Do you have any job interview horror stories?

Question

I'm giving a presentation on the subject and would like to quote your bad experiences as interviewer or interviewee. Thanks!

Answer 1

I walked out on an interview because the interviewer explained a job to me that was totally different than the appt setter said it was. You should do a search on dumb interview questions. I have had my share of those.

Answer 2

I received aletter inviting me to a job interview but the address on the letter was wrong so I had to phone and ask the correct address but I only had about 3 minutes to get there or I would be late.. When I eventually got to there the lift was out of order and I had to walk up 12 flights of stairs and when I got in to the interview room the strap on my handbag snapped.. Part of the interview was to deliver a presentation and a couple of minutes into it my mind went completely blank.. I totally forgot what i was going to say so I asked if I could start again but the interview panel said no.. It was the worst interview and I was convinced I didn't get the job.... but I did!!

Answer 3

gosh don't know where to start....had terrible interview recently...waffled on about fires in buckets and that being devastating... it wasn't a job with the fire brigade either. Couldn't answer the questions relevant to the job and I'd bin doing it for 6 yrs (it was redeployment). Had to say i didn't understand about new policy and to be frank I hadn't heard about it. Looked and sounded like a total fool. When I looked around at the interviewers I wanted to laugh because their faces said everything they were in total shocked I remember saying well that was disastrous and watching them all slowly nod. Total hysteria then engulfed me as when i left the interview room I had to hold myself up with the wall as I laughed uncontrollably, I know they heard me. I was ashamed and embarrassed at my performance and later in the month actively sought out each interviewer to apologise for my obvious lack of appropriate preparation and research (although I thought I had prepared and had done well in the post for 6yrs) It took them over 2 weeks to come back with the decision and now when I see them in the boardroom I find it extremely difficult not to blush! I had to do a presentation to a group last week and two of these interviewers were present so that wasn't a place I wanted to be. It was a steep learning curve for me when the realisation dawned that I had looked and acted like an idiot and I needed to up the anti. All I can say was I wouldn't have employed me in that position on that interview.

Answer 4

One guy we interviewed had really good qualifications and was earning well below the 'going rate' .. so we offered him the job.

He replied "I will need to work from home Monday/Tuesday every week so I can be with my kids" ...

Well after a bit of dicusssion we found his wife was a GP and did evening visits Mon/Tues so couldn't pick up the kids from school - so we offered him working from home Monday / Tuesday afternoon.. his response was "If I have to come into work Monday & Tuesday morning I will need Friday off instead"

This told us all we needed to know about what he meant by "working from home" - in effect he was doing a part time job at his existing place (which explained the low salary ) ... needless to say we didn't respond ..


Another time we were interviewing for Dept. Secretary. One young candidate seemed fine right up to the point when asked 'do you have any questions'.

She replied "Will it be OK to start at lunch time on Mondays ? ... only I go to the disco every Sunday with my mates and we never get back home untill 5am so there is no way I can get in to work early"

Answer 5

I found a job that I thought I was the right fit on Caljobs, the interviewer called me up telling me that he was interested in interviewing me. However, I never showed up to the interview because he mumbled the street address. I even called for the spelling of the street and he still said the same thing . So, that is strange of him giving me a call and not giving me the RIGHT street.

Answer 6

As interviewer - I had one chap turn up 3 hours late - he managed one phone call which revealed he was on a bus heading in the opposite direction.
When he turned up (at lunch time) I agreed to interview him but after I had eaten (having interviewed 2 other people that day already). He then hounded me to the sandwich shop - walking backwards in front of me & telling me how marvellous he was.
When we finally got to the interview, despite him having wound me up very tightly I endeavoured to be completely fair. But it quickly became obvious he knew absolutely nothing about the field! He then complained to his agency that he should be given a second interview by someone else as I was obviously poisoned against him!

Being interviewed - I went to one interview where on meeting the interviewer my hackles went up, so did his - I was out of the door within 5 minutes! NO idea why - just completely hated each other immediately!

Answer 7

Wow - there are quite a few horror interview stories from the other posters!

A few years back I applied for a job in town where you had to go door to door selling coupons, kitchen gadgets, whatever. When I arrived at the site for the interview, they had asked if I had several hours that I could spend with one of their sales reps to show me really what the job would be doing. Of course I was dressed appropriately, but it was stupid of me to say yes. We did so much freakin' walking that day, I came home very sore and with blisters on my feet. Not only that, I was still living at home and my mom was panicing because I hadnt been home from my interview just yet. She sent my future brother in law and his father to find me, only to find out that I had just left to go home.

Be on the lookout for jobs like this. You definitely do not need to go banging on the doors selling this and that for a paycheck. Its definitely not worth it.

Oh - I have one more. I recently went to a job interview where I told the receptionist my name and who I was meeting with. She had phoned the HR person to tell her that I was there. Not only did the receptionist forget my name, the person on the other end asked me why I was there (for an interview, duh!) and who I was meeting with (duh! again), and which position I was interviewing for. I felt like they werent expecting me and I shouldnt have been there. (Luckily for me, the interview went great given there were a few mishaps at the beginning!)

Answer 8

i sneezed and spluttered phlegm on my interviewers face!