Has an Interview Question Ever Stumped You???

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inthe4cast

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It happened to me at my last interview, the interviewer said near the end -

I ask everyone to teach me something, so what can you teach me?

I blanked, and I stared at the table for about 30 seconds before I could think of anything.

What is the best way to answer when you don't have one or can't think of anything???

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Just talk to fill the void..."Well that's difficult to answer because I don't know your background... but I could probably teach you a lot about X hobby of mine"
Something will come to you normally if you just BS for a few seconds...worked for me on a few questions.
 
How about this:

Interviewer: I see you went to UMass. That's a party school isn't it?

Me: Well, maybe back in the day it was considered that. However, I can honestly see no difference between my university and other colleges in terms of the social scene. Plus, college is what you make of it.

Interviewer: What do you think of kids who drink underage in college? It's illegal and against school policy. Should we allow these people into medical school?

Me: <tries to talk about the whole person and responsibility and admission not being black and white>

Interviewer: But it's ILLEGAL.

Me: I need a bloody drink! (this is what I was thinking)
 
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happened to me too... I just tried not to make any "uhhh" or "ummm" sounds. Doesn't that 30 seconds feel like an eternity?

anyways I can't even remember the question I was asked now ... how crappy is that!
 
"Where are your pants?"
 
This question left me Uhhhh-ing and Ummm-ing.

Interviewer: What has been the biggest challenge you've faced in life?

Me: duuuuuuh.

I know it sounds like an easy question, but it caught me off guard--mainly because (and yes, I know this is going to sound cheesy) I feel like I've been really lucky and that life has treated me well (KNOCK WOOD). I said pretty much that, walked out feeling like the biggest ***** ever, and later got accepted to the school. Go figure. :)
 
inthe4cast said:
It happened to me at my last interview, the interviewer said near the end -

I ask everyone to teach me something, so what can you teach me?

I blanked, and I stared at the table for about 30 seconds before I could think of anything.

What is the best way to answer when you don't have one or can't think of anything???

i was asked the same question at my last interview. I just talked about the unique aspects of my research
 
I got asked: "Name me a song that represents who you are and tell me why"

I had the 30 second pause also. I ran down the CD's in my collection and I felt that Sublime or 50 cent did not adequately define who I am, I just like their music. It definitely made me think...
 
Wow! So much good advice, where were you guys during my interview??

I think the main reason I was caught in the headlights is I was told by a mentor not to ever assume they don't know something you know - so how do you teach someone something you can't assume they don't know?? I guess it was a matter of reading too much into my preparation.

I do agree, that it's best not to sit and look stupid for 30 second, and saying anything is better than saying nothing - but jeeze, if you do take some silence, you better have something good to say when you start talking, isn't that right?
 
I got asked that during a mock interview. I blanked too, and blurted out the first thing that came to mind - a cool tidbit about a particular species of spider I was reading about earlier. I thought it was an interesting fact, but in retrospect, wonder if I wasted a question. I feel like every answer you give should be taken as an opportunity to tell them something about you, but I don't think cool mating rituals reflect anything about me.
Do you think it's better to "teach" something fun and cool, or something that says something about yourself?
 
Antissa - in my opinion, what you came up with sounds fabulous as a response - especially since you remembered something of interest which probably shows character - even if it isn't directly about how you spend your afternoons. When you can teach them something about what interests you, you kill 2 birds - if even if that isn't what you're aiming for.
 
What has been your most altruistic moment?

....this after a series of random/overly-broad questions he had already asked me...I think he was trying to catch me off-guard, see how I handled stress.
 
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