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Surprisingly Painful Interview Questions
 

WhiteHat's picture
HF
 
Points)
 on 11/25/12 at 11:30pm
Tough Interview

Because I'm nerdy like that, I tend to write down the more bizarre or tougher interview questions I get just to throw them at my friends and see how they'd react. As I'm traveling today and tend to incorporate at least one psychoactive substance into my flight routine, I figured sharing this list would be better than trying to write something that required actual thought.

If you've heard any of these before (or something similar), or have any idea of how you'd want to answer them, feel free to share in the comments.

1. If one song describes your life, what would it be?

2. Who do you think makes a better manager... a man or a woman? [You have to pick one, no "it depends" answer was allowed!]

3. Imagine you're a rabbit at the bottom of a flight of 7 stairs. You can either jump up 1 step or 2 steps at a time. How many different combinations of ways can you get up the stairs? [Example: jump 2, jump 1, jump 1, jump 1, jump 2]

4. How many people are born in the United States every year?

5. You own an insurance company with only one type of policy. The policy is for homeowner's insurance and 5 households own it. They pay you a monthly premium for coverage. The special thing about the policy is that the second one of the policyholders' homes is damaged, the entire policy lapses for everyone and only that person gets paid. Would you prefer the houses be in separate states or all in the same state, and why?

6. Explain a time you bought something cheap. [What the fuck?]

7. If I gave you an offer that lasted for the next 30 seconds, would you take it?

8. What movie character do you think you are? [He interrupted me and said if I answered Patrick Bateman he'd ask me to leave]

9. Who's the shittiest CEO you can think of, and why?

10. Where would you invest your incremental dollar today if you couldn't buy stocks?

Reality denied comes back to haunt

See my WSO Blog

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Comments

AndyLouis's picture

On a related note:

 
Points)
 on 11/20/12 at 1:09pm

On a related note: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/whats-the-ha...

WSO's COO (Chief Operating Orangutan) | My story | Connect with me on Linkedin.

2013 WSO Conference

SirTradesaLot's picture

1. "I'm an Asshole" -- by

 
Points)
 on 11/21/12 at 4:02pm

1. "I'm an Asshole" -- by Dennis Leary
2. I don't know, let me call the ACLU to get their opinion.
7. Absolutely not, this would signal to me that there's a problem that you're hiding.
9. Who's the CEO here? Because he allows stupid people to ask me these stupid questions.
10. Total return swaps on the companies I love. Or gold, if there is a reason that the entire stock market is not functioning and it's not just me who can't buy.

Turbo leverage for capital explosion -- BD Capital

My WSO Blog

BTbanker's picture

1. Theme from King's

IB
 
Points)
 on 11/26/12 at 12:20am

1. Theme from King's Speech
2. Men. People don't tend to take women in charge too seriously, and productivity decreases.
9. Mark Zuckerberg. Just look at him.
10. Twinkies ~THE GOLDEN SPONGE~ http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-NEW-BOX-OF-10-HOSTESS-TW...

"A man generally has two reasons for doing anything. One that sounds good, and the real one." - J.P. Morgan

Firefox's picture

Interesting. How do you do

HF
(Orangutan, 274
 
Points)
 on 11/22/12 at 3:44pm

Interesting. How do you do #3?
edit: turns out the easiest way to find it is using the Fibonacci sequence, as someone below pointed out..

DontMakeMeShortYou's picture

9. Mark Pincus. His public

HF
(King Kong, 1,961
 
Points)
 on 11/21/12 at 4:50pm

9. Mark Pincus. His public commentary vs. insider sales border on criminal. Shorting the shit out of ZNGA and GRPN made my year.

See my WSO Blog

Financier4Hire's picture

5. It's the age-old

PE
(King Kong, 1,110
 
Points)
 on 11/21/12 at 5:02pm

5. It's the age-old diversification theory
6. I do it every day. Every household item I buy is on sale offer.
9. Agreed with BTbanker. Zuckerberg is a jardrol. For those of you unfamilar w/ the term that's an Italian slang for "bum".
10. Sex, drugs and rock'n roll (without the drugs !)

