mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
Back in college, I secured an interview with Bates, a large and storied and now-defunct advertising agency with headquarters in New York. I drove 530 miles for this interview, rehearsing while cruising up I-95. During the meeting, I asked a question about the Bates Rising Stars Program, an effort to prove I really had done my research. Or at least glanced at their website.
“Uh, yeah, I wasn’t accepted,” my interviewer told me. “But I know what I need to work on. Next year.” Clearly my candidacy was a high priority. He went on to say they weren’t really planning on hiring entry-level people. I couldn’t believe I’d wasted two tanks of gas for this.
That gets my vote as my worst interview experience, but at least no laws were broken. You’ve got to be careful when it comes to what you ask. The following are illegal interview questions:
• “Is it Mrs., Miss, or Ms.?”
• “What’s your maiden name?”
• “Can I see your birth certificate?” (NOTE: This is kosher after you’ve been hired.)
• “Could you have your church officials send over a recommendation?” (OK, not all of these are surprising.)
• “Do you have children?”
• “So, you’re no longer in the military. What gives?”
• “It says here you speak Spanish. Where’d you pick that up?”
• “No convictions. But how about arrests?”
• “Can I take your picture?”
Anyone have any good/horrible/surreal interview stories? What’s the craziest thing you’ve been asked?
My first job after graduating college with a degree in Elem. Educ. was at a wallpaper warehouse. I need a job and that was the best I could do.
There was no “interview” but the manager did ask if I minded all the pics of nude women that had been posted all around the warehouse. Specifically, he asked “do the tits staring at you all day bother you?”
But the question that drives me crazy after awhile is the “What would you do if…”. I have been tempted to say that I would scream, crap my pants and hide under the desk.
posted by Sheldon Siegel on 2-12-2007 at 9:51 am
The worst job interview I’ve had (so far) was when I applied for a tech company in Florida. The company was very small and I had my second interview immediately after my first screening interview. The company’s VP conducted my second interview and asked me the following questions over the course of the 25-minutes:
-”Are you a vegetarian?” (I told her no) “Oh, good. You know how difficult they make things.”
-”Are you married? Kids?”
-”Do you have any health conditions?”
-”Well, obviously you’re a nonsmoker.”
(at the time I wasn’t and I asked her why she assumed that)
“Well, you don’t smell like smoke.”
(I told her I was, in fact, a smoker)
“Well you don’t look like a heavy smoker then.”
-
posted by Sass on 2-12-2007 at 10:02 am
I have had my share of nightmare interviews. Being a female engineer specializing in manufacturing production systems has not been easy in that regard. My weirdest interview was the one with a small aircraft part supplier where the VP asked me one of those “What would you do…” questions and I answered with a textbook answer and he looked at me and asked, “No, what would you DO?” This went on for 10 minutes. I also have had one interviewer tell me to be hired I would have to promise not to transfer out of the department for 5 years. Oh, and one job I did take and worked for 5.5 years was one where in the interview I was asked how I felt about working with immigrants and ex-cons. I can now say with certainty that they are some of the best people to work with. :)
posted by Michelle on 2-12-2007 at 10:22 am
I interviewed to work as an usher for an NFL team one time and the interviewer asked if I had any experience in alcohol management. I knew that was the PC term for something but I wasn’t sure what. So I answered yes, I was in a fraternity in college. That must have been the right answer because they hired me. I ended up working in the end zone, think cheap seats, getting constantly pelted with hot dog wrapers and empty beer cans.
posted by Dan on 2-12-2007 at 10:38 am
Back in the early 70’s I was interviewing for a job where I would be ‘managing newspaper delivery people’ (i.e. delivering stacks of newspapers to 12 year boys at 05:30 am every day). Because I was a married twenty-something woman the interviewer asked me what form of birth control I was using (I kid you not - women really were asked these questions back then). Worst job I ever had!
posted by Jane Martin on 2-12-2007 at 11:30 am
In the 80s, I was married to another radio announcer. We moved to a new city for his job. At every job I applied for, they wanted to know what my husband did for a living, except for one interviewer, who already knew. He said he couldn’t hire me because he was afraid my husband would be fired and I would move again.
posted by Miss Cellania on 2-12-2007 at 11:39 am
I’ve been on both sides of this table, and can say that some questions that may seem stupid (not the illegal ones like how old are you, etc..) Actually have a point behind them. Usually the interviewer is trying to get you to reveal your REAL personality and not your interview personality.
With that said, the worst question I was ever asked, I got asked while applying for a Software Engineer job with an insurance company, and the intervewer asked “Why do they make man holes round?”
