4. Lateral Thinking:

Questions related to lateral thinking will ask you to beat against your linear thought process. Understanding how logically and systematically one candidate can work to solve a problem is one of the hiring criteria Google has followed for long-time.

Examples:

a. How many times a day does a clock’s hands overlap?

b. Explain the significance of "dead beef"

c. How many taxis are there in New York City?

d. How many piano tuners are there in the entire world?

e. A man pushed his car to a hotel and lost his fortune. What happened?

f. You're the captain of a pirate ship… and your crew gets to vote on how the gold is divided up. If fewer than half of the pirates agree with you, you die. How do you recommend apportioning the gold in such a way that you get a good share of the booty, but still survive?

g. You need to check that your friend, Bob, has your correct phone number… but you cannot ask him directly. You must write the question on a card which and give it to Eve who will take the card to Bob and return the answer to you. What must you write on the card, besides the question, to ensure Bob can encode the message so that Eve cannot read your phone number?