How would you move Mount Fuji?

There are two biggest challenges in hiring and identifying people. Some people who are smart but don’t get things done and others who gets things done but aren’t smart. Microsoft could teach a smart person to do anything, so he valued intelligence above experience and qualification.

Want to see whether you can fit in Microsoft’s requirement? Take the following test:

Level 1:

(1)               What gives you joy?

(2)             If you saw a coworker doing something dishonest, would you tell your boss?

(3)             Is it more important to you to complete tasks quickly or perfectly?

Level 2:

(4)             Mike and Todd have $21 between them. Mike has $20 more than Todd. How much does each have? (p.191)

(5)             How many times a day do a clock’s hands overlap?

(6)             Which way should a key turn in a car door? (p.167-170)

(7)             Why does a mirror reverse right and left instead of up and down? (p.162-167)

(8)             In a game of Russian roulette, a killer put two bullets in two adjacent chambers of a gun. He then closed the barrel and spun it. He put the gun to your head and pulled the trigger. Click. You are still alive. The killer is going to pull the trigger one more time. Which would you prefer, that the killer spin the barrel first, or that he just pull the trigger? (p.7-8)

Level 3:

(9)             How would you design a microwave oven controlled by a computer? (p. 3-5, 197-198)

(10)          If you could remove any of the fifty U.S. states, which would it be? (p.184-187)

Here is my favorite question:

You’ve got four cards on the table. Each card has a letter on one side and a number on the other side. Identify which card(s) you need to turn over in order to test the rule “If there is a vowel on one side of the card, there is an even number on the other side.” (p.102-104)

      

 A  F  2  7

Poundstone, William. (2003). How would you move Mount Fuji? NY: Back Bay Rooks.