Recruiter specialist Michael Page has recently launched a campaign looking at weird interview questions such as; 'how would you fit an elephant into a fridge?' or 'what do you think of garden gnomes?'.

Being part of the professional services team at Octopus, it held my immediate interest, particularly since I hadn't heard of such questions before. According to Michael Page's survey, 41% of people have been asked an obscure interview question and it certainly sparked a great discussion here in our office.

So I went to Michael Page's Facebook page to test my own ability to respond to some of these obscure questions and was asked to name five ways of using a stapler without staples. Hmmm, I better not say I can throw it at somebody, that wouldn't put me in the best light! Could I use it as some sort of stress reliever? But I wouldn't want to portray myself as somebody who gets flustered easily either.  No, these two won't do. How about using it as a paper weight? I write a lot in my job! Good start but need more examples! Door stop or a building block for a construction made of stationary....

I can definitely see why some employers might use this interview technique; it certainly puts a candidate on the spot and can reveal a lot about the way they think.

Can you think of any more uses for an empty stapler???

Ingrid @isemanikova