Sometimes Mark Chalfant asks applicants to bring a visual representation of themselves to auditions. Or he asks what their worst habit is. Sometimes he fishes with the catchall query, "Is there anything about you that no one would expect?"
As executive director of the Washington Improv Theater, Chalfant uses interview tactics that work in his artistic milieu. But investment banks, biotech firms, media companies and start-ups also are throwing out strange and offbeat job interview questions as they consider which MBA or project manager to hire.
They ask questions such as, "If you had only six months to live, what would you do with the time?" and "What animal would you say you most compare to, and why?" Or, "In the news story on your life, what would the headline be?"
Those queries and others, compiled by Lynne A. Sarikas, director of the MBA Career Center at Northeastern University in Boston, are showing up more frequently in interviews this year, she and others report.
Although inquiries about what kind of food you would be might seem a bit off-base, most have a purpose. As job candidates become more polished, interviewers want to "chip some holes in that prepared facade and see what's underneath," Sarikas said. "Catch them a little off guard and see how they think."
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