The Problem Solving Interview

A problem solving interview could be a separate interview on its own or it could be included as part of a standard interview where the interviewer gives you some problems and asks you to solve them.

This type of interview might involve problems that the interviewer asks you to solve and where getting the "right" answer to the question might not be as important as your reasoning and how you try to solve the problem.

For example, think of the old classic question: "how can you tear a phonebook in half with your bare hands"

Now a phonebook is typically a very thick object and at a first glance, tearing such a large object in half may seem impossible.

But if you think about the question a bit, you could tear a phonebook in half by tearing one page at a time.

In other words, if you're "thinking outside the box" as they say. In this case, take a big problem and break it down into pieces and tackle it that way.

I've heard some interviewers ask questions that get you to figure out how many 25 cent coins (quarters) would you need to stack on top of each other to reach the height of a famous landmark like the Sears Building or Eiffel Tower for example.

In these cases, you could try to reason out the answer by estimating the height of a quarter in inches and then estimating how many quarters would need to be piled up to reach 1 foot in height. Then you could estimate the height of the building in feet and from there estimate how many quarters would be needed to reach this height based on your estimation of how many quarters are needed to reach 1 foot!

Even if your estimations on the number of quarters needed to reach a height of one foot or your estimation of the heights of the building are incorrect, it's your reasoning that could save the day and impress the interviewer.

The problem solving interview can be a stressful one but if you show the interviewer you can reason through difficult questions on your feet, you may just give the answer the interviewer is looking for.

In an interview setting, even if you don't get to the right answer, if you verbally show the interviewer your reasoning and explain your thinking, you might find out that you answered the question properly even if your response didn't lead you to the exact answer.