Over the past year, interview candidates just about everywhere shared some of the most difficult, or unexpected interview questions on Glassdoor, a jobs and career community. We’ve looked back on thousands of these questions, across a range of jobs, companies and industries. Here’s our take on the top 25 oddball interview questions of 2011:

 

1. “How many people are using Facebook in San Francisco at 2:30pm on a Friday?” – view answersAsked at Google. More Google interview questions.

2. “Just entertain me for five minutes, I’m not going to talk.” – view answersAsked at Acosta. More Acosta interview questions.

3. “If Germans were the tallest people in the world, how would you prove it?” – view answersAsked at Hewlett-Packard. More Hewlett-Packard interview questions.

4. “What do you think of garden gnomes?” – view answersAsked at Trader Joe’s. More Trader Joe’s interview questions.

5. “Is your college GPA reflective of your potential?” – view answersAsked at the Advisory Board. More Advisory Board interview questions.

6. “Would Mahatma Gandhi have made a good software engineer?” –Asked at Deloitte. More Deloitte interview questions.

7. “If you could be #1 employee but have all your coworkers dislike you or you could be #15 employee and have all your coworkers like you, which would you choose?” – view answersAsked at ADP. More ADP interview questions.

8. “How would you cure world hunger?” – view answersAsked at Amazon.com. More Amazon.com interview questions.

9. “Room, desk and car – which do you clean first?” – view answersAsked at Pinkberry. More Pinkberry interview questions.

10. “Does life fascinate you?” – view answersAsked at Ernst & Young. More Ernst & Young interview questions.

11. “Given 20 ‘destructible’ light bulbs (which breaks at certain height), and a building with 100 floors, how do you determine the height that the light bulb breaks?” – view answersAsked at QUALCOMM. More QUALCOMM interview questions.

12. “Please spell ‘diverticulitis’.” – view answersAsked at EMSI Engineering. More EMSI Engineering interview questions.

13. “Name 5 uses of a stapler without staple pins.” – view answersAsked at EvaluServe. More EvaluServe interview questions

14. “How much money did residents of Dallas/Ft. Worth spend on gasoline in 2008?” – view answersAsked at American Airlines. More American Airlines interview questions.

15. “How would you get an elephant into a refrigerator?” – view answersAsked at Horizon Group Properties. More Horizon Group Properties interview questions.

16. “You have a bouquet of flowers. All but two are roses, all but two are daisies, and all but two are tulips. How many flowers do you have?” – view answersAsked at Epic Systems. More Epic Systems interview questions.

17. “How many planes are currently flying over Kansas?” – view answersAsked at Best Buy. .

18. “How many different ways can you get water from a lake at the foot of a mountain, up to the top of the mountain?” – view answersAsked at Disney Parks & Resorts. More Disney Parks & Resorts interview questions.

19. “What is 37 times 37?” –view answersAsked at Jane Street Capital. More Jane Street Capital interview questions.

20. “If you could be a superhero, what power would you possess?” – view answersAsked at Rain and Hail Insurance. More Rain and Hail Insurance interview questions.

21. “If you were a Microsoft Office program, which one would you be?” –Asked at Summit Racing Equipment. More Summit Racing Equipment interview questions.

22. “Pepsi or Coke?” – view answersAsked at United Health Group. More United Health Group interview questions.

23. “Are you exhaling warm air?” – view answersAsked at Walker Marketing. More Walker Marketing interview questions.

24. “You’re in a row boat, which is in a large tank filled with water. You have an anchor on board, which you throw overboard (the chain is long enough so the anchor rests completely on the bottom of the tank). Does the water level in the tank rise or fall?” – view answersAsked at Tesla Motors. More Tesla Motors interview questions.

25. “How do you feel about those jokers at Congress?” – view answersAsked at Consolidated Electrical. More Consolidated Electrical interview questions.

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