Strangest Interview Question Ever

Everyone has faced an awkward interview question at some point, but I distinctly recall the one that threw me for a loop.  Not only was this question odd, but it was totally unrelated to the position.  In fact, it was unrelated to just about anything that I could think of.  It was one of those questions where your initial response is probably something like, "Excuse Me? Apparently I didn't hear you right."

While sitting in the room with an elected official and two other company leaders, I was asked, "If you were a character from the Wizard of Oz, which one would you be and why?"  I wish now that I could go back and see the look on my own face when I realized how ridiculous that question was.  How was this job related?  Well, apparently this particular elected official was from Kansas and had a bit of a fascination with the Yellow Brick Road.

So, what could I do?  I stalled for a moment with phrases like, "Hmmm.  Wow.  That's and interesting Question" so that my brain would have a few seconds to formulate a response.  Then, I gave the best HR related answer that I could come up with.

I suggested that of all of the characters, I most identify with Dorothy.  My rationale, I explained, was that Dorothy did not initially have all of the skills and personnel required to achieve her goal.  She developed a team of individuals, each with differing strengths, to assist her in getting home.

I then went on to discuss how great Human Resource Management assembles teams with complementary strengths, all working toward a common goal and how no one individual has all of the necessary talent to make a business successful.  In hindsight, I am actually pretty impressed with my answer.  I am not sure how heavily that question weighed in to the hiring decision, but I am happy to say that I landed the job.

So what is the learning experience in this?  For me, I now realize that there is no way that you can ever be fully prepared for an interview.  You can have good answers prepared for the most common questions, but at times you will need to be ready to think on your feet.  It also taught me that the more questions you practice answering, the better you get at applying good interviewing techniques to difficult situations.

In the next few days, we'll look at some of the more common, and often tricky, interview questions along with some tested tips to help you get through them.  Until then, feel free to post any interesting or difficult questions you've faced into the comment section.  I'd like to add them to our discussion.