What is the worst question you've been asked during an interview?

Question

I just had an interview for an entry level position at a department store as a merchandiser. The interview went really well until she said "So name all the excel equations you know." I started rambling off a few, but couldn't think of any of the really complex ones I've done.

Does anyone have experience answering really vague and broad questions during interviews?

Answer 1

I would have asked, "what do you mean, do you mean functions?" because I can put any old equations I want into excel, and I do it all the time. As to functions, well, mostly I use number-character functions and stat functions. Data type conversions and things of that nature to make it so I can look at a large amount of data and see if there is anything useful that they reveal.



How does one answer such questions? With what you know to the extent you can. It is a "tell me about yourself" type of question in a way. A way to get you to talk and show if you are full of it or have some substance behind what you are claiming.

Answer 2

Why should we hire you ? & why you wanna work here ?

According to me these two questions are the worst questions.

Answer 3

Why you wanna work here



Lol when you’ve been working for that company for about 3 years and you just moved to a new state ..

Answer 4

Applying for my first job after being chief cashier in a High St. Bank the interviewer asked me if I were used to handling large amounts of cash. I wonder what he thought chief cashiers did.

Answer 5

My guess is she was trying to discern if you really know how to Excel. You'd be surprised how many people say they are proficient in a program and have no idea how to use it. It was a quick way to see if you knew anything about how to use Excel. I doubt she was expecting you to really rattle off every function and formula you've ever used, or that she even cared which ones you rattled off.

Answer 6

Sometimes questions are asked not to determine your knowledge, but instead to see how you field it under pressure.

Answer 7

She obviously wanted to get a sense of your excel knowledge. It's easy to say, "I know excel.", but she has to force you to say something specific to know for sure what your level is. She likely got the information she was looking for. She didn't care exactly which ones you really know.



If you said, "add and subtract" then you obviously don't know anything about excel. If you said, "sum, vlookup, count" then you used the right terms. Personally, I would have answered with the the latter, probably stumbled a little, and then said that I use pretty much any that are logical for what I'm trying to do while at the same time if I don't exactly how one works I use the wizard or do a google search for explanation. If it were me, that is the type of answer I'd be looking for.

Answer 8

That's not really a vague question.. and you answered it well. Good luck with the job!

Answer 9

If my mother was taken

Answer 10

If i had a tiger.

Answer 11

That is a somewhat unusual question. Our company would have you do a quick ( 5 min) spreadsheet test...



...the worst question I have ever been asked in an interview was a two part question: "How many children do you plan to have and how much time do you plan to take off to have them?" it was an inappropriate question 20 years ago and is downright illegal to ask , now.

Answer 12

That sounds less like an interview question and more like a passive-aggressive attempt to make you feel “less than” the interviewer.

I encourage you to prepare for that kind of thing. Maybe respond with, “I am proficient in Excel. Could you give me an example of data I would be seeing? I can explain a few ways to process them.” Throw it back while still answering.