Q: I have solid years of experience in accounting and after a recent move have begun interviewing. I have found myself confronted with odd questions, such as, “If you were a vegetable what would you be and why?” (My answer was, “An olive because I could dress up in Christmas colors … or I could wear basic black and hang around with my favorite Italian dishes.”) Another question was, “What kind of car would you be?” (I answered, “A Cadillac Deville – classic, powerful, understated.”) I have no idea what my answers to such questions provide the interviewer. Can you shed any light on the subject? Incidentally, I was not hired. – Regina

Dale: Well, Regina, maybe you’re too funny – J.T. can’t stop laughing at your …

J.T.: Although an olive is a fruit, not a vegetable – maybe that’s why you didn’t get the job.

Dale: That’s J.T.’s idea of a joke, and she still won’t stop laughing, so let me get started. Managers realize that interviews are artificial conversations. As I tell the managers I work with, “The person you interview is never the person you hire.” Wise managers understand this and try to see the person’s work, or at least discuss workplace situations. On the other hand, there are managers who simply try to shake up interviewees with offbeat questions. Perhaps the questions derive from Barbara Walters’ question, “If you were a tree, what tree would you be?” A famously ridiculous question that unfairly stuck to Walters – actually, she was interviewing Katharine Hepburn, who said she’d like to be a tree, and Walters simply asked what kind of tree, a clever response to an odd statement.

J.T.: OK, I’ve recovered, and let me say, Regina, that I love both your responses. If the two questions were from different interviewers, then it’s an odd coincidence. Perhaps both managers attended a recent seminar on recruitment techniques. And while I doubt such questions will catch on as interviewing techniques, it’s safe to say that it won’t be your last experience with unique interviews. As clever and quick as you are, that shouldn’t be a problem.

Dale: Unless, of course, you let on that you find them fatuous. Play along, but meanwhile, try to get a real conversation going by asking questions. My favorite is: “What kind of people do best here?” Ask that, and the interviewer might never get around to the stupid questions.

– Jeanine “J.T.” Tanner O’Donnell is a professional development specialist and founder of the consulting firm jtodonnell.com. Dale Dauten’s latest book is “(Great) Employees Only: How Gifted Bosses Hire and De-Hire Their Way to Success” (John Wiley & Sons).