Advertisement
Canada markets closed
  • S&P/TSX

    22,167.03
    +59.95 (+0.27%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,254.35
    +5.86 (+0.11%)
     
  • DOW

    39,807.37
    +47.29 (+0.12%)
     
  • CAD/USD

    0.7380
    -0.0006 (-0.08%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    83.11
    -0.06 (-0.07%)
     
  • Bitcoin CAD

    94,741.59
    -628.92 (-0.66%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,254.80
    +16.40 (+0.73%)
     
  • RUSSELL 2000

    2,124.55
    +10.20 (+0.48%)
     
  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.2060
    +0.0100 (+0.24%)
     
  • NASDAQ

    16,379.46
    -20.06 (-0.12%)
     
  • VOLATILITY

    13.01
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • FTSE

    7,952.62
    +20.64 (+0.26%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,369.44
    +201.37 (+0.50%)
     
  • CAD/EUR

    0.6845
    +0.0002 (+0.03%)
     

The weirdest interview questions asked by Canadian companies

If you could high five one person, living or not, who would it be?

There’s actually no wrong answer to this question for Lululemon job candidates – well, not true, you might want to avoid high-fiving the company’s scandal-plagued founder Chip Wilson, in our expert opinion.

The question tops job search and salary resource website Glassdoor’s list of 10 oddball interview questions asked in Canada.

But the list, which features gems like: “If Labatt gave you a million dollars with the condition that you’d have to pay it back in 3 years, what would you do with it?” from Labatt or Telus’ “How can we move Mount Fuji?” is sure to inspire a bit of head scratching.

ADVERTISEMENT

Which is precisely the point says Dr. Roberta Neault, a career management specialist and president of B.C.-based Life Strategies.

“Obviously, Telus is not concerned about how to move Mount Fuji,” says Neault. “But Telus is concerned about how you would take what seems to be an insurmountable problem and attack it.”

Or sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason.

“I think sometimes we start with the assumption that an interviewer does know what he or she is doing but that’s not always the case,” she adds. “Sometimes interviewers throw out things because they’ve also read a list of oddball questions or they’ve been asked something similar in their own interviews.”

But usually, these questions are meant to get candidates thinking out loud or toss them in a high stakes problem-solving situation to see how a candidate performs under pressure. That’s why it’s important as a job candidate to do a little research beforehand on who will be interviewing you, says the career counselor. That way you can get an idea of the type of information they’ll be looking to glean from you.

“One of the ways to prepare for any interview is practice,” says Neault. “I’ve encouraged clients over the years to write out the questions that come off of crazy lists like this and have a friend or family member pop them out at completely random moments and make you answer them.”

If you do get hit with one of these weirdo questions in a real interview, she recommends taking a pause to consider your answer. If you’re worried about the silence, repeat the question or counter it with a little humour, something like “wow, I have no idea, let me think about that.”

“Despite using that filler comment you’re actually thinking much faster than you’re speaking so you’re getting some time to calm down,” says Neault. “It’s absolutely fine in an interview to acknowledge that you don’t know the answer or that you just need a moment to think about it.”

If all else fails and you walk out feeling like you totally bombed it thanks to your inability to devise a solution for moving Mount Fuji (and you call yourself an intellectual, tsk tsk), turn it into an opportunity.

“I think very often it’s when we’re riding public transit on the way home from the interview or driving our car that we suddenly figure out what the interviewer was getting,” says Neault. “It’s never too late to follow up – send a thank you card and you’ve got that second opportunity to answer it and make a lasting impression.”