What are your weaknesses? (HR interview)

TRAPS:  Beware - this is an eliminator question, designed to shorten the candidate list. Any admission of a weakness or fault will earn you an “A” for honesty, but an “F” for the interview.

PASSABLE ANSWER:  

Disguise a strength as a weakness.

Example: “I sometimes push my people too hard.  I like to work with a sense of urgency and everyone is not always on the same wavelength.”

What are your greatest strengths? (HR interview)

TRAPS:  This question seems like a softball lob, but be prepared. You don't want to come across as egotistical or arrogant. Neither is this a time to be humble.

BEST ANSWER:  You know that your key strategy is to first uncover your interviewer's greatest wants and needs before you answer questions. And from Question 1, you know how to do this.

Prior to any interview, you should have a list mentally prepared of your greatest strengths. You should also have, a specific example or two, which illustrates each strength, an example chosen from your most recent and most impressive achievements.

Tell me about yourself (HR interview)

TRAPS:  Beware, about 80% of all interviews begin with this “innocent” question. Many candidates, unprepared for the question, skewer themselves by rambling, recapping their life story, delving into ancient work history or personal matters.

BEST ANSWER:  

Start with the present and tell why you are well qualified for the position. Remember that the key to all successful interviewing is to match your qualifications to what the interviewer is looking for. In other words you must sell what the buyer is buying. This is the single most important strategy in job hunting.

4 dogs chasing on corners of square

Puzzle:
There are four dogs, each at the counter of a large square. Each of the dogs begins chasing the dog 
clockwise from it. All of the dogs run at the same speed. All continously adjust their direction so that 
they are always heading straight towards their clockwise neighbor. How long does it take for the dogs to 
catch each other? Where does this happen? (Hint: Dog’s are moving in a symmetrical fashion, not along the edges of the square).

Tansporting 3000 banana riddle.(microsoft puzzle)

Puzzle

A banana plantation is located next to a desert. The plantation owner has 3000 bananas that he wants to transport to the market by camel, across a 1000 kilometer stretch of desert. The owner has only one camel, which carries a maximum of 1000 bananas at any moment in time, and eats one banana every kilometre it travels. What is the largest number of bananas that can be delivered at the market?

Enclosing land by fence pieces.(Microsoft puzzle)

Puzzle
You are given one 44-meter piece of fence and 48 one-meter pieces of fence.  Assume each piece is a straight and unbendable.  What is the large area of (flat) land that you can enclose using these fence pieces?

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Picking larger of two cards from 13 cards.(microsoft riddle)

Puzzle:
Someone picks two cards from a deck of cards. The cards have one is higher than the other. (In other words, the person picks two distinct numbers in the inclusive range 1 through 13.)  The cards are placed face down on table in front of you.  You get to choose one of the cards and turn it face up.  Now, you will select one of the 2 cards (one of whose face you can see, the other one you can't).  If you select the highest card, you win.  Design a card-selection strategy for which your chance of winning is strictly greater than 50%.

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Boat Ladder Puzzle

Puzzle

A boat has a ladder that has six rungs, each rung is one foot apart. The bottom rung is one foot from the water. The tide rises at 12 inches every 15 minutes. High tide peaks in one hour.
When the tide is at its highest, how many rungs are under water?


Solution
None, the boat rises with the tide.

Polar bear puzzle

Puzzle:

There is a house with four walls. Each wall faces south. There is a window in each wall.

A bear walks by one of the windows. What colour is the bear?

Solution:
White. If all the walls face south, the house is at the north pole, and the bear, therefore, is a polar bear.

Wine bottle worth puzzle

Puzzle:

A bottle of wine cost £10. The wine was worth £9 more than the bottle.
How much was the bottle worth?


Solution:

A common wrong answer is £1. Now, if the bottle were really worth a £1, then the wine, being worth £9 more than the bottle, would be worth £10. Hence the wine and bottle together would be worth £11.
The correct answer is that the bottle is worth 50 pence and the wine is worth £9.50. Then the two add up to £10.