I think this comes from some stupid interviewing for dummies book or something. I said some smart remark back that I’ve long forgotten, which probably reveals something about my personality.
posted by Scott on 2-12-2007 at 11:43 am
Actually Scott, the reason you were asked that particular question was to figure out your critical reasoning skills. The correct answer to that one would be, because if they were square they could be angled in such a way that they could fall into the hole, the circles can’t.
posted by Billy on 2-12-2007 at 11:55 am
The correct answer:
Q: “Why do they make man holes round?”
A: Because man hole covers are round.
posted by Ryan on 2-12-2007 at 12:26 pm
Two interviews come to mind…
1. On my FOURTH interview for a company that makes corrugated pipe (who knew they were that particular?!) they flew me to Indianapolis and took me to their drab little office. The guy asked me the three things that were most important to me, then took a call and when he was back, I had my answers. Needless to say, he told me that I was wrong. Thank God I didn’t get the job.
2. Still trying to get a job in construction, I interview in Chicago for a General Contractor. A guy asks me how I would make sure that a ceiling tile installer is meeting his productivity requirements in a huge room. Of the brilliant answers I gave him in terms of keeping track of their stock or taking photos, etc…they were all wrong. Apparently the answer of “counting tiles” was the right one.
pshaw! Another job I’m glad I didn’t get!
posted by Stephen on 2-12-2007 at 1:04 pm
Great stuff, everybody. Keep ‘em coming.
On the other side of the table, the worst answer I’ve ever heard came in response to my hardball “what do you like to do for fun?” query.
“Impress clients.”
posted by Jason on 2-12-2007 at 1:16 pm
I haven’t had many interviews (I’ve been out of college for less than 2 years) but out of the few that I’ve had I can say that the interviewer for the company I currently work for (talk about NEEDING a job) was the worse. He asked how old I was, if I had any convictions, had ever gone through a polygraph test, if I smoked (weed or cigarrettes), if I went to the gym, what clubs I went to, if I lived with my parents, what kind of alcohol I drank (beer, wine or liquor?) if I was married, divorced, if I had a fiance, a boyfriend or “someone interested” in me and the kicker “so you don’t even have someone interested in you, what’s wrong with you?” Yeah, I’m looking for a new job…
posted by Deborah on 2-12-2007 at 1:18 pm
I know this is from the other side of the table, but when I interviewed people for a physician recruiting position, I would ask (in the middle of all of the b.s. questions) “So….what is the square root of 16?” You would be surprised at how many people balked at that question!
posted by Tommy Mitchell on 2-12-2007 at 1:22 pm
I contacted a headhunter (recruiter) to get a job in computer programming. He scheduled a phone interview so he could survey my programming skills and one of the first questions he asked was “How are your de-buzhing skills?” - that’s “zh” as in “Zhivago”.
I said “My what?”
He repeated the question.
I said, “Oh, my DEBUGGING skills!”
I immediately thought two things:
1) My debugging skills must be good, because I figured out what he was trying to ask.
2) I’m not going to get a good job through this guy.
I had images of him calling a company - “Yo, we gots you a fust rate pogrommer. Ya wants ax ‘im fer an interview?”
posted by telemath on 2-12-2007 at 1:49 pm
Q: If it were to rain music, what would grow?
posted by Gina on 2-12-2007 at 2:00 pm
As a male primary teacher I am used to people acting a little surprised. I mean what’s a 6 foot tall 250 lbs man doing teaching 6 year olds. Needless to say I was more than a little surprised when asked by a pricipal who was interviewing me “How do you feel taking a position normally occupied by a woman?”
Dumbfounded I rambled out some unremembered response. Needless to say I did get the job (and have managed to mantain my masculinity).
posted by James on 2-12-2007 at 3:17 pm
@james: I was once seated next to a woman in her 60’s on a plane. she had been a primary school teacher and when she first applied for her job they asked her what her husband thought about her applying for a job outside the home. she replied “I’ll let you know when I meet him.”
at most interviews you get asked “what was your greatest work-related accomplishment/experience?” I have the best (real) answer ever. “Helping a 12 year old with cerebral palsy take his first steps, into his mothers arms.” (I used to volunteer at a horse-therapy program)
the interviewers always seem blown away.
posted by moonablaze on 2-12-2007 at 4:46 pm
I’ve only had a handful of interviews myself and I was seeking better employment at this company. I had an interview, I work 3rd shift so I made the appointment for morning and stayed up after my shift to go. I got there on time (probably a little early) and waited to be interviewed. After about 30 minutes of waiting, I’m told that the person interviewing me had ran to the store to pick up a cake because it was someone’s birthday.
While it’s great to know they celebrate birthdays, I would much rather work for a company that was punctual, needless to say, I didn’t stay and wait.
posted by Aimee on 2-12-2007 at 9:31 pm
Holy s**t. All these are highly entertaining. But “If it were to rain music, what would grow?” is the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.
