James
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Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
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I have an interview this week at a company that are notorious for asking questions like these:
- How many farms are there in China?
- If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?
- How many hair salons are there in Japan?
- How many leaves are there in London?
I have a rough idea about how I would explain my approach to these questions however I've been told they expect an actual answer, not just the approach you would take.
Has anyone been asked such crazy questions?
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John
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Registered: 30th Jun 03
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Pencil in a blender you could make some rubbish up, anything that needs a factual answer though I can't see how you could deal with that, maybe that's the point in the questioning.
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James
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Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
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Yeh that's why I figured they just want an explanation rather than an actual answer.
But apparently they want an actual answer.
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mwg
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Registered: 19th Feb 04
Location: South Lakes
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I wouldn't apply for a company that asked ridiculous questions like that. They need to get a grip.
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Mike
Organiser: North West and North Wales
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Registered: 20th May 06
Location: nr. Skipton, North Yorkshire
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Maybe the answer is stop asking me ridiculous questions 
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adiohead
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Registered: 28th Sep 01
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tell them to get fucked and stab them all 
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sigibbons
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Registered: 10th Feb 04
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Seriously, I would be annoyed if they asked a question like that, it's almost as if they aren't taking you seriously.
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C2RL R
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Registered: 28th Mar 02
Location: Redcliffe, QLD
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depending on my situation and how much i wanted the job i would actually give them some grief about them taking the piss. maybe thats what they want? or maybe they would ask you to leave. it seems a bit of a waste of time tbh.
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James
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Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
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Well they are voted 2nd best company to work for in the country and they are also very generous.
I do think I will struggle to say something sensible however if I want the job I'm going to have to.
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C2RL R
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Registered: 28th Mar 02
Location: Redcliffe, QLD
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this is the best answer i can find with google. i guess you need to adapt this train of thought for any of the questions.
quote:
There are enough hair salons in Japan to satisfy current market demand. If demand rises, more will be built. If it falls, some will go out of business.
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Budgie
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Registered: 2nd Dec 09
Location: Basingstoke
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id make sure id answer the question with another question.
how many farms are there in china
Does china really exsist?
If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?
is the lid on the blender? is the person who put me in the blender in hearing distance?
How many hair salons are there in Japan?
have you tried google?
How many leaves are there in London?
as in tree or books?
but thats me.
they could be after people who are honest and say i dont know but if you leave it with me i can find out yaddayaddayadda
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LoudandProud
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Registered: 12th Jan 01
Location: Stanway, Essex
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Haha i got asked once why i wasnt wearing a suit to an interview, my reply was:
Well i dont have a job, so im skint, so how can i afford a suit??? thats why im here aint it? to get a job and earn money! 
All i got back was.... Good answer... Then got a call 2 hours later offering me the job 
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Hammer
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Registered: 11th Feb 04
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James can use that as well, he wants the job so he can afford a 200 quid suit from M&S.
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Paul_J
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Registered: 6th Jun 02
Location: London
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Is this Google?
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Daveskater
Premium Member
Registered: 29th Apr 08
Location: Oxford, UK Drives: Jap wagon
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I hate it when they ask where you think you'll be in 10 years time. I just make some rubbish up about being the boss or something 
Numberwang!
Originally posted by AlunJ
I like you Dave, you are a man of men
Originally Whatapp'd by Neo
Dave's maybe capable of a drive-by cuddle
Look at my pictures
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James
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Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
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Nope it's an investment bank.
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jibjob
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Registered: 6th Apr 08
Location: Elworth, Cheshire
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You could just avoid the questions with your own questions.
- How many farms are there in China?
Are you classing homes that grow crops and raise livestock aswel as commercial properties that grow glue, tea, etc or do you mean a specific type of farm?
- If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?
Is the pencil a normal sized office pencil or is it a novelty pencil that you get from the seaside? Is the blender a smoothie type blender or food mix type blender or a small handheld blender?
- How many hair salons are there in Japan?
Are you classing barbers and other hair cutting/styling establishments as salons and what about the salons that are encased into another business?
- How many leaves are there in London?
Books or trees? What are you classing as London? Real or fake leaves?
It sounds stupid but it shows that you use your initiative (sp) and ask questions. If they want a pin point answer then either ask to use google or they are just taking the piss.
[Edited on 15-06-2010 by jibjob]
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Budgie
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Registered: 2nd Dec 09
Location: Basingstoke
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WTF 
quote:
Originally posted by Budgie
id make sure id answer the question with another question.
how many farms are there in china
Does china really exsist?
