Pockets News

Resumes can be gamed, cover letters are often unhelpful, and — wouldn’t you know it! — all these hiring conventions seem to go right out the window when there’s an old college buddy or a boss’s niece in the applicant pool. But as imperfect as these barriers of entry are, they’re still way better than a prospective boss who asks you brain teasers during the interview. Google, in particular, used to be famous for its quirky interview questions, asking applicants things like ‘how many gas stations are in Manhattan’ or ‘how many golf balls could fit on an airplane.’ As the company scaled up and began refining its hiring process, they realized these questions were, well, kind of mean. Turns out, a study in Applied Psychology suggests they were right.