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Job interviews can be hellishly stressful! Even if you’ve got the right skills, experience, and emotional intelligence to back you up, a part of you is still nervous about putting your best foot forward. But have you ever imagined what the situation would be like if the roles were reversed, if you were the interviewer? Unfortunately, far from every job candidate is stellar… to put it mildly.
In a brutally honest online thread, interviewers spilled the tea about the very worst candidates that they’ve ever had to interview for work. These people were practically dripping with entitlement, and it’s a wonder they’ve ever found a job anywhere. Check out the stories below. It’s a crash course in what not to do when you’re looking for employment!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Easy.
I was interviewing for a junior programmer position. We were looking for someone to train for a cheaper rate.
Kid pretty fresh out of college shows up for the interview with his mom. Now, this is OK. Things happen sometimes. One time a girl's car was in the shop. One time it was over 100° outside and dad asked if he could sit in the lobby. No big deal.
But this mom insisted on going into the interview room with her son. I asked her if she planned to show up to work with him every day for his full shift. She said no so then I told her that I was going to have to interview him alone.
At this, she INSISTED that she go into the interview room with him and she WOULD NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER.
So I responded with, "OK, in that case, this interview is over." The kid got the biggest grin I have ever seen at seeing his mother punished for this sort of behavior. I genuinely hope that he could finally cut the cord and make something out of his life.
arthbach 3 months ago
I too would refuse to interview the person with their mother in attendance. I would however have added, "If you ever find yourself free from your dominating mother, get in contact, and we can see about arranging an interview."
Michael Largey 3 months ago
Just because he was free of his dominating mother doesn't mean you would be. If you hired him, she'd start showing up at your workplace trying to regain ownership.
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BeesEelsAndPups 3 months ago
When my ex-wife and I were still dating she got a flat tire on the way to an interview about 45 minutes from where I lived. She was panicking, so I drove my car to meet her, and let her use my car, while I stayed behind to swap out the spare on hers and then took her car to get the tire replaced. She arrived at the interview an hour late, but had been on the phone with them to let them know what was up. She arrived covered in sweat, but they did the interview and she got the job.
R Dennis 3 months ago (edited)
I had a teen's mom sit down at the table for an interview - it was in a corner of the dining. I told her I was only interviewing her daughter and that she couldn't sit there. She went to the table behind me and had her chair almost to my back. I interviewed the teen, but didn't hire her because there was no way I was dealing with that mom every time there was a schedule change or other issue.
Honestly? Practice makes perfect. It’s perfectly normal to be nervous at first. The more job interviews you attend, the better you’ll become at navigating them.
But if you want to make a good first impression, you have to get the basics right. Dress well. Take care of your hygiene. Do your research. Practice talking about your strengths and weaknesses. Show your enthusiasm for the job. Focus on having confident body language. And, above all else, be as genuine and authentic as you can be: show the best possible version of yourself to recruiters.
According to Emily Levine, the executive vice president at recruitment firm Career Group Companies, it’s vital to follow the appropriate etiquette during job interviews. For one, she told CNBC it’s important to make good eye contact. On top of that, you want to read the room to understand when it’s right for you to speak or ask questions.
RELATED:
#2
She had a pretty middle of the road resume with 2 years of relevant experience. I reviewed the notes for her first interview with HR which basically said that she was polite but nervous. I was conducting the technical interview.
I started off by establishing that she had done well in the first interview to try to alleviate some of her stress. She argued with me, insisting that it had not gone well. Whatever, maybe that's how she's expressing anxiety. I moved on, trying to boost confidence by handing her a softball question. I presented a simple problem that was exactly tailored to the type of work she had been doing with a platform that I was familiar with. It was the type of problem that you would almost certainly experience multiple times if you had worked with this product for a short amount of time. She accused me of sexism for questioning her resume (which is the literal function of an interview) and refused to acknowledge the question.
At that point, I offered her some coffee, and stepped out to call HR, legal, and security. I assumed that she was a litigious predator looking to sue a company for discrimination, so we had security escort her from the building as HR observed, and legal immediately took possession of my notes and audio recording. Sure enough, she sued. Her case was dismissed, she appealed, and it was dismissed again. Then, she sued me personally and her case was dismissed.
Nina 3 months ago
They must've been so glad they had the presence of mind to immediately contact HR, Security & Legal
Janissary35680 3 months ago
Some big companies have protocols in place for situations like this.
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Drop Bear from Hell 3 months ago
Gees - if only she spent that time and effort looking for an actual job!
Yrral Spavit 3 months ago
Does not sound like an actual job was her objective
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Sarah 3 months ago
Anyone interested in this kind of story Should read about the Burke family in Ireland . https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burke_family_(Castlebar)
Sarah Belt 3 months ago (edited)
Wikipedia had me at "and their ten children"
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Vinnie 3 months ago (edited)
When you're not smart enough to become a litigation lawyer and tired of buying lotter tickets...
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Michael Largey 3 months ago
If she happened to be named "Susan", I know what people called her.
#3
A woman that went off on massive tangents every single question.
For example;
Q: You said you had negotiation training, can you explain exactly what you received?
A: Yes, I went to training on with my current role. We got driven to the place by the rudest taxi driver I have ever meet! He was was eating some chips with toppings on it! Like cheese and stuff! Have you ever had American Cheeder? It's to die for...etc.
We had to constantly interpret to get her back on track. It was a panel of three and two of us thought it was insanely funny and had to hide our faces. It was super obvious but the lady didn't notice. One of the panel though had no time for this and was getting really angry.
During one question the lady ended up talking about a seal that she saw on the beach and my coworker put up their hand and just 'For the love of God stop'. We then concluded the interview. You would have no idea this woman totally bombed this as she was happy as Larry and chatting away.
The woman then said "I look forward to hearing from you" my coworker responded with "Well you really shouldn't"
It was easily the best/worst interview I have ever been a part of, and I think about that woman and her seal often.
Paula Smith 3 months ago
I think th OP meant they had to interrupt her, not interpret her. This is hilarious though!😆
Justanotherpanda 3 months ago
Once had a lady come in with glitter all over her face, she was probable in her in her 40's but sported glitter, ponytails, short shorts, looking like she came in fresh from a 24h rave or something. So we asked, have you come from a party? No she just liked this look. She was applying for a receptionist/canteen lady function. Yeah, we can't have glitter all over our business lunches girl, sorry 'bout that.
Drop Bear from Hell 3 months ago
I sat on a panel where one of the applicants brought in a boom box and midway through the interview stood up, turned on music and gave us a song and dance routine. She then sat back down and asked if we had further questions. It was nutty bananas!
Michael Largey 3 months ago
It's more often the employer who gives the applicant a song and dance routine.
Load More Replies... BeesEelsAndPups 3 months ago
The angry guy was not behaving professionally. Even when somebody bombs an interview with me, I am professional and polite. Especially now in the days of social media, I don't want to give people a reason to bad-mouth my employer, and make it harder for me to find qualified candidates. I was in a zoom panel interview recently, and one of our panelists was getting obviously annoyed at the candidate, and had to constantly slack him to tell him to calm down. The candidate was doing the whole wandering off topic that the candidate in the story above was doing. And yes, I would interrupt to get him back on track, but I'm not going to let myself get angry.
Levine stressed the fact that you shouldn’t show up either too late or too early for your interview. Obviously, being late is going to leave an awful impression because you’re wasting everyone’s time and being disrespectful.
However, showing up too early is a hidden trap, too. “If you show up too early, it’s also too eager and might make the interviewer feel rushed,” Levine said. From her perspective, getting to the building for your interview 15 to 20 minutes early is best, and you should walk into your interviewer’s office 10 minutes early.
Meanwhile, you want to come off as a true professional. For example, recruitment expert Levine explained to CNBC that you shouldn’t be chewing or have your sunglasses on your head during the interview.
#4
I was interviewing at a hiring event, and had a few people scheduled for interviews that completed the application online and did the pre-screening interview over the phone. For people that did not, they could get stuck there for over an hour waiting to go through the multi-step process, so I took appointment times seriously. I was the only person hiring for my department so anyone applying for anything in housekeeping had to do an interview with me, specifically.
One girl was not on time for her appointment so I started working through the other 6 or so applicants that had already been there 45 minutes. Shortly after I started one interview the girl finally showed up, about 25 minutes late. The woman signing everyone in happened to be the recruitment manager for the region, and the girl that showed up late was rude to her when she wasn’t immediately sent to me to interview. The recruitment manager told her that I was with someone and would be available soon, but the girl could *not believe* how rude we were to “bump” her appointment and not be available for her. She got up to complain to the recruiter several times, called her unprofessional and disorganized, and s**t like that. So I got done with the interview I was in and the recruitment manager pulled me aside to warn me.
