Ever had a job interview question where you think “Good grief, what is the relevance of that? Are you trying to play with my mind? Why would Mahatma Gandhi have made a good software engineer? (asked at a Deloitte interview in the USA).
The first thing to do is to stay calm and no matter how ridiculous, do not ridicule the question. Someone on the team may be straight out of a magic course that proclaimed this was THE question to ask. If you mock the question, you mock them and their course.
Sometimes the question is completely legitimate and your interviewer is trying to see if you can think on your feet and what your problem solving strategies are like.
You can buy time with the standard, “That’s a really interesting question, I think I need a minute to collect my thoughts”. Or ask for more information about what they are asking so you can refine your answer. The key thing to remember is that there really is no wrong answer to “How would you cure world hunger?” (asked at an Amazon.com interview).
As long as you can come up with a logical answer to how you might research the problem and deploy some initiative to solve it without looking like a possum in headlights, you will do better than most applicants.
Good luck with your job hunting project and I hope you answer your job interview questions like a pro. As always if you have any questions or would like some interview coaching email sarah@employmenow.co.nz