Brain teaser

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A brain teaser is a brain teaser that is used in job interviews.

background

Brain teasers are used in job interviews to test applicants' creativity and logical thinking skills. It is not primarily a question of whether the applicant actually solves the task, but how he approaches the solution. As a rule, the questions have no direct reference to the applicant's future activity, but rather place facts in unfamiliar contexts. Brain teasers can usually be solved without special specialist knowledge, but through logical thinking, with the trial-and-error method or with a simple rule of three. Brain teasers are roughly divided into the following categories: mathematical understanding, logic tasks, “trial and error” problems, “outside-the-box” puzzles and guessing questions, which are also called guesstimates.

Brain teasers are mainly used by consulting firms , investment banks , logistics companies, but also start-ups . The reason given is that customers often approach companies with unfamiliar questions. It is therefore important to know how potential employees react in such a situation. These informal skills are no less interesting for an employer than in-depth specialist knowledge.

criticism

Critics argue that logical thinking and problem-solving skills can be determined using case studies from real practice. There is no need to try to disrupt the applicant or to lure them on the wrong track. In addition, there is now extensive literature that enables applicants to prepare specifically.

Examples

  • How many cats are there in Germany?
  • How many Smarties fit in one Smart ?
  • One and a half chickens lay one and a half eggs in one and a half days. How many eggs does a chicken lay in a day?
  • How heavy is Manhattan?

Literature (selection)

  • Reinhard Pietsch, Jens Holger Lorenz: Brainteaser: Playfully to Super-IQ. Gräfe and Unzer Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-8338-2136-3 .
  • Michael Hoi, Stefan Menden: The insider dossier: Recruitment tests at top companies: Mastering logic, analytics and intelligence tests. squeaker.net, Cologne 2011, ISBN 978-3-940345-11-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.focus.de/Brainteaser: Kopfnuss in the job interview, accessed on June 15, 2013
  2. ↑ www.squeaker.net: Brainteaser, accessed on August 18, 2014
  3. ↑ spiegel-online: Brain teaser in the job interview, accessed on June 15, 2013
  4. ↑ www.handelsblatt.com: Russian Roulette in the Job Interview, accessed on June 15, 2013
  5. ↑ spiegel-online: Brain teaser in the job interview, accessed on June 15, 2013
  6. ↑ www.focus.de/Brainteaser: Katzen in Deutschland, accessed on August 18, 2014
  7. ↑ www.focus.de/Brainteaser: Smarties im Smart, accessed on August 18, 2014