Twin brother puzzle

Puzzle

You are travelling down a road to a village. You reach a fork in the road and find a pair of identical twin brothers standing there. One of the brothers always tells the truth and the other always lies.
If you are allowed to ask only one question to one of the brothers to find which is the correct road to the village, what is your question ?

3 switches puzzle

Puzzle:

You have just walked into a dark two-storey house. There are three light switches on the first floor A, B and C. Only one of the switches works, and it turns on the light on the second floor.

You cannot see the second floor light from the first floor and there are no windows in the building, but you do have a flashlight.

You can only make one trip up the stairs, and you can only flip one switch at a time. How do you determine which of the three switches turns on the light on the second floor ?

4 bucket puzzle....(amazon riddle)

Puzzle:
A company produces play ball of weights 0-25kg, 25-50kg, 50-75kg, 75-100kg. You need to put the balls in four different buckets daily depending on the number of ball company produces.BucketA (0-25kg), BucketB (25-50kg), BucketC (50-75kg) and BucketD(75-100kg).
A scale is provided on which you can weigh only 1 ball at a time which has a bulb. If the weight of the ball matches the scale category, the bulb will light up otherwise it will be OFF.

Scaling square riddle

This is one of those puzzles that you will curse yourself for eternity if you do not get it. The solution is so simple that if you can’t get it, you should die of shame!! Anyways, without further ado here it goes.

Puzzle:
On a table you have a square made of 4 coins at the corner at distance 1. So, the square is of size 1×1.  In a valid move, you can choose any two coin let’s call them mirror and jumper. Now, you move the jumper in a new position which is its mirror image with respect to mirror. That is, imagine that mirror is a centre of a circle and the jumper is on the periphery. You move the jumper to a diagonally opposite point on that circle. With any number of valid moves, can you form a square of size 2×2? If yes, how? If no, why not?

Rock on boat puzzle

Puzzle:
There is a boat on the water. There is a rock in it. At this time, assume the level of the water is L1. Now say, you threw the rock into the water and it reached the bottom. Now what will be the level of the water?

Divide traingle in to 5 equal areas

Puzzle:
Divide a triangle into 5 triangles of equal area

General Guidelines in Answering Interview Questions

Everyone is nervous on interviews. If you simply allow yourself to feel nervous, you'll do much better. Remember also that it's difficult for the interviewer as well.

In general, be upbeat and positive. Never be negative.

Rehearse your answers and time them. Never talk for more than 2 minutes straight.

Don't try to memorize answers word for word. Use the answers shown here as a guide only, and don't be afraid to include your own thoughts and words. To help you remember key concepts, jot down and review a few key words for each answer. Rehearse your answers frequently, and they will come to you naturally in interviews.

Three Ants on Triangle Riddle

Now many companies ask this puzzle while recruiting the students. This puzzle is asked during interview by Microsoft while electing the people for their company.  This puzzle somewhat mathematical oriented. This interview puzzle is famously known as “Three Ants on Triangle” puzzle. People who know the concepts of probability can easily solve this puzzle.

Puzzle:
Three ants are sitting at the three corners of an equilateral triangle. Each ant starts randomly picks a direction and starts to move along the edge of the triangle. What is the probability that none of the ants collide?

Top Frequently asked questions during job interview

1. Tell me about yourself.

Since this is often the opening question in an interview, be extracareful that you don't run off at the mouth. Keep your answer to a minute or two at most. Cover four topics: early years, education, work history, and recent career experience. Emphasize this last subject. Remember that this is likely to be a warm-up question. Don't waste your best points on it.

2. What do you know about our organization?

You should be able to discuss products or services, revenues, reputation, image, goals, problems, management style, people, history and philosophy. But don't act as if you know everything about the place. Let your answer show that you have taken the time to do some research, but don't overwhelm the interviewer, and make it clear that you wish to learn more.

