Copy
Research shows that employees who stay in companies longer than two years get paid 50% less over their lifetime.

While it pays to switch, it's not always as easy as it sounds. Especially if you're looking to work for some of today's top companies.

Which got me thinking...

What better way to prepare for your next big move than with some of the hardest interview questions ever asked by businesses like Google, McKinsey & Company, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and more.

Here are my 10 favorite questions that I hope I'm never asked in an interview (answers to the objective problems below). 


Questions

1. Design an evacuation plan for San Francisco.

2. Imagine that you're a product. What is your value proposition? 

3. You have two eggs and access to a 100-story building...


Eggs can be very hard or very fragile, which 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-story 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.

4. Explain the internet in three sentences to your 8-year-old niece.

5. How much should you charge to wash all the windows in Seattle?

6. How many times a day do a clock's hands overlap?

7. If you had to rebuild this exact company from scratch, where would you start?

8. How many miles are there around the Earth at the equator?

9. Give me 48 cents using six coins. Tell me quantity and value of the six coins.

10. If you could choose three people from history to go to dinner with, sitting at the same table, who would they be and why?

Did your palms start sweating just thinking about answering these questions in an interview? I know mine did! 

Remember, many times, employers aren't necessarily expecting you to get the correct answer. They want to know how you think, how you approach problems, your ability to stay calm under pressure and come to a logical conclusion. 

Employees that can solve problems in creative ways, with limited available information, are extremely valuable. Keep working on those mental models! 


- Brian

P.S. I recently discovered a great new podcast for those interested in venture capital, investing, entrepreneurship, and career growth called "Invest Like the Best." If you're looking for a great episode, start with Ep.115 with Keith Rabois.

Answers:

#3 - 14 drops. By far the hardest question of the bunch. Here's a great article walking through how to solve the problem step-by-step.

#4 - Not objective, but still fun. What did you come up with? Here's mine:

"The Internet is a bunch of computers connected together across the world where information flows freely between them using a special way to talk to each other - a.k.a. wires and radio waves."

#5 - This problem can only be solved by making an educated guess around several variables. I.e., assume that Seattle consists of 10,000 city blocks with 600 windows per block, and the window washer spends five minutes per window while being paid a rate of $20 per hour, the answer would be approximately $10 million.

#6 - 22. Clock hands approximately overlap at 12:00, 1:05, 2:10, 3:15, 4:20, 5:25, 6:30, 7:35, 8:40, 9:45 and 10:50 twice a day.

#7 - 24,902. Similar to number six, this question is more about showing the interviewer your thought process and how you approach a problem than it is getting the precise answer. I.e., knowing that there are six time zones in the United States and 24 times zones around the world can help get you towards solving the problem.

#9 - 1 quarter, 2 dimes, 3 pennies.
Forward
Post
Tweet
Share
Feedback about Thinker? I'd love to hear from you! Simply reply to this email.
Or, you can quickly unsubscribe from my list here.


Brian Peters
Twitter
Medium


Copyright © 2019 Thinker, All rights reserved.






This email was sent to <<Email Address>>
why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences
Thinker · 1935 N Logan Street · Denver, CO 80203 · USA

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp