Sepideh
What you answer to questions of English interview?

Hi every body...

Some companies ask ordinary questions, but what do you think about  creative questions in good companies...have you thought about this?

for example some questions of google company:

1) If you could only choose one song to play every time you walked into a room for the rest of your life, what would it be? (Associate account strategist, March 2014)

2) If you wanted to bring your dog to work but one of your team members was allergic to dogs, what would you do? (Associate account strategist, December 2014)

3)A coin was flipped 1,000 times and there were 560 heads. Do you think the coin is biased? (Quantitative analyst, September 2015)

Amazon:

-i have a million dollars to give you to make your best ideas. What is your idea?

Apple:

What is the most creative way for fragmenting a watch?

What you answer in facing of these questions in English interview ...

thanks

Apr 22, 2017 3:53 AM
Comments · 19
1

Today there is research that is saying the 21st century employees need to be far more well rounded and cross-career flexible than previous generations. Instead of mastering one field, there is a call for the ability to master several diverse areas and use your skills in multiple ways ie: be flexible. One of the top skills needed is interpersonal skills: the capacity to communicate and work well with others. Another is so be emotionally stable. This is difficult to assess which is why there are all these creative questions. 

The first two questions listed reflect directly how the individual thinks of themselves and respects others. A self absorbed person walks into the room with an attitude of, "Here I am" but a leader/team member walks into a room with the attitude of "There you are." 

April 22, 2017
1

I see little value in the first question.  All you can do is think of a song that you like and then say why you like it. I am not sure what special skill that would demonstrate to an interviewer.

The second question seems trivial.  Don't bring the dog or wait until the colleague is on holiday. Again, I am not sure what skill this question can elicit.

The Amazon question is more interesting, especially if the job involves a high degree of creativity. 

I had a discussion with my cousin about questions like this recently. She is a recruitment specialist in a law firm.  She was planning to have words with a colleague who asked a random question like this in an interview and was later critical of the candidate's answer.  He rejected her partly on the basis of her answer - which he simply didn't like - and my cousin had to give feedback to the candidate.  In the modern world of discrimination law, such questions can be a legal minefield.  

It's just too difficult for candidates to know what is being expected of them when asked questions like this.


April 22, 2017
Michael, thank you. Now I understand you.

Indeed, this may happen. If we turn 'creativity' (or anything) into widespread fashion, some guys who are good or creative workers but not much creative at answering 'creative' questions are diadvantaged.

I'm not convined in that it is bad, as this might be one 'unfair' thing substituting another 'unfair' thing. HR has always been succeptible to trends. "Creativity" as corporate fashion seems to be positive development (creativity is a nice quality anyway.., and many fields are dominated by inertion of decades or even centuries). But I can imagine myself annoyed with thoughtless imitation of creativity:)

The same with "fit". As an employee I want this, I want my team/clients to be "a good fit" with... me:) But there are people who are not considered (or just are not) a "good fit". And I don't think I'm enthusiastic about engineering effots applied to teams.

A thing I encountered in the context of high-school education is some teacher responsible for anmistrative decisions with ideas of how to build a collective:/ Sometimes this led to serious conflicts with other teachers and many students. The worst case I heard of it was 'this girl is too pretty popual, boys become distracted it disrupts the process'.
That is why my friend (a beutiful woman as well:)) quitted teaching in that school. I would quit too. Possibly with a scandal.
April 24, 2017
KP, there has been quite a lot of research into recruitment preferences in the UK.  Our workplace equality culture is probably very rigid and legalistic by the standards of countries outside Northern Europe and the Anglo-Saxon world.  However, one common theme is that employers use the idea of a "good fit with the team/our clients" in order to recruit candidates that share the same values, with the net result that certain categories of applicants are more generally disadvantaged, despite being well-qualified for the roles.  As a result of this kind of research and litigation on the grounds of discrimination, large employers with switched-on HR departments are now more careful than ever about letting interviewers dream up any old random question to test the "creativity" and "fit" of the candidate.  This is where I am coming from on this debate.
April 23, 2017

Michael, I assumed 'unfair' implies it against interviewee's interests. If it is my dream company I may want the questions to be predictable, and the job requirements to be known beforehand.  So I could do my best to secure this job... Unless I believe this is unrealistic (e.g. a model:)). Also, when having a job is a privelege, people become sensitive to the rules of the game.

This didn't occured to me... Professionals compete for jobs, companies compete for professionals - so I didn't think about this aspect.

If this job is a privilege, i understand how it can feel 'unfair'.
If you feel like it is you are the one to choose and be picky, everything changes. They ask idiotic questions? You are happy that you are saved from working with idiots. If the company is just one of many, and special interest to music tastes is uncommon and when it happens they may very well prefer anything, let they be biased and subjective - it doesn't harm me. If the questions are non-random, then may be I won't have a boss who can't tolerate my musical preferences. Why would I need such a boss?

It they are random, then it either harms the company or not. Depends on whether they need random employees.

April 23, 2017
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