Disastrous interview for very much wanted job

[BeautyQueenFromMars]

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?

I had an interview for a course at a posh prestigious university which involved the interviewers sitting behind a long table in the middle of an oak panelled room.
It went OK but I was very flustered afterwards and tried to exit via a broom cupboard because the door looked exactly the same as the one I came in via.
I still got on the course though.

There was also the time that I had an interview whilst heavily pregnant and literally got stuck in a sliding door on the way in. It was broken and wouldn't open far enough to let me get through. The interview was timed and I wasted half of it stuck in the door so no wonder I didn't get the job.

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user1493423934 .
Pressed too soon ! That's so funny , I would have employed you just for your sense of humour.

My DD was called for an interview as a carer, working with elderly residents in a care home setting.

She was asked to fill in lots of forms on arrival - she is severely dyslexic - so that threw her - then the interview began.

Questions about home visits and how she would handle an older teenager who made aggressive sexual advances, how she would give a prescription medication injection to sedate a violent patient etc etc.

She answered as best she could, but was a bit bemused.

When she got home she emailed them, and said was there any chance there had been a mix up.

Turns out there were two jobs, and two interview panels in the same building, and she had been interviewed for a role as a community psychiatrist nurse in a specialist addiction team!

The interviewers said they were so impressed in hindsight with how she had fielded their questions they would strongly consider her for the carer role, but she decided it was not the organisation for her.

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

I was going to say that surely everyone has heard this before or seen the meme but someone else beat me to it. 🤣

Forgot I’d applied to a job. Was due to do a nursery pickup for a friend but had 30 minutes so was lazing in bed, wondered why someone was Skyping me. Saw the email asking if I was having VPN issues. Did a 45 minute interview wearing a blouse and makeup and knickers. Paid for the extra nursery time for my friend’s daughter and then apologized to her with ice cream.

No one was any the wiser and I did get the job offer.

@Cheeseandlobster - Yeah - I had seen that meme the night before (was reading funny stuff to take my mind off being nervous) and I remembered it when the question came up.

@CJsGoldfish

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

I was going to say that surely everyone has heard this before or seen the meme but someone else beat me to it. 🤣

I was goi g to say the same thing - that joke is as old as the hills! Well, as old as Bohemian Rhapsody anyway.

@MonkeyPuddle

I turned up sweating, bright red and with a stitch for one interview. My bus didn’t turn up for ages and I had to run from the bus station to the hospital I was being interviewed at so that I wasn’t late. Then go up two flights of stairs, the lovely ward sister gave me two glasses of water. Got the job.

I have a zoom interview in a couple of days and I was the job so, so much. Dreading it.

I used to be the administrator for a very oversubscribed university course, which had a very demanding interview - poor interview, no place. On interview days I went back and forth from Reception collecting candidates and delivering them to the interview room. The time of the next interview was approaching and there was no sign of the candidate, but suddenly a breathless young man in a suit burst through the door and dashed across to Reception. It turned out he'd had a puncture on the motorway, had to stop and change his tyre, and was in a right state that he would be late for the interview, especially as he didn't know the area. He'd parked in a supermarket car park a mile down the road and run all the way. He was bang on time!

I alerted the panel to his travails and they gave him a few minutes to catch his breath. He got a place and did well on the course, I'm pleased to say.

I have complex PTSD so any interview with a panel is excrutiating for me.
I feel sweaty, have an unbearable urge to run and keep running until I can run no more and totally dry up.
There was an NHS job I particularly wanted, had it relied on a practical assessment i'd have aced it because I am great at what I do, I sat there and froze - I was unable to make anything but "urghh" noises. I was escorted out eventually - they must have thought I was completely nuts.
Now I have to take beta blockers and a big dose of valium before interviews which my GP lets me have.
And yes I got the job of my dreams eventually.

Thank you all for the good luck wishes, commiserations, funny stories and tales of woe. I won't hear for a couple of weeks (they interviewed me early due to holiday plans), but if I don't get the job then at least it will have added to my interview experience.

To everyone who is waiting for the outcome of an interview, or has an interview in the next little while; best of luck to you, I sincerely hope you get the result you want. Fingers crossed for you all :-).

I haven’t read the full thread so apologies if anyone as already suggested this, but could you email them saying you very much wanted the job but was nervous and afterwards realised that you should have said blah blah (whatever it was that you wished you’d included).
End by saying that whatever the outcome, you’re grateful to have had the opportunity to interview, and wish them every success.
For my current job (GP receptionist) it was a toss up between me and another candidate so we were both asked in for a morning’s trial, unpaid of course, after which it was offered to me. Depending on the job, you might want to suggest that too.
You haven’t got anything to lose and it might just swing it for you.

@BeautyQueenFromMars

Thank you all for the good luck wishes, commiserations, funny stories and tales of woe. I won't hear for a couple of weeks (they interviewed me early due to holiday plans), but if I don't get the job then at least it will have added to my interview experience.

To everyone who is waiting for the outcome of an interview, or has an interview in the next little while; best of luck to you, I sincerely hope you get the result you want. Fingers crossed for you all :-).

So how, if at all, did you address the issue in your thank-you note?

@BeautyQueenFromMars that’s very kind of you to say!

I have just eaten three bars of chocolate because I still haven’t heard back about my interview and I’ve emailed HR about it!!! Feel so stupid now but they asked me on the spot for my mobile number and I’ve convinced myself I have them it wrong!

Is emailing the worst most stupid thing I could have done????

I agree, a friendly polite email like @Papergirl1968 has said will be a smart move.

@FlorenceNightshade - no, it's perfectly fine. You can relax!

@AlfonsoTheMango I hope so!!! I’m usually a patient person so I don’t know what possessed me!

I work in a male environment.... Many, many years ago at interview was asked how I felt working in a job where I would regularly be the only female?
Oh that's fine I find i prefer to work in a male environment I quickly responded....
... To the all female interview panel 🙄🤣
Luckily they all laughed and I got the job