Comments (26)

1. A former co-worker had an interviewee drop a bag of weed out of his jacket pocket. The applicant looked up at my friend and said, “Interview’s over?” My friend said, though I doubt he was this pithy at the time, “That would be a correct assumption.”

   posted by Mike on 7-13-2007 at 7:28 am

2. I once interviewed a young guy for a position and he probably would have gotten it had he not nearly dislocated my shoulder when he shook my hand. Since we work with public officials we opted to NOT hire him since we worried he would injure a legislator! He has since come to be known around our office as “hard-handshake-guy” sort of catchy.

   posted by bl on 7-13-2007 at 10:56 am

3. An acquaintance of mine, out of work for over a year, pestered me every week for a job interview. It was really uncomfortable; he would just blurt out, “I am going to have to file bankruptcy unless you find me a job.” I didn’t want to work with him because I knew he wouldn’t do much at all.

   Eventually, I caved and made the arrangements against my better judgment. I warned the interviewers that they shouldn’t consider my relationship with him an endorsement and that he was likely not a good candidate. I shouldn’t have bothered.

   I did not participate, but the interviews told me what happened. He showed up 25 minutes late. He wore a faded T-shirt and tattered jeans with a baseball cap (the job is white collar). He kept making an effort to be incompetent. For instance: Q:”How do you keep up on developments in the industry?” A:”I don’t like to learn new things.” Q:”What makes you qualified for this job?” A:”This job doesn’t really interest me.” This went on for 20 minutes. I have no idea why it lasted that long.

   I never really spoke to the guy again. I was too upset with him to even ask why he did that. His unemployment had long run out, so it completely baffles me why he would want an interview he intended to sabotage.

   posted by n2y2 on 7-13-2007 at 10:59 am

4. My worst ever interview was for a sales position with a large coffee supplier in Scotland. My first shock of the day came when I was ushered into the interview room to be met by a panel of ten people. I managed to keep my nerves under control and breezed my way through the interview, apparently impressing the interviewees, until that is the one question which surprisingly I hadnt actually anticipated “Why should we give you the job?” (in my defense I hadnt had an interview for more than ten years). I fell apart at the seams and mumbled and stuttered my way through some incoherent garbage before commiting interview Hari-kari by ending with “I dont know!” I didnt get the job.
   To add insult to injury, the sales director came into the hotel where I was working a month later with the successful candidate ( I was way better than him!) and told me that I had the job in the bag until the end of the interview when I just went to pieces. He said he felt so embarrassed by what he had witnessed it still makes him squirm. So now the first question I alway prepare for when I have an interview is – Why should we employ you?

   posted by Grazza on 7-13-2007 at 11:03 am

5. At one interview when the candidate was asked the obligatory “What makes you the best candidate for this job?” question, his answer was quite honest, but rather unexpected.

   He said, “Now to think that I am better than the other people you have interviewed for this position would be a little presumptuous of me. I don’t even know who else you’ve interviewed.”

   posted by Jud on 7-13-2007 at 11:12 am

6. Being interviewed for a PC support position, I was asked, “Why are manhole covers round?” (He was serious!)

   I did not know the answer then. I do now. Ponder.

   I didn’t get the position.

   posted by wizardboy on 7-13-2007 at 11:27 am

7. Because manholes are round.

   posted by jay on 7-13-2007 at 1:15 pm

8. In my first “big” interview in the communication field about 12 years ago, I was asked what I saw myself doing in five years. I nervously blurted out that I’d like to be in a creative leadership position at an advertising agency. I was interviewing with an electric utility. I got the job, but the company’s in a very rural area, so I think a lack of other suitable candidates might have contributed to my being selected.

   posted by Melissa on 7-13-2007 at 2:09 pm

9. I taught in a business school, instructing a class on basic career skill development. I had to quickly force myself to get over the fact that none of the incoming freshmen knew anything about resumes or interview etiquette (because they were just never taught it!!!), but I was unable to put up with the smarmy, self-assured BS that some of them tried to pass off on me.

   One young man fought me all the way through the resume assignment, because he was an “entrepreneur” and would NEVER have to turn in a resume to ANYONE.

   Another one showed up to a mock interview in courderoy pants with frayed cuffs, a wrinkled polo shirt, a two-foot braided hemp keychain sticking out of his pocket, bloodshot eyes, and enough pot-smoke aroma to give anyone in the room a contact high… and was surprised that he failed the assignment.

   One young woman showed up for a mock interview wearing just a lacy camisole, a frilly skirt that came about eight inches above her knees when she stood, and sparkly flip-flops. She, too, was shocked and dismayed that I refused to accept that as appropriate business attire. (”But they show it on the Old Navy commercials!”)

   *headdesk*

   posted by Mel on 7-13-2007 at 2:54 pm

10. My prospective boss interviewed me for forty-five minutes. The last question she asked was “If you could be a tree, what kind of tree would you be?” Seriously. Once I established that she was serious, I answered “bamboo” because it is a quickly renewable resource, though I acknowledged that its classification as a tree could be debated. I asked her later what the hell she was thinking to ask such a hideous question… and she said the answer didn’t really matter, my reaction did. We have a very sarcastic working environment, and she wanted to hire someone who didn’t take themselves too seriously but could think up and present an educated response on demand without any prep.