"The future isn't what it used to be "-Yogi Berra

"Perhaps you've failed to take into account my hidden assets"-007


The coolest cat on WSO
My BLOG

ironlawofoligarchy's picture

1. Material Girl - Madonna

ST
 
Points)
 on 11/21/12 at 5:16pm

1. Material Girl - Madonna

2. Whatever the sex of the person asking the question is, let them feel the love.

3. Some combination of (2,2,2,1). I wouldnt wasn to waste my time, want to just get up there as efficiently as possible. Besides not doing the math.

4. Would blank at this one. Would just say something along the lines of - most likely less than die due to demographics of population. And that immigration makes up for that and some with regards to the US pop growth rate.

5. All in the same state. Decreased variability for damages and limiting damages to specific occurences in only one area in which you only have to pay one policy anyways. Limited variety of damages and hence limited chance of occurence would help increase your period of recieving monthly premiums.

6. Gum, always a reason to take another fresh piece

7. Yes. Two words, exit package.

8. Tony Stark

9. Mark Zuckerberg - What does he actually do besides destroy value?

10. Twinkies - Props BTbanker, simply a great answer

selleverything's picture

1) I want to Break Free -

 
Points)
 on 11/21/12 at 5:56pm

1) I want to Break Free - Queen
2) On average woman (better at relating to people, being sympathetic, managing personalities)
3) 21 ways. I sometimes get confused with combinations, so I simply work backwards and find the pattern (it's 1,2,3,5,8,13,21...)
4) 300 Million people - 150 women - 33% in "conditions" for child-birth (50M ppl) - 66% of that whill eventually have a baby in lifetime (33M ppl)- 20 year baby-making "window" and let's say they make 2 babies each on average (say they make both in the same year b/c it will average out with the other woman's births), so 33/20=~1.6 *2 babies = 3.2 million babies per year
5) The same state, so that if there's regional damage, there's only one claim and that's the end of it (this assumes that the state I pick is an average- e.g. some states may be more prone to home casualty- and thus there's an incentive to diversify).
6) if you take the time/effort to match coupons to in-store sales, it can get very cheap (can't think of anything more interesting)
7) Unless its a dream job- than No- it's a major life decision that needs at least a few hours.
8) (lol @ Patrick Bateman.) The old guy in "12 Angry Men" - he's on a jury and he persuades everyone not to convict a guy for murder by showing, through great reasoning, that he's innocent. - character, thoughtful, resourceful, well spoken, communicative, team player but able to hold my ground when it matters
9) Steve Balmer. Microsoft had a huge head start but under him they literally did near-zero innovation. It's the same company that Gates left.
10) Without much research, I would say gold is a bubble that may or may not increase in value. Especially when/if the idea of returning to a gold standard is abolished from the public psyche. I would pick copper. One of the most useful metals in the real world. Important for technology. Few reasonable substitutes.

Good questions!

carlfox's picture

The answer to 3 is 21. How is

ST
(Orangutan, 256
 
Points)
 on 11/21/12 at 5:59pm

The answer to 3 is 21. How is that considered a 'painful" question?

"The way to make money is to buy when blood is running in the streets."

-John D. Rockefeller

iwantaboat's picture

5 is multiple states. It

 
Points)
 on 11/21/12 at 6:07pm

5 is multiple states. It could have been a better question if they had posed it with you as the policy holder. Than it would have been all in the same state. A way more interesting question.

Unforseen's picture

6. Explain a time you bought

(King Kong, 1,099
 
Points)
 on 11/21/12 at 6:32pm

6. Explain a time you bought something cheap. [What the fuck?]

Last year I went to the Bills Toronto series and only paid 30 bucks to watch the game from decent second level seats (face value $99). How did I get them so cheap, I bought them from the seller 6 minutes after the first quarter started. Missing ~6 minutes of the game saved me $69.

7. If I gave you an offer that lasted for the next 30 seconds, would you take it?

No, taking a new opportunity is something that would shape my lifestyle significantly. I would need more than 30 seconds to assess it.

