Imagine you are in an interview. Maybe doing an interview for a job. Maybe for a job that places you in a different country doing some sort of international health work. Maybe a job that is part of the U.S. government bureaucracy. Maybe that job has a title in which the first word is “Peace” and maybe that job title’s last word is not “Corps”. Whatever the title, job, or location, let’s just say there were some strange if not downright awkward and funny questions being asked.
Peace Corps Interview during the application process
Interviewer: So why did you decide to apply for Peace Corps
Me: [Insert answer about how I thought the prospect of doing international health work really excited me since that was my focus in college and that the Peace Corp’s purpose of development really appealed to me].
Interviewer: Explain to me what your experience was like working at this NGO you were at, um, Phonathon.
Me: Oh that was not an NGO. That was a job in which I was a telemarketer and begged University Alumni for money. If I got enough people to donate money to the school they would consider giving me a bonus.
Interviewer: I see. So what do you like to do when you are alone? As in you are by yourself and no one is around?
Me: (what?) I do a lot of reading.
Interviewer: (scribbles stuff) go on.
Me: ummm…. I often times like to go on walks.
Interviewer: (scribbles stuff) tell me more, what else do you like to do when alone?
Me: I like to contemplate existence while listening to house music. So when I come across an enlightening thought it’s always drowned out by the chants of “Sex and Drugs and House!!!”
Peace Corps interview during permaculture gardening training by the official Peace Corps documentarian with the cameras rolling.
Interviewer: How old are you?
Me: I’m 23
Interviewer: How does it feel to be 23 and going bald?
Me: (Hey how does it feel to be your age and be a dick?) I guess it can’t be avoided so oh well.
Interviewer: How do you plan on using the skills you have learned here to benefit your community?
Me: [Insert answer about how being able to improve soil strength and maximize growing area that will allow many people, especially those with low incomes, to be able to grow nutritious vegetables in what was once considered poor soil therefore increasing their food security while saving money and thus becoming self-sustaining and self-reliant.]
Interviewer: Wow that’s great, really good stuff….. So what’s it like being Asian? You know like being an Asian Peace Corps Volunteer?
Me: (Oh so this is why you pulled me aside.) [Insert answer about what it’s like being an Asian Peace Corps Volunteer and that it is not that different from being a white volunteer or any other volunteer of different race, in that you have a set of stereotypes that people believe when they see you but with time you can dispel some of those things with open and honest dialogue.]
Interviewer: (As she is packing up her camera kit) Really good discussion, Peace Corps is really trying to boost the number of minorities in the Peace Corps and that includes Asian people and this was a good interview so we just might use it as a recruiting tool.
Me: (Interesting) Cool stuff I guess I should have mentioned that a lot of times as I walk by kids often times do martial arts moves in front of me, haha.
Interviewer: (Stops unpacking and starts to roll camera) Ummm… can I get you on camera saying that?
Me: (Wow….. Since we’re doing gardening work maybe I can throw on a rice hat. Maybe use a pair of chopsticks while eating a bowl of rice. I also have a piano keyboard maybe I can use the chopsticks to play the piano at the same time I’m eating the rice while wearing the rice hat.) Yeah I can do that. [Insert answer about how a lot of times as I walk by kids often times do martial arts moves in front of me.]
Another weird question asked during an interview
Interviewer: So how do you think you can help this team?
Me: I feel like throughout my college career I was able to prove that I can work well with the people around me and perform at a high level. I feel like my production in college was very good.
Interviewer: This isn’t college anymore. It’s going to be tough out there.
Me: I’m going work as hard as I can and you can count on me. I can handle it.
Interviewer: Ah alright very good…. Very good….. Is your mother a prostitute?
Me: Excuse me?
Interviewer: You know does she have sex with people for money?
Me: No, my mother is not a prostitute.
Whoa. If that’s not awkward then I don’t know what is. So that last question was not posed to me. This was a question that was recently asked by Miami Dolphin’s personnel man Jeff Ireland while interviewing Texas Tech wide receiver Dez Bryant before the NFL draft. Can you seriously imagine just doing a routine interview, just answering questions, and suddenly the guy interviewing you asks if your mother is a prostitute? It seems Mr. Ireland didn’t read the official interviewing handbook which clearly states, “Rule #87: Don’t ask if the candidate’s mother is a prostitute.”
So hat’s off to you Dez Bryant for you have truly been asked one of the weirdest questions during a job
interview.
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