Savvy Answers to Stupid Questions

Writing at Comstock's, Suzanne Lucas tackles clueless/illegal job interview questions, prompted by the situation she uses in her title "I Was Asked My Zodiac Sign During a Job Interview. Should I Be Worried?"

Although she focuses on job interviews, and the other questions would be ordinary in other circumstances, I like Lucas's recommendation for how to answer the title question regardless of that context.

If someone actually takes astrology seriously, that is indeed something I'd want to know about that person, as it likely reflects poor judgment, at least about some things.

Here's the full question and Lucas's answer:

I had a second-round interview at a top-tier company, and the final question completely threw me off: "What's your astrological sign?" It felt unprofessional and, honestly, a bit disrespectful for a serious interview. Curious [about] your thoughts -- red flag or harmless curveball?

Answer: Yes.

The average manager only interviews people about once a year, so they might not know what they're doing when it comes to this (perhaps dreaded) duty. This doesn't mean they're a bad boss or that the company isn't a good one.

In your case, it could mean that this person will be a nightmare boss who checks their horoscope each morning and assigns work based on the predictions. Or it could mean they're nervous and making small talk. It's hard to tell off this one question.

...

There are a couple of great ways to answer this. One is to play it straight and tell your sign. If you say "Aquarius," and the interviewer says, "I KNEW it!! You part your hair on the left!" then you've just learned something very valuable: This manager will rely on silly things to make decisions.

If they reply with something nonchalant, like "Cool," or "Oh, I'm a Libra," then follow up: "Why do you ask?"

...

That said, do you want to work for a company that hires based on the zodiac?

(Conversely, you don't want to write off a job just because someone asked a silly question.)

Lucas's answer shows a way to find out if such questions are serious, or perhaps just tone-deaf attempts at small talk. Lucas's last sentence above shows why it is important to take advantage of such a question in a high-stakes situation.

Whether someone else has nutty beliefs isn't always important, but it's easy to come up with other times one might appreciate knowing about them before they become relevant or have the chance to do so.

-- CAV

P.S. My post title was inspired by my childhood hobby of reading my Dad's old collection of Mad magazines, which carried a feature called, Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions.

Lucas's piece will prompt us to resist the temptation of a smart alec answer and go for knowledge instead.