How many golf balls can you fit into a school bus, and other quirky interview questions

Google, the search engine, is popular for its web tools. But it's also very popular among job seekers because of the fun, informal work culture that it fosters. Have a look at their office in Zurich, and even Hyderabad and Gurgaon.

But before you start working with them, Google puts you through several rounds of testing and interviewing. Engineers have to pass a test known as the Google Labs Aptitute Test, or GLAT.

Sample some questions, excerpted from the book The Google Story.

(1) Solve this cryptic equation, realizing of course that the values of M and E could be interchanged. No leading zeroes are allowed.

WWWDOT - GOOGLE = DOTCOM

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(4) You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. There is a dusty laptop here with a weak wireless connection. There are dull lifeless gnomes strolling about. What dost thou do?

• Wander aimlessly, bumping into obstacles until you are eaten by a gnue.
  
  
• Use the laptop as a digging device to tunnel to the next level.
  
  
• Play MPoRPG until the battery dies along with your hopes.
  
  
• Use the computer to map the nodes of the maze and discover an exit path.
  
  
• Email your resume to Google, tell the lead gnome you quit and find yourself in a whole different world.

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(11) It's 2 PM on a sunny Sunday afternoon in the Bay Area. You're minutes away from the Pacific Ocean, redwood forest hiking trails and world class cultural attractions. What would you do?

Then, there are the interview questions that leave many fumbling for answers.

• How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?
  
  
• 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?
  
  
• You have to get from point A to point B. You don’t know if you can get there. What would you do?

More here.

Speaking of quirky interview questions, today's Sunday, so we leave you with this hilarious Monty Python classic, and let's hope you don't have to face an interview like this.



If you can't see the video, see it on Youtube.

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