It's like the Interweb knows

I have a job interview next week and lo and behold, an article about interviewing has been posted to Sympatico-MSN.

In the article, Kirk discusses different interview styles and the "left-field" questions that interviewers will sometimes throw in to unbalance job applicants.

The article got me thinking of my own good, bad, and ugly interviews. Probably my worst experience was when an interviewer threw out a riddle:

"If there were three light switches on the second floor which operated three light sockets on the first floor, and you could only go down to the first floor once, how would you find out which light switch operated which light socket?"

Let's just say it was an awkward 2 minutes of silence after that. I wanted to ask the interviewer what the name of the construction company was. Seriously, why would you put light switches and light sockets on different floors?

My best interview (although I didn't think it was at the time) followed a more conversational style. The interviewer and I talked about how the Internet was similar to the mechanization that heralded the Industrial Revolution. I came out of the interview realizing that we had not at all discussed the job or my qualifications. I thought there was no way that I would be offered the job. However, I was wrong. I was offered the job and I accepted it.

I've never really understood the interview process.

P.S. In case you get the same riddle in a job interview, here's the answer:

• Turn one light switch on.
• Turn on a second light switch and leave it on for 2 minutes before turning it off again.
• Go to the first floor and note which lightblub is on - this corresponds to the first light switch you turned on.
• Go to the other turned off lightblubs and check which one is warm - this corresponds to the second light switch you turned on and then off after 2 minutes.

By default, the cool lightblub will be connected to the third light switch.