Yes, companies that are hiring want to see that you can solve the problems you’ll soon face as an employee. But they also want to make sure you’ll be a good fit for the company’s culture. No hiring manager wants to be the one responsible for bringing in a toxic employee that erodes a great working atmosphere. So, don’t be surprised if some unusual questions pop up during the interview process. Here are some of the popular ones:

1. What would your best friend say is your best quality?
2. If you were an animal which one would you be and why?
3. What has been the most satisfying moment in your life?
4. What do you like to do outside work?
5. What celebrity would you hire to play you in a movie about you?

Obviously there is no right or wrong answer, and it’s OK to say you need some time to think about it. Most of these questions are geared to gauge your reaction. Most hiring managers aren’t as interested in how you perform when there’s a lot of clarity around the objective; they want to see how you do in more murky situations, and these questions try to introduce that sort of atmosphere.

So this is the worst thing you can do: get tripped up or seem frustrated. Many people think the worst thing to do is to give a boring answer, and while that might not be the best, it’s far from the worst. Give a smile, maybe a slight chuckle and give the boring answer if that’s what you got. Being able to seem comfortable with these questions is the point.

Another thing you shouldn’t do: Don’t come up with pat answers to these questions. There are so many variations to them. We put them here to be prepared not for the specific question but to be prepared to go off the traditional script that interviews typically follow. Prepare for the unexpected, and the easiest thing is to be yourself. If they don’t like it, it’s probably not the right place for you.

About NextGen

NextGen is the brainchild of longtime telecom professionals with nearly 50 years of experience and millions of dollars in Telecom Recruiting Services. We focus on establishing long term relationships with our clients and candidates so we can recruit the best and the brightest in the telecom industry. This ‘quality over quantity’ approach is at the heart of everything we do and has resulted in successful job placements at Fortune 1000 firms worldwide.