People Share 30 Worst Job Interview Stories And Personal Experiences, And Some Are Hard To Imagine
You’ve all heard tips for what you should definitely not do in a job interview, like saying that your biggest weakness is your perfectionism, or neglecting to skim through the company’s website beforehand so you’re left asking what it is they do, anyway. In this Twitter thread, though, people are sharing their biggest job interview blunders that you weren’t warned about, but are so ridiculous that you shouldn’t need to be (even if some of these people ended up getting the job!)
Others in the thread have had the misfortune of ending up with an interviewer that made them seriously reconsider applying for the position in the first place. Either way, these stories will make you feel better about the job interviews that weren’t your proudest moments and give you the courage to go to your next one knowing you can at least do better than this.
Image credits: harriepw
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If I can google it or find it on your website, I consider it public domain.
You might be disappointed to find that when you’re preparing for an interview, studying tips religiously won’t help you—HR experts say that interviewing an applicant goes much more smoothly if the interviewee is out of “oral exam mode” and can respond to questions naturally.
This might sound discouraging and impossible to prepare for, but they add that real confidence in an interview comes from having really studied the company where you’re applying and considered the challenges that they face, so you can put serious consideration behind your answers rather than just repeating them from memory.
The seasoned interviewers also stress that you have reason to be confident when you show up for a job interview. The employer is the one who called you in for an interview, after all, so unless you’re unlucky enough to end up with some of the sadist interviewers in this thread, they probably already have a good impression of you. So you can skip the pre-rehearsed jokes, and definitely leave out the liquid courage.
I went to only one job interview that involved a panel. I'll never do it again.
My friends son went to an interview at a pizza place. When he arrived, he was told it would be a few minutes as it was the lunch rush and the manager was back helping the kitchen get caught up on pizza orders. When the manager finally emerged, he asked my friend's son what he thought this job was about. The young man answered "It's about making pizza so that you, as a manager, can do your job without having to stop to make pizza." He got the job on the spot.
poor thing... he's not the only one to have said something dumb during his first interview.
I'd love for this to happen to me! Technical interviews are so difficult, especially when they time your answers/work.
Isn't this kinda standard questions in programming? About 90% of interviews I've been to have had some kind of programming test. And the worth of a unplanned program done in 30 minutes isn't really that big.
You should have gotten that job. I would have thought you were going to be honest and weren’t afraid of saying how you really feel about something. I know you didn’t realize what the product was, but they didn’t know that. Next time, give em a stare and say, “I said what I SAID.”
Mission accomplished. The company's mission, that is. 'We tried to hire women but they all declined.'
should have warned those ladies this guy sounds like a sexual offender (the filmmaker I mean)
Would have been the perfect answer for the local parks and rec department
So if you're excellent at your job but a cat-person you won't get hired?
Omg, how embarrassing. That happened to me as I was walking to the shops and stopped to chat to one of our neighbours. Eek
I would have said. "Well then it's a good thing I'm not your secretary because then you'd be broke from the enormous lawsuit you'd face for wrongful termination and sexual harassment." And I'd walk out.
Ugh, that is just petty and a complete waste of someone’s time.
I once had an interview with a young woman who appeared to be wearing full-on corpse paint. I wanted to hire her so badly, but she took a position with another newspaper before I could call her back. Her first year in the business, she won a state-wide journalism award for her writing.
Got hit by a lorry early in the morning, while stopped at a junction. Arm was broken but I still did an interview that afternoon. Sometimes shock stops you realising you need to stop.
Worked for a charity helping to research arthritis and support sufferers. You learn that a handshake is a p**s poor way to evaluate people when there are hundreds of thousands of people suffering with the problem. When your hands hurt the last thing you need is some damned fool thinking a handshake should be a test instead a civil way of greeting someone.
I would have said "You know I don't have to be working for you to file a sexual harassment lawsuit, right?"
Wow, lot of money being spent on such a low level job. Whoever was in charge of recruitment needed sacking. All the charities I worked for conducted equal opps interviews and were, bar one, very professional.
Those things are really confusing, windows are more or less infinitely better
Plan when there's a mass fatality incident: Bury them. There you are.
