Full-time opportunities offering paid benefits are scarce, and hiring managers often only want to meet candidates who have been carefully vetted by the time they’re brought in for a face-to-face interview.

Some of the time-honored interview questions still offer indications whether or not a potential employee is a suitable fit: "What are your goals?" "What career accomplishments are you most proud of?" "Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?"

But to separate the wheat from the chaff in what is still a seller’s market for many employers, innovative bosses are asking out-of-the-box questions and looking for creative answers. And some of them may surprise you.

Read these Q&As the New York Times did on the topic with the CEO of Zillow and Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.