I can’t wait for my next interview.
posted by Jason on 2-12-2007 at 10:10 pm
I have a friend who, in the 1980’s, interviewed with a large European pharmaceutical company for a research chemist position. She had a PhD, years of experience and exceptional references. She made it through all of the rounds of interviews and was told she would be employed if she returned with her certificate.
What certificate? the certificate they wanted was not citizenship, not right to work, not even proof of her educational credentials.
What they wanted a certificate of STERILIZATION to prove she couldn’t/wouldn’t have children and go on maternity leave. This practice, while highly illegal, was common in Europe in the 70s and 80s.
She did not take the position.
posted by Ben on 2-13-2007 at 8:22 am
I think if the question, “If it were raining music what would you grow?” I might respond, “I can’t lye hear, I would grow harmony.” You can now (up)beat me with an accord(ion).
posted by fred on 2-13-2007 at 10:07 am
I can’t remember the exact term I was asking but the interview went something like this:
Me: Can you tell me what is?
Interviewee: (after a bit) Not really.
Me: Ok. Next question. How would you go about solving ?
Interviewee: I would use .
We didn’t hire them.
posted by Chris on 7-13-2007 at 8:57 am
Chris:
To be fair, the interviewee answered and incomplete question with and incomplete sentence. (You omitted the sentence’s object and so did he/she).
posted by n2y2 on 7-13-2007 at 10:02 am
n2y2- chris couldn’t remember the word, if you read the first line. But I still don’t get it.
posted by ac on 7-13-2007 at 10:31 am
Q: If it were to rain music, what would grow?
A:Purple
posted by Eric G. on 7-16-2007 at 1:27 pm
I swear this is true. Hand to God and on the soul of my sainted mother. In 1970, I was interviewing for a teacher’s job and the principal of the school looked at me and said ” You ever teach any n***ers?” I was so shocked, I couldn’t answer.
posted by rose wilson on 7-22-2007 at 1:37 pm
I recently interviewed for a in house design job and it was going perfectly until the lady told me that the last two designers left because they got pregnant and at the end of the maternity leave decided to stay home. (good for them two less people to compete with for jobs)
She said everyone in the office thinks the chair was jinxed and paused. I smiled and asked if I could get a new chair if I came into the office. I think they hired a man instead.
posted by ange on 9-13-2007 at 7:05 pm
I was applying for an exchange student program. They wanted to make sure that students accepted could handle being in uncomfortable situations, so they had a group of seven interviewers asking me ridiculous questions meant to completely rattle me. They asked if they could send me to Russia, and I said, well, it really wasn’t my first choice and I didn’t want to go there. Then they asked me if I was merely being xenophobic. I said that it was nothing against Russia; Russia just wasn’t my major area of study and there were other places I’d rather go first.
They also asked me what I’d do if I found myself on an elevator with a man who started molesting me. Seriously. I gave about fifteen different exit strategies before one of the interviewers said, “Actually, the answer we were looking for was don’t get on an elevator if there’s a guy already in it, and you two are the only people riding it.”
I got into the program, but believe me, nothing I experienced in the country I ended up in was anything like that experience.
posted by Al on 11-30-2007 at 12:03 pm
A few years ago I considered switching careers from engineering to financial services and was able to arrange an interview with a large financial services company through a friend. They were open to quantitative people with a range of backgrounds, and said previous financial services experience was not a requirement, so I felt I had some realistic chance of landing an analyst job.
I interviewed with three managers, the first of whom was very nice and very forthcoming about the group I was interviewing with, it’s strengths and weaknesses, etc. We spoke for about half an hour - so far, so good.
The second manager could not have been more different from the first. I was “dropped off” in his office while he was in a meeting. After about 10 minutes he entered, didn’t say hello, didn’t introduce himself, just sat down, picked up my resume, started grilling me with questions (never making eye contact) and then basically proceeded to tell me how dumb I was for not knowing enough about financial services, even though I tried to tell him that their job ad said that they were taking people from other backgrounds, as long as they could handle the math. He ignored my protests and then proceeded to draw a bell curve on his whiteboard to drive home how unqualified I was relative to the type of people they usually hire. (I think I was in about the 30th percentile.)
He then offered his “advice” that I go to the last manager I was supposed to meet with and ask that mgr. if I could go home and come back some other time, since in this mgr’s eyes I was so unprepared and so incompetent. I was so stunned and embarrassed by the way I was being treated that I gave up all hope of getting a job and declined this manager’s advice and met with the last mgr for about 20 minutes, basically in shell shock from the previous mgr. I just wanted to get things over with and get out of there.
I left in a daze and didn’t hear from them again. The kicker was that when I got home I got an email from another company I had interviewed with telling me that THEY were not going to offer me a job. So I struck out twice within about an hour!
posted by Mike on 11-30-2007 at 2:29 pm