At this point I’m just humoring the girl and planned to do a quick 3-5 minute interview so I could get to better applicants. This girl told me how incompetent the “receptionist” was on our walk to the interview room. I asked the same basic questions I ask everyone and instead of talking herself up she explained that every coworker she ever has is horrible and lazy. She said that as a mother of 2 she’s much more organized than other people. She insinuated that I was incompetent at my job for not being able to see her right when she walked in. Like I felt like I had to defend myself during her interview it was so bad. She was a horrible person! Don’t know why she thought insulting everyone would get her a job.
Agfox 3 months ago
Again, after being late & rude to the recruitment manager, why would you even consider interviewing her
Novlette Williams 3 months ago
I believe he said to humor her. Also the law these days...
Load More Replies... KatSaidWhat 3 months ago
The moment she mouthed about the "receptionist" is when you say let's discuss with the recruitment manager and pull her back in the room for a quick exit interview.
John Haley 3 months ago
I've had an almost identical person at my business. I politely smiled while listening to their bull, led them on an almost circuituous route through the building and straight back out the door they came in. They were ever so slightly less than happy.
#5
Had an older gentleman interview. At the end I explained that the background check form is sent to his email and all he has to do is go fill it out. He didn't understand this concept at all, despite me explaining it 4 times. He kept asking me where he would have to take the paper work, I said there is no paperwork it's just a form you fill out online (like our application) & it's all done electronically. He then asked who does it, I told him the company name, & he insisted that somehow our county would need to process the information & how did he do that? I kept telling him, all you do is open the email, click the link, fill it out and click submit. Boom done... he left still confused and said he'd have someone at home explain it.
Crazy enough we did hire this guy and when I called him to schedule his orientation he yelled at me because the 4pm class time was too late, even though I had told him there was also a 9am morning class the next week he could attend. He still kept yelling about how "no one wants to do it that late, we have lives, my day's already started I can't interrupt my day that late." He had no concept that 1. We hire people for 3rd shift jobs or people who already have day jobs and 2. The world does not revolve around your ideal schedule.
Edit: wow this got waaaay more attention than I thought it would lol. To answer a few questions, we were just hiring for very basic warehouse work and if you pass a background your pretty much automatically hired. We were in peak season and desperately needed people so we said f**k it, he’s seasonal and will be gone in a month anyway. He did apologize profusely at the end of the phone call and didn’t cause any more issues after that phone call, thank god. But I still kept my distance from him.
#6
Acted like she was interviewing us the entire time. I could see on her face that she really thought she had us under her thumb with her s****y attempt at manipulation; trying to convince my co-owner and I that WE needed to impress HER. She admitted she had no interest in the main components of our business, and no experience in the field what-so-ever.
At the end of the interview she shook my hand and said “We will be in touch.” Who is “we”??
She e-mailed me a week later letting me know she would be taking the position with us (as though we had offered it to her). I politely told her we were not interested, and used my business term for “f**k you”: “Best of luck to you in your future endeavors.”.
arthbach 3 months ago
There is a misunderstanding of the interview process. Yes, the 'interviewee' is the one who is being interviewed, but equally, the interviewee is interviewing the company. It is not a one way process. There was one interview I stopped, and said, "Thank you very much for your time. It is clear to me I would not be a good match for this position. I wish you well in your search."
Anthony Elmore 3 months ago (edited)
But it does help to keep in mind that the interviewer holds all of the cards when it comes to actually hiring you. If the lady had turned down a job offer, that'd be one thing, but there's a limit to how far in the interview that bravado will get you.
Load More Replies... Jaya 3 months ago
The way she conducted herself is weird and not helping her, but she is true in a way: the company IS being interviewed too. If the person has multiple job offers, they have to choose which company they wanna work for. So the interviewers do need to give a good impression of the company, otherwise the person might choose the other company.
Michael Largey 3 months ago
I was once interviewing for a teaching job midyear and smelled a rat. I insisted on knowing why the position was open in the middle of the school year. The principal gave a bogus non-reply and then gleefully bragged about how he was going to get around state law and the union contract to fire the teacher. I declined the position and telephoned the teacher's union to tell them everything the principal said. The teacher kept his job. (If the principal had done any kind of background check on me, he would have known to keep his mouth shut. Where I lived before, I was the president of the local teachers union. Oh, and my wife was the current state vice president of it.)
What’s more, you should think about how you smell. If you reek of cigarettes or wear too much perfume, it can leave a bad impression. These things can distract your interviewer from your otherwise positive qualities and awesome experience.
Of course, interviews don’t just revolve around first impressions. You need to watch what you say. A good rule of thumb to follow is not to badmouth your previous employers. Furthermore, you shouldn’t be sharing any confidential or proprietary information… especially if you’ve signed NDAs! Why would anyone trust you if you’re so quick to spill important secrets?
#7
Came in wearing overalls to an interview for an accountant position with a university's department of engineering.
Me: "This position requires you to speak English and French, do you speak French fluently?"
Overalls: "No."
Me: "Um, okay. Do you have experience working in finance?"
Overalls: "No."
Me: "Do you have similar experience or education that would make you suitable for this position?"
Overalls: "No."
Me: "Okay that's all, thanks. Have a good day."
Overall: "Do I have the job?"
Me: "No.".
arthbach 3 months ago
Why on earth was that person interviewed?! They should have been weeded out before it even reached that satge.
Severus S 3 months ago
In the UK they do this so they can get job seekers allowance, they apply to jobs they can't in a million years get to show the recruitment manager at the job center that they re actively looking for work, failing that they dress weird and interview very badly on purpose, and they can tell the job centre that they "tried" My cousin did this for 20 years... I got so fed up with these time wasters that I actually hired the guy that showed up to mine in shorts and flip flops and when he had his 7th headache and I can't go to work I fired him, the job centre emailed me for details and I put no-show, constantly sick with a headache while posting on FB about nights out... He was so annoyed his benefits were cut for 16 weeks as a sanction. He called me to complain.. I said how about work for a living....
Jaya 3 months ago
In some places, if you're unemployed and receive benefits, you have to apply for a certain amount of jobs each months, or you'll lose your benefits. This can lead people to apply for jobs that don't fit, when there aren't enough jobs listed that do fit. (And a couple of people who'd rather not work, do it on purpose)
Son of Philosoraptor 3 months ago
My people are on the phone all day, investigating, authorizing, negotiating. Woman comes in for an interview who is completely deaf and does not read lips. ASL interpreter with her. No relevant experience. I asked what accommodation she would need for our work. She says, interpreter to hang out in her cubicle all day. So we'd have to just hire both! She was weirdly arrogant about the whole thing, made it easier to find the accommodation unreasonable and her lack of skills sealed it.
Severus S 3 months ago
I had a job seeker applicant turn up and claim that she had a phobia of phones... for a receptionist job....
Load More Replies... #8
Had a lady show up and interviewed with her child and husband. I told her she was welcome to let them sit in the lobby while we interviewed, but for some reason she declined. So we did an entire interview while she held a toddler.
Trillian 3 months ago
Should have done the same thing as the other person and told her no interview then.
WindySwede 3 months ago
Or as 'arthbach' said (slightly modified): "If you ever find yourself free from your dominating baby, get in contact, and we can see about arranging an interview." 🙃
Load More Replies... BeesEelsAndPups 3 months ago
Okay, hear me out. My company is pretty much fully remote (we do have some people that choose to go to an office, but that's not the norm). So I was interviewing a woman (on zoom), and her toddler kept coming into her home office to ask her questions. She would get very flustered, and I told her it's really not a problem, that this was all part of the work from home experience. I asked her if she'd like to continue as it was, or if she'd prefer to reschedule. She wanted to keep going, and we finished the interview. I felt like the fact that she was able to answer my very technical questions while having a child squirming in her lap spoke to her abilities quite well, and I recommended her for the role. I was filling in for another engineer on a different team, so I don't know if that team actually ended up hiring her.
Paula Smith 3 months ago
Ridiculous! Was she expecting to bring the baby to work all day? Good grief!
Evelien Stijger Martens 2 months ago
I had a interview myself once with my baby and a bottle, stil have that job.
Sven Horlemann 3 months ago
"Ok, then, thank you for coming, and all the best for your future.".
