This is a great blog post because it confirms that hiring managers ask wacky questions all the time. (I confess I've done this as well.)

I'm writing a career management guide right now, and one of my chapters is explicitly on this topic ("How to ace your next interview"). I think about this a lot (I'm a hiring manager, currently building my team, so I've been on both sides of the desk). I break the interview phase down into four phases (Preparation, Pre-interview, Interview, Post-Interview). I think "Preparation" and "Interview" are really appropriate here.

Here's what I recommend thinking about when preparing for an interview:

PREPARATION

- Do basic company research. You should understand the basics of the company: what they do, how they make money, how big they are.

- Know which job you’re applying for. Read the description a few times to make sure you understand it well.

- Know which other jobs the company is trying to fill. You can learn a lot about a company by looking at their job openings. See if you can get a sense of where they’re currently focused and how you can either contribute directly to helping them get there, or how you can contribute indirectly in this job. Take note of other jobs you might be a good fit for, just in case.

- Prepare for the dreaded salary question. They’ll probably ask what you’re making now, and what you want to make. I recommend telling them your current salary (because they can probably figure it out anyway), and not telling them your desired salary. For the desired salary piece of the dreaded salary question, I usually say, “I want this move to be a big step forward for me in terms of both responsibility and compensation.”

INTERVIEW

- Be early. Don’t keep your interviewer waiting—that’s a horrible way to make a first impression.

- Bring a notebook and your resume. You should take notes, and it’s possible your interviewer won’t already have your resume. Be prepared.

- Try to relax and be honest during introductions. It’s ok to make small talk for a few minutes so you and your interviewer can get settled in, but don’t spend too much time on this.

- Come prepared for different types of questions. Here’s a partial list of common types of questions you may be asked:

* Questions about your resume

* Questions about you personally

* Questions about tools and technology

* Technical questions

* Questions about your career goals and aspirations

* “Why do you want to work here?”

* Questions about “a challenging situation”

* Questions about special projects or side projects you’ve done

- Don’t be afraid to ask for some time to think about your answer. This shows intentionality and may help you formulate better answers to tricky questions. But don’t do this more than a couple times during an interview.

- Don’t be caught off guard by crazy questions. If your interviewer asks you something wacky, just gather your thoughts, listen carefully, and formulate the best answer you can. Make sure to account for any constraints that are part of the question as well.

- When things start wrapping up, look for opportunities to ask questions to learn more about the company and the role you’re interviewing for. Here are two good questions you can ask if they haven’t been addressed already:

* “So what does a typical day look like for this role?”
* “What are the greatest challenges for your team right now?” or “What is the greatest challenge for this particular role?"

If both of those questions have already been covered, see if any of your Pre-interview questions might work.

- Only ask questions if you can learn new information from them. If you’ve already covered everything in your interview, it’s ok to say, “I think we actually covered everything already!”

That's a summary of each phase, and the chapter itself goes into quite a bit more detail.

You can get the full chapter for free here: http://JoshDoody.com/interview?ref=hn4