Odd Line of Interviewing Questions

by Ashley

I went on a second job interview for an office administrator position in a small company. The manager I was having the second interview with was very "quirky". I prepared beforehand that there would be some difficult questions, but that was never elaborated on.

When I arrived for the interview I had prepared myself for every open-ended question I could think of. The manager sat me down and started the interview with the normal line of questioning "what was your last position?", "why did you leave there?", etc.

Then he asked me a question I had never been asked on an interview - "If you could be a color what color would you be and why?"

I stopped for a moment thinking I heard him wrong, asked him to repeat the question and then winged it. I said "I would be the color green because it's a calming color and the color is generally associated with financial prosperity and that's what I would bring to your company."

Then the next few questions were "How often do you find yourself daydreaming, what do you often daydream about?", "What famous person do you most associate yourself with and why?", "What animal do you most associate your goals and aspirations with?".

I was so entirely thrown off by this line of questioning, either because I had prepared myself for something completely different or because I had never even thought about answers to these questions. I did stumble when trying to answer some but I managed to make it through the interview.

Amazingly I did actually get the job. Once I did I had to ask the manager why he asked such a random line of questions. He simply said that in the job I had gotten needed someone who could think on their toes and he needed to see if I was someone who could do that.

He said that asking questions that seemed out of the blue and catching people off-guard allowed him to get a sense of the person’s true personality because it wasn't the interview you had prepared yourself for and anyone can put their best foot forward in an interview.

From this experience I learned that if I over prepare myself I actually do myself a disservice because I need to present myself how I am, not how I perceive the employer wants me to be.