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“My Jaw Must Have Dropped”: 41 Absolute Mental Questions Job Candidates Decided To Ask Recruiters
Recruiters typically give candidates a chance to ask questions after the job interview. For the candidates, it’s their opportunity to learn more about the company and the position they’re applying for.
As a job seeker, the queries you raise will likely leave an impression on the interviewer. They can make you stand out in the best or worst ways, and as you may read from these stories, it can be a bit of both.
These are responses from a Reddit thread posted years back, many of which are still funny and worthy of a disappointing headshake to this day.
Discover more in “My Jaw Must Have Dropped”: 41 Absolute Mental Questions Job Candidates Decided To Ask Recruiters
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#1
Legit this guy asked me "What did you have for dinner last night?"
I responded with "shepherd's pie".
He said - "ahh banging, cheese on top ?"
He got the job.
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#2
I've never really had a terrible question asked at the end of a job interview, as most of the time we both have an idea of whether or not they're getting a job before I let the interview end.
The funniest was when an applicant who grew up in Utah asked, "So is every day Hawaiian shirt day?" (I live in Hawaii) I was amused, but also knew it was going to be a bit of a culture shock for her. Everyone who gets their work done early gets to leave early because we all love to go surfing around 3 or 4 in the afternoon.
#3
My aunt would ask "Do you have profit sharing or do you live off the blood of the workers?" According to my Father, she may not have actually wanted to get a job. She's the only woman I know who passed the bar, but never worked a day in her life.
#4
I interviewed a gentleman older than I once who continuously asked who the boss was. I said I was the manager and left it at that. He wasn’t satisfied and went on and on about what a j**k the owner was. I own the company, started it from scratch. Said the owner screwed him out of a job once ( never applied before). So I was just finishing the interview out of curtesy and my own pettiness. As I asked when and where he met the owner I see my frantic husband walk in the front door and a few employees go with him. So I’m half listening to this guy ramble on about meeting in Vegas, and so much other nonsense, as an employee burst into the office and says that I’m needed up front.
I politely but quickly excuse myself to go out front to see my kid busted his nose bleeding everywhere.
I go back in and explain I would cut the interview short and said I needed to run my child to the ER. This POS thought saying “that’s why women make bad management “ was a smart choice. It wasn’t. First off I own this company from the idea to every last brick, I’ve never been to Vegas and you have never applied here. He stood dumbfounded and walked out.
The next week he called asking for status of his application 🤣😂.
#5
A bit after the end of an interview and happened to a co-worker, but it deserves an honorable mention.
A guy stole the HR managers wallet from the orientation and bought beer with his credit card. Manager went to the store, got to see the tape, then went across the street to where the new hire was drinking the beer and demanded his wallet back. After denying it at first, the new hire eventualy gives the wallet back. He then asks the HR manager if he can keep his job.
He did not keep his job.
#6
Girl who used her status as a single mom the ENTIRE interview, during a group interview at a bank.
Very end: When do I start?
Interviewer: we will review candidates and contact the candidates we feel are qualified.
Her: yeah, okay, but I am a single mom, I need to know now so I can find a baby sitter.
Interviewer: Like I said..
Her: I didnt ask for lip I told you to tell me when I start
Them: If you qualify, you will be contacted
Her: your not listening to me, when do I start
Main big boss HR dude: You don't.
Girl: brain melts.
I got the job btw, but man, watching her go nuts over that was insane!
#7
I (male) was in the interview with a candidate (female) who was on layoff status, meaning they were preferred for re-hire over other candidates for some period after their not-for-cause termination, as a company policy.
The candidate wasn't terrible, but also not outstanding and completely wrong for the position. The biggest problem was her skill set really wasn't a match - she was a mechanical engineer, we needed software. But her layoff status ensured she would get an interview for any position she wanted to try for, enforced by H.R.
I can guess she could tell she wasn't a fit, I mean the questioning about software and her lack of practice in that area of engineering should have given the clue to anyone. She did have some interesting technical achievements in her area of mechanics. Up until the very end, I was internally wishing her success in finding something worthy of her expertise.
I guess she was also desperate, because as we were wrapping up, she leaned across the table we faced each other at, took my hand which was on a stack of papers, and said, "I'll do absolutely anything to get this job. Absolutely. Anything."
I immediately jumped up and opened the conference room door and asked my boss, who was outside down that hall a short distance, to step in and help me wrap up. My boss was confused but complied. I didn't mention a word about the last utterance from the candidate, and we escorted her out of the building as if nothing had happened. I told my boss afterward the why and he was totally understanding and supportive.
All I could think of, was the kind of crazy or desperate person who would make such an offer was also the sort who wouldn't shrink from accusing me of demanding what she was volunteering, and my word against hers. Win or lose that situation, and you've still lost.
#9
"Do any women work here? They're attracted to me like bees to honey. I find it better to not work around them than to be hit on constantly."
He did not make it to the next round of interviews!
#10
I interviewed a guy a few years back for an IT position, he was qualified but you could tell he had problems with social contact, he mumbled a lot, no eye contact, and he’d look literally anywhere but at me. Super nervous, but still seemed like a nice guy, just awkward. Before leaving he sheepishly asked ‘what’s the company jorts policy?’ He got hired a few days later and we all came to know him as ‘Jorts, from IT’.
#11
I was recently interviewing for an engineering position with one of my colleagues. The last question the guy asked was, "This isn't one of those vaccine and masks companies, is it?"
