Sometimes the hiring practices of even the most successful companies can feel outright wonky.

There can be strange interview questions that seem to have no answers, and standards that will knock candidates out of the race right off the starting line.

Google used to be a big example of this, with high standards and head-scratching questions.

In fact, some of Google’s questions were so bizarre, they were eventually banned from being asked altogether.

In 2009, Seattle job coach Lewis Lin put together a list of 140 questions his clients were asked by Google. We’ve picked out 17 of the wildest.

Future Google employees should be grateful these questions are no longer on the table.

Caroline Moss contributed to an earlier version of this post.

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