Horrific Interview Stories

 Horrific Interview Stories

Although it is often one of the most crucial parts of a job search, sometimes it can all go wrong. We’ve asked recruiters and job seekers for their most horrific interview stories. The only thing to take away from this is to act the opposite of these people in all your interviews!

The Womaniser

So my colleague and I were doing an interview with a guy who had some great experience and seemed like a really good candidate. He looked a bit nervous in the beginning but he was doing really well and we really liked him until we asked one question: What personal skills would you like to improve during this internship? He simply replied he couldn’t think of any skill he could improve in. We asked him again, telling him that everybody has something to improve or work on and he told us: I really don’t have one. Trying once more, he told us: “Yes, I guess I can get a girlfriend.” We were shocked, but we had to continue with the interview, so we told him “This is not a personal skill” and he replied “Well… she could teach me some…”. Needless to say, he did not get the job.

 

The Repeat Offender

I had scheduled an interview with a guy. The receptionist called me saying that the guy had arrived, but that she first had to speak to me. When we spoke, she told me that the candidate had already been in the office before with more than one of my colleagues. She told me that I should be careful because the last time he came, he went totally crazy because he didn’t get the job. I entered the room and the candidate seemed terrified. He was a bit weird, and his communication skills were very poor. I had to discard him, but luckily he didn’t freak out on me!

TMI

So I went for an interview around 2 months ago, I was sat waiting and could hear how lovely they were, really chatty with the interviewee before me… However, as I was called in, the manager turned round and said “God she’s a no; she was so boring!” 

As I sat down she was talking about how knackered she was. She then went onto the topic of her boyfriend and proceeded to tell me about her ex in way more detail than was necessary.. to which I nervously laughed. I don’t even remember how she got on to the conversation, I was just trying to not laugh. They went on to tell me very little about the job role, instead they told me about all the perks of the job… If you need to leave early you can, we cover for each other if we’re in on the lie – it’s fine! You can go get your eyebrows done whenever if you just tell us, we will cover for you. Amongst many other inappropriate comments, the interviewer told me that outside of work she likes to dabble in illegal substances.

They even started telling me how much they didn’t like the lady from upstairs, and began to make fun of her facial hair. Unfortunately this poor lady at that moment walked into the room. I was mortified, they began laughing and whispering so she couldn’t hear. 

Most interestingly in all of this, it was an interview for a charity. It’s safe to say I didn’t take the position.

Mummy’s girl

It’s not totally unheard of that someone turns up to an interview with their parent. This is especially true when they’re only just entering the workforce. These usually do however, make for great horrific interview stories. However, there was one particular instance where someone’s Mother insisted on entering the interview room with her daughter. She wouldn’t take no for an answer until I finally told her that I wouldn’t conduct the interview whatsoever if she was in the room. She got very huffy about it but agreed. The girl was a great candidate and we ended up hiring her – we didn’t see her mum again!

The Phantom Position

The interview started with logic tests, in which I performed well. He said he was impressed and that I am obviously very smart. And that’s why he was so confused to see that I have such a bad resumé. Because I didn’t have at least 3 years working for the same company – 2 is not enough, so I would never be hired. And he actually didn’t have a position available, the one I applied for was already closed. He could maybe come up with a position with very low pay where I’d be learning for at least 3 years until I could get a chance on a full time job.
What I learned from that was that I should’ve ended the interview a lot sooner. Instead of waiting for him to finish talking, I should’ve said: Since the position is already closed, and I can see this company doesn’t fit my values or expectations, I’ll be leaving now.

Have you got any horrific interview stories? We want to hear about them in the comments below!

Europe Language Café

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