A search on just about any site will tell you that preparation for that big interview is preparation, preparation, preparation. But just how do you prepare for an interview when it seems the main requirement is je ne sais quoi - a quality that cannot be described or named easily? Legends abound at how tricky and brutal job interviews at Apple and / or Google can be. Their interviews are designed to interviewee’s creativity, communication skills, and problem solving ability, see how well you would do with these questions...
1. If you have 2 eggs, and you want to figure out what’s the highest floor from which you can drop the egg without breaking it, how would you do it? What’s the optimal solution?
2. You put a glass of water on a record turntable and begin slowly increasing the speed. What happens first – does the glass slide off, tip over, or does the water splash out?
3. How would you test a toaster?
4. Please show me your phone – why isn’t it an Apple product?
5. You have 100 coins laying flat on a table, each with a head side and a tail side. 10 of them are heads up, 90 are tails up. You can’t feel, see or in any other way find out which side is up. Split the coins into two piles such that there are the same number of heads in each pile.
6. Explain to a 8-year-old what a modem/router is and its functions.
7. There are three boxes, one contains only apples, one contains only oranges, and one contains both apples and oranges. The boxes have been incorrectly labelled such that no label identifies the actual contents of the box it labels. Opening just one box, and without looking in the box, you take out one piece of fruit. By looking at the fruit, how can you immediately label all of the boxes correctly?
8. Do you think iPad is missing a lot of features (like USB and a camera?)
9. How many children are born every day?
10. Describe a humbling experience.
11. What’s more important, fixing the customer’s problem or creating a good customer experience?
For more and equally bizarre questions read these links:
Could you answer the 20 trickiest questions from Apple interviews?
13 Brain-melting questions that companies ask during interviews
35 Google's tricky interview questions
At the end of the day the reason you are asked brainteaser questions is to provide some insight of your ability to do the job. Often, the hiring manager feels the brainteaser will help them to evaluate your strength in one or more of the following competency areas:
• Problem solving — Can you quickly analyze a problem and devise a solution?
• Critical thinking — Can you see the big picture, think clearly, evaluate options?
• Analytic skills — Can you analyze data, determine probability, make calculations?
• Creativity — Do you take an innovative approach to problems?
• Ability to think on your feet — Can you “wing it” without preparation or structure?
• Ability to perform under pressure — Can you stay cool and logical under stress?
The interviewer is most interested in your approach to the brainteaser and how you think. The actual answer is often irrelevant, so preparation is still essential for acing that interview!