Consider the following questions:
- If you were asked to unload a 747 full of jellybeans, what would you do?
- If you woke up and had 2,000 unread emails and could only answer 300 of them, how would you choose which ones to answer?
- How many gas stations are there in America?
Do these sound like the typical questions included in an interview process? Definitely not, but these non-traditional interview questions are becoming more popular, especially in innovative organizations. These types of questions can include brainteasers, puzzles, or any off-the-wall types of questions. The idea behind these questions is to assess a candidate’s thought process while answering the questions. Microsoft has been credited for spearheading the use of these types of questions in the 1990s to measure a candidate’s mental flexibility, entrepreneurial potential, and creativity. Since then, several more companies have started infusing them into their hiring process. But, what do we know about these questions and how does it fit within the realm of our recommendation to use structured, behavior-based interviews?
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