FabSwingers.com forum: So you have an interview with Google....

By *hyllyphylly OP Man
over a year ago

Bradford

Hope many, (now banned,) questions can you answer?

1. How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?

2. Why are manhole covers round?

3. You need to check that your friend Bob has your correct phone number, but you cannot ask him directly. You must write the question on a card and give it to Eve who will take the card to Bob and return the answer to you. What must you write on the card, besides the question, to ensure that Bob can encode the message so that Eve cannot read your phone number?

4. How many piano tuners are there in the entire world?

5. Every man in a village of 100 married couples has cheated on his wife. Every wife in the village instantly knows when a man other than her husband has cheated but does not know when her own husband has. The village has a law that does not allow for adultery. Any wife who can prove that her husband is unfaithful must kill him that very day. The women of the village would never disobey this law. One day, the queen of the village visits and announces that at least one husband has been unfaithful. What happens?

6. A man pushed his car to a hotel and lost his fortune. What happened?

7. How many times a day does a clock's hands overlap?

8. How many vacuums are made per year in the USA?

9. Explain the significance of "dead beef."

10. If a person dials a sequence of numbers on the telephone, what possible words/strings can be formed from the letters associated with those numbers?

11. You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and your mass is proportionally reduced so as to maintain your original density. You are then thrown into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do?

12. How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?

13. Explain a database in three sentences to your 8-year-old nephew.

14. You have to get from point A to point B. You don't know if you can get there. What would you do?

15. You are at a party with a friend and 10 people are present (including you and the friend). Your friend makes you a wager that for every person you find who has the same birthday as you, you get $1; for every person he finds who does not have the same birthday as you, he gets $2. Would you accept the wager?

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By *eMontresMan
over a year ago

Halesowen

just google them on your smartphone during the interview

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I'd Google it

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Tell me the answers then!

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By *hyllyphylly OP Man
over a year ago

Bradford

"Tell me the answers then!"

And spoil the fun for everyone else?

(I haven't a clue, lol)

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By *ee VianteWoman
over a year ago

Somewhere in North Norfolk

There are no correct answers. The questions are to evaluate how a candidate reacts to an unexpected question where they may not have much information to go on.

It's to see how people think about things and how they handle the unexpected.

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By *ee VianteWoman
over a year ago

Somewhere in North Norfolk

I just read the questions a bit more carefully. I told a lie. At least one question has an actual answer.

The Dead Beef one. But it's an answer that would generally be known to a relatively small group of people.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"1. How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?"

Idk.

"2. Why are manhole covers round?"

So they don't fall in the hole.

"3. You need to check that your friend Bob has your correct phone number, but you cannot ask him directly. You must write the question on a card and give it to Eve who will take the card to Bob and return the answer to you. What must you write on the card, besides the question, to ensure that Bob can encode the message so that Eve cannot read your phone number?"

8008135

"4. How many piano tuners are there in the entire world?"

1730?

"5. Every man in a village of 100 married couples has cheated on his wife. Every wife in the village instantly knows when a man other than her husband has cheated but does not know when her own husband has. The village has a law that does not allow for adultery. Any wife who can prove that her husband is unfaithful must kill him that very day. The women of the village would never disobey this law. One day, the queen of the village visits and announces that at least one husband has been unfaithful. What happens?"

They kill all the husbands because once one person knows they all know coz logic.

I saw this on Ted talks website, but using a prison camp scenario and when one person knew the answer to something they all knew the answer for some reason.

"6. A man pushed his car to a hotel and lost his fortune. What happened?"

It was his prize dog and he ran it over by accident.

"7. How many times a day does a clock's hands overlap?"

twice, or 4 times, idk.

"8. How many vacuums are made per year in the USA?"

40 million?

"9. Explain the significance of "dead beef.""

It's good to forgive an forget.

"10. If a person dials a sequence of numbers on the telephone, what possible words/strings can be formed from the letters associated with those numbers?"

8oo8ies

"11. You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and your mass is proportionally reduced so as to maintain your original density. You are then thrown into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do?"

Bend down.