Michael Largey 3 months ago
There are any number of fathers who can't be trusted to handle a toddler.
#9
His dad followed him into the interview. At first we thought he was just there to drop off his son, but he entered the interview room. My supervisor even tried to stop the dad from entering, but once he saw his dad not going into the room he went back out.
We both didn't have the heart to shut them down right then and there. So we went along with the process. The kid seemed nice enough but the problem was the dad was answering all of the question till the point where my supervisor got flustered and told the dad to let his son answer the questions.
When his dad let the son answer the question he would look at his dad while speaking to us. He could not maintain eye contact with either of us. It was hilarious as it is sad. After the interview the dad is almost begging us to take his son. It was a really low risk position, so we let him in.
He lasted about 3 months and never got through probation. The other technicians came together and said it was too dangerous to keep him in the team. We gave him pretty much the lowest risk job there is and still he manage to find ways to scare the s**t out of us.
Michael Largey 3 months ago
Kid never developed any judgement skills because his father had made all his decisions for him.
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FlamingZombies 3 months ago
From the Reddit post: We work with heavy machinery & high pressured cylinders. We gave him the task of washing empty cylinders, repainting them, and making sure some of them dried properly while in the dryer. He sometimes forgot to put on the primer paint before painting on the protective coating. Or directly painting onto rusty surface without properly sanding away the rust. These are super basic things that even teenagers could remember. Once he opened cylinder's operating head without checking whether it is empty or not. In our line of work even when a cylinder shows empty sometimes there is still pressure inside it and you always slowly open the valve and let the pressure escape before proceeding. We grind this fact into every single worker there. He on the other hand without following SOP and removed the operating head which resulted in a minor explosion and could have killed everyone in the room.
The Starsong Princess 3 months ago
Was this supported employment where someone with intellectual disabilities is hired and receives extra support. If so, it’s appropriate for his father to accompany him in the interview but he also would need support once he started working. If not, he never should have been hired.
Harvard Business Review shares that the 4 biggest red flags that concern hiring managers are the following:
- Dishonesty, including lying about your past work experience or coming across as inauthentic
- Rude language or behavior, which might indicate poor interpersonal skills and low emotional intelligence
- Criticizing past employers or coworkers, which can hurt your chances of getting the new job
- Lack of preparation, which can lead to endless rambling in order to hide the candidate’s panic
As per HBR, a recent study by Leadership IQ found that a whopping 46% of new hires fail within the first 18 months of getting hired. A jaw-dropping 89% of them failed due to poor interpersonal skills and attitudes, not technical competence.
#10
I run gyms. The jobs we have are admittedly easy, but we still like to give people a clean place to workout in and a friendly person to speak with when you come in.
Gentleman in his 50’s comes in, 10 minutes late, hops off a motorcycle wearing beat up jeans and a shirt that was very close to Zach Galifinakis’ wolf howl shirt from the Hangover. Walks in, ignores my current front desk staff walks to the middle of the gym and asks, “Where’s Fyghter?” I had been waiting for him so I introduced myself and we walked back to my office. The whole time he is talking about how much he used to lift and how every woman in the gyms he used to workout in, would just throw themselves at him. We sit down and I am already irritated. I ask a few normal interview questions. I tell him that I want to cover the job duties so if we hire him he knows what I expect. He gets visibly irritated but I ignore it and keep talking. He blurts out about three sentences in, “I mean, it’s a gym right? These f***s practically run themselves?” I asked him to leave and he called me a millennial soft a*s that didn’t know my a*s from a hole in the ground.
D*******g.
FrogMan 3 months ago
I believe it’s d o u c h e b a g, but I could be wrong.
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ILoveMySon 3 months ago
Am I the only person laughing at the Zach reference? It is such a funny movie.😅
#11
I used to work part time as a phoner where I would cold call strangers and ask them to take surveys about social media, politics and other topics. You never know who you get through because the numbers are either randomly generated by a computer or sold to the company from online contests people have participated in. I have lots of weird, fun and sad stories but this one takes the price.
One day an old man answered the phone and I confidently started my script:*"Hi! You're talking to (my name). I'm calling from (companys name) and just wanted to ask you if you want to participate in an interesting survey about social media?"* The nice old guy answered:"*I'm sorry but my wife just passed this night and I really can't focus on anything else right now."* I was in shock and just told him to please accept my condolences and wished him a lovely evening. This experience really made me think about some deep stuff. Here I was, 19 years old and full of life, calling an old man I assume was 80 years+ who just lost his wife that f*****g same evening to ask him to take a stupid, unimportant survey about Social Media he probably don't even use. It really put things into perspective.
Mel in Georgia 3 months ago
Or he might have used that excuse to end a spam call quickly. If my husband happens to answer a sales call for me, he'll tell them I died.
Patricia Steward 3 months ago
That's assuming he was telling the truth and not fobbing you off.
Nils Skirnir 3 months ago
My mother had an interesting method to deal with these kind of calls when she was in her 70s and 80s. She would say that her nephew was in social media or police work or whatever the subject was. She would then go into a long dissertation about her nephew until the caller shot himself.
S P 3 months ago
To everyone assuming it was a lie... it could have been. But I have had this job and people will answer the phone at the worst times: bathing children, vaccuuming, cooking, intimate times, etc. (I could hear background noise that confirmed this). Sometimes they'll even offer to take the survey. I entirely believe that a person would answer his phone- perhaps thinking s friend is calling with condolences- and need to get off the phone quickly.
#12
This one didn’t even make it to the interview table.
Was set to interview some Bozo at 2:30pm. I would usually get into work around 9:30-11:00am. I arrive at 10am and Co-Worker was totally stunned that Bozo called at 8am and demanded my personal mobile number so he could call/text me that he wanted to come in earlier because he had “important s**t” to do that afternoon and he wanted to come in earlier. Co-Worker denied Bozo his request. Bozo then said, “Ok, well when does he get in? I’ll just be there waiting” Co-Worker accurately advised Bozo this was a BAD idea. Bozo gets angry with Co-Worker and threatens her “When I get hired as your new boss, you can kiss your job goodbye sweetie”
Called Bozo and promptly cancelled the interview. Bozo then got aggressive towards me.
Runner Up: Multi-color hair dude who got fired from Target for making his co-workers fell unsafe, but he “only wanted to k**l a couple of them”
I did not hire him.
What do you think, Pandas? Have you ever interviewed someone for a vacant work position before? If so, what’s the very worst candidate who ever darkened the doorstep of your office?
On the flip side, what is the most awful interview you’ve ever been in while you were looking for a new job?
Let us know!
#13
This was just a few days ago!
I was the 3rd interview for her and everyone was just gushing about her experience.
From the very start I got a weird vibe from her that I couldn’t place...until she started answering questions.
I was already leaning toward no after she interrupted me multiple times and said she wasn’t really tech savvy (retail job but very social media heavy).
To nail this coffin shut, she touched me.. multiple times. I think she was going for the sweet little old lady vibe but it wasn’t working. First came the shoulder rub and then the leg rub.
I couldn’t get her out of my office fast enough.
Don’t touch people in an interview unless it’s a handshake!
nottheactualphoto 3 months ago
The way I behave is just the way I am. I can't even imagine "going for a vibe."
#14
Hiring for maid company..
Question 1: how does cleaning make you feel? Answer: “I mean, It’s annoying and gross but you pay good”
Question 2: if you found a $100 bill under the bed what would you do?
Answer: “I should say turn it in but I’m honest-I’d stick it in my pocket, they obviously didn’t need it if it’s there”
No question 3, bye now.
KatSaidWhat 3 months ago
Some rich people have been known to leave a bill under their bed to check the honesty of the cleaners.
Mel in Georgia 3 months ago
Well ... at least she's honest. And what cleaner is going to turn in a $100 bill? I'd consider it a tip!
Alex Martin 3 months ago
If they'll pick up a $100 bill you have to worry about them picking up jewelry, checks, or other small valuables during their mostly unsupervised cleaning. Cleaning services often get clients by referral and lose clients the same way. A thieving employee can quickly destroy that business' reputation and cost them a lot of clients.
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#15
Had a young gentleman come in, not dressed for the occasion posture was horrible as he was slouched over on the table. The interview committee introduces themselves and give him the chance for an introduction. He just says "Look, I'm going to be real honest. My dad is making me go on interviews or else he's going to stop paying my bills." We continued through the interview and he actually answered questions genuinely but it sucked wasting time on somebody we knew we were not going to give the position.
arthbach 3 months ago
After that admission, ask, "If you were offered this role, would you take it?" If the answer is 'No.' then stop the interview. Don't waste your time.
