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Original poster

Disastrous interview for very much wanted job

93 replies

BeautyQueenFromMars · 10/08/2021 09:55

I've just left an interview for a job I really, really want. It did not go well. My mind went completely blank on a couple of the questions and as soon as I left I thought of all the great answers I could have given. Argh!

Nobody knows I've gone for the job, hence me posting on here rather than talking to family or friends.

Any funny stories or bad jokes you'd be willing to share to take my mind off it please?

OP posts:
VladmirsPoutine · 10/08/2021 11:42

Mine was when I essentially didn't know what company I was interviewing for Confused

So say the organisation I had applied to and interviewed at was e.g. the 'Greek Centre of Commerce' I spent the entire interview waxing lyrical about the 'Greek centre of International Relations'.

Mid way through the interview one of the panel told me that I might be "perhaps slightly confused." She awkwardly shook my hand and that was my cue to leave. The utter shame I felt walking down the corridor to the exit still gives me shivers!

AnonymousCheerleader · 10/08/2021 11:50

Someone crashed into my car outside of the premises of where I was going to an interview. It was a write-off and the police and an ambulance had to attend.

I was offered that job, but turned it down.

When I was interviewing someone, I asked what she knew about the company. "I've been on your website and it's very colourful" was the only thing she said. Didn't get the job.

SuperheroBirds · 10/08/2021 11:54

I had an interview for which you could pre-prepare your answers to set competency questions. I’d rehearsed everything and was confident I knew them off by heart. I was giving an answer in the interview when my mind drifted off (presumably because I was so comfortable with what I was saying). When I zoned back in, it became obvious to me that I’d finished the example, and on autopilot just carried on with the next one!
I said “…but that is something I can tell you more about later” and just stopped.
Somehow, I actually got the job Shock

TooGood2BeFalse · 10/08/2021 11:59

Randomly cut my hand 20 mins before an interview.Couldn't get it to stop even with plasters so instead of explaining why I couldnt shake hands,did the most awfully awkward elbow bump,instead of referring to the obviously bleeding hand Confused

Got a second interview!It was for a very large broker....Completely forgot what a broker was when asked and sat there gormlessly with my gob hanging open...

Got the job GrinStill there 3 years later,just got my third promotion and love it Grin

FlorenceNightshade · 10/08/2021 12:05

@BeautyQueenFromMars I had an interview this morning for my dream job too!!! Why is it you think of so many clever ways you could have answered their questions as soon as you leave??? I hope we both get good news Grin

AlfonsoTheMango · 10/08/2021 12:15

My sympathies, OP! I recently had an interview and did ok until one of the panel asked me how I would deal with a complicated organisation with lots of internal politics and difficult people.

I didn't get the job. Maybe that was a good thing...

Misbeehived · 10/08/2021 12:24

I was so nervous about an interview that I fluffed the warm up question which was tell me about your current job. I said something like I go to meetings and write emails 😱 rather than actually explaining anything of substance. It just got monosyllabically worse from there! Needless to say I didn’t get the job and felt totally humiliated. I should say that one of my interviewers became my mentor and it definitely hasn’t done my career any harm if that’s any conciliation. Smile

ArriettyTheBorrower · 10/08/2021 12:30

I went for a job in a bookies once they asked what sports I liked I replied that I wasn't really into sports Grin

In previous interviews I've had panic attacks and literally struggled to get a word out.

So you never know the standard of the other applicants OP, you could still get it.

MsMiaWallace · 10/08/2021 12:35

If it makes you feel better interviewers get nervous too!

user1493423934 · 10/08/2021 12:45

Oh god. I had a nightmare interview a while ago a recruitment consultant had put me for. it was going horribly - it was clear they needed someone with completely different skills to me. I have no idea why I was put forward for the job at all, as I could clearly not do it.
So I was stuffing up left right and centre, then the question:

Scary Interviewer: Can you perform under pressure?
Me: No, but I can do Bohemian Rhapsody, ha ha ha!

To this day I can still not believe I said that. Safe to say Scary Interviewer was not amused. Neither did the recruitment consultant unfortunately.

FlorenceNightshade · 10/08/2021 12:48

@user1493423934 you never!!!!!

Eviethyme · 10/08/2021 12:53

Well I was fired after a week trial at a zoo... Reason? I was too interested in the animals 😂😂😂

TicTac80 · 10/08/2021 13:01

@user1493423934

Oh god. I had a nightmare interview a while ago a recruitment consultant had put me for. it was going horribly - it was clear they needed someone with completely different skills to me. I have no idea why I was put forward for the job at all, as I could clearly not do it. So I was stuffing up left right and centre, then the question:

Scary Interviewer: Can you perform under pressure?
Me: No, but I can do Bohemian Rhapsody, ha ha ha!

To this day I can still not believe I said that. Safe to say Scary Interviewer was not amused. Neither did the recruitment consultant unfortunately.

Oh my goodness, I bet I'm going to remember this when I have to sit in on interviews and get the giggles!!!
Elouera · 10/08/2021 13:04

I used to interview, pre-covid so all face to face. These are the few I recall vividly.