"12. How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?"

5 billion?

"13. Explain a database in three sentences to your 8-year-old nephew."

it's information storage.

that has data.

you can hack them.

"14. You have to get from point A to point B. You don't know if you can get there. What would you do?"

Try to get there anyway?

"15. You are at a party with a friend and 10 people are present (including you and the friend). Your friend makes you a wager that for every person you find who has the same birthday as you, you get $1; for every person he finds who does not have the same birthday as you, he gets $2. Would you accept the wager?"

Yes. The bet doesn't say i have to give him the $2.

this wasn't as fun as i thought it would be.

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By *eMontresMan
over a year ago

Halesowen

7 is 11, they overlap once per hour, except for the last hour

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By *eMontresMan
over a year ago

Halesowen

"7 is 11, they overlap once per hour, except for the last hour"

Unless it's a 24 hour clock, then it's 23.

Obviously doesn't apply to digital clocks

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By *eMontresMan
over a year ago

Halesowen

"7 is 11, they overlap once per hour, except for the last hour

Unless it's a 24 hour clock, then it's 23.

Obviously doesn't apply to digital clocks"

Oh, of course, unless it has a second hand, then the question needs clarification, do all three hands have to overlap, or any 2 out of the three.

Assuming of course the clock has more than one hand.

I could tie them up all day on just this question alone.

Most questions of this type are poorly worded and imprecise

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Those questions are amazing!

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By *ee VianteWoman
over a year ago

Somewhere in North Norfolk

"Those questions are amazing!

There are books of similar ones used to evaluate students applying to top universities and similar.

Do You Think You Are Clever? is worth a read if you find those questions interesting. It's interview questions used at either Oxford or Cambridge, (I forget which).

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By *ee VianteWoman
over a year ago

Somewhere in North Norfolk

"7 is 11, they overlap once per hour, except for the last hour

Unless it's a 24 hour clock, then it's 23.

Obviously doesn't apply to digital clocks

Oh, of course, unless it has a second hand, then the question needs clarification, do all three hands have to overlap, or any 2 out of the three.

Assuming of course the clock has more than one hand.

I could tie them up all day on just this question alone.

Most questions of this type are poorly worded and imprecise"

That's the point. They want to see how people think through the possibilities. Do they factor in variables? Do they just look for an answer and then not consider if there is more to it.

They're not looking for the answer, they're looking for the thought process.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

" Hope many, (now banned,) questions can you answer?"

16 including the one quoted.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"7 is 11, they overlap once per hour, except for the last hour

Unless it's a 24 hour clock, then it's 23.

Obviously doesn't apply to digital clocks

Oh, of course, unless it has a second hand, then the question needs clarification, do all three hands have to overlap, or any 2 out of the three.

Assuming of course the clock has more than one hand.

I could tie them up all day on just this question alone.

Most questions of this type are poorly worded and imprecise

That's the point. They want to see how people think through the possibilities. Do they factor in variables? Do they just look for an answer and then not consider if there is more to it.

They're not looking for the answer, they're looking for the thought process."

Until scientific studies found absolutely no correlation between these kind of stupid questions and job performance. The questions "predominantly serve to make the interviewer feel smart".

It's this kind of cheap, derivative thinking, lazy logic that boils my contempt for HR and interviews generally.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Ugh, I hate these kind of "quirky" interview questions. I think I'd walk out if I was asked that sort of bullshit because it would be a clear sign that it wasn't somewhere I'd be happy working. My skills and experience are what's important, not being able to come up with a glib answer to a stupid question off the cuff.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"7 is 11, they overlap once per hour, except for the last hour

Unless it's a 24 hour clock, then it's 23.

Obviously doesn't apply to digital clocks"

Google says it's 22.

I'd go with that.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I think these kinds of questions reveal a great deal more about people than the regular interview crap.

As for whether they work... well Google does seem to struggle with recruitment, doesn't it?!