100 locker riddle

Puzzle:

There are 100 closed lockers in a hallway. A man begins by opening all the 100
lockers. Next, he closes every second locker. Then he goes to every third locker
and closes it if it is open or opens it if it is closed (eg, he toggles every third
locker). After his 100th pass in the hallway, in which he toggles only locker
number 100, how many lockers are open?

Solution: People`s hat puzzle on Island..(awesome logic)

Solution:

This problem seems hard, so let’s simplify it by looking at specific cases.
Case c = 1: Exactly one man is wearing a hat.
Assuming all the men are intelligent, the man with the hat should look around and realize
that no one else is wearing a hat. Since the genie said that at least one person is wearing a
hat, he must conclude that he is wearing a hat. Therefore, he would be able to remove it that
night.

People`s hat puzzle on Island..(awesome logic)

Puzzle:

A bunch of men are on an island. A genie comes down and gathers everyone
together and places a magical hat on some people’s heads (e.g., at least one).
The hat is magical: it can be seen by other people, but not by the wearer of the
hat himself. To remove the hat, you must dunk yourself underwater at exactly
midnight. If there are n people and c hats, how long does it take the men remove
the crowns? The men cannot tell each other (in any way) that they have
a hat.

5 Pirates and gold puzzle..(amazing puzzle)

Puzzle:

Five pirates discover a chest full of 100 gold coins. The pirates are ranked by their years of service, Pirate 5 having five years of service, Pirate 4 four years, and so on down to Pirate 1 with only one year of deck scrubbing under his belt. To divide up the loot, they agree on the following:

The most senior pirate will propose a distribution of the booty. All pirates will then vote, INCLUDING THE MOST SENIOR PIRATE, and if at least 50% of the pirates on board accept the proposal, the gold is divided as proposed. If not, the most senior pirate is forced to walk the plank and sink to Davy Jones’ locker. Then the process starts over with the next most senior pirate until a plan is approved.

Bridge Crossing in minimum time

Problem Statement:

Four people need to cross a rickety rope bridge to get back to their camp at night. Unfortunately, they only have one flashlight and it only has enough light left for seventeen minutes. The bridge is too dangerous to cross without a flashlight, and it’s only strong enough to support two people at any given time.

2 eggs dropped from 100th floor with Best solution

Problem Statement:

There is a building of 100 floors. If an egg drops from the Nth floor or above it

will break. If it’s dropped from any floor below, it will not break. You’re given 2 eggs. Find N, while minimizing the number of drops for the worse case.

arithmetic operators puzzle 3 1 3 6 =8

Puzzle:

Add arithmetic operators (plus, minus, times, divide) to make the following expression true: 3 1 3 6 = 8. You can use any parentheses you’d like.

Top Interview Tips For Freshers

ü  For the eager candidate getting ready for a big job interview, Cracking the Technical Interview is an invaluable reference, containing excellent coaching and practice material that gives you an inside edge on the interview process. However, as you go over your old data structures textbook and drill yourself with homemade discrete math flash cards, don’t make the mistake of thinking of the interview as a kind of high-pressure game show – that if you just give all the right answers to the tech questions, you too can win a shiny new career (this week, on Who Wants to be a Software Engineer?)

Yahoo Interview Preparation Tips

Resume Selection & Screening:

While Yahoo tends to only recruit at the top 10 – 20 schools, other candidates can still get interviewed through Yahoo’s job board (or – better yet – if they can get an internal referral). If you’re one of the lucky ones selected, your interview process will start off with a phone screen. Your phone screen will be with a senior employee (tech lead, manager, etc).

Onsite Interview:

You will typically interview with 6 – 7 people on the same team for 45 minutes each. Each interviewer will have an area of focus. For example, one interviewer might focus on databases, while another interviewer might focus on your understanding of computer architecture. Interviews will often be composed as follows:

Google Interview Preparation Tips

There are many scary stories floating around about Google interviews, but it’s mostly just that stories. The interview is not terribly different from Microsoft’s or Amazon’s.

