One of the guarantees I'd be willing to make with any job seeker is that you'll be asked unusual, strange, weird, and possibly illegal questions during an interview. I've surveyed several audiences of job seekers over the years and, in the majority of cases, more than half the audience was asked what appeared to be an illegal, personal question. However, equally concerning – and unfair to job seekers – are the strange questions that are asked. The reasons for this appear to be several:
Related: Favorite Job Interview Questions May Not Be Best – Part I
- Many interviewers base their questions of some “favorite question" they think makes it certain they'll make a good hiring decision.
- Some interviewers believe that asking “clever" questions make the candidates uneasy and shake them from their “canned" answers.
- Most interviewers, particularly the hiring managers, conduct interviews infrequently.
- Despite the popularity of interviewing skills as a training topic, the majority of people conducting interviews are untrained.
