A&M interviewer asked what my parents do

What a dumb question... :(

How did you react?

Hi Anonymous,

While I don't see a connection to how this could help the interviewer evaluate you, you can always decline to answer if you don't feel comfortable with it. Mostly won't help in your process, but still it's an option.

Hope this helps - if so, please give it a thumbs-up with the green upvote button below!

Robert

Hi there,

A bit of an odd question indeed. I have to guess there was some context to it that we are not aware of, but if there was no context, indeed a bizarre question.

Hi there,

It is quite an inappropriate question to ask.

There are several ways to get out of the situation: don’t answer, change the subject, ask a recruiter why this question is important or how it relates to your future job.

As I see it could be a question which was related to the previous subject, that’s why the recruiter wanted to know more. Sometimes it can be a part of a stress interview.

What do you think about this interview? Or was it the only weird question?

All the best,

GB

It is not at all a dumb question, this can reveal a lot about you and how you think.

Inappropriate for an interview, yes. But it could have been just a stress test, so you should have been able to land on your feet when answering. 

I worked in a big multinational company, and this kind of questions always come up when you meet people or even senior people. This is the custom as many entry/level employees have parents who work in the same company or industrz.

What do they do?