Michael Largey 3 months ago
This is one of those rare cases where you want the father at the interview.
Load More Replies... S P 3 months ago
Please remember people inhabit bodies. Weight, posture, hygiene are important and open to intervention but people have physical pain, financial constraints, and other considerations that limit their ability to meet other people's expectations in those areas. I know first impressions matter but there are a lot of very judgemental descriptions here.
#16
I do group interviews and after everyone introduces themselves and discusses their career goals, I ask "What does everyone here have in common? What sets you apart?" This question lets me see into an applicant's team mentality and how they believe they'll fit into our company culture. I ask the applicants to write their answers down for us to discuss later.
One time, I had a group of 5 applicants, 4 of the 5 being African American. When I asked this question and told them to write it down, the only caucasian woman looks around, surprised, and blurts out "Well, we're all woman, but I'm the only WHITE one!"
I was MORTIFIED.
Thankfully, one of the other applicants was on her toes and stated "You're supposed to write it down so that we don't steal each other's answers." The other 3 applicants were shooting daggers at her with their eyes. The caucasian woman giggled and jotted it down, but I immediately knew she was not moving on to the next phase of interviews. I did, however, move forward with the applicant who spoke up. She has fantastic customer and problem resolution skills.
Mabelbabel 3 months ago
Group interviews are ridiculous-all they do is set up the candidates for a gladiatorial showdown, each trying to outdo the others and that can give you a very false idea of their skills and strengths. Total waste of time all round.
Anthony Elmore 3 months ago
Not necessarily. They are sometimes used when there are multiple open positions, rather than one position that all applicants are fighting over. Beyond that, the idea may be to get the candidate who DOESN'T treat the interview like a gladiatorial showdown as they are likely to be calm and composed at work and avoid workplace drama.
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Michael Largey 3 months ago
She focused on something that wasn't at all related to qualifications or performance.
Load More Replies... #17
Man brought his own lunch to an interview because he was into lifting and needed to make sure he ate at certain times. Started eating said meal during interview.
Michael Largey 3 months ago
Applicant should have asked for an interview at a different time and given the reason.
BeesEelsAndPups 3 months ago
Honestly, this wouldn't both me at all. But I'm an engineer, and I don't really care if my coworkers have people skills.
KatSaidWhat 3 months ago
Ok, now imagine you are in a client meeting trying to win a lucrative/stay afloat contract and this m**o starts eating so he can lift. Just because it doesn't affect you doesn't mean the people interviewing him wouldn't be affected.
Load More Replies... #18
I was a manager in a grocery store. We were interviewing for our overnight manager that I would be overseeing.
He showed up. Weighed approximately 500lbs, not that it’s bad but that job was very physical, and had dandruff on his stomach. I could see droplets of grease in his hair. He had pasta and coffee stains on his white gym shorts that he was wearing.
His answers revolved around comparing himself to new school management (which I was) and kept saying how “f****n great” he was. He kept circling back to how awesome his old school style was and that all new school managers should look up to him.
He did not answer his questions thoroughly and kept beating around the bush. When I concluded the interview he got up and that’s when *it* hit me... right in the face. I swear to Christ that guy hadn’t showered or wiped his a*s in at least a week.
I showed him out. Called him a few days later with some constructive criticism. I explained that old school management had its merits (huge fan of the old school style myself) but the political landscape of business has changed a significant amount. I also told him that the turnover rate for this position was high so he could apply again when it opened up.
He called me every single day for two weeks asking me to reconsider. Apparently he has lost over 200lbs since then.
Fellfromthemoon 3 months ago
BO. According to the following sentence, the guy had some deficiency in the hygiene department.
Load More Replies... #19
Job interview: Had someone no-show on an interview. They called back a week later to see if they got the job.
Press interview: We had given our main camera operator the day off and our other camera operator showed up five hours late with no notice. Our sound recordist called in sick. I got to conduct one of our highest profile interviews while simultaneously operating camera and sound. Someone accidentally formatted the card minutes later and all the footage was lost.
Jaya 3 months ago
I like to imagine that the person actually thinks he did do the interview, but that he went to the wrong address, and was in fact telling some random person at another company all about his work experience. I especially like to imagine that other person, who's thinking "Who is this dude and why the hell is he telling me all these things about himself?" 😄
Robert T 3 months ago
Considering how many interviews it takes to get a job these days, it is quite possible they mixed up which one they missed!
Load More Replies... BeesEelsAndPups 3 months ago (edited)
I love it when people don't show up. It means I can get back to my real job, and I don't have to talk to somebody for an hour. On the press interview side, I was interviewed for a piece on AI/Machine Learning way back in 2012. I had patented a new approach to deploying evolutionary algorithms on an actors framework. About three questions into the interview it was clear to me that I must have been getting pranked. The person didn't understand the basics of how a computer worked, let alone what an algorithm was. I was starting to get visibly frustrated with the interviewer as she really just had to explain the same thing over and over, and dumb things down to the point of "you give the machine numbers, and it does math on those, and if the math is right then the machine gets a cookie".
Novlette Williams 3 months ago
I worked at a design firm that hired a VP of Marketing who reeked of alcohol at the interview. Gave her a start date, she did not show. One week later on a Wednesday she showed up to start work, stone cold drunk. Fell down the stairs. They escorted her out a few minutes after she arrived. She asked.....:Why? What did I do?"
Russell Rieckenberg 3 months ago
I would have said; Yes, you got the job, but since you didn't show up we fired you.
#20
Mid 20s girl comes for an interview. We asked her why she wanted to work in the medical field and she proceeded to start bawling her eyes out and telling us a story of her dead grandpa. She couldn’t compose herself. We had to stop the interview altogether to get her tissues. We asked how long it had been since he passed (assuming it was recent by her intense emotional reaction). Nope. He died when she was 8.
NEXXXXXT.
Mabelbabel 3 months ago
Dead relatives can sometimes assist in interviews. I was on a panel interviewing candidates for medical school-these were all 18 and 19 year olds (UK med school) so they don't have a huge amount of real life experience. One of the questions was 'tell us about a difficult experience you had and how you dealt with it.' One chap said his grandmother had died when he was 14, she'd lived with him and parents and he was very close to her, and in her memory he started fund raising, doing sponsored runs, being a volunteer in a local charity shop, and persuaded his head of year at school to nominate her favourite particular charity as that years chosen charity for the school to support, and then acted as the chair of the school fund raising committee. Leadership, problem-solving, personal drive and ambition, altruism, organisation and communication skills-it was all in there and really quite impressive.
Shayna 3 months ago
She was inconsolable when the grandfather passed away 15+ years ago. I don't think these stories are comparable. He did something wonderful with his grandmother's legacy, and I doubt he bawled through the interview.
Load More Replies... #21
I interviewed Avril Lavigne over the phone about her second album. It was an interview for radio. I knew she was trying hard to be the ‘Alanis Morisette song-writer’ kind of performer. So I launched into a series of questions about her songwriting process: Do you start with lyrics or music? Do you write on piano or guitar? Those kinds of questions. Her response was “It’s like, just really like, organic.” End of answer. Everything after that was nonsense and yes or no answers to open-ended questions. It was a rough one. Super glad when it was over. Didn’t air a single second of it.
John O'Donnell 3 months ago
Wasn’t there some weird internet thing that she’d died and been replaced with a doppelgänger? Maybe you got her.
Array Index Out of Bounds 3 months ago (edited)
A lot of people dont know what organic actually. means. Hell, flesh-eating bacteria is is organic.
Jaya 3 months ago
The songwriting was really organic, like flesh-eating bacteria: it was painful as hell and I hope to never have to experience it again.
Load More Replies... #22
A girl who gave one word answers. She got the job because the director knew her.
Drop Bear from Hell 3 months ago
I sat on a panel recently. We only interviewed 2 people. First one was well known to the panel chair, unknown to me. She barely answered questions but he tried to talk her up after interview finished. Second applicant was much better and provided better examples but panel chair talks her down citing not direct experience in an area even though she had very transferrable skills. We had a 'discussion' afterwards about the applicants - panel chair is hell bent on applicant #1..... I am not at all convinced.
A.J. 3 months ago
We had a girl like that, fresh out of college. She knew the CEO, at her interview we were told to give her the position she wanted. Thanks to her we went to massive layoffs to try to keep the business afloat.
Michael Largey 3 months ago
Was she one of the ones laid off? Thinking not.
