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&lt;p&gt;This week marked the beginning of Elena Kagan&#39;s confirmation hearings, basically a protracted interview with occasionally hostile senators.  She has already fielded questions about her judicial views and experience--scenarios for which she had been extensively prepared by White House officials--and will likely have to handle many more.  I genuinely doubt, however, she expected this question from Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar: &quot;I keep wanting to ask you about the famous case of (&lt;em&gt;Twilight&lt;/em&gt; characters) Edward versus Jacob or the vampire versus the werewolf.&quot;  Kagan responded, curtly, &quot;I wish you wouldn&#39;t.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.vault.com/VCM/blogs/Twilight%20Jacob%20vs%20Edward.png&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; alt=&quot;Twilight New Moon: Team Jacob vs. Team Edward&quot; width=&quot;257&quot; height=&quot;341&quot; align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;Now, let me first say that I wish Klobuchar hadn&#39;t either.  But that&#39;s not the point.  The point is, Kagan got a question for which she was entirely unprepared, and she didn&#39;t answer quite as gracefully as she could have.  The incident brings up a valid concern, and one that almost all of us have come up against at least once in a job or admissions interview.  If you&#39;re in an interview, and you get a question of the totally-random/why-on-earth-are-you-asking-me-this nature, what do you do?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h3&gt;How to answer awkward questions in your job or admissions interview&lt;/h3&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Take a breath.&lt;/strong&gt; No interviewer ever expects you to be able to answer every single question off the cuff.  So, take your time.  If it&#39;s a question that&#39;s meant to be funny--whether or not it actually is--oblige your interviewer with a laugh to stall.  The point is, if you don&#39;t know how to answer, don&#39;t answer right away.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If it&#39;s not a high-pressure question, there&#39;s no need for a high-pressure answer.&lt;/strong&gt; &quot;I haven&#39;t seen it yet, sadly,&quot; is good enough.  Move on.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;If it is a high-pressure question, first decide whether or not you even want to answer.&lt;/strong&gt; For instance, if your interview asks you if you&#39;re married or have children, which is, first of all, incredibly inappropriate, you really don&#39;t have to answer.  Say something like, &quot;I think my record of achievement speaks for itself,&quot; and move on.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Steer the conversation elsewhere.&lt;/strong&gt; In the instance above, don&#39;t just say, &quot;I think my record of achievement speaks for itself,&quot; and let an uncomfortable silence, the grim reaper of all interviews, take over.  Keep going, and keep it positive.  Give a &quot;For instance,&quot; ideally something related either to a topic you&#39;ve spoken about before or to something you wanted your interviewer to know about you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Finally, relax.  If an interviewer asks you an awkward question, he may be less interested in your answer than &lt;em&gt;how&lt;/em&gt; you answer.  If you&#39;ve minimized the awkward, then you&#39;ve probably come out the other end a viable candidate still.  Now all you have to do is deal with those tough questions for which you actually &lt;em&gt;are&lt;/em&gt; prepared.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;--Written by Madison Priest&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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