William Poundstone

Each year about 28 million Americans begin a search for a new job. Millions more live in the age of the permanent job search, their online profiles eternally awaiting a better offer. Job seekers are more mobile and better informed than ever, aspiring to work for employers offering an appealing culture, a robust menu of perks, and opportunities for personal fulfillment and advancement. The result is that millions of applications stream to the handful of companies that regularly top listings of the best companies to work for: Apple, Netflix, Amazon, Alphabet, Disney, SpaceX, Oracle, Pricewaterhouse-Coopers, and others. How do selective employers choose which people to hire? It's through interviews asking uniquely demanding questions testing imagination, persistence, and creativity, like:

● Can an astronaut throw a baseball so it hits the Earth?

● If you had $2,000, how would you double it in twenty-four hours?

● How is a milk carton like a plane seat?

● Chicken McNuggets come in boxes of six, nine, and twenty. What's the largest number of McNuggets that McDonald's can't sell you?

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