Load More Replies... #23
Quite a while ago now, something like 14-15 years, a guy turns up for an interview.
- He is completely unintelligible;
- He's brought his SCJP (Sun Certified Java Programmer) certificate with him but clearly doesn't know any Java; and, best of all
- His work permit is tied to his current employer.
My second story is when I was the interviewee.
The interviewer's question was "how would you reverse the order of bits in a byte." Because I had been working on very memory constrained devices I came up with a solution that used register rotation and the carry bit to do it super efficiently.
The interviewer never said speed was the most important point and he'd been looking for a lookup table answer.
My solution was probably comparably fast simply because it was all done on the cpu with no memory access but he didn't get that.
I still think he was a terrible interviewer and I am quite glad I didn't get the job.
Shayna 3 months ago
I hate these answers that only make sense to a small number of people in the same field. There was likely a way to word that to make it generic and understandable to a larger audience. Though that would make it clearer that it's the same old "interviewer asked a question, I answered it, it wasn't what they were looking for because they left out a detail."
Ace 3 months ago (edited)
I recall a couple of technical interviews (for consultant/freelance roles) where the questions were 'wrong', but many more where it was clear they were expecting a basic answer using inefficient multiple wholly built-in steps rather than actually programming the formula directly. Generally I let it go, as I was always much more experienced in the specific software than they were, so didn't like to point out the flaws
#24
In my old job, we were hiring for a web content person to update the site with products, blogs etc - he admitted in the interview that he hadn’t even looked at our website.
Afterwards he asked for feedback and was told the truth, then pleaded to still be considered. From memory he said “I’ve looked at the website now!”
In my current job, we’ve just interviewed for a marketing officer. We were explicit in what they should provide (I.e. examples of their work online). One girl didn’t provide anything but a CV that talked exclusively about her time at university.
When she found out she wasn’t progressing to interview, she demanded a reason - then sent a long, highly-strung email about how a family member had passed away during university and she was proud of her grades, and had definitely written blogs and stuff (still, no links).
It was passive aggressive and weird. She may as well have written RED FLAG fifty times in her email.
Then, one girl who DID come into interview gave off very odd vibes... Like bad voodoo. She’d mistakenly written on her CV that she was currently looking for jobs in a different European city (we’re in the UK).
Our director decided not to ask her about it to save her embarrassment but we had explicitly asked for ‘great attention to detail’ and she had given some awful answers so I waited until the last minute and asked her 😈 She turned bright red and became passive aggressive looool.
I asked her, “If we offered you the job, and then a company in this other city offered you the job, which one would you pick?”
I was giving her the opportunity to reel it back - but she said, “Probably this one because it would mean I wouldn’t have to move.”
🤦🏻♀️ smh.
#25
I did recruiting for small businesses and ask behavioral questions. Fastest interview ever was this m**h-head.
"Everyone makes mistakes, right? Tell me about a mistake you made at a past job, what the results were and how you rectified it." 20-something went on to tell me about 'getting suckered into' selling m**h to make more money, then got several coworkers hooked on it, then stared distributing large amounts to her team on the reg, then got fired and became a prostitute to support her habit, then landed in jail for solicitation, possession with intent, giving false information to police and resisting arrest. She was recently released from jail and wanted to hurry the interview because she was on her way to a house party with all her old friends. I asked point blank if she was holding and she said, "not yet" with a wink.
Anthony Elmore 3 months ago (edited)
The illegal variety of holding. As in 'do you have d***s on you right now'
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#26
Interviewed a candidate in an empty restaurant inside my hotel. I asked him if I could get him a drink (since I was getting a glass of water for myself). He asked for a jack and coke. It was 10 am on a Tuesday.
#27
I once gave an interview to a guy that had like ten years' worth of programming jobs but couldn't write a single line of code to solve the interview question. It was apparent in about ten minutes that he wasn't going to figure it out, but we either couldn't or wouldn't just cut it short and show him the door.
Asri 3 months ago
Yes. It's called copy/paste from StackOverflow. Taking over a project from one of those guys was always a fresh taste of hell for the next few months.
Load More Replies... Robert T 3 months ago
In my first job, for some reason we took on two MSc conversion graduates (that is they did other Bachelors degrees, then did a 1 year conversion to computer science). They couldn't program their way out of a wet paper bag. At least we had someone to do first line tech support whilst myself and the other developer got on with the real work!
wobbly jelly 3 months ago
We used to have an aptitude test for all (it was hard) and a programming test for those roles - this was clear up front - was amazing how many people did a runner during the programming test as they just couldn't do the basic bits needed for the role.
#28
Not an interview, but received a resume with applicants name, address, phone, email, birthday....and one bullet point under work experience that said “wore shoes to work and work shirt.” I did not offer this individual an interview.
We ride at dawn biatches 3 months ago (edited)
I had a friend submit her resume at my job, but she refused to put her email or phone on it. My boss was like, how does she expect me to contact her? She was, ofcourse, not hired
#29
Working in staffing so I’ve got few. The people that always smell like s**t and don’t bathe are always up there. The room shouldn’t stink 10 minutes after you leave.
But the worst would have to be the single mother of 5 who had zero ambition or will to work. Didn’t even try to answer questions. Told me multiple times idk. I was practically serving up answers for her and she just wouldn’t be genuine. Asked how many more questions I had because she needed to leave. Lady, I know you needed that job but I just couldn’t hire you compared to the others who took it serious.
Mabelbabel 3 months ago
She probably only went to the interview as being seen to be actively jobseeking is part of the conditions for receiving unemployment benefits (in the UK at least). Its a waste of everybody's time and effort, particularly the company who are genuinely looking to appoint someone, but thats the system.
Anthony Elmore 3 months ago
Same in the US. Didn't even realize it was a thing until I was looking for jobs (this would be quite a few jobs ago) and I applied for a job at a local run-down motel and he asked if I needed an application form to fill out for the purposes ____ (I forgot what it's specifically called here, but it's the same thing, basically)
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Onleetoogenders 3 months ago
I had a manager that stank, had to pull my sweater over my nose during one on one meetings and put "bathing" in the suggestion box.
#30
This is by far the weirdest interview I have ever experienced which also made me wonder what do you do when your interviewer is crossing the line
I was being interviewed for a graphic design position at very well known tradie servicing company
I applied for the job the night before and the next day around 5pm I get a call from an unknown number. I thought for sure it was the company I had applied for the night before. I thought I'd answer and politely ask if I could call back tomorrow as I had to stay back and work on a urgent job. He said he would only be 5mins and then he would let me get back to it...he was not
During the phone interview he discovered that I lived around the corner from where he works and asked if I could come in right now for an interview. I said it's currently 5pm and even though I live around the corner I'm currently at work which is 1h away. I suggested if he didn't mind an after hours interview I could do the next day. He agreed
After a 30min phone interview I finally get off the phone and get back to work. He then proceeds to message my phone asking a few follow up questions which I found weird but went along with it and answered his follow up questions. First red flag
The next day I left work early in hopes of getting to this job interview on time but then it all goes down hill. He calls me mid way through me driving to his office and tells me he needs to change the meeting location to a suburb I wasn't familiar with. I informed him that if he changed the location this would effect the time I meet him. He agreed and I asked him to send me the new address. I figured he was doing me a favour by meeting me after hours so I should go with it.
He sends through the address and I put it into Google Maps only to discover it was a McDonald's. Second red flag
Traffic was terrible that day making it such a mission to get to this guy. After 2h of hell I finally made it. Mind you, throughout all of this he is still calling and messaging me
I let him know I've made it and go inside and wait. I'm waiting a good 10mins and he finally shows up but he isn't alone. He brought his kid to my interview @ McDonald's, because sure why the hell not. I was already weirded out by having my interview at McDonald's and then him bringing his kid along just made it even weirder. All alarm bells are ringing at this point. I needed to get away from this guy
He tells me to stay put as he orders a Happy Meal for his kid and then proceeds to sit down infront of me with his kid on his lap whilst his kid ate some McDonald's
It was really hard to take him seriously and answer questions as professionally as I can. He was also on his phone and taking calls during my interview and I was just so taken aback. I find out he was actually the CEO of the company which made it even more messed up
During our interview we find out we had a mutual friend. I didn't think much of it at the time but it will later haunt me. He was also pretty keen to talk to my current boss but I had told him my boss doesn't know I'm looking but please call these references instead
The interview ends and I'm already thinking to myself no way am I accepting his job, I knew this guy wanted me though but I didn't want him. Didn't want to deal with that crazy
The next day I find out he started to call and harass our mutual friend for more information on me when I hadn't given him permission to do so nor had I put my friend as a point of contact. This made me very uncomfortable because there was nothing stopping him from calling up my work place and asking to speak with my boss
He does call one of my approved references though which was my creative director but was actually trying to organise a deal between him and my work place. He wanted to utilise my position to his advantage which really pissed me off. He wanted me to work at my current job 2 days a week and then work for him 3 days a week. My creative director went along with it too which made me more angry!!
