Job interviews are nerve-wracking. But they can be exciting too and lead to funny job interview stories. Especially when interviewers ask zany questions that catch you by surprise – and then get your creative juices flowing. When you’re having fun answering a hilarious question with a hilarious answer, you’re bound to loosen up and feel comfortable.
Many hiring managers these days are popping questions that have led to funny job interview stories. Just look up Glassdoor and you’ll see what we mean. But some of the funniest interview questions and answers can also be the most common ones.
Here’s a look at some of the funniest things people have said in interviews. Hold on to your chair!
10. Giving 110%
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Here’s a funny story. A guy called Jack Rees of Great Somerford poured some water into a cup at an interview, when the water overflowed slightly. The interviewer asked him, “Nervous?” Jack’s response was “No, I always give 110%.”
Every life coach will tell you confidence is key. You can sail through any situation with confidence, and the job interview is a big test. The story of Jack Rees is so popular it’s become a meme. It’s not certain if there ever was such a man living in Great Somerford. But you’ve got to hand it to him. Instead of admitting to nervousness, he turns the situation around, thinking quick on his feet. His response sends a message that he can take on unexpected situations with grace and wit.
This is one of the funniest interview questions and answers we’ve come across. If there is truth in the story, we’re curious to know if Jack Rees was hired. The hiring manager would be a fool to willingly lose such a quick-thinker to a competitor!
9. Very Large Hands
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Q. If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in the other hand, what would you have?
A. Very large hands.
This question doesn’t sound like something they’d ask at a job interview, does it? But it’s the kind of riddle that Google, Microsoft and others used to throw at candidates. Lots of banking and financial companies do the same. People come out of such interviews and immediately hit Glassdoor, eager to tell their funny job interview stories. This particular answer is clever and hilarious. It’s not always the answer but the thought process that companies are looking at when they ask a ridiculous question like this one.
8. Dinner in the Long Term
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Interviewer: So what do you have planned for the future?
Candidate: Lunch.
Interviewer: No, like long term.
Candidate: Oh…dinner.
The guy does answer the question he’s asked, to be fair. And isn’t there something to be said for someone who’s living in the moment as he is?
7. Honesty the best policy?
Image source: LinkedIn
Sometimes, honesty is not the best policy. Granted that the question about the weakness is hilarious. It’s insulting – and why are your flaws the business of a stranger? It’s not like the interviewer is your minister or therapist. But this is not the time for honesty but for playing up your strengths with an evasive or witty answer. Like ‘Chocolate!’
6. Linear Thinking
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Interviewer: Just Imagine you’re on the 8th floor, and there’s a fire. How will you escape?
Candidate: It’s very simple. I’ll stop imagining.
While modern employers encourage imaginative thinking or thinking out of the box, there’s lots of wisdom in this job seeker’s response to the question. The interviewer is probably looking for clues to your personality. Are you the calm-headed type? Can you handle adverse situations? Are you smart? We think the responder is making it clear that he’s not falling for the bait to get him to reveal his panic at the fire scenario. As for the fire, imagining yourself roasting wouldn’t make it easier to escape.
5. A Job of Convenience
Image source: Wikia
Interviewer: Why do you want to work in this lab?
Candidate: It’s closer to my knitting class.
As far as funny job interview stories go, this one takes the cake. There’s nothing stupid about the question. The interviewer is only trying to find out how much you know about the company you’ve applied to. But isn’t the answer something many young graduates have thought at one point or another during an interview for a job they don’t really want? The metaphor of the knitting class is a respite from the grind of working a job that’s not what you really want to do but are forced by circumstances.
4. Short Term, Long Term
Image Source: Prospect Personnel
Q. What are your short-term and long-term goals?
A. My short-term goal is to bluff my way through this job interview. My long-term goal is to invent a time machine so I can come back and change everything I’ve said so far.
This could be one of the funniest things people have said in interviews. The question on short-term goals is not so ridiculous as the question on your long term ones. Surely where you want to go in five years is not the interviewer’s business, unless they are making you an offer to employ you for five years. And as for the answer, well, some people just don’t interview well. They’re honest to a fault!
3. Dubious Qualifications
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The technological world we live in today has made it so that high school students who have been tweeting for years and have amassed a huge number of followers may be the perfect candidates for an online marketing job. Attractive young teens on Instagram can easily get jobs in advertising. This hilarious meme, probably one of the funniest interview questions and answers we’ve seen, is a testament to these dubious credentials. But are they really dubious? Do you realize how level-headed you need to be to be the admin of a Telegram group and use the right emoji every time? Really!
2. Highly Motivated
Image Source: smarttalent
Q. Why should we hire you?
A. I’m hard-working, eager to learn and highly motivated. *thinks: Because if I don’t get a job soon, I’ll have to move back home with my parents.
Imagine this scenario. A desperate job hunter has just turned up for her nth job interview and has been asked the stupid question why should we hire you? (We think this one is a hilariously stupid question because well, how would you know why the company should hire you when you haven’t met the other candidates?) Frustrated with her lack of success so far, she goes ahead and accidentally voices the real reason for her desperation. And well, as far as motivation goes, is hers any less compelling than the guy who is motivated by the pay scale and the perks?
But we all know what the best answer would be to the question. If you and I are meant to get great things done together, I’m sure we’d both know it! This could be one of the funniest things people have said in interviews, if it was ever actually said. Would you take the bold step of saying it?
1. Accomplishments
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The question about reasonable assets is silly. We wished it was the other way round more often, where interviewers spent more time convincing job seekers that their assets were deserved by the company! As it is, there are some skills that you just need the right person for. Like the secretary’s remarkable ability to serve a pot of Earl Grey into those tiny china cups without spilling.
This completes our list of the funniest things people have said in interviews. What are the funniest interview questions and answers that you’ve come across? Do you think you’d like having to answer such a question at an interview? Or are you, like many of us, a staircase wit for whom the clever response hits much later in bed?
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