Question asked by – Vinay Kumar
Q. If your wife & mother both are in danger & you can save only one of them, whom will you save? What’s the logic behind this type of questions?
A. Hello Vinay, it is a sad truth that not every company has a good interviewing staff recruited. I have taken more than thousand interviews till date and also attended lot of them. A common thing I have found that sometimes the interviewer himself doesn’t know what he wants. And then we end up facing weird interview questions.
The interview questions may vary by a large degree. What best you can do is try to scan your interviewer’s mind. Try to find what he is expecting out of it.
For your question there can’t be a straight forward answer. It will completely defer person to person. So for such weird questions, if you support your answer by a reason then that should work.
For e.g.
I’ll save my mother because she gave me birth, she has taken my care in sun and rain.
I’ll save my mother because mother is only one, I can find another girl to marry.
I’ll save my wife because she has not lived her life yet and if she dies then may the our kids who will be part of this world in future will never be born. So it will be like loosing more than one life.
I’ll save my wife because in marriage, I have taken a oath that I’ll protect her (saath-fere).
I’ll save the one whom I can save without loosing my life.
The answer will be completely personal and it is a personal choice so it cannot be wrong! The interviewer himself doesn’t know what he will do in such situation. (unless his marriage is not working out
)
In such questions, reasoning is very important. And then the interviewer will ask questions based on your answer.
Key is
1. Find 2-3 reasons supporting your answer
2. Tell the interviewer only one.
3. When the interviewer asks questions based on your answer, and try to change your mind
4. tell him the remaining reasons.
This could be the best strategy to answer such questions.
If you feel then you may ask the interviewer in return what would he do in such case. Ask in a friendly manner so that he shouldn’t mind that.
Personally I do not prefer to ask questions based on the near and dear ones. I feel that is unprofessional. I try to respect personal boundaries. But I do ask tricky questions.
My favorite is following scenario (a very common though)
You are traveling by your car. You come near a bus stop, you see
1. A girl whom you love so much standing alone waiting for the bus
2. A sick old woman who needs to be taken to hospital
3. An good friend who want to go to the interview
Whom will you help.
My best answer is: I’ll give my car to my friend and request him to drop the old lady to hospital before he goes for an interview. And I’ll wait for the bus with the girl I love.
Conclusion – whatever is asked, give it a deep thought and do not look lost. Do not let interviewer feel that you have been grounded by his tricky question. Whatever you say, say confidently, and support it with reasons. And I’ll even recommend that you ask him the same question in return, that shows your courage and if you are talented then your employer should also be of that caliber. You may take this risk only if you have another job in hand. If your goal is to get your first job, then avoid asking too many questions.
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