Either way, I thought this guy was messed up and I decline his job offer. He then asked me to work for him on weekends and I said no
I thought that was the end of it but nooooo, it wasn't. He then organises a meeting with my creative director AND my boss and comes into my office
I was unfortunately the closest to the door so would always greet people. When I saw his face I was so bloody cold to him. I couldn't believe he crossed the line and came into my work place and I couldn't believe my creative director even allowed it! Either way, he became a client of ours and we all started doing work for him. everyone referred to him as my 'mate' and my creative director told me my boss knows I'm looking for a job thanks to this guy. I refused to do work for this guy because it was just so bloody weird and messed up. I felt sick to my stomach and was so stressed out
Get this, my creative director also got a bonus for getting him on board which made me even angrier and more of a reason to leave that God d**n place. What a unethical way to get a client
He was truely a disgusting human who used me to his advantage and I didn't even work for him. Just had an interview. Even though I've moved on since then that really has haunted me and makes me angry that I couldn't do anything when he was being really unprofessional.
#31
I was a recruiter at an agency and had a candidate call in and tell me his impressive qualifications on the high-paying job I was trying to fill.
He shows up in a dirty white t-shirt, greasy hair, pants 3 inches too short and the kicker was - the c****h was completely ripped out and **his underwear and balls were hanging out**. Fastest interview I ever conducted just to give him the courtesy of one.
I sanitized the lobby chair and interview chair.
#32
My SO works in finance and interviewed for a credit controller, candidate seemed reasonably nice and chatty and they asked about her current job where it went downhill quicker than OP's mum on a first date.
She proceeds to whip out print outs of her current sales ledger with (some of) the individuaos, companies and amounts they owed her current employer. SO ended the interview on the spot and said she needed to report a data breach to the candidates employer.
#33
Interviewee here, but it wouldn't surprise me if I was the worst for this interviewer.
I had moved to a new city/state about 3 weeks before. Prior to moving I hadn't spent a lot of time in the area, I moved because my family had moved here after I graduated high school and I needed a place after I screwed up college.
This is my first interview in my new city. I am all prepared and since this is early 2000s, I even had directions printed from Mapquest! But I don't have a cell phone or GPS in my car.
I head out to the interview and it says to turn on this street. But I can't find the street. I go home, call, ask for directions and basically told the last 2 or 3 blocks (which is not where I was lost.) I head back out and try again. I am driving up and down the main street, even back tracking and measuring distance to match up the street and while there is a street here (a major one) the street name wasn't right at all.
I finally went home, now very late, and called saying I was lost and had just moved here and I needed directions from this point. Turned out the interviewer didn't know either, they had to find another employee to give me directions (which basically was "the street changes names at that intersection, that is why the distance was right and the name wrong")
10 minutes later, I an there but a total mess at this point and an hour late. I walk in and introduce myself. The interviewer came out, looked me up and down and told me there was no chance for the interview because I was so late and they had other people. No, they couldn't reschedule, if it had mattered that much to me I should have been there on time.
Looking back now, I get it. It was an entry level job and I am sure they had a dozen or more interviews, none of whom were an hour late or calling for directions. I totally screwed it up and now I can laugh at myself. But at 20 and trying to prove I wasn't a total screw up, this was another nail in a coffin filled with them.
Mel in Georgia 3 months ago
Awww, that must have been so disheartening! I think some people actually drive to the building before the interview just to avoid this situation.
Julie S 3 months ago
I do that if I don't know I'll do a dummy run to find the place and also to know how long it will take to get there.
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Shayna 3 months ago
If they weren't going to be able to interview the person in 10 minutes, why bother giving him directions? Yes, this person screwed up by not leaving early or doing a dry run in advance, but to give him directions and have him show up when they weren't going to interview him seems unnecessary.
Sven Horlemann 3 months ago
Sometimes, sh*t just happens. Who knows, this is not necessarily a bad thing.
#34
A young guy came into my pizza shop wearing a dirty t-shirt and basketball shorts asking if we were hiring, I told him to come in the next day for a screening interview. Comes in the next day wearing the same t-shirt and basketball shorts. and this time he's brought a deck of playing cards with him. I proceed through the interview and learn he's an aspiring magician, and that's cool he has something he's passionate about. At one point he flat out asks me if once he's learned how to make pizzas if instead, he could just do magic tricks for the customers. I said no and immediately ended the interview.
#35
Happy cake day!
Fortunately I’ve never had any particularly bad interviews. There are plenty of candidates who don’t get the job, but there’s nothing wrong with that.
The person who taught me the most about interviewing is a female coworker and she’s got some doozies. Let’s call her “Coworker” or “CW” for short.
When we’re onboarding new interviewers, we have them shadow people who have been interviewing for a while to better understand how the process works and what we are looking for. One time, CW was interviewing a candidate and had a new interviewer shadowing her. The shadowing interviewer was male. Throughout the interview the candidate kept addressing the shadow interviewer instead of CW. You may be thinking “Most candidates probably talk to the shadow and CW is just blowing it out of proportion.” I can tell you from experience that it’s very rare for candidates to direct many questions to the shadow. Most of the time the shadow is ignored by the candidate.
I’ve heard similar stories from other female friends and coworkers. I used to be one of those “she’s blowing it out of proportion” people, but I’ve seen enough examples to realize that it’s a real thing. As a dude I have very little first-hand experience though.
Shayna 3 months ago
It's like your reddit birthday, the anniversary of the day you joined. A little cake emoji shows up next to your name on that day, so this commenter posted on the reddit anniversary of the person who asked the question.
Load More Replies... #36
Guy had a finger puppet f****h. I was helping interview for a restaurant I was working at. He asked if he could bring finger puppets to the tables. Yeah, he didn’t get a job. But he also didn’t bring a pen to fill out the application so that was my first red flag.
Binny Tutera 3 months ago
Why would he have to bring his own pen? Doesn’t every business have pens?
Michael Largey 3 months ago
Right. Should he have brought his own chair to sit in while he was filling out the application? Should he have brought climbing equipment instead of using the company's elevator?
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#37
Not my story, but worth sharing. A coworker of mine went to an interview, and when he came back he told us how well it went. He repeated that, when asked what would be the first thing he'd do on his first day, his response was, "well, I'd clock in." Other coworker and I were baffled he thought that was a good answer and both agreed it was very unlikely he'd get the job.
He didn't get the job.
Michael Largey 3 months ago
Generally a new employee doesn't tell his employer what he'll be doing on his first day. It's usually the other way around.
Deborah B 3 months ago
I'd phrase it "After clocking in and putting on my PPE/checking in with shift lead I would begin with....." Because some jobs will have mandatory procedures and the question could be aimed partly at "does this candidate have common sense, know basic safety and legal requirements."
#38
A month ago we interviewed an engineer who was extremely charismatic and had years of relevant experience. My partner asked him for a college transcript after 15 minutes. The interview goes very smoothly and we really like the guy. At 30 minutes, my partner pushes the transcript to me. At 40 minutes, I take a look at the transcript
to find a ~2.1 cumulative GPA with his major GPA about the same.
I thought, ok sure this guy got some consistent Cs and Ds, but maybe he absorbed a lot and just tested poorly? I asked him about experience working through some technical engineering challenges that involved some science or math. Suddenly all of his glow faded and he seemed like he stopped having fun. He was unable to come up with any technical examples.
We liked him a lot until that point and whole-heartedly wished him the best, but didn't extend an offer.
Shayna 3 months ago
Asking for college transcripts is ridiculous. You got the answers by asking questions. I wouldn't even know where to find mine at this point. The only time it may be reasonable is if they are a very recent graduate, but given that he "had years of relevant experience," he was not.
Jane Twombly 3 months ago
You request the transcript from your college/university. They’ll typically send it directly to the entity requiring it. It’s quite common in some fields, especially if a degree is required. Too many people lie about having a degree.
