The hiring process started with an interview appointment at the IBM office. The interview was supposed to be with one of the managers, though I had two of them (one unexpected) on the very same day.

The first interviewer, who couldn't find a place for the interview, asked basic questions:

• Why IBM?
• Present yourself, and so on.

She was rather rude in her manners and ended up telling me that I have a slight accent in French (I am not a native French speaker).

The second interviewer didn't take that long to come down from his office. The interview was quite nice, and the person seemed easy-going.

After the interview, I didn't hear back from them, so I had to write them a kind email asking about the current state of my application. Only after I contacted them was I told that my application for this traineeship was rejected.

From the STUPID question series, which are, by the way, banned for every company to use:

• Why is the manhole cover round?
• Are there more entrances or exits in the Parisian metro system?

As to the first question, I answered that making manholes round is optimal in terms of resources because round shapes have smaller surfaces than rectangular shapes, for instance. Apparently, the interviewer didn't like my response.