Twitter user @beeta was asked this unusual question on a job application: "You've been given an elephant. You can't give it away or sell it. What would you do with the elephant?"
Employers ask this kind of question because they want to see how you think.
Here are some of the replies to @beeta's tweet:
- I took a class on how to respond to job interview questions once and they used this exact one as an example. The answer they're looking for is "Open a business where you hire the elephant out for events like birthday parties."
- And then there's me who'd break the bank getting it to a wildlife refuge. Elephants are incredible, majestic creatures and I'm a little offended they want you to imprison them and force them to make you money.
- Unfortunately I can no longer work here, raising this elephant is my full time job. We are going to travel from town to town solving mysteries.
- raise it like your child and start a wildly successful instagram account documenting your life with an elephant son
- Since the premise is unrealistic, so too should be the answer. Shrink it to cat size and keep it as a pet.
- I decline to accept the gift of the elephant under these terms. Its better to address broken requirements upfront than to hope you can work around them later by creative heroics.
- Give me the job or my elephant will sit on your car.