Disastrous Interviews but still got the job

[karmakemmie]

Hello,
I posted a couple of days ago about still not hearing about a job interview I went to. They said I'd find out that evening but I have to wait until tomorrow now.
I'm a teacher and the lesson was a disaster! I was given the wrong brief and pitched it too low! The senior management acknowledged I'd been given the wrong information but really I should have been able to adapt. And now, two days later I've though of all the different things I could have done . Anyway, the interviews went well and the group discussion was dominated by one person but I held my own. I don't think I've got the job - there are two roles but 10 candidates But what if...?
Has anyone done an interview, any job not just teaching that didn't go well (by their standards) but still got the job? I'm desperate here Thanks

Uh oh. This does not bode well for me. I guess disastrous interviews means no jobs. Mumsnet has spoken. Or not in this case
Goes on the TES website

No story to tell I'm afraid, but I hope you get good news tomorrow. There is always hope if you've not had a "no".

Thank you

Yes.
I turned up on the wrong day!

Went back on the right day, interviewed like an absolute warrior and got the fricking job.

Turned up half an hour late (managed to get lost driving to a new city). A guy on the interview panel felt he needed to dress me down in the interview about something regarding our profession, and I argued his point robustly. He was not pleased. Assumed I would not get offered the job, but was, and at the top of the scale. I turned it down due to not wanting to work with the guy I'd had to argue with as he was clearly a misogynistic idiot

Have you heard yet?

It doesn't sound disastrous - did they tell you that you should have adapted better in the trial lesson, or is that your own assessment?

I missed the interview, due to transport difficulties. Half the panel had left by the time I got there. I was flustered as a flustered thing. Got the job. That was a great place to work.

I was suffering terrible covid brain fog and kept forgetting what happened for each competency example but they liked.my CV and the fact that I had turned up at all (online) and gave me the job.

Echoing a PP, did they say that you should have adapted or is it you saying that?

Either way, it's not over until it's over but even if you don't get it, it was a useful learning curve about adaptability. Fingers crossed!

One interview, internal promotion. I was answering a question with an example that I knew one of the interviewers was distantly involved in, and I was project managing.

Tell me, he asked, how would you simply xx( the project I was leading was to do just that). I answered "buggered if I know". It was my project, if I didn't know, we were doomed to failure. We were anyway, in my view, but honestly? Could I really not come up with something that outlined the difficulty and how I proposed to try to overcome thstr? Even that would have been an improvement on my answer, leaving aside swearing.

Anyway, I got the promotion, and can only guess how bad the other people were.

Courage, op, you don't know the result yet. If you fail, you have a bloody good reason why.

I had a panic attack in an interview. They had to tell me to breathe and get me water. I composed myself and still got the job.

It was the third interview that week, and I was exhausted. They gave me two different addresses on site, neither of which were manned at the time of my interview. I tried to be creative with my answers but they wanted boring and predictable. One of the two interviewers scowled at me for most of the interview.

Once it was finished I went outside and cried. They rang a week later to offer me the job. I was gobsmacked.

I tore the company to shreds by identifying all their failings. They then offered me the job but I declined, upped the salary, I declined, came back with a new salary and I still declined. I felt like I had no spark with the director who would be managing me.

Put on my Cv that I held budget of £x amount and was asked to break it down.

So I listed stuff with rough costs and got to the end and interviewer pointed out I had a surplus of quite a large amount, which I shouldn’t have had. I got a bit flustered so started again, trying to add a bit extra on. Then he noticed I’d gone over by £40k.
So I had to just hold my hands up say that I realised it looked like I was making it up, I wasn’t but couldn’t remember the numbers exactly.

We moved on.

An hour later on the way home I got a phone call offering me the job. They were impressed at the way I handled it, but recommended I remove it from my CV and never talk about exact amounts again.

And the surplus was salaries. I’d completely forgotten to include salaries in my budget breakdown!

Good luck, when are you likely to hear?

I managed to get lost-I knew the area but not the side streets
I ended up ringing them and it turned out I’d been walking round and round the building without seeing it
Finally got there an hour late,blustered through the interview and knew I’d cocked it up
Left,got round the corner and burst into tears
They rang me a few hours later and I’d got it

I left within 4 months as it was a hellhole to work in

Yes I got a civil service post I didn't want after having an interview where I entertained the panel with my anecdotes, told blatant lies and basically didn't give a shit. My eventual manager (I took the role) said he'd interviewed 56 people for two roles and I got the post because they all remembered me and how I made them laugh. The other person was an in house promotion.

I had a terrible interview once and got the job. Honestly, I should have taken the terrible interview as a sign. It was a horrible place to work and I was horrifically depressed there. I left after 9 months.

Thanks for responding everyone. They all give me a glimmer of hope.

To the pp who asked, the "I should have adapted the lesson" was my own assessment. I'll hear tomorrow. Fingers crossed 🤞🏿

I'd a couple of drinks before an interview and got the job. She was horrid and everything I said was wrong, even the route I took getting to the interview, so with the confidence of a few gins I kept arguing back as I didn't care by this point and I got the job....

I cried in the interview for my current job. Been there 3 years

Got lost, turned up ten minutes late. Totally flustered, thought I’d fucked up completely.

Two months later they rang me, offered me the job. Been there five years now.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4214065-Interview-horror-I-ve-blown-it

OP of this one got the job!

Good luck, I hope you get the job! My worst was falling over as I walked into the room. I stood up, said, "That's my way of making a lasting impression" and carried on. I got the job as I'd proven myself resilient and amused the panel. Awesome job too!

My first interview in the industry I'm in now, I was the only external candidate felt quite out of my depth was patronised by another candidate who said 'maybe they'll find you a nice little admin role' and during an observed group task had to ask two other candidates to explain the acronyms they were using. I also asked a question that the looks I was given led me to believe it was naïve and completely off track. I also said the word vagina several times during the interview part (it wasn't completely off the wall but I got a bit enthusiastic about a topic I am passionate about and didn't use any euphemisms or more appropriate phrasing etc). I got the job, they said I saw things differently and put the client at the centre of my thought process and wasn't bound by what was usually done. I'm now in a fairly senior role in the same field.

I was interviewed for a job that was different to the advert - I think that HR had posted the wrong one but the interviewers didn’t appear to have realised until they started interviewing me. What made it worse was that I had worked for the organisation previously, so knew what the job was supposed to be (and cottoned onto what must had happened very quickly), but they continued to interview me against a completely skills set to what I had prepared for but tried to bluff it at the same time. I didn’t get that job but did receive a phone call a few months later asking if I would be I interested in applying for the job that I had actually applied for, although with no acknowledgement of what had happened - I already had a new job, so said no, so not quite a case of still getting the job.

@MingeOnFire

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4214065-Interview-horror-I-ve-blown-it

OP of this one got the job!

I just skim read this. It's brilliant! I hope I get similar good news.