However,because Google HR can be a little disorganized, we recommend being proactive in communication.

>Google engineer performs the first phone screen, so expect tough technical questions. On your onsite interview, you’ll interview with four to six people, one of whom will be a lunch interviewer. Interviewer feedback is kept confidential from the other interviewers, so you can be assured that you enter each interview with blank slate. Your lunch interviewer doesn’t submit feedback, so this is a great opportunity to ask honest questions.

Amazon Interview Preparation Tips

Amazon’s recruiting process usually begins with one or two phone screens in which you interview with a specific team. The ENGINEER who interviews you will usually ask you to write simple code and read it aloud on the phone. They will ask a broad set of questions to explore what areas of technology you’re familiar with.

ü  Next, you fly to Seattle for four or five interviews with one or two teams which have selected you based on your resume and phone interviews. You will have to code on a whiteboard, and some interviewers will stress other skills. Interviewers are each assigned a specific area to probe and may seem very different from each other. They can not see other feedback until they have submitted their own and they are discouraged from discussing it until the hiring meeting.

Microsoft Interview Preparation Tips

Microsoft wants smart people. Geeks. People who are passionate about technology. You probably won’t be tested on the ins and outs of C++ APIs, but you will be expected to write code on the board.

In a typical interview, you’ll show up at Microsoft at some time in the morning and fill out initial paper work. You’ll have a short interview with a recruiter where he or she will give you a sample question. Be nice to your recruiters; while they may not evaluate your technical skills in depth, they can fight for you to be hired - or not.

5 jars of pills riddle (microsoft 2012 puzzle)

Puzzle:
You have 5 jars of pills. Each pill weighs 10 gram, except for contaminated pills contained in one jar, where each pill weighs 9 gm. Given a scale, how could you tell which jar had the contaminated pills in just one measurement?

3 basket puzzle (Microsoft 2012 Riddle)

Riddle:
There are 3 baskets. one of them have apples, one has oranges only and the other has mixture of apples and oranges. The labels on their baskets always lie. (i.e. if the label says oranges, you are sure that it doesn't have oranges only,it could be a mixture) The task is to pick one basket and pick only one fruit from it and then correctly label all the three baskets.

Rectangular cake divided in to two equal parts in one attempt.(microsoft 2012 riddle)

Puzzle:
Given a rectangular (cuboidal for the puritans) cake with a rectangular piece removed (any size or orientation), how would you cut the remainder of the cake into two equal halves with one straight cut of a knife?

Bear walk puzzle(Microsoft 2012 riddle)

Puzzle:
If a bear walks one mile south, turns left and walks one mile to the east and then turns left again and walks one mile north and arrives at its original position, what is the color of the bear.

100 Prisoners in Solitary Cells...microsoft riddle

This is one of the popular riddle that are asked in the microsoft interview.I hope so u will like it.
Riddle:
100 prisoners are stuck in the prison in solitary cells. The warden of the prison got bored one day and offered them a challenge. He will put one prisoner per day, selected at random (a prisoner can be selected more than once), into a special room with a light bulb and a switch which controls the bulb. No other prisoners can see or control the light bulb. The prisoner in the special room can either turn on the bulb, turn off the bulb or do nothing.

Find Your Husband a Cheat or not.!..Microsoft puzzle

                This puzzle is asked by Microsoft while selecting the people for their company. This puzzle or Riddle is famous for interviewers while they taking interviews.    This puzzle is famously known as "Is Your Husband a Cheat". Visitors of this page can try to answer this puzzle.

 Is Your Husband a Cheat?

Puzzle : A certain town comprises of 100 married couples. Everyone in the town lives by the following rule: If a husband cheats on his wife, the husband is executed as soon as his wife finds out about him.