    I got the job because though I openly ridiculed the question to her face during the interview, I was able to pull myself together and answer the damn question satisfactorily.

    posted by Cheryl on 7-13-2007 at 2:55 pm

11. Manhole covers are ROUND because they won’t fall down into the tunnel…if you put a square cover on a long tunnel that goes under the city, you can bet that some jerk kids will find a way to throw it down there (and probably fall down after it)…

    posted by donner on 7-13-2007 at 3:01 pm

12. My most awkward interview ever was with my current boss. The first interview involved her asking me, maybe, 5 questions total and then spending the next 45 minutes talking about the company. I left there unable to tell if I had a good interview or not. About two weeks later, after I had moved on with my search thinking that I had blown the interview somehow, I got a call back for a second interview. I don’t think she asked a single question (that I can remember anyway) in the second interview, but somehow I got the job.

    posted by Ssquach on 7-13-2007 at 4:58 pm

13. I once interviewed for a supervisory job where the ceo had hijacked the selection process because the department manager had been taking too long. He started off by putting a tape recorder on the desk between us & hitting record, saying he liked to keep a record of what is said in an interview.

    He then went on to challenge me on everything I said and everything on my resume, assuming it was nothing but lies. Had me so flustered I could hardly answer some of the questions. Finally, he asked me something — don’t remember what — but I drew a blank & sat there looking at him. He just looked back and waited for what seemed an eternity. Finally I stood up, said something like, “I think this interview is over. Even if you offered me a job I wouldn’t want to work for an a$$h0le like you.” I picked up the tape recorder, popped the tape out pulled several feet of tape out & snapped it off.

    I thought the jerk was going to have an aneurism right there in front of me; turned red in the face, screaming at me as I calmly (on the outside) walked out the door. I’m surprised he didn’t assault me on my way out, the way he carried on.

    I still have anxious dreams about that one.

    posted by Dave on 7-13-2007 at 5:17 pm

14. One inteview I had was with a tech firm. I had just graduated with honors with a BS in Chemistry, a minor in both Physics and Math as well as being a starting lineman on the football team.
    The guy interviewing me asked me the “why should I hire you” question. I answered “can you give me a reason why you shouldn’t?” He proceeded to tell me how football players were “stupid”, science majors were “dorks” and how he would never hire a “stupid dork.”
    Here I am eight years later and guess who I just interviewed for a position? Yep, the stupid dork hater. He didn’t remember me until we were 15 minutes into the interview. I could see the light bulb pop on in his skull when I asked him why I should hire him.

    posted by Marvin on 7-13-2007 at 10:10 pm

15. In high school I worked for a certain well-known family restaurant which features an oversize statue of a portly lad in overalls. “Do you smoke?” was one of the questions on the written application.
    I suspect that was their way of controlling the acrid cloud emanating from the smoking lounge/break room. It was somewhat larger than an average closet, and located only a few feet from the kitchen for convenience.
    Another wonderful high school job was with a national rotisserie chicken quasi-fast food restaurant. One of the standard interview questions was “If you are preparing an order and a piece of chicken falls on the floor, what should you do?” (or something to that effect). I gave the obvious answer and promptly joined the land of the employed. A friend of mine, however, responded that he would pick the chicken up, brush it off, and serve it to the customer.
    He was not offered a position.

    posted by El Tigre on 7-14-2007 at 5:51 am

16. My son, recently graduated from high school, went job hunting and filled out the computer form at a well known national retailer. One of the multiple choice questions was something like, “Do you use drugs?” The only choices were, “much less than other people, less than other people, the same as other people, more than other people, much more than other people.”. There was no choice for the answer, “No”!

    posted by Valmom on 7-14-2007 at 11:29 am

17. I applied (and interviewed) at a manufacturing company my brother had been working at for years: apparently, they were bleeding for staff, but the PR guy only hired one person a month or so, which was barely enough to match attrition, never mind adding a third shift!

    Two weeks later, I had to call back to find out what was going on, and he provided me with my most interesting excuse for not being hired: I might get a job writing full time and leave the plant.

    Bwa?

    posted by Thursday on 7-15-2007 at 8:31 pm

18. After I got out of the Army I decided to get a job in security. One of the places I interviewed for was for a corporate airplane hangar. After getting asked the regular barrage of questions he proceeded to give me a tour of the entire (security sensitive) facility as well as introduce me to all the other employees. Naturally I assumed he was going to offer me the job or why go through all this trouble.

