10 Unique Interview Questions to Test Your Adaptability and Quick Thinking

🍋 Describe the color yellow to a blind person

I ended each interview with this simple question to pulse check candidates' ability to quickly think on their feet and come up with a creative answer. As a marketer and working for a startup, they'd be tasked with this on the daily and resilience to unforeseen circumstances was something our ideal candidate had to have in their back pocket.

I love that question because there truly is no wrong answer - besides comparing it to other colors 😂. It also starts to break down the interview walls and shows more of their personality.

Here are some answers I got:

• Like sunshine on a warm day

• Feels like your favorite warm blanket straight out of the dryer

• Imagine a great big hug from a friend

• Brightness, clarity, new beginnings

Turns out yellow is a pretty positive color! Also fun exercise: the image at the top of this post was an AI image generation answer to the question for what is the epitome of yellow.

Off-beat and unique interview questions

A few unique interview questions you can test your ability to pivot (and learn how to not freak out if you're asked) or to take into your own interview process are below:

1. You come into a large sum of money, say $100 million, what are the first 3 things you do with your spoils?

2. One day you wake up in a new country without your cell phone, what is the first thing you do?

3. If you had to go on a reality TV or game show, which one would that be and why?

4. What's your least favorite color and why?

5. If you had to describe your personality in terms of [insert industry] software, what would you compare yourself to?

6. Would you rather take on one large duck or 10 small ducks and why?

7. What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?

8. If your ideal role was a movie, what movie would that be?

9. What is the one thing that lights your fire/gets you passionate about?

10. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Go forth and conquer

If you're hiring: it never hurts to have good questions to guide your conversations and get to know who will be working with you.

If you're searching: No matter what, just take a deep breath and remember, you got this! As long as you know you're qualified for the role, your answers will flow.

A few resources to aid in your search:

• Notion: for organizing files and tracking job applications (use a job/application tracker, so many are free!)

• Teal.ai: resume builder for optimizing resumes per job post based on keywords - btw they integrate with LinkedIn!

• Payscale: to make sure you know your worth when looking for jobs and when negotiations come around

• Google for Jobs: simply Google your role with the word "job post" or keywords like that and Google aggregates listings from across the web