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Ugh, I hate these kind of "quirky" interview questions. I think I'd walk out if I was asked that sort of bullshit because it would be a clear sign that it wasn't somewhere I'd be happy working. My skills and experience are what's important, not being able to come up with a glib answer to a stupid question off the cuff. "

The problem is that it only shows that the interviewer and or HR processes are a bit shit. Perhaps the job at the end is still good, most companies act like silos in that sense. I would definately struggle to hide my contempt for the question though... if it was representative of the company culture then I'd be out in a flash.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"I think these kinds of questions reveal a great deal more about people than the regular interview crap.

As for whether they work... well Google does seem to struggle with recruitment, doesn't it?!"

Most companies have backed off these questions because they have no correlation with job performance. If I wanted to assess someone's suitability for a software job at google then heaven forbid I should actually look at some fudging code they had written!?!

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"7 is 11, they overlap once per hour, except for the last hour

Unless it's a 24 hour clock, then it's 23.

Obviously doesn't apply to digital clocks

Google says it's 22.h

I'd go with that."

I will go with none, my analog clock has stopped, but days still happen.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"I think these kinds of questions reveal a great deal more about people than the regular interview crap.

As for whether they work... well Google does seem to struggle with recruitment, doesn't it?!

yeah but most companies are not Google, or remotely close.

If you want regular accountants to do regular accounts then you interview accordingly.

If you want creative thinkers to innovate you don't interview like you want an accountant.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"I think these kinds of questions reveal a great deal more about people than the regular interview crap.

As for whether they work... well Google does seem to struggle with recruitment, doesn't it?!

yeah but most companies are not Google, or remotely close.

If you want regular accountants to do regular accounts then you interview accordingly.

If you want creative thinkers to innovate you don't interview like you want an accountant."

Agreed but are you hiring people to think creatively in interview-like situations or not? If you are then the questions make sense. If not, they don't.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Agreed but are you hiring people to think creatively in interview-like situations or not? If you are then the questions make sense. If not, they don't. "

Don't understand what you mean, sorry.

Google are obviously well known for seeking to have a certain culture, hence their approach to recruitment along with the environment they provide for employees.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

"Agreed but are you hiring people to think creatively in interview-like situations or not? If you are then the questions make sense. If not, they don't.

Don't understand what you mean, sorry.

Google are obviously well known for seeking to have a certain culture, hence their approach to recruitment along with the environment they provide for employees.

They are also well known for a data driven approach to decision making and they ran the analysis on these kind of questions, found they were useless at predicting job performance and have backed away from them.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

News to me - I thought it was just certain types of positions but can't pretend I follow what they do too closely.

I remember something similar for Oxford/Cambridge interviews too.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I have done numerous interviews using these techniques, but they mostly fell out of favour in the last century. After you have seen them a few times they fail to achieve anything! but may have still some use with graduates as long as they are not prepend for them.

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By *iss AdventureWoman
over a year ago

Wonderland

Here's my answers to a few

"1. How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?"

The going rate

"2. Why are manhole covers round?"

Because manholes are round .... Obviously

Bob, can you ring me please

"4. How many piano tuners are there in the entire world?"

I've never needed one so I have no idea but I do remember it being a question on QI once.

If she's visiting she's obviously not from that village, but every woman already knows that every man other than her husband has cheated anyway so run the gossipy bitch out of town.

"6. A man pushed his car to a hotel and lost his fortune. What happened?"

He was playing monopoly

"7. How many times a day does a clock's hands overlap?"

22 if you only count the hour and minute hands (I watch too much QI)

"9. Explain the significance of "dead beef.""

Geekily, I know this one but im not sure how many people will so I won't ruin it for everyone.

"10. If a person dials a sequence of numbers on the telephone, what possible words/strings can be formed from the letters associated with those numbers?"

What was the sequence and how long was it? Im sure there's actually some kind of algorithm though.

Lie down flat

This was on QI too

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

Agreed. Serves fuck all purpose in my opinion.

You don't apply to work at McDonald's for example and expect to be asked how to re-wire a circuit board.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I bet it would be interesting to know the difference between those who quite like these type of questions and those that don't in terms of the kinds of work they do etc.

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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

My answer to all those questions would cabbages.

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