  • The man kept referring to paperwork infront of him during the interview, shuffling them and clearly reading off them. We asked a question and after more shuffling, he said he couldn't answer that question, because he hadn't printed that reply off!!! We rephrased it and asked for his own examples, but he clearly had no idea.
  • One place was a highly secure area so we had to photocopy interviewees ID. When I opened this guys passport, a little bag of marijuana fell out!
  • When asked how you focus during a busy period the reply was to put music on in headphones and try to block the work out!!!
  • One women sat down, and before we'd asked her questions, she went into great detail how she was suing the previous company she had interviewed for. She believed she had been unfairly discriminated against by them. She was extremely aggressive and telling us that we had better not discriminate or she will take US to court too!!!

Best of luck OP and let us know how you get on.

AlfonsoTheMango · 10/08/2021 13:05

@user1493423934 - I would have hired you for that answer alone.

@Eviethyme - is your real name Dr Doolittle?

user1493423934 · 10/08/2021 13:07

@FlorenceNightshade Yes. Unfortunately I did. Do not recommend. Worse was trying to explain to the recruiter when she brought it up specifically in the feedback session.

@TicTac80 I assume you're an interviewer? Please reassure me you've heard worse than that from interviewees!

user1493423934 · 10/08/2021 13:08

@AlfonsoTheMango Any jobs going at your work? haha

AlfonsoTheMango · 10/08/2021 13:12

I wish! I'm job hunting, myself.

MeredithMae · 10/08/2021 13:25

@user1493423934

Oh god. I had a nightmare interview a while ago a recruitment consultant had put me for. it was going horribly - it was clear they needed someone with completely different skills to me. I have no idea why I was put forward for the job at all, as I could clearly not do it. So I was stuffing up left right and centre, then the question:

Scary Interviewer: Can you perform under pressure?
Me: No, but I can do Bohemian Rhapsody, ha ha ha!

To this day I can still not believe I said that. Safe to say Scary Interviewer was not amused. Neither did the recruitment consultant unfortunately.

@user1493423934 that had me howling- I'd have given you the job!

Good luck OP. Hope you get it.

Dogoodfeelgood · 10/08/2021 13:27

For everyone who struggles with nerves in interviews I really would recommend you ask your GP for a prescription of beta blockers for public speaking. They take away the adrenaline that floods your body and makes you incapable of thinking on the spot. They can’t fix you being unprepared but it’s great to not have to worry about nerves sabotaging you!

NotQuiteUsual · 10/08/2021 13:31

Once I was asked what my best quality was. I said it was hard to choose just one, since I thought rather highly of myself Grin I did get the job. I was the only one who interviewed though.

TicTac80 · 10/08/2021 13:37

[quote user1493423934]@FlorenceNightshade Yes. Unfortunately I did. Do not recommend. Worse was trying to explain to the recruiter when she brought it up specifically in the feedback session.

@TicTac80 I assume you're an interviewer? Please reassure me you've heard worse than that from interviewees![/quote]
No, I'm just a ward sister, but do have to sit in with my boss and/or Matron for interviewing new staff....and I'm betting I'll remember this and get the giggles!!!

If it makes you feel better, I freeze during interviews. I still cringe at this one (few years ago):

Matron asked me if I could give an outline of the ACS protocol. I told her that normally I could but it escaped my mind at present and I will get back to her on that one! (Whoops!!)

Luckily I got the job!!

NeverDropYourMooncup · 10/08/2021 13:39

Well, there was the job I'd been sent to by an agency where they had lied about my competencies. They liked me, but it was clear that I had never used an electric typewriter in my life or done accounts.

Then there was the one where the previous day's underwear fell out of my trouser leg in front of the frankly gorgeous interviewer, as they'd rescheduled the interview at the last minute and I only had the one pair of work appropriate trousers. He picked it up for me, then realised what it was and couldn't make eye contact for the rest of the interview.

Or the agency interview in the early 90s where I only found out at the end of it that it was for a hair loss clinic where they flogged transplants, scalp tattoos and spray paint for balding scalps to desperate men. I'd turned up with very long, bright pillar box red hair - the interviewer had said it looked very striking but wasn't I worried about the condition from constant bleaching and dyeing; I smiled and replied 'It's only hair' and when they finally told me what they did, as I'd already worked out that I wasn't getting the job by that point, I laughed and said 'What's wrong with being bald?'.

DP's worst ones were a Civil Service one where he was asked about what it was like working somewhere with black staff, what he understood about multiculturalism and how many black friends he had at school - he'd grown up in a tiny village on Dartmoor, so there weren't any black kids for him to be friends with - and one conducted in a coffee shop where he was expected to buy coffees for the interviewers when we were so skint that he wasn't even having one. They asked him what sports he played, the country he had last been to on holiday and whether he preferred skiing, cruises or beach holidays. For an admin job.

I think rubbish interviews just show you how shit the job would have been earlier than getting somewhere and realising you don't like it but are stuck until you can get something else.

Hidehi4 · 10/08/2021 13:40

I’m In the same boat. Studied everything about it and they asked total random questions which I just kept replying Em Em Em I was annoying myself so knew I had fucked up. Unfortunately I haven’t heard anything back not even a you weren’t successful which is better then wondering. Fingers crossed though that you will hear back. Good luck 🤞

MaMelon · 10/08/2021 13:41

My worst interview was my own fault. Given the circumstances of the job I hadn't realised it was an actual interview and turned up completely unprepared to face a panel of 3. I blustered and bluffed my way through it, had to be prompted a couple of times and generally made a complete tit of myself.

Thankfully I got the job (presumably because they knew me from old!!) but they did say they suspected I knew more than I was letting on Grin.

Good luck OP, really hope it goes your way - and if nothing else, it was good experience.

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