You've dressed nicely, arrived on time, done your homework about the job and researched the role and company, then from no-where the interviewer asks “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?”*
You're not alone, in fact every day interviewees face questions that almost no amount of home work can prepare you for, but that doesn't mean you can't answer them.
“Preparing for an interview thoroughly means being ready for anything, even a curveball question not directly related to the job,” said David Whitby, UK country manager at recruitment site Glassdoor.
"Remember, it’s not necessarily about getting the right answer, more how you cope under pressure."
To help you prepare, Glassdoor used it's database of interviews to find the 20 hardest questions asked in Britain.
The 20 hardest job interview questions in Britain – and how to answer them1. “What on your CV is the closest thing to a lie?” - Marketing and Communications Employee, The Phoenix Partnership
2. “What am I thinking right now?” - Regional Director, TES Global
3. “How would your enemy describe you?” - Advertising Sales Grad Scheme, Condé Nast
4. “If you had a friend who was great for a job and an identical person who was just as good, but your friend earned you £2,000 less, who would you give the job to?” - Associate Recruitment Consultant, Hays plc
5. “What's the most selfish thing you've ever done?” - Graduate Consultant, PageGroup
6. “You are stranded on the moon with a group of other astronauts and you need to travel 200 miles back to base, here is a list of 15 items salvaged from the wreckage of the spacecraft you were travelling in. List them in order of importance.” - Sales Employee, Turnstone Sales
7. “If your best friend was here what advice would he give you?” - CCP, American Express
8. “Describe your biggest weakness. Then describe another.” - Forward Deployed Software Engineer, Palantir Technologies
9. “How do you cope with repetition?” - Product Specialist, Tesla Motors
10. “How would you describe cloud computing to a 7 year old?” - Graduate Scheme, Microsoft
11. “There are three people, each with different salaries, and they want to find the average of them without telling any of the other two their salary. How do they do it?” - Technical Delivery Graduate, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence
12. “Who is your hero, and why?” - Product Quality Employee, GE
13. “What’s your the biggest regret managing people so far?” - Area Director, Regus
14. “What would you ask the CEO if you met him one day?” - Performance Analyst, British Airways
15. “You have 50 red and 50 blue objects. Split these however you like between two containers to give the minimum/maximum probability of drawing one of the colours” - Operations Analyst, Clearwater Analytics
16. “What does social justice mean to you?” - Content Marketing Manager, ThoughtWorks
17. “What is your coping mechanism when you have a bad day?” - Consultant, Switch Consulting
18. “Are you a nice guy?” - Product Manager, Badoo
19. “Provide an estimate for the number of goals in the premier league.” - Management Accountant, VAX
20. “Tell me about your childhood.” - Learning and Development Employee, Next
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