Load More Replies... #39
Had an interview no-show during peak season. Dude showed up, I asked if he was so-and-so, and he said "yeah". Aside from mostly grunting like a cave-man, he had an odor that caused me to condense the interview I to a few short and sweet questions.
Turns out the no-show actually rescheduled for later that day and I missed the memo.
Never found out who that guy was or how he got into the office.
#40
I'm a reporter. I'm also autistic.
I have a couple where those two things have interacted in some...fun...ways.
For example: I had one interview where I finished talking to a lady and was shutting off my recorder when she took it upon herself to give me some unsolicited advice ("Now you did a very good job, but you should make more eye contact") with no indication that she had ever been a reporter or anything of the sort.
I just said "Ma'am, I have autism" and left.
Jac Carr 3 months ago
She didn't need to be a reporter to know that it's usual for people to make eye contact with the person they're interviewing and for someone without autism, it would have been useful and constructive. She wasn't to know and she wasn't being rude
Shayna 3 months ago
I don't have autism and I find unsolicited advice from a strange to be rude and not useful.
Load More Replies... Sven Horlemann 3 months ago
Well, in all things reporting and interviewing, she is right. Whether OP are autistic or not does not channge that. So, it all depends on HOW it was said.
Smeghead Tribble Down Under 3 months ago
Are people supposed to be mind readers? How the fk are you supposed to know if someone has ''autism''? (the universal excuse for everything)
Shayna 3 months ago
You don't have to know someone is or isn't autistic to not give unsolicited advice.
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Shayna 3 months ago
Not engaging in another person's acceptable level of eye contact is not rude.
Load More Replies... #41
Not my story. But a former employer of my brother had the best story ever.
Guy came into the building inquiring about openings. It was a medical records data entry type place, so some entry level positions usually open. They asked the guy if he had a resume. He said no. They told him to drop one off or email it in and they’d set up an interview.
The next day the guy is back. He has a sheet of paper in his hands that was clearly printed from Notepad (default font and everything). The paper is entirely blank except the top left corner which says:
“I work at century lonk”
My brother and I joke to this day about working at century lonk.
#42
I sat in on an interview that was awkward on BOTH sides.
The woman had indicated on her application that she'd had a misdemeanor. My boss asked about it at the end of the interview, and she said she'd gotten a DUI charge a few years back, in college. He asked her a few follow-up questions about it: how much she'd been drinking, if she still drank, WHAT she drank. She eventually just figured f**k it, I guess, and gave us all the dirty details about how she'd just walked in on her boyfriend f*****g her sister and how it led to her kind of losing it in a bar downtown.
I spent a lot of time pretending to be interested in reading her cover sheet.
#43
Dude got so worked up that he couldn't divide 15 by 2. He just froze. I usually love running interviews. I did not love running that one.
Krystle Deschene 3 months ago (edited)
Lady Eowyn. If you have one peice of chocolate and you want to share it with a friend, how would you do it? Because that technically would be 1÷2 and the answer would be you split it in half. So therefore 1÷2= 0.5 Any odd number can be divided by an even number, it just will just have a remainder or a decimal place. Edited for a grammatical error before someone else tries to correct me. 😉
Mel in Georgia 3 months ago
You use decimal points. The answer is 7.5. Or seven and a half. I'm terrible at math and can do that one! You must have extreme dyscalculia!
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#45
Myself and another male manager are a candidates 3rd interview of the day. His previous meetings have been with women. With all of the women he was super polite and professional, but when he got to the interview with two males he went full wall street d****e bro. Started the interview dropping the F Bomb in the first sentence. He was a completely different person around us. It was so weird when we all compared notes afterward.
#46
I have an opposite story: the first 10 minutes of the interview involved the hiring manager looking confused and asking vague questions. She finally burst out with "*OH, you're the WRONG Panicked Poodle."*
Turns out she had two candidates with the same first name and she scheduled an interview with me by accident. Thankfully, her boss also interviewed me and I was able to impress that person and get the offer, despite the cursory first interview.
Michael Largey 3 months ago
Being a panicked poodle is tough, but being the wrong panicked poodle is even worse.
#47
Not the interviewer but the interviewe. Every time id laugh the interviewer would fake laugh louder and stare at me awkwardly. I'd then get self conscious and stop laughing mid way through my laugh.
#48
We were hiring for a desktop support role, almost every answer the guy gave was - "I dont know about that but I'm a real fast learner and hard worker.".
#49
Not an interviewer but interviewee
But one time I returned a call for a potential job, and the guy who answered was clearly drunk. He kept forgetting what he was talking about and repeating himself.
Towards the end of the call, this guy actually asked if I had a cigarette. OVER THE PHONE!
#50
I asked a research master graduate how would he form his opinion on a matter with very controversial opinions about an established fact. And he answer that he will go and ask an opinion from a trusted person, as that person is always right.
#51
As a reporter, I've also had to deal with situations where people don't want to be recorded, and they tend to be the worst interviews out there.
I can kind of understand it, but to me, the logic breaks down to a certain degree when saying that you don't want to be recorded. Usually, they're afraid I'm going to try and catch them in some sort of gotcha question or they're afraid of being misquoted.
What's stopping me from pulling a gotcha question when I don't have a microphone in front of me? And also, the entire reason I'm recording you is because I want to make sure I'm quoting you accurately. I'm actually less likely to misquote you if you just let me record you.
Deborah B 3 months ago
Isn't it usually because they're afraid you are going to edit the interview to be misleading to the audience? Because you can ask the same question three ways, so that by the last time the interviewee is annoyed and giving you curt answers, then edit out the section between the first question and the last answer. The respondant looks like a defensive a*****e, and the content of the question hasn't changed enough for them to argue that they were taken out of context.
KatWitch57 3 months ago
I think I detect the excreta of the male cow. The first thing they teach in media training is NEVER agree to a pre-recorded interview; your words can be edited, twisted and manipulated. The second thing they teach is; if you don't want to be interviewed give a rubbish interview, smattered with coughing, ermms, swear words and anything else to make it unusable. The 'story' may be most important to you, but you do not have a divine right to expect anyone else to co-operate.
#52
Former local newspaper editor here. The worst was the owner of this bar/music club that was closing down. Not a lot happened in the area, and so we thought we'd run a story about (asking gently) why the place was closing, were there plans for keeping it going elsewhere, typical stuff.
This guy was straight up hostile. When I went down to the place to talk to him (at a time we agreed to,) he started yelling and told me to GTFO.
Tried calling him a few days later, maybe he just had a bad day. No answer. He called me back while I was busy, and left a voicemail screaming about how the local government was corrupt and everyone was out to get him, etc.
Upon asking around a couple regular Joe-on-the-street sources we used regularly, the guy had a d**g problem, was known to be a major creep to any female staff they hired, and just generally the kind of person you don't want running a lemonade stand, let alone a place that serves alcohol.
We ended up running a story about locals' memories from the place. Owner "couldn't be reached for comment," because I was an editor as well as occasional reporter, and figured our (generally age 45+) reader base wouldn't appreciate terms like "f*****g coked-out a*****e."
There were a few really hard ones, emotionally, but as for the worst *source* I ever attempted to work with, it was that guy.
EDIT: Oh.........this wasn't the kind of interview you meant. Welp.
#53
The girl walked in, used her fingers to remove the wad of gum in her mouth and throw it in the trash, and proceeded to shake hands with everyone on the panel. When she got to me, I just gave her a little wave.
So disgusting.... And she didn't get the job.
Mongo Marcia 3 months ago
In the conference room looking out the window waiting for the next interview. Car pulls in. Guy gets out. Unzips pants and takes a leak in the parking lot. Gets escorted into conference room and holds out hand for hand shakes. Why no, he did not get hired.
#54
I worked in fraud for a major bank at the time and we were interviewing for a junior entry level role.
We asked the candidate on a scale or 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest what would she say her level or fraud knowledge and experience be (she had never worked in a fraud specific role before)?
She sat there and thought about it uming and aring and decided the best answer would be a 10 with us knowing she had never worked in a fraud related role before.
I did my best not so smirk and was softly nudging my colleague under the table
She did not get the job.
#55
I won’t say “bad.” Maybe bizarre?
My job is mostly conducting phone interviews. Pretty standard stuff.
I explained to a candidate that the question would best be answered using the STAR format...again, pretty standard.
He then told me it didn’t apply to his job, his sales numbers spoke for themselves and proved he was successful. Interestingly enough, his numbers showed he was mid-pack (at best), and had mostly incomplete data for recent years. (I interview salespeople.) I’m still not sure what he was trying to accomplish by dodging the question. Lol.