I mis-read that as "...everyone PEEING over me" and thought WTF? 😂🤣🤦♂️
Ex-driving instructor here. A lot of my colleagues told me real stories about young ladies offering services in trade for driving lessons. At that time a 1 hour lesson was €40.
Where the heck were you interviewed, in a bloody toilet cubicle?
Those... for me they fall in the section "ask stupid questions, you get stupid answers".
I had that happen too. I told them it was illegal for them to ask. I didn't get the job, but turned in the interviewer for asking the question. The company went belly up 3 years later.
Sounds less like an interview than five lazy asses trying to get you to complete their work assignments for free.
So what was your stance? I say stealing is different from forgetting to return them, as one is deliberate and the other is not.
Unpaid trial shifts? We have jobs here, you get paid for them and then you have (at least) one month 'probationary period', in which you can leave and be fired without notice or reason. We don't do trial runs for free. Silly thing.
So? To me it just shows that she knows very well to pick the right clothes for the job. 10/10 on clothing.
didn't actually get to an interview, but was in line with a classmate to sign up for an internship interview at a job fair and we starting chatting with the guy behind the table. he didn't like that we couldn't take a full semester off to work there full time (we were on scholarship and couldn't afford it), didn't like that we had no experience in that line of work (we were sophmores), and then said we wouldn't fit in there anyway. My classmate (tall lanky black man) and I (short fat first gen american woman) looked at each other and then at him and asked "Why's that?". Middle aged white guy behind the table says "well seriously, just look at you!". i crossed my name out, walked over to our adviser with my classmate, and watched as his boss tried to back pedal when my adviser told them to leave and that they wouldn't be welcomed back on campus.
I once witnessed the boss openly scolding an employee, right there in front of me, while waiting for the interview to start. Of course I didn't accept that position.
I witnessed a manager openly scolding and then firing an employee in front of guests at a restaurant. I contacted the corporate office as it was one of a chain and explained to them about how the other employees were embarrassed and apologetic to the guests for having witnessed it..especially since the manager was strutting around the restaurant with a smile on his face afterwards. I was contacted by their corporate rep who informed me the manager no longer worked there. When I returned to the restaurant, the fired employee was back. Turned out the manager had fired her because she broke up with him.
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Got early and their office was not even built. A IKEA furniture box was around and the guy told me" As you are waiting; can you built this cabinet? " Took me 20mn to assemble it. Guy came back and was impress as IKEA staff told him it should take more than 30 minutes for average person. Got hired, stayed 3 years, position was for manager.
Best job interview I ever had? I was asked, "Do you know how to do this job?" and I answered honestly, "Not yet," and got hired. Honesty. It works sometimes!
So true. I had a lot of training before I was allowed to interview applicants and it really annoys me that untrained fools are allowed decision making responsibility over hiring and firing. EDIT: I am not HR. HR didn't interview but made sure anyone managing staff knew how to do equal opportunities interviews, how to write Person Specifications and Job Descriptions. There is a skill to picking staff that can be taught. Just thinking that knowing the work in a department is sufficient is often erroneous. It pays to know how to recruit good staff.
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Was a senior recruiter years ago for a small recruiting firm. I was asked to sit in on interviews because the person they would be hiring would be trained by me. Company owned by 4 guys who were still in their University Frosh days (into their mid 30's), Alpha Male 1 says to the female interviewee, "How do you feel about a**l sex jokes in the office?'' She just sunk into the chair, I quit a few weeks later. (Alpha Male 1 and 2, I later found out, were sued for sexual harassment).
I might have said, "Why? Are you into a**l sex yourself?"
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Group interview for a supermarket which shall remain nameless. 8 interviewees, so the group task was split in half. Each group was given an item that they had to "sell" to the other group, which each member speaking for a minimum of two minutes. So, four people, eight minutes-ish to "sell" our given product. Easy, right? Not when the product you're given is clothes pegs. How the hell are you meant to talk for eight minutes in order to sell clothes pegs? Somehow we muddled through, but I tanked it in the one-on-one interview that came after, because not every interviewer is impressed with volunteering, despite what you're told.
