The Curveball

February 22, 2013

 

As many HR managers and job seekers have noticed, new trends are popping up in the hiring process. A new and increasingly popular approach is to deviate from the standard interview questions and ask questions that seem to be off the beaten track. For example, instead asking the interviewee to describe him or herself, the interviewer may ask, “How many trees are in Yellowstone National Park?” While this may seem like an innocuous question, experts say that these strange inquiries could be more effective in finding the right candidate than they seem.

The thinking behind this new approach is that asking unusual questions can be a great way to figure out how the candidate handles unexpected events or how creative they are. Through insight interviewing, an interviewer can really get to know the person beyond the suit and resume. This interviewing style is also a great way to see if the candidate is a good fit for the company culture.

As the one being interviewed, it is hard to prepare for such an encounter. When you are going in for an interview, keep in mind that you could be asked one of these insight questions. If you go in with that possibility in mind, it won’t come as such a shock with the interviewer asks “How many birds do you think are in Times Square right now?”

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