Table of Contents How to Ace the Brainteaser Interviewer Praise for How to Ace the Brainteaser Job Interview Why Brainteasers?—What Interviewers are Looking For Brainteasers Appropriate for Job Interviews Brainteasers Inappropriate for Job Interviews The Obvious Answer is Always Wrong: Strategies for Success Help! What Do I do When I’m Totally Stumped Prisoner and Cigarette Brainteaser Contest Winners New Challenging Brainteasers

New Brainteasers

Prisoner and Cigarette Brainteaser Contest Winners

Here’s the brainteaser that I posed on my Web site.

You are a prisoner in solitary confinement serving a life sentence without possibility of parole. It is Friday afternoon and you absolutely must have a cigarette. The only person who can give you one is the guard outside your cell. What do you do to get a cigarette?

This brainteaser is a thought experiment about power. Like many of the brainteasers in the book, there is no objective right or wrong answer. Rather, it provides an opportunity for a stimulating conversation between the interviewer and the candidate. The puzzle grapples with the issue of what power a seemingly powerless person actually has. The claim of powerlessness is ubiquitous in contemporary organizations and is frequently trotted out as an excuse. Most interviewers are impressed by candidates who claim their power.

The winning entries were selected on the following three criteria: 1) emphasis on the power dynamics between the prisoner and the guard; 2) recognition of the power controlled by the prisoner; and 3) utilization of the key clue—it’s Friday afternoon—in the solution of the brainteaser.

More than 100 contestants submitted entries. The responses were so unexpectedly varied and delightful that three winners will receive signed copies of my book, How to Ace the Brainteaser Job Interview. The winning responses plus some runners-up are below. First the runners-up.

First runner-up—Maximilien Poux of Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, France.

I would call the guard, and tell him that if he gives me a cigarette, he'll live 6 minutes longer, and I'll live 6 minutes less. This fact being proven scientifically, I'll swap with him my useless and painful minutes in prison, so that he can enjoy his life longer . . . And, since I'm sentenced to spend my life in jail, by having me dead sooner (other things being equal), he'll have less work to do, and more time to live! Therefore it's a good deal for both of us!

Second runner-up. Lorie Pomeroy, Austin, Texas.

Basically I would identify a need/desire the guard has and determine a way that I can fulfill that need/desire and earn the cigarette. I could write a love poem for his significant other, draft a letter to a credit card company regarding an erroneous charge, or any number of correspondences that he/she may need. Or I could earn the cigarette by providing entertainment to him, such as singing, telling jokes, creating and telling short stories.

Third runner-up. Martin Sweitzer,

I would get the guard's attention. Tapping on the door. Pounding. Saying I am going to commit suicide on his watch. Once I have his attention I point out how much better he really is than the other guards and that he certainly should get a promotion. Then I would say that for a cigarette, I will fake a daring escape and he can be the guard to single handedly capture me, gaining the respect of his peers and the acknowledgement of his supervisor.

Winner # 1. K Prabhaker, prabha@samsung.com Senior Software Engineer for Samsung India Software Operations, Bangalore, India.

The hint here is it’s Friday afternoon. Tell the guard to give you a cigarette, otherwise you will hurt yourself (hitting yourself against the walls or the bars of the cell). If I have to be sent to the infirmary, you will spend hours doing the paperwork and that will cut into your weekend. If you ignore me, the guard on the next shift will have to deal with it and you will be called in during the weekend to file a report. So, why all these fuss? The guard simply will give you cigarette and will leave on time for his weekend plans!

Winner #2. Pirabhu Raman, pirabhur@yahoo.com a software engineer working in Birmingham, Alabama, offers a self-referential, post-modern solution.

I will call him politely and request a cigarette. He will obviously say no. I will put forth a proposition before him. If he answers my riddle correctly, he doesn't need to give me a cigarette, otherwise he needs to. With a bit of luck, if he agrees, I will ask him the prisoner and cigarette brainteaser!!

Winner #3. Alik Gotlib, Alik@cmr-bll.co.il a senior software developer at Matrix Software in Tel Aviv, Israel proposes an off-color solution totally inappropriate for a job interview but wildly creative nonetheless.

Usually the jail guards are extremely bored, just like the prisoners. So they would be glad to have any entertainment, especially if it is not very sophisticated and intellectual. So the prisoner may start an easy conversation with the guard, tell him some jokes, and after that he may ask: “Hey, man, do you know why they call me Jack-two-cigarettes? Because my penis is exactly 19 cm long! That is exactly the length of two cigarettes! Wanna check it out?"

The guard would be intrigued. He might say “prove it!” and throw me two cigarettes. I would then place the cigarettes along my penis and say in surprise, “Not even close. You win!” Or perhaps I’d say, “Hah! Perfect match!” In any case, the guard will not want his cigarettes back. So the guard will have a laugh and I will have not one but two cigarettes.

So congratulations to our winners and thanks to all who entered. By the way, here’s the way I’d frame the solution:

Listen, I need just one cigarette. I know you don’t have to give me one, but if you don’t, I will try to commit suicide right now. Maybe I’ll succeed and maybe I won’t, but in any case I’ll be injured and I’ll have to go to the infirmary and you’ll have mountains of paperwork to fill out and you’ll be here for hours cutting into your weekend. Please give me just one cigarette and I’ll be good until your shift is over and I’m someone else’s problem.