8. What movie character do you think you are? [He interrupted me and said if I answered Patrick Bateman he'd ask me to leave]

Nick Naylor from Thank you for Smoking

10. Where would you invest your incremental dollar today if you couldn't buy stocks?

Short duration high yield EM debt

Check out my Blog

eurokopek's picture

Do I understand the question

(Monkey, 63
 
Points)
 on 11/21/12 at 9:19pm

Do I understand the question 5 wrong? You get premiums from 5 homeowners. If one household is damaged, I cover the losses. If two or more are damaged, I still cover only one. Then I should be indifferent, no?


Whoever John is, he must be desperate to post a smart solution on wso.

The answer
The answer with expanation

huanleshalemei's picture

Hilarious thread Re #8,

(Gorilla, 518
 
Points)
 on 11/21/12 at 9:34pm

Hilarious thread
Re #8, Yukiho Karasawa in 'Into the White Night', someone killed as many people as Patrick Bateman but never got caught, lol~

The Auto Show

slowdive's picture

To all the people who said

HF
 
Points)
 on 11/21/12 at 9:50pm

To all the people who said Mark Zuckerberg, despite the stock halving since the IPO, you can't deny that he created an amazing platform. He may be a socially awkward nerd who stole the idea, but none of that really matters in the end. Do nothing but destroy value.. are you kidding me? He has created an immense amount of value out of basically nothing.

TGICapitalism's picture

What position and industry

IB
(Baboon, 119
 
Points)
 on 11/21/12 at 10:06pm

What position and industry were you interviewing for?

redrut's picture

Question 3, combination of

 
Points)
 on 11/22/12 at 6:00am

1percentblog.com

redrut's picture

I usually ask the classic,

 
Points)
 on 11/22/12 at 6:03am

1percentblog.com

hungaroe's picture

I got asked once: If you were

CF
(Baboon, 126
 
Points)
 on 11/22/12 at 12:36pm
OkComputer's picture

Is there a real purpose to

IB
 
Points)
 on 11/22/12 at 9:04pm

"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." --Abraham Lincoln

SirTradesaLot's picture

hungaroe: I got asked once:

 
Points)
 on 11/22/12 at 9:32pm

Turbo leverage for capital explosion -- BD Capital

My WSO Blog

rajpbt's picture

I had a phone interview with

(Baboon, 117
 
Points)
 on 11/23/12 at 6:16am
WhiteHat's picture

My favorite question is

HF
 
Points)
 on 11/25/12 at 10:09pm

Reality denied comes back to haunt

See my WSO Blog

WhiteHat's picture

DontMakeMeShortYou: 9. Mark

HF
 
Points)
 on 11/25/12 at 10:11pm

Reality denied comes back to haunt

See my WSO Blog

IlliniProgrammer's picture

If #6 is the only question

ST
(Almost Human, 9,244
 
Points)
 on 11/25/12 at 11:32pm

Work hard, play hard.

SonnyZH's picture

SirTradesaLot: hungaroe: I

HF
 
Points)
 on 11/25/12 at 11:50pm

The HBS guys have MAD SWAGGER. They frequently wear their class jackets to boston bars, strutting and acting like they own the joint. They just ooze success, confidence, swagger, basically attributes of alpha males.

philosophizingphilosoraptor's picture

WhiteHat: 8. What movie

 
Points)
 on 11/26/12 at 1:51am

To the starving man, beans are caviar

droking7's picture

6. Cheap hooker in Brazil.

ST
(Baboon, 166
 
Points)
 on 11/26/12 at 3:26am

Suck my black ****.

Joralemon's picture

I'm a work of art, describe

O
 
Points)
 on 11/26/12 at 9:53am
sandsurfngbomber's picture

I second the question about

IB
 
Points)
 on 11/26/12 at 6:57pm
Siddhartha's picture

1. Kat Mandu -> The

RE
(Chimp, 9
 
Points)
 on 11/27/12 at 2:46am
nontargetPSD92's picture

Yea, definitely Fibonacci

IB
(Baboon, 156
 
Points)
 on 11/30/12 at 2:46pm

“Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be”

CDNdude's picture

+1 haha. Love #9.

CF
 
Points)
 on 12/1/12 at 4:07pm
testeing's picture

1. If one song describes your

(Chimp, 1
 
Points)
 on 12/31/12 at 8:00pm

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