Enduring the killer question
 |  Interviewees should be careful how they answer killer questions. |
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- As the employment market becomes increasingly competitive, interviewers are resorting to more extreme methods of selection.
Gone are the days of being asked: "what is your worst attribute?" Now prospective bosses are using a new breed of killer questions on prospective employees.
These questions are designed to disorientate applicants, leave them speechless, stumped or tongue-tied. A new survey shows that 90 percent of British firms try to use them in interviews.
Questions cover a variety of topics from deciding which famous person you would prefer to invite to a dinner party, to telling your prospective boss something about yourself that you have never told anyone.
"Random questions are not very useful, but they are being increasingly used by UK corporations," Paul Jacobs, managing director of recruitment firm Office Angels told CNN.
"I think they test the ability of potential employees to cope under pressure and cope with the unexpected."
Jacobs believes these questions are aimed at achieving truthful answers from interviewees. They are also designed to test a candidate's general knowledge and lateral thinking, as well as go one step further than the average interview question.
Killer questions are aimed at delving beyond the professional persona and finding out how people react when faced with unforeseen conundrums. It is also a tool used to take candidates out of the comfort zone.
"There are no right or wrong answers, you should try and answer honestly and a degree of preparation is essential," says Jacobs.
He suggests that interviewees take time to develop their answers and explain their thoughts to the interviewer.
In the survey of 1,500 people in the UK by the recruitment firm, the following killer questions were the most popular:
If you were Prime Minister, what would your top priority be?If Hollywood made a movie about your life, who would play the lead role as you?Who do you most admire and why?In your last job what was the company turnover and revenue?Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?Interviewees are not the only ones being put to the test. The survey found that nearly one in ten (nine percent) of interviewers surveyed did not have a well thought out answer when candidates turned the question back on them.
And nearly half of interviewers (47 percent) admit that they have struggled to accurately answer questions about their company objectives and key plans for their businesses' future growth.