Back in the days before Google Maps, I was going to an interview in a part of the county I'd never been in before. I accidentally rolled through a stop sign and got pulled over by a cop. I asked him for directions and he told me flat out "No." I finally get to the interview 5 minutes late and explained why. She rolled her eyes when I showed her the ticket. The interviewer says "The previous employee in this position got pregnant and never came back. Do you have any future plans on getting pregnant?" I looked right at her and said "You know it's illegal to ask me that question?" Needless to say, I didn't get the job, I got a $79 ticket instead, but I think I dodge a bullet by not getting the job. Oh..and I turned the interviewer in to her boss. I avoided that section of the county on future job searches. The company went under 3 years later.
Schadenfreude in the extreme. I just left my old job without notice in order to work for my partner's company and was feeling conflicted about it. I learned a few days later that they (Lucky's Market) were closing all but a few stores (including the one at which I worked), as well as filing for bankruptcy. I am not in the least bit surprised, given how they ran their business. Absolute garbage from the top down
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Why does Bored Panda post articles with 80-plus items and then by the end of the day repost them to 30-or-less items? What the f**k, Panda?
They only leave the highest voted posts. I am not sure of the algorithm involved, but I assume they do so to save on bandwidth, which is understandable. . You can always click the link to view the remaining posts
Load More Replies... My most recent job interview involved my interviewer/potential boss suddenly and violently vomiting. I totally rolled with it (she went home and I switched to another interviewer) and I ended up getting the job! It's been great so far, and she's feeling much better lol
I was interviewing for a janitorial job while waiting to get into school. One of the questions asked of me was: "If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?" I was nervous, of course and my only strategy was to be honest. "I want to be a train engineer" Looking very surprised, she asked me why. Answering honestly, I said "Because then I get to pull the whistle". I got the job.
As part of the interview process with one company, I had to take a written test. While I was in the side office completing the test, the man that had just been interviewing me and would have been my boss, calls an employee into his office and calls her a a "stupid b*tch" and several other choice names. Tells her she is too stupid to wipe her own a*s and to get the eff out because her replacement was in the other room. I quietly turned the test face down, grabbed my purse and left. When I got called by HR asking why I had left the interview, I told them everything that I had heard and that I didn't want to work there. They called me two weeks later asking me to come back in as that man was no longer with the company. I declined. I will not trade my self respect for a paycheck.
Not an interview story, but first day on the job story: Got a job at Dollar General Store and got criticized on my first day for not being a fast enough cashier.
Were you slow? Because a slow cashier can really ruin and jam things up....first day or not, move with purpose.
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Interview for some scam like salesman b******t. I know I lost the "job" when got to part of interview dumbasses wanted me to take notes and asked who comes to a interview without a notepad... effing everyone that's who
I do. I like to write down salary offers, benefits, start date, etc.
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My first interview ever. I was really keen to get a job, any job and applied for a receptionist post at a funeral home. The interview went extremely well up until the last question. Interviewer: Obviously, in the light on the type of business we are running here, you will occasionally see the bodies of the deceased. Will this be a problem for you? Me, extremely enthusiastically: Not at all. I love dead bodies. Horrified looks. Awkward silence. I didn't get the job, needless to say.
These are all funny! Best one I had was back in the mid 80's. I needed a job, and needed some clothes for a job. So the wife and I went shopping at Montgomery Ward. While there I stopped by the main office to see if there were any openings. They had the perfect opening, assistant group merchandiser. An office assistant came by and I asked her about the salary. Perfect. Just what I was looking for. Got an interview with the store manager a few days later. Older guy, mid-50's, smoking a cigar. Feet up on his desk. Interview was going ok, I was nervous. At one point he asked what I wanted, I looked at him and said "I want your job." He damn near swallowed that cigar. His feet came off the desk, he leaned forward and said "really?" Yes. I was hired the next day. Job lasted 5 years. During that time, I was promoted to Business Manager. Same as operations manager. The old guy passed away with lung cancer. I lost my interest in retail and moved on.
Interviewed for a sales job at an antiques store. First he explained that I would only be paid commission, no salary. Then he told me how his last assistant went back to her husband...eww.
