The 10 Quirkiest Job Interview Questions of 2016

If you found a penguin in the freezer, would you scream, ship it back to the Southern Hemisphere, or ask it to split a pint of ice cream? According to Glassdoor, inquiring—and hiring—minds want to know.

The careers website recently released its list of Top 10 Oddball Interview Questions for 2016. The annual round-up was culled from the half million self-reported questions submitted by job seekers over the past 12 months. Glassdoor reports that a Trader Joe's in California posed the penguin question to a potential employee. Believe it or not, it wasn’t the weirdest query to make the list (it ranks seventh).

That honor goes to a question asked by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), the American aerospace manufacturer, while interviewing candidates for a Propulsion Structural Analyst job. "When a hot dog expands, in which direction does it split and why?” they reportedly asked one individual. The question has nothing to do with space travel—although the answer does demand a solid (and necessary) understanding of physics.

Urban Outfitters is seeking musically minded employees that possess marketing savvy: "What would the name of your debut album be?" the clothing corporation asked an aspiring sales associate. 

File-hosting service Dropbox evaluated a candidate for their Dropbox Rotation Program by assessing their leadership capabilities and attention to detail. "If you’re the CEO, what are the first three things you check about the business when you wake up?" they inquired.

Meawhile, J.W. Business Acquisitions, an outsourced sales and marketing company based in Atlanta, Georgia, wanted to know how a potential employee would peddle a warm winter beverage in the land of perpetual summer: “How would you sell hot cocoa in Florida?” the company asked one candidate. 

As The Washington Post points out, it’s hard to gauge how frequently these types of questions are asked and if human resources departments give them the go-ahead. Meanwhile, employers like Google—which once relied on these types of brain teasers—are now moving away from trick questions, since they don't believe that someone's off-the-wall answers are indicative of how well they're matched for a position.

Curious about what other bizarre questions made Glassdoor's top 10? You can browse the full list here. Meanwhile, it can’t hurt to prep for an upcoming interview by reading some of the most common offbeat interview questions. Don’t worry, no Arctic animals make the cut—although you might be asked to debate the merits of Beauty and the Beast vs. Frozen. 

[h/t The Washington Post]