Tessa Davis breaks down three types of wildcard interview questions: experience questions that test quick thinking through personal stories, personal questions that reveal character through unconventional prompts like "If you were an animal, what would you be?", and situational questions that place you in imaginary scenarios. The key is to dig deep and be authentic.
The wildcard questions come in 3 categories: experience, personal, and situational. Experience wildcard questions test your ability to think on the spot. They're going to ask you something about an experience. What was the greatest holiday you've been on? The greatest meal you've ever eaten? They're trying to learn something about you, so dig deep, share something that you've experienced that's worth sharing. The second category is personal wildcard questions. This is where they ask something about you to find out what kind of person you are. They can seem really odd questions and can really throw you off guard. If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be? Or, if your pet could talk, what— how would he describe you? These questions are to show a bit of the type of person you are, the type of character you are. Then you have situational wildcard questions. This is where they put you in a particular situation and see how you would cope or how you would react. If you could have dinner with anyone in the whole world, who would it be? If you were a superhero, what superpower would you have? These are for you to imagine being in a particular situation and placing yourself there and seeing how you would cope.