I have lived in Japan for over a decade and the hiring process is so robotic and void of human personality. First, you have to write, in pen, your resume on a standardized format that is used throughout the entire country, for any job, absolutely no straying from the format to show individuality. You have to plaster a big photo of yourself on it, too. Then at interview they will ask you the most boring ass questions, example: I was interviewed for a video editor position and they asked me, "How do you upload?" ...uhm upload to social media? .."yes talk us through your uploading process." ...I drag and drop file and wait.......? That was the answer they were looking for. I was offered the job, but since getting it, I have quit because it was for TOKYO UN partnered with Olympics and they were giving their Japanese staff vaccines but would not give me one.
2 Job interviews that I attended 1) Interviewer did a group session of 8 applicants and set a task. The job was with a large builders merchants and he said "Using whatever resources you can get your hands on, make an accurate map of as much of the sales and storage areas as you can in 1 hour" I watched everyone run off and get tape measures and such and start measuring. One even got their hands on a theodolite! I went to the reception office and asked for a photo-copy of the site map on the wall. Took me 10 minutes to complete and I got the job. 2) I was at a Youth Training Scheme interview and was told that there was a mandatory Toga Party that we all had to attend. I asked if he was joking (I knew what one was and its basically an orgy) and he said no, he was serious. I reported him and the place was shut down 4 weeks later
My ages for each one 1) 19 years old 2)16 years old
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Cracked my molar tooth the night before interview that was scheduled to last 5 hours with a half-hour break for lunch in the middle (yep, 5 hours). Luckly family member worked for a dentist and was able to fit me in on an emergency appointment after the job interview and its only three blocks away from the interview. I arrive on time for the interview. Its a series of panel interviews that include advanced technical problem solving. I try not to slur any of my answers. The lunch portion was at a soup and sandwich place across the street. I did not each much. Halfway through the afternoon session, I conclude its not a job I am going to want. So, after 5 hour interview, I proceed to experience a two root canal. A week later I get a call offering me the job, but I turn it down.
I interviewed for a Colgate-Palmolive company I was already working at as a temp. Their interview style stressed me out and I cried during both interviews. They also said it was ok for me to come in my work clothes (jeans and a tshirt) when I wanted to wear nice clothes. I found out about a week later near the start of my day I didn’t get the job (glad I didn’t get it, the job went in a different direction than what it originally was). I didn’t even get an interview for a bank job. They called me 2 hours before it to say someone from the bank had to get the job after it’s been posted internally for a year. Turns out the branch she worked at had closed. I tried again for them for a teller position and never got a call for an interview. My boyfriend’s mom worked for them and she told me not to try anymore with them and that she was disappointed they didn’t interviewed me for that second job.
Probably had ring fenced candidates that come first if they fit the job spec.
Load More Replies... didn't actually get to an interview, but was in line with a classmate to sign up for an internship interview at a job fair and we starting chatting with the guy behind the table. he didn't like that we couldn't take a full semester off to work there full time (we were on scholarship and couldn't afford it), didn't like that we had no experience in that line of work (we were sophmores), and then said we wouldn't fit in there anyway. My classmate (tall lanky black man) and I (short fat first gen american woman) looked at each other and then at him and asked "Why's that?". Middle aged white guy behind the table says "well seriously, just look at you!". i crossed my name out, walked over to our adviser with my classmate, and watched as his boss tried to back pedal when my adviser told them to leave and that they wouldn't be welcomed back on campus.
I once witnessed the boss openly scolding an employee, right there in front of me, while waiting for the interview to start. Of course I didn't accept that position.
I witnessed a manager openly scolding and then firing an employee in front of guests at a restaurant. I contacted the corporate office as it was one of a chain and explained to them about how the other employees were embarrassed and apologetic to the guests for having witnessed it..especially since the manager was strutting around the restaurant with a smile on his face afterwards. I was contacted by their corporate rep who informed me the manager no longer worked there. When I returned to the restaurant, the fired employee was back. Turned out the manager had fired her because she broke up with him.
Load More Replies... Got early and their office was not even built. A IKEA furniture box was around and the guy told me" As you are waiting; can you built this cabinet? " Took me 20mn to assemble it. Guy came back and was impress as IKEA staff told him it should take more than 30 minutes for average person. Got hired, stayed 3 years, position was for manager.
Best job interview I ever had? I was asked, "Do you know how to do this job?" and I answered honestly, "Not yet," and got hired. Honesty. It works sometimes!
