To stand out, some organizations have started asking unorthodox interview questions to uncover unique qualities of the candidates while signaling the playful culture of their organization (e.g., “Would you rather fight a horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses?”). Despite its growing popularity, there is no empirical research on the organizational impact of these unusual questions. In this paper, we introduce Oddball Personality Questions (OPQs) and a theoretical model of its impact on recruitment. We test our theoretical model had in two studies. In study 1 (n = 275), we found that compared to traditional interview questions, people judged OPQs to be less useful, but more likable. The negative effect of decreased usefulness judgments on organizational attraction was offset by the positive effect of increased likability judgments. Participants were not more attracted to organizations that asked OPQs. In study 2 (n = 266), using a multi-wave time-lagged study, we find job seekers with a greater sense of humor reported more favorable reactions toward Oddball Personality Questions and subsequent attraction to the organization. Despite the double-edged nature of OPQs for recruitment, we believe that its limitations outweigh the benefits. Until the validity of OPQs as an assessment tool is established, its use in employment interviews remains dubious and cannot be recommended.

为了脱颖而出，一些组织已经开始提出非正统的面试问题，以揭示候选人的独特素质，同时表达其组织的嬉戏文化（例如，“您愿意与一匹马大小的鸭子战斗还是100头鸭子大小的战斗？”）。尽管它越来越受欢迎，但没有关于这些异常问题对组织的影响的实证研究。在本文中，我们介绍了奇数个性问题（OPQ）及其对招聘的影响的理论模型。我们测试了两项研究中的理论模型。在研究1（n= 275），我们发现与传统的面试问题相比，人们认为OPQ的用处较小，但更讨人喜欢。减少有用性判断对组织吸引力的负面影响被增加的亲和力判断的积极影响所抵消。与会人员对要求OPQ的组织没有更多的吸引力。在研究2（n= 266），通过多波时滞研究，我们发现具有更高幽默感的求职者对Oddball人格问题的反应更好，并随后吸引了该组织。尽管OPQ具有双重性质，但我们认为，它的局限性大于收益。在确定OPQ作为评估工具的有效性之前，它在就业面试中的使用仍是可疑的，因此不建议使用。