Actuarial Science, Mango Ice-cream and Second Career

"You were majoring in another subject and working in another field for a few years. And now you are studying for actuarial science. How are we sure you are not going to switch field again?"

This is a question my friend was asked during a summer internship interview.

Somehow this question reminds me of this question:

"You've always liked strawberry ice-cream all your life. And now you said your favorite is mango ice-cream. How are we sure you are not going to switch again?"

When job hopping and career changing is more and more often nowadays, the question the recruiter concern should not be how long a new hire would stay. Instead, asking what a candidate have contributed in the previous and what a candidate can contribute to the new position is more relevant.

A Tricky Interview Question

Here's an interview question (with an expected follow up question) I heard from a friend who was interviewing for summer internship earlier this week:

Q1: If you were the interviewer and you can ask one question to the student, what would you ask?

Q2: And if you are the student, what would you answer?

And there are two versions of my response:

Version 1:

A1: We are planning to offer you this position, when can you start working?

A2: I can start working anytime!!

Version 2:

A1: Okay, I'll be a little bit more generous to the student and this is my question: If you were the interviewer and you can ask TWO questions to the student, what would you ask?

A2: If you were the interviewer and you can ask two questions to the student, what would you ask? Ha, I love this paradox by answering a question with another question :)

I thought this is quite a tricky question. And normally it is the best to use humor to diffuse this kind of situation.