So true. I had a lot of training before I was allowed to interview applicants and it really annoys me that untrained fools are allowed decision making responsibility over hiring and firing. EDIT: I am not HR. HR didn't interview but made sure anyone managing staff knew how to do equal opportunities interviews, how to write Person Specifications and Job Descriptions. There is a skill to picking staff that can be taught. Just thinking that knowing the work in a department is sufficient is often erroneous. It pays to know how to recruit good staff.
Load More Replies... Was a senior recruiter years ago for a small recruiting firm. I was asked to sit in on interviews because the person they would be hiring would be trained by me. Company owned by 4 guys who were still in their University Frosh days (into their mid 30's), Alpha Male 1 says to the female interviewee, "How do you feel about a**l sex jokes in the office?'' She just sunk into the chair, I quit a few weeks later. (Alpha Male 1 and 2, I later found out, were sued for sexual harassment).
I might have said, "Why? Are you into a**l sex yourself?"
Load More Replies... Group interview for a supermarket which shall remain nameless. 8 interviewees, so the group task was split in half. Each group was given an item that they had to "sell" to the other group, which each member speaking for a minimum of two minutes. So, four people, eight minutes-ish to "sell" our given product. Easy, right? Not when the product you're given is clothes pegs. How the hell are you meant to talk for eight minutes in order to sell clothes pegs? Somehow we muddled through, but I tanked it in the one-on-one interview that came after, because not every interviewer is impressed with volunteering, despite what you're told.
Back in the days before Google Maps, I was going to an interview in a part of the county I'd never been in before. I accidentally rolled through a stop sign and got pulled over by a cop. I asked him for directions and he told me flat out "No." I finally get to the interview 5 minutes late and explained why. She rolled her eyes when I showed her the ticket. The interviewer says "The previous employee in this position got pregnant and never came back. Do you have any future plans on getting pregnant?" I looked right at her and said "You know it's illegal to ask me that question?" Needless to say, I didn't get the job, I got a $79 ticket instead, but I think I dodge a bullet by not getting the job. Oh..and I turned the interviewer in to her boss. I avoided that section of the county on future job searches. The company went under 3 years later.
Schadenfreude in the extreme. I just left my old job without notice in order to work for my partner's company and was feeling conflicted about it. I learned a few days later that they (Lucky's Market) were closing all but a few stores (including the one at which I worked), as well as filing for bankruptcy. I am not in the least bit surprised, given how they ran their business. Absolute garbage from the top down
Load More Replies... Why does Bored Panda post articles with 80-plus items and then by the end of the day repost them to 30-or-less items? What the f**k, Panda?
They only leave the highest voted posts. I am not sure of the algorithm involved, but I assume they do so to save on bandwidth, which is understandable. . You can always click the link to view the remaining posts
Load More Replies... My most recent job interview involved my interviewer/potential boss suddenly and violently vomiting. I totally rolled with it (she went home and I switched to another interviewer) and I ended up getting the job! It's been great so far, and she's feeling much better lol
I was interviewing for a janitorial job while waiting to get into school. One of the questions asked of me was: "If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?" I was nervous, of course and my only strategy was to be honest. "I want to be a train engineer" Looking very surprised, she asked me why. Answering honestly, I said "Because then I get to pull the whistle". I got the job.
As part of the interview process with one company, I had to take a written test. While I was in the side office completing the test, the man that had just been interviewing me and would have been my boss, calls an employee into his office and calls her a a "stupid b*tch" and several other choice names. Tells her she is too stupid to wipe her own a*s and to get the eff out because her replacement was in the other room. I quietly turned the test face down, grabbed my purse and left. When I got called by HR asking why I had left the interview, I told them everything that I had heard and that I didn't want to work there. They called me two weeks later asking me to come back in as that man was no longer with the company. I declined. I will not trade my self respect for a paycheck.
Not an interview story, but first day on the job story: Got a job at Dollar General Store and got criticized on my first day for not being a fast enough cashier.
Were you slow? Because a slow cashier can really ruin and jam things up....first day or not, move with purpose.
Load More Replies... Interview for some scam like salesman b******t. I know I lost the "job" when got to part of interview dumbasses wanted me to take notes and asked who comes to a interview without a notepad... effing everyone that's who
I do. I like to write down salary offers, benefits, start date, etc.