Rafael 3 months ago
Per Wikipedia: The "situation, task, action, result" method is an interviewing technique used by job candidates to respond to behavioral and situational based interview questions.
Load More Replies... #56
Not as dramatic as most here, but I once asked a candidate to describe herself in three words. She thought hard for a moment, then answered, "I. Am. Shy. ".
#57
I'm a hiring manager. A shocking number of people will be argumentative and/or rude on the phone and it astounds me. Why bother even answering the phone if the job isn't what you're looking for? And if how I run my teams is not in line with what you're looking for, just tell me and we can both be on our way. Don't be belligerent!
Also interviewed a seemingly nice guy who, after the interview, went into sordid drama about his ex-coworkers (who were all out to get him) and his neighbors (who were all out to get him) and his car (which was a lemon because the car dealer was out to get him). It's too bad because he seemed nice, and was certainly qualified but... no.
Michael Largey 3 months ago (edited)
Sometimes someone's rudeness is the precise reason they're out looking for a job.
#58
I used to sit in on interviews with the foreman of my last shop. We asked this guy a couple of work related questions and got half hearted answers. I asked the guy to tell us about himself. He leaned back, patted his belly and said, " i like to drink and i like to fish.".
#60
I always ended interviews with the same question; what will you bring to this team that will make us better in the long run?
His answer? S***k.
To put it into better context, he was flamboyantly gay. It was very hard not to laugh. I have zero issues with gay people, it just caught me off guard. He didn’t get the job.
HeavyMetalHeart 3 months ago
Had to look up the original to figure this one out! S p u n k if anyone else is confused.
Michael Largey 3 months ago
"You've got s***k. I hate s***k." - Lou Grant
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#61
Demanded to hire him. He knew everything and he was wasting his time doing the interview. It was sad and cringing seeing it unfold.
#62
I'm a journalist and I was interviewing this older woman for a story. She wanted to meet at McDonald's so I said sure. It was disgusting, the women had the worst teeth I'd ever seen. Missing a ton, they looked like they were covered in fungus, all black, crooked and she chewed with her mouth open. She was spitting food around and it made me want to vomit. I've had interviews where the people were a******s or stupid but this one always stands out from how gross it was. Still makes me want to vomit.
#63
I was slightly nervous that I would see an interviewee, or whatever, that sounded like me, but there was not.
I have a hard time talking usually, struggle remembering words in the heat of the moment. I can usually get across what I want to say though... usually. I hate interviews, always feel like an idiot.
What do you think ?
Mel in Georgia 3 months ago
My daughter just graduated with a computer science degree. It's a terrible time to find and entry-level job, and she deals with major social anxiety. She pumps out the resumes for weeks and ends up with maybe 8 interviews total. I was really worried about her ability to make a good impression. I asked her how the interviews went and she said, "You know what? It turns out I'm pretty good at interviews!" She got a decent job at an organization she's happy with. I'M SO PROUD OF HER!
JayWantsACat 3 months ago
When I was a freshman in college, I applied for a scholarship called "The Balanced Man Scholarship". for which you wrote an essay about what you think makes a "balanced man." I was pleasantly surprised to be picked as a finalist, which was an interview with the scholarship board. The board basically had me defend my essay about what I thought a "balanced man", which I said was someone who was happy with what they were doing, essentially. I didn't take it that seriously as I already financial aid & grants to cover my tuition, room & board, & it was for $5000, which is still nice, but wasn't like a full ride or anything. They hit me with "Hitler was happy with what he was doing, but history considers him THE most unbalanced person. Would you argue against that?" In hindsight, the obvious move would be to refute that Hitler was actually happy committing genocide, it was a means to an end. But I thought they would appreciate me sticking to my point, so I said 'yes'. I defended Hitler. LOL
Sarah Belt 3 months ago
I was interviewed by a small business, and it was pretty clear the guy had never interviewed someone before. He kept reading the most basic interviewing questions off of his computer monitor. "How you would handle conflict with a co-worker?" was my favorite because when I said I would talk with them privately and if we couldn't come to a solution I would escalate to management, he thought I said "execute" and nervously laughed while asking if I was making a joke about killing them.
Sandy Jones 3 months ago
I interview a guy who came to the interview with his ear buds in. Didn't understand why I b*m rushed him out of the lobby in 5 minutes.
wobbly jelly 3 months ago
A colleague trying to be organised went to see where the office for the interview was the night before. It was in an odd place and maps didn't quiet line up. He said he drove round a few times stopped car, got out looked round repeat etc. eventually parked up still looking and gets a knock on his car window from a couple of large scary looking blokes.... Our office was opposite the police rapid response unit (in an unassuming building) - the scary guys - police thought he was casing the joint... Pointed him to the office and he did get the job. I went to a meeting at same office and saw what looked like some suspicious guys, big black holdalls been loaded into a fast car, then saw the "door knocker" and did the same realising they were police.
Apatheist Account2 3 months ago
I gave one guy a test to do: it was in a programming language, with 5 mistakes in the code. It should have been straightforward to work out due to the different patterns (eg missing semicolons or apostrophes) without knowing the language. Part of the job was solving problems. He just looked at the test, said he didn't know the language, and handed it back without even trying. We didn't hire him.
Bob Jones 3 months ago
I work for a multinational company and quite often have to interview people in other countries via video. One of the job requirements is always that they must be fluent in English and they are told that half the interview will be in English. I have lost count of the number who show up barely able to speak English, or with some irrelevant prepared sentences written down that they read off in response to each question.
Mel in Georgia 3 months ago
My daughter just graduated with a computer science degree. It's a terrible time to find and entry-level job, and she deals with major social anxiety. She pumps out the resumes for weeks and ends up with maybe 8 interviews total. I was really worried about her ability to make a good impression. I asked her how the interviews went and she said, "You know what? It turns out I'm pretty good at interviews!" She got a decent job at an organization she's happy with. I'M SO PROUD OF HER!
JayWantsACat 3 months ago
When I was a freshman in college, I applied for a scholarship called "The Balanced Man Scholarship". for which you wrote an essay about what you think makes a "balanced man." I was pleasantly surprised to be picked as a finalist, which was an interview with the scholarship board. The board basically had me defend my essay about what I thought a "balanced man", which I said was someone who was happy with what they were doing, essentially. I didn't take it that seriously as I already financial aid & grants to cover my tuition, room & board, & it was for $5000, which is still nice, but wasn't like a full ride or anything. They hit me with "Hitler was happy with what he was doing, but history considers him THE most unbalanced person. Would you argue against that?" In hindsight, the obvious move would be to refute that Hitler was actually happy committing genocide, it was a means to an end. But I thought they would appreciate me sticking to my point, so I said 'yes'. I defended Hitler. LOL
Sarah Belt 3 months ago
I was interviewed by a small business, and it was pretty clear the guy had never interviewed someone before. He kept reading the most basic interviewing questions off of his computer monitor. "How you would handle conflict with a co-worker?" was my favorite because when I said I would talk with them privately and if we couldn't come to a solution I would escalate to management, he thought I said "execute" and nervously laughed while asking if I was making a joke about killing them.
Sandy Jones 3 months ago
I interview a guy who came to the interview with his ear buds in. Didn't understand why I b*m rushed him out of the lobby in 5 minutes.
wobbly jelly 3 months ago
A colleague trying to be organised went to see where the office for the interview was the night before. It was in an odd place and maps didn't quiet line up. He said he drove round a few times stopped car, got out looked round repeat etc. eventually parked up still looking and gets a knock on his car window from a couple of large scary looking blokes.... Our office was opposite the police rapid response unit (in an unassuming building) - the scary guys - police thought he was casing the joint... Pointed him to the office and he did get the job. I went to a meeting at same office and saw what looked like some suspicious guys, big black holdalls been loaded into a fast car, then saw the "door knocker" and did the same realising they were police.
Apatheist Account2 3 months ago
I gave one guy a test to do: it was in a programming language, with 5 mistakes in the code. It should have been straightforward to work out due to the different patterns (eg missing semicolons or apostrophes) without knowing the language. Part of the job was solving problems. He just looked at the test, said he didn't know the language, and handed it back without even trying. We didn't hire him.
Bob Jones 3 months ago
I work for a multinational company and quite often have to interview people in other countries via video. One of the job requirements is always that they must be fluent in English and they are told that half the interview will be in English. I have lost count of the number who show up barely able to speak English, or with some irrelevant prepared sentences written down that they read off in response to each question.
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