Google used to have hiring practices that were genuinely awkward for candidates. We say “used to” because, according to Gayle Laakmann, a former Google software engineer, the company has reportedly banned its recruiting staff from using most of these questions. The problem is that the format is already being copied by other large companies.
While Google knew exactly what it was looking for with these questions, namely to measure problem-solving ability, cognitive skills and mathematical and mental agility, other companies may be using them to measure… applicants’ patience.
(Read: Google-style job interviews may be costing you good employees.)
Google’s most awkward questions and some good possible answers
1. How many golf balls fit in a school bus?
Although it may look like a trick question, Google really did want an answer as accurate as possible, because you can actually use estimation and maths.
Answer:
According to a former Google employee, this line of reasoning would be spot on:
I’d guess a standard school bus is about 8 feet wide by 6 feet high by 20 feet long. That’s just a guess based on the thousands of hours I’ve spent stuck behind school buses in traffic jams. That makes 960 cubic feet, which is roughly 1.6 million cubic inches. The volume of a golf ball is about 2.5 cubic inches (4/3 × π × 0.85³), since 0.85 inches is the radius of a golf ball. Divide 1.6 million by 2.5 and you get 660,000 golf balls. Of course, we’re not subtracting the space taken up by the seats, and we’re assuming the bus is completely empty.
2. How much would you charge to clean every window in Madrid?
Obviously, in this case there’s no way we can know how many windows there are in Madrid, so the smartest answer would be:
I’d charge €10 per window.
3. Why are manhole covers round?
There are two possible answers: a witty one and a reasoned one.
The witty answer is that they’re round because the hole the cover goes into is round too.
The reasoned answer, I think, is pure physics: when a car drives over the cover, its round shape stops it from lifting up, which would happen if covers were square or rectangular.
As I’m not a physicist, I’m not sure about that answer.
4. Design an evacuation plan for Barcelona in the event of a disaster
Rather than tackling the problem head-on, we should start our answer with a question:
What kind of disaster are we planning for? I ask because if it’s a tsunami warning, that would ruin my plan to evacuate by sea.
5. How many times a day do the hands of a clock overlap?
A mental agility question, since it has an exact answer:
AM: 12:00, 1:05, 2:11, 3:16, 4:22, 5:27, 6:33, 7:38, 8:44, 9:49, 10:55
PM: 12:00, 1:05, 2:11, 3:16, 4:22, 5:27, 6:33, 7:38, 8:44, 9:49, 10:55
Correct answer: 22 times in 24 hours.
6. How would you explain to an 8-year-old what a database is, in just 3 sentences?
This question is genuinely useful, if only because it shows your ability to take complex language and put it simply so that anyone can understand it. A good communicator can do that.
One answer:
A database is a machine that holds lots of information about lots of things. People use it to help them remember that information. Now go and play something else.
These are just 6 examples out of a total of 40 brainteasers that are commonly asked today at large companies and on Wall Street.
(Read: Think your job interview was tough? You haven’t been interviewed on Wall Street.)
The truth is, I doubt there are more than 3 people in the world who could answer every single one of these questions correctly, so their usefulness is questionable, but it never hurts to know them in case you come across them one day.
Featured image: Old Photo Profile, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