If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?
is the lid on the blender? is the person who put me in the blender in hearing distance?
How many hair salons are there in Japan?
have you tried google?
How many leaves are there in London?
as in tree or books?
but thats me.
they could be after people who are honest and say i dont know but if you leave it with me i can find out yaddayaddayadda
quote:
Originally posted by jibjob
You could just avoid the questions with your own questions.
- How many farms are there in China?
Are you classing homes that grow crops and raise livestock aswel as commercial properties that grow glue, tea, etc or do you mean a specific type of farm?
- If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?
Is the pencil a normal sized office pencil or is it a novelty pencil that you get from the seaside? Is the blender a smoothie type blender or food mix type blender or a small handheld blender?
- How many hair salons are there in Japan?
Are you classing barbers and other hair cutting/styling establishments as salons and what about the salons that are encased into another business?
- How many leaves are there in London?
Books or trees? What are you classing as London? Real or fake leaves?
It sounds stupid but it shows that you use your initiative (sp) and ask questions. If they want a pin point answer then either ask to use google or they are just taking the piss.
[Edited on 15-06-2010 by Budgie]
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jibjob
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Registered: 6th Apr 08
Location: Elworth, Cheshire
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Sorry budgie ive only just read the whole thread and realised you posted pretty much exactly the same thing  Now i feel stupid 
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Paul_J
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Registered: 6th Jun 02
Location: London
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quote:
Originally posted by James
I have an interview this week at a company that are notorious for asking questions like these:
- How many farms are there in China?
- If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?
- How many hair salons are there in Japan?
- How many leaves are there in London?
I have a rough idea about how I would explain my approach to these questions however I've been told they expect an actual answer, not just the approach you would take.
Has anyone been asked such crazy questions?
Apart from the blender one, the others are all estimation based questions.
Potentially its a test of your estimation / projection skills, based on other known factors. This would lead well into the fact it's an investment bank, where traders would be analysing many different metrics (potentially unrelated) to make predictions on the future of the stock market.
Farms in China, maybe estimation based on population, the average amount of food a person eats within china and how much they export - combined with a typical output of a normal farm and what surpluses typical farms typically have left over / waste.
Hair salons in Japan. Population, People with hair (too young / too old excluded from population number), People who can't afford it also excluded. Work out the average someone would use one (high end consumer, e.g. female, vs low end male), Then perhaps work out how many hair cuts a typical hair salon could do, factor in low and peak times. Figure out from this what sort of number of hair salons you may need to service the population, potentially add / reduce depending on population density (as japan has some very sparse areas and very dense).
Leaves on trees in london. Area of london which could have trees, potentially scale on tree density in different regions. You can then estimate the total number of trees, average number of leaves per tree. Number of leaves that fall from the tree, etc.
- I think there's a way in maths as well, you can essentially substitute things in this and essentially come up with a 'proof'. Which given the unknowns - you could solve.
I could be completely wrong, but it's one potential (if it's a written test) that they just want to see how deep you can think about things and factor in different things that may influence the result.
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James
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Registered: 1st Jun 02
Location: Surrey
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Yeh well I'll see what happens. The first round consists of 5 interviews
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RCS
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Registered: 26th Jan 05
Location: Lichfield/Dundee
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Its not the answer to the question but the reaction to the question and how you deal with it they are looking for.
Common one with engineers is simply how does a plane fly - everybody knows it as Bernoulli, but once they then give you numbers to play with Bernoulli doesn't work out - so you have to try and work out an explanation which would hopefully be the Coanda effect.
If you give a smartarse answer, they will just regard you as a smartarse. Tell them your thinking towards the answer out loud, it shows them how you work.
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strick206
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Registered: 12th Apr 07
Location: Wigan Drives:Integra DC5
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quote:
Originally posted by Paul_J
Is this Google?
I thought you'd finally pulled it off paul, a one line contribution to a thread, then it all went tits up a few posts later
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Gareth F
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Registered: 16th Jan 08
Location: Location Location
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Interveiw for sales floor manager position.
Storemanager
"Where would you want to be in 3 years time?"
Me
"Sat where your sitting now"
Got the job a few days later
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Tommy
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Registered: 24th Aug 00
Location: Essex, Colchester
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Ive always hated the " Why do you want the job ? " coz the honest answer is I need the fucking money
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