P was out with with a client last night so just me and son in for dinner. Just as were were finishing our meal he asked if I had read an article regarding Google interviews in the SundayTimes. (He's just graduated and looking for work, so interviews on his mind). I must admit I hadn't, he went on to tell me that the article was about possible questions that job applicants are expected to solve at interviews off the tops of their heads. He said he'd kept the article, went to fetch it and read a little from it. Apparently Google get 3,000 job applications a day and only 50 UK vacancies were being advertised last week and how times have changed.
It's not at all like the old days any more, even if you don't remember them you'd have seen the old ways spoofed in movies, old school tie, Oxford or Cambridge, Harvard wasn't it, etc...
Interviewer: “Didn’t your father used to work here?”
Interviewee: “Yes, he sends his best wishes.”
Interviewer: “Do you still play rugby, by the way?”
Interviewee: “Yes.”
Interviewer: “Jolly good. When can you start?”
Anyway it's definitely not like that now, not at Google anyway. He said have a go at these questions which I did.
1. Every man in a village of 100 married couples has cheated on his wife. Every wife in the village instantly knows when a man other than her husband has cheated, but does not know when her own husband has. The village has a law that does not allow for adultery. Any wife who can prove that her husband is unfaithful must kill him that very day. The women of the village would never disobey this law. One day, the queen of the village visits and announces that at least one husband has been unfaithful. What happens?
2. How many times a day does a clock’s hands overlap?
3. You have eight balls all of the same size. Seven of them weigh the same. One of them weighs slightly more. How can you find the heavier ball by using a balance and only two weighing?
4. A man pushed his car to the hotel and lost his fortune. What happened?
I can hear you say, how did I do, very bad actually, only got one right. There can't be answers to some of these and others require lateral thinking. I read the article later and I'm very glad I'm not having to go through interviews these days especially with questions like these.
Why not have a go at the questions, leave me the answers in comments but no Googling.
Ronnie
xx
