[JohnMakin]

True, the hiring process working as intended - I don’t want to work for an employer that would waste my time having me solve irrelevant problems to placate some weirdly misplaced ego-driven attitude. Seems fairly gatekeepy, and I think it selects for a certain type of cult member, not necessarily “good team members.”

In my interviews I now throw out these dumb google style questions, not to see how they think, but to see how they react to a silly question. The person I’d like to hire, when asked “how would you calculate how many ping pong balls fit in a 747?” they would answer “I wouldn’t.” Only one so far has given me an answer like that and has been delightful to work with.

[em-bee]

ouch, that is pretty rough. i mean i am happy that you found someone to give you the right answer. but i'd expect that the majority don't dare to do that in an interview session. i hope you are not rejecting people just because they actually try to answer that question.

[JohnMakin]

no, I just want to see their reaction, but the “I wouldn’t” response strongly puts me into “hire.” To me it signals this isn’t a yes man or someone who’s going to waste man hours making something overly complex, which at my current small scale is incredibly valuable, I cannot afford to waste time.

That may or not be correct but it often shows me how willing a candidate is to jump through hoops they think they need to to get a job. Maybe that was the original intent of these questions. I have absolutely no desire to see how someone thinks their way through a silly thought experiment. My interview process should already have shown me how they think.

[em-bee]

i totally agree with you. i am just trying to see it from the candidates perspective. these questions are so common that i don't think many would have any idea what you are really after. so in a sense it still feels like a trick question.

so i wonder if there is any better way to test for this.

when i was doing an internship once the boss asked me to take care of some task, and i said no, because i was going for my lunch break now. later that day i got berated by my supervisor for denying the bosses request. it was a pretty frustrating experience, but i was to young to defend myself.

on the other hand, in china, where people are typically very subservient at work, i once hired a student, who, after about 3 months of working with me had the courage to argue a technical question with me and stand his ground defending his opinion. he had never worked for a foreigner before, and he certainly would never act like that with a chinese superior. when he started he barely even spoke english (he could read and write it though) so i felt pretty proud that he was able to make that change while working with me.

the point of that story is that the initial response in an interview may not be an indicator of future behavior because the behavior can be changed by how i treat my subordinates, welcoming critical responses and encouraging different opinions.