Load More Replies... My first interview ever. I was really keen to get a job, any job and applied for a receptionist post at a funeral home. The interview went extremely well up until the last question. Interviewer: Obviously, in the light on the type of business we are running here, you will occasionally see the bodies of the deceased. Will this be a problem for you? Me, extremely enthusiastically: Not at all. I love dead bodies. Horrified looks. Awkward silence. I didn't get the job, needless to say.
These are all funny! Best one I had was back in the mid 80's. I needed a job, and needed some clothes for a job. So the wife and I went shopping at Montgomery Ward. While there I stopped by the main office to see if there were any openings. They had the perfect opening, assistant group merchandiser. An office assistant came by and I asked her about the salary. Perfect. Just what I was looking for. Got an interview with the store manager a few days later. Older guy, mid-50's, smoking a cigar. Feet up on his desk. Interview was going ok, I was nervous. At one point he asked what I wanted, I looked at him and said "I want your job." He damn near swallowed that cigar. His feet came off the desk, he leaned forward and said "really?" Yes. I was hired the next day. Job lasted 5 years. During that time, I was promoted to Business Manager. Same as operations manager. The old guy passed away with lung cancer. I lost my interest in retail and moved on.
Interviewed for a sales job at an antiques store. First he explained that I would only be paid commission, no salary. Then he told me how his last assistant went back to her husband...eww.
I have lived in Japan for over a decade and the hiring process is so robotic and void of human personality. First, you have to write, in pen, your resume on a standardized format that is used throughout the entire country, for any job, absolutely no straying from the format to show individuality. You have to plaster a big photo of yourself on it, too. Then at interview they will ask you the most boring ass questions, example: I was interviewed for a video editor position and they asked me, "How do you upload?" ...uhm upload to social media? .."yes talk us through your uploading process." ...I drag and drop file and wait.......? That was the answer they were looking for. I was offered the job, but since getting it, I have quit because it was for TOKYO UN partnered with Olympics and they were giving their Japanese staff vaccines but would not give me one.
2 Job interviews that I attended 1) Interviewer did a group session of 8 applicants and set a task. The job was with a large builders merchants and he said "Using whatever resources you can get your hands on, make an accurate map of as much of the sales and storage areas as you can in 1 hour" I watched everyone run off and get tape measures and such and start measuring. One even got their hands on a theodolite! I went to the reception office and asked for a photo-copy of the site map on the wall. Took me 10 minutes to complete and I got the job. 2) I was at a Youth Training Scheme interview and was told that there was a mandatory Toga Party that we all had to attend. I asked if he was joking (I knew what one was and its basically an orgy) and he said no, he was serious. I reported him and the place was shut down 4 weeks later
My ages for each one 1) 19 years old 2)16 years old
Load More Replies... Cracked my molar tooth the night before interview that was scheduled to last 5 hours with a half-hour break for lunch in the middle (yep, 5 hours). Luckly family member worked for a dentist and was able to fit me in on an emergency appointment after the job interview and its only three blocks away from the interview. I arrive on time for the interview. Its a series of panel interviews that include advanced technical problem solving. I try not to slur any of my answers. The lunch portion was at a soup and sandwich place across the street. I did not each much. Halfway through the afternoon session, I conclude its not a job I am going to want. So, after 5 hour interview, I proceed to experience a two root canal. A week later I get a call offering me the job, but I turn it down.
I interviewed for a Colgate-Palmolive company I was already working at as a temp. Their interview style stressed me out and I cried during both interviews. They also said it was ok for me to come in my work clothes (jeans and a tshirt) when I wanted to wear nice clothes. I found out about a week later near the start of my day I didn’t get the job (glad I didn’t get it, the job went in a different direction than what it originally was). I didn’t even get an interview for a bank job. They called me 2 hours before it to say someone from the bank had to get the job after it’s been posted internally for a year. Turns out the branch she worked at had closed. I tried again for them for a teller position and never got a call for an interview. My boyfriend’s mom worked for them and she told me not to try anymore with them and that she was disappointed they didn’t interviewed me for that second job.
Probably had ring fenced candidates that come first if they fit the job spec.
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