking panicked) "Ermmmm (pause) ermmmm a cat? Ermmm because cats are independent. And ermmm I like cats... ermm yeah a cat"

Candidate 2 (looking amused) "That's an unusual but interesting question. I have to say I would come back as a cat because cats are independent creatures."

How did you do the teaching element? I am a school governor and had to be on an interview the other week. We had to do it virtually and just got them to show us lesson plans and examples of displays of class work. Obviously did interviews too, but not those sort of questions.

@ineedaholidaynow i clarified earlier on that by the "teaching aspect" I meant describing a lesson plan, I just called it that as the interviewers refered to it as the 'teaching aspect of the interview'

Oh god I thought this kind of question had been left firmly in the 80s...where it was briefly popular, but always cringeworthy!

I remember vividly being asked, as a very young, 18 year old fresh from 6th form, "if we were sharing a bath, which end would you sit?"

This was asked by a man old enough a) to be my grandad and b) to know better!

I might have been young, but I wasn't that desperate to be his 'office junior'. I told him I only ever took showers...alone! And left!

Sorry I missed that @PhewitsFriday

@GinWithRosie

Oh god I thought this kind of question had been left firmly in the 80s...where it was briefly popular, but always cringeworthy!

I remember vividly being asked, as a very young, 18 year old fresh from 6th form, "if we were sharing a bath, which end would you sit?"

This was asked by a man old enough a) to be my grandad and b) to know better!

I might have been young, but I wasn't that desperate to be his 'office junior'. I told him I only ever took showers...alone! And left!

Your answer made me laugh, loved it. Wish I’d have been that quick thinking in my youth.

Then it reminded me of an incident at a work experience 6th form placement I had, when I was 17, late 80s.

I was doing some photocopying, and this 50+ year old man pretended to drop something near me, and “accidentally” touched my leg. He then announced “you’ve got warm legs, and I’ve got cold ears”. I turned crimson (and didn’t actually understand what he was implying until a few days later).

Sorry for derailing, but god there were some creepy old gits in the workplace.

I would say a cat.

Because I would like to do whatever the fuck I want and sleep most of the day?

Stupid questions get stupid answers.