I have worked in manufacturing in management for a number of years. I have been interested in consulting for a number of years. I finally landed my 1st interview. It seemed all was going well until I hit the question that killed my chances, "you walk in the 1st day where you've been hired. What's the 1st thing you do?" I found that to be the most difficult question to answer. How do you articulate something that you do instinctively. Any good answers....

Likewise, had my first interview the other day.First of all, relax and be confident.My response to a similar question was that I would introduce myself to the immediate people and familiraise myself with the environment.When you get tricky questions, don't panic. Pause and think about what you really would do and then speak about it.

The answer is: "where do I seat?.." for stupid questions, stupid answers!Really, the point in putting this kind of questions is that, in a real scenario in front of the client you will have to face a LOT of silly questions, so, it is important to check if you can handle those without loosing "the style".

Not sure it's that stupid a question, actually. It tests whether you can think on your feet and handle pressure (as you pointed out), but also what do you expect from this place, and how realistic are these expectations. I once interviewed someone for an analyst position who was quite upset when his view of "interviewing the CEO" the first day of work at a client was shattered...