    A few days later he calls to tell me he give the job to someone “more qualified”. He has since left the company. 2 years later I got the job there and find out the “more qualified” person was just a personal friend of his. Apparently he conducted all his interviews that way. I wonder how many people thought they had the job. . .

    posted by Confused on 7-16-2007 at 12:07 am

19. Mine wasn’t exactly aweful but it was awkward!

    My father offered me a job at his company, but he’d just hired a new GM who wanted to interview me first. After being reassured by my father that my qualifications were perfect and I would get the job – and then being grilled my the new GM (who I wasn’t a fan of) it was weird. He knew I had the job but felt it was necessary to put me through the “bad cop” test.

    I got the feeling at the end that had it been his decision, he wouldn’t have put me on… but he get fired not long after! I won.

    posted by Ashe on 7-16-2007 at 1:03 am

20. How’s this for dumb? Just out of high school my mom insisted on writing my application and insisted on putting “Non smoker” at the bottom. It was a job in a warehouse for an industrial saw company. The interview seemed to go O.K. until the interviewer excused himself and made me sit there for about 20 minutes. He came back in with a cigarette, blew smoke in my face and said something to the effect of “Don’t call us we’ll call you.”

    posted by Tdave on 7-16-2007 at 1:39 am

21. I was interviewing for my own replacement at a manufacturing consulting company. The position was part-time requiring basic skills in engineering, computers, web design, research, economics or some combination of the above and the rest could be learned on the job. I got so many unqualified resumes from people who listed MS Office use as their only computer skill, I figured people were just sending out resumes without reading the job description. One of the better ones was the basic just out of high school or your run-of-the-mill college student who delivered pizzas. The computer skills were ok though, and I almost put the resume in the maybe pile (the applicant pool was that bad) until a co-worker pointed out that the applicant was married and in his 30s. Not the kind of person who should have the resume of a kid.

    posted by Yonit on 7-16-2007 at 3:08 am

22. I am a corporate recruiter for the call center industry. I phone screened a woman for a customer service representative position and she did well. I invited her for an interview and it was a disaster. She had totally inappropriate bouts of laughter! I excused myself the first time keeping a straight face so as not to offend her and went into an empty office and nearly had a heart attack. After another episode I politely ended the interview. After she departed the building the receptionist told me the candidate had an outburst in the lobby that sent her scrambling to look for a fake dropped pencil under her desk and asked me if I had seen the warning email she sent me…..Obviously not! The poor woman, really I feel for her…it does explain all the temp jobs though.

    posted by Karla on 7-16-2007 at 7:08 pm

23. I was interviewing someone for a position within my department. He currently held the same position at another company, and worked with several of my former co-workers. I asked him about his current work environment and he proceeded to bad-mouth my former co-workers and several of the company’s practices (which were similar to many of ours). Needless to say, he didn’t get the job.

    posted by FightOnTrojans on 7-17-2007 at 4:26 pm

24. I interviewed a candidate for a copy editing job whose resume listed two positions, at different newspapers, as being his current employer. I thought this was odd but ostensibly possible, so I asked him to describe his current job. He launched into a diatribe about how everyone he ever worked with was incompetent. I finally interrupted to clear up the “current job” question and he said “If you’d been listening to me, you would know I left [job a] in 2005 and [job b] last year.” I asked why he listed two current jobs on his resume when he was actually unemployed and he said “Yeah, my wife asked the same thing when I printed the resume.”

    Since the most important skill for the job is “attention to detail,” he wasn’t hired.

    posted by Karen on 7-17-2007 at 5:17 pm

25. I work in an engineering group at a hospital and a few years ago we interviewed a candidate for an engineering position. He had a few years of experience at another hospital but quit because he “didn’t like his boss” and had been waiting tables since then. Fine. He then went on to say that the worst part of his current job was “dealing with customers”. He had also taken eight years to get his bachelor’s degree and had no real explanation as to WHY it took that long, just something along the lines of he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do.

    But the kicker was when he gave his presentation (which we ask of all candidates, just to see how they do on their feet talking about some specific topic, technical or not). He decided to be clever and launched into an “engineering analysis” of his candidacy, which was basically two reasons why we should hire him and about six reasons why we shouldn’t, including “I don’t do well under pressure”. We were speechless.

    Needless to say, he did not get the job.

    posted by Mike on 11-30-2007 at 10:20 am

26. I had an interview with a “collection company” and I was excited. I work doing medical collection and billing and this company was going to give me great benefits, great pay, shorter commute, work in office without any patients (or so I thought) I was told it was in unmarked billing due to the collections and I would only know that was it by the #. Anyhow turns out once I’m there it is the company that does collections for Daniel’s Jewelers. During the interview the guy asked me if i had ever “borrowed” something and “forgot” to give it back. I simply said yes. He gave me the most serious look I have ever seen on anybody and asked for me to complete the answer. I said pencils and pens. Confused he asked me to explain. I told him I always forgot to give back pens, pencils after borrowing them. LOL He laughed and offered me the job and I had to laugh and say NO thank you. He was shocked..it was the perfect opportunity but I wanted something in the medical field ;-/ Now i am looking for work again and once more he has offered to interview me lol :)

    posted by Betty on 3-15-2009 at 2:46 am

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