We make devices used to test for covid. It's a pretty heavily scientific company. He was barely scraping by the interview, but we were both considering pulling him through because we're filling a lot of positions.
At least he owned the libs, though.
#12
Not as an interviewer, but the worst question I asked…
My first job interview ever. It went really well. I didn’t really understand how employment worked in general, and I was scared of getting locked into a multi-year contract. I’d previously been looking at the Air Force, which in my country has a minimum time commitment.
At the end, I wanted to ask about this. So of course I posed it as a hypothetical: “if I get the job am I allowed to leave after a couple of weeks if I change my mind?”
I immediately knew how much I’d messed up. The interviewers looked at each other and said, “well… yes…”.
Somehow I still got the job. I have no idea how.
#13
Are you going to run a background check?
Well, normally we don’t for entry level retail, but if you had any shot in h**l of getting this job, I would now. He wasn’t getting the job anyway after he gleefully answered my question about difficult situations by recounting the most recent time he beat someone.
Don’t call us, we won’t call you.
#14
"Are all the women who work here hot?"
I was not leading the interview, merely taking notes. I crossed that man's name off on my notes.
#15
Technically the worst I guess, but also the funniest:
Candidate asked me what it would take for him to be doing my job in 3-4 years, I told him there's only one spot for my role and I'd either need to leave or have an accident.
He asked if I had any allergies.
I recommended him for the job.
#16
Ooooh I got a good one. I was doing a technical question for an engineer. We start really basic and then move on to moderate problems. This candidate was really struggling, it was clear it was not going to work out. As I try to move things along so that we might be able to wrap up early, the candidate asks “can you solve it wrong and I will tell you what’s wrong with your solution?”
My jaw must have dropped.
#17
I felt that the interview wasnt really going well and didnt think i would get the job. So I asked if they would like me to recommend ppl (friends that i knew were looking for similar jobs) that i felt would be perfect for the position i was applying for.
They said, sure, but why would you sabotage your own chances?
Somehow, I got hired for the job.
#18
Me: mid-30’s. Him: probably over 50. “If I get hired, will I have to work for a young punk like you?”.
#19
So what exactly does the job entail? (as we were about to shake hands). We'd just spent half an hour going over it in detail but it's fair to say she wasn't getting it anyway.
#22
A lady asked my boss what the dress code was. Completely normal, acceptable question.
But after my boss told her it was business causal she slams her feet on my boss’s desk and says “good, because this is the only pair of shoes I own and I’m only going to buy shoes that look like this”.
#23
"How would you catch an employee stealing money and where might your gaps be"....granted the position was for fraud detection but this had nothing to do with the position. This was his only question and he grew frustrated that I wouldn't divulge specifics. Either he was planning on stealing or he was absolutely clueless. Hard pass...
#24
Do you have anyone under the age of 18 working here?
He made the hair on my neck stand up when he walked in, so the odds already weren’t in his favor. He also asked this as a minor was cleaning a table next to us.
#25
"When can he start?"
Asked by the *mother* of the 28 year old man I was interviewing for a tech position, who had insisted on being present for the interview, and who tried to answer every question for him.
#26
Seriously I heard this one (second hand but immediately after), “Are those real?”, eying the interviewers b*****s.
Answer was pause, goggle, gulp, “I think we’re done here”. I was called in to e****t the guy out.
#27
“Do I need to quit my other job?”
She was currently applying for a full time job, while working a full time job. She went on to try to convince us that she’s so bored at her current job she could totally get away with doing this job at the other place.
#29
When I worked at the bullseye.
Them: “When do I give you my time off requests for the weeks of thanksgiving and Christmas?”
Me: this is a seasonal position….
#30
I lost a job because I asked the HR rep.."but how do you like it here?"
Seriously, it was over... and I was over it, also.
#32
I've had a 'What's the worst part about working here?'
Seems like a somewhat reasonable question, but it's like the reverse of 'what's your biggest weakness as a candidate?' No one on the panel is going to give you a straight answer, in part because they have to turn around and still work with the other people on the panel and in the same conditions.
#33
It wasn't so much a question as a statement. Candidate walks in and greets my boss and I then promptly states "I just want to let you know before we get started, I'm not sure I'm really interested in this position." My said "Great, I guess we are done here." Guy lost it saying we wasted his time...
#34
"You don't have a lot of Indian people working here, do you?"
This was asked by a white dude at an interview at a tech company in Silicon Valley. Um. Bye.
#35
How much water is in the ocean, and they were not joking or anything. They expected a serious answer. My interview team (3 people) answered as best they could and then at the end the interviewee said, "You are all wrong it changes constantly due to the water cycle.".
#36
Work in finance. Had a guy fresh out of school ask if we could fudge the numbers if the boss asks us to.
That’s a big no.
#37
"How long do I have to stay in this position before I can apply for other positions in the company?"
It's actually a legitimate question, but the way it was delivered just left me floored. This wasn't an entry-level job.
#39
This one sticks out from when I used to work at a lab:
What kinds of things do you guys throw out in your dumpsters?
#41
I had a job interview three weeks ago.
Near the end of my interview, I asked what exactly their expectations of me where when it came to the job.
When I heard I’d have a whole bunch of paper work to do after every job (Provisioning gas lines to new houses), I said,
“No thanks, I’ll do everything else bar that.. is there someone else who can do it?”
The looks the interviewers gave me was hilarious.
I start in 4 days and don’t have to do paper work.
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