Image courtesy of: intheforest.org
So you’re hiring for a new role within your startup. It’s a challenging role that requires someone with a level head on their shoulders and enough ingenuity to safely guide a ship to shore – if need be. This person needs to have the optimal qualifications, skills that go over and above what’s required and they also need to be sharp.
So how do you ensure that you’re getting the right person for the job? There are those that can talk their way out of a can of baked beans, and who could quite likely convince you to invest in their life insurance if you gave them an opportunity to talk. Conversely, there are also those who are shy and introverted, but given a moment to shine will show you that they have the goods you’re looking for. So why not try a couple of brainteasers? Nothing too outlandish or complex, just a few questions that will have your candidates thinking a little more laterally, and ultimately showing whether or not they can think on the job (or on the spot, in this case). It’s not a sure-fire method of separating the men from the boys – or women from the girls – so to speak; it’s just another avenue to explore that could further solidify your decisions, or justify an inkling you may have had.
Squeezing the Brain
There are a few variations in brainteasers:
• Those that have correct answers
• Those without one correct answer
• Those that you have to dissect
• Those that test your performance
The following brainteasers were offered to prospective employees by none other than Google themselves; these questions have since been banned from the recruitment process, but they give you an idea of the brains required to work in one of the most sought after companies in the world.
TEASER 1: You are given two eggs. You have access to a 100-storey building. Eggs can be very hard or very fragile – means they may break if dropped from the first floor or may not even break if dropped from 100th floor. Both eggs are identical. You need to figure out the highest floor of a 100-storey building an egg can be dropped without breaking. The question is how many drops you need to make. You are allowed to break two eggs in the process.
Just reading this makes my mind wobble. Here are a few more:
TEASER 2: Imagine you have a closet full of shirts. It’s very hard to find a shirt. So what can you do to organize your shirts for easy retrieval?
TEASER 3: Mary’s father has five daughters: 1. Nana, 2. Nene, 3. Nini, 4. Nono. What is the name of the fifth daughter?
TEASER 4: What is the sum of all the numbers between one and one hundred?
TEASER 5: You are shrunk to the height of a nickel and your mass is proportionally reduced so as to maintain your original density. You are then thrown into an empty glass blender. The blades will start moving in 60 seconds. What do you do?
This, in my opinion, would give rise to some original thought and would offer potential employees the chance to at least try. The former just seems like a trick! Other interesting questions include ideas that revolve around some of the following:
• Here is a pen, now try and sell it to me
• Here is a mobile phone. Deconstruct it for me (this could be a physical deconstruction or a verbal breakdown of the phone, it’s uses, it’s origins etc).
• How would you weigh a Boeing 747? (An option that presents a number of alternatives, each displaying creative thought and perhaps a little analytical thought).
Have you ever been asked a brainteaser question in an interview? Share it with us. As an employer have you ever asked any brainteasers during interviews? We’d really enjoy hearing about those too.