Please share your 'I had a rubbish interview but I got the job' stories

[TravellingSpoon]

Because I had one today for a job I really want and I think it went badly. I had prepared for hours over the role, legislation etc none of which came up, the questions were a bit random and I ended up waffling and babbling for ages.

This may not be what you want to hear, but I had a rubbish interview and got the job but the interview was a total red flag and I was utterly miserable. I left 9 months later.

The panel were totally uncohesive and seem to go off in different directions which made it hard to answer well. The woman I was reporting into seemed to hate my answers. There was a test that I couldn't complete because I didn't know the software, even though it wasn't listed in the job description as a requirement.

In hindsight, I should have walked out and not returned on the first day when all of those issues seemed to manifest.

The panel were lovely and it was an interview with my current employer which in a way makes it worse because if I did as badly as I think everone at work will know.

I went to one - he obviously hadn’t read my cv and couldn’t be bothered...

He skims over the dates and asks why there was a gap (it says ‘paternal leave’, duh). ‘oh I was in jail..’. I wasn’t but by that point I was just keep to get out and on with my day. Then I started laughing at my own crap joke.

I actually got the job - but it was really horrible.

Once went for a job about 13 years ago where Equality & Diversity were the buzzwords of the moment, specifically disability, religion, race, age, gender and sexual orientation.

My Dad (who already worked for the organisation I was applying for) drilled it into me that I had to remember these particular protected characteristics as I would most certainly be asked about them in the interview.

I couldn't remember them all and kept forgetting them so Dad came up with the acronym DRRAGS. In my brain I interpreted this as the organisation's name for their Equality & Diversity policy being referred to as the DRRAGS policy.

So of course, I get to the interview and the inevitable questions start about Equality & Diversity. I sat there and waxed lyrical for 20 minutes straight about the DRRAGS policy and how important the DRRAGS policy was and how all employees had a duty of care to adhere to the DRRAGS policy in all aspects of their work and so on and so forth.

Feeling pretty pleased with myself, I skipped out of the interview and called my Dad to let him know how I got on only to be met with screams of uncontrollable laughter when I told him I mentioned the DRRAGS policy. Dad pointed out that no such policy existed and that it was just an acronym he made up to help me remember.

I was mortified and assumed the interviewers must've thought I was a complete tit and obviously wouldn't offer me the job.

Imagine my shock when they called me the following day to offer me the job, saying how impressed they were that I had researched the role so thoroughly that I was able to talk confidently about a policy that even they hadn't heard of! 😂

I had an interview today for a large organisation I already work for and so I'm with you on the nerves and frustration of not knowing. Hope its not the same job!

@ElsaMars

I had an interview today for a large organisation I already work for and so I'm with you on the nerves and frustration of not knowing. Hope its not the same job!

Fingers crossed it isnt

It wasn't a bad interview, that was fine, I was on a broken down tube in a tunnel for 30 mins and by the time we got to our destination I was already 15 mins late, this was before I had a mobile (early 96), I rang them from phone box at the station, if anybody knows London it was in Harlesden and i was travelling with deepest South East London and they said it was fine and they would still like to see me, got the job 2 days later which i was very surprised about.

I had a teams interview in the summer with my 2 year old at home, he was not happy at being ignored and launched a dinosaur at my face, screamed, sat behind me sticking pencils in my hair, and was generally a nuisance for the entire 45 minutes. I kept getting lost mid sentence, was a car crash.

I'm currently in that job.

I was so nervous, I broke down in tears. Somehow still got the job.

I turned up for an interview a week early and still got the job! They agreed to interview me when I turned up in reception, I was mortified. I thought there was no way they would offer it to me after the interviewer said “well obviously attention to detail isn’t your strong suit”!!

I used permanent marker on not just a regular white board, BUT a £££ interactive white board. Winged it completely after that, thinking there's no way they're going to take me on after that. They offered me the job within 10 mins of the end of the interview!

@TravellingSpoon

The panel were lovely and it was an interview with my current employer which in a way makes it worse because if I did as badly as I think everone at work will know.

I was going to ask if internal or external before I shared my story.

I had a car crash interview earlier this year. I’ve had good and bad interviews in the past but this was just awful. I’m pretty sure one of answers was the exact opposite of what they wanted to hear. I had huge long pauses where I didn’t know what to say. I knew there was no point in getting my hopes up.

I got the job and I’m still doing it now. My strong track record and references helped.

The benefit of internal interviews is just that really - the hiring manager can speak to people to find out more about you and make a more informed decision than just assessing your ability to answer some questions.

Don’t lose hope - good luck!

I applied for a temporary promotion for a year internally, but in an area I had never worked in with colleagues I hadn't met. The recruiting manager decided to do a phone interview but just phone on spec rather than booking something in. I was on leave that day because DH was having surgery to remove his lung (he had lung cancer) and was waiting in the hospital lobby for the ward to call me to say he was back from theatre so I could sit with him.

Anyway I answered the call from the unknown number, thinking it was the ward, and it was the manager. She asked me about my experience, and I was brutally honest that I had never worked in that area, that DH was dying and I was probably going to be really unreliable, needing time off at a minute's notice, but I really liked the sound of the job and would give it my all when I was available. I also said I would have to go because i was waiting for the ward to call me. This was after saying I would want to work from home with just one day in the office so I could care for DH (he didn't need much, just couldn't be alone in the house).

Put the phone down thinking there was no chance of me getting the job, then an hour later got the call to say that I had been successful and that my honesty had been one of the deciding factors. They worked around my caring responsibilities and I ended up with a permanent promotion as well.

Someone crashed into my car outside the premises as I was turning in to go to an interview. Wrote my car off.

Still got the job.

I interviewed for the wrong job, only realised 3/4 of the way through when they started asking me about policies and I started replying about the job I thought I was interviewing for not the one the panel was interviewing for. I stopped waffling when I saw the confused looks on their faces and I asked if I had said something wrong.

They asked if I was here for X job and I said no, I thought it was for Y. The interviews were being held on the same day. Even worse was that at the beginning of the interview they had asked me if I was there to interview for X job and on my nervous state I had just said yes.
I thought I had totally fluffed it. They rang the next day to offer me the job. They even joked about making sure they were offering me the correct role.

I got up from the interview. Thanked the interviewing panel and walked into a store cupboard. Stood there for about 5 seconds thinking what the fuck .. came out .. said 'oops I'll try the other door ' and left. No one said a word.

Got the job.

I was half way through answering a question when my mind went completely blank and I had to say, "Sorry, what was the question again?" But I did get the job.

I was asked for examples of when I might have concerns over a student’s welfare and possibly need to contact the safeguarding team. I said if a student came to class with injuries, for example a black eye. They all laughed. One of the panel had a black eye. Got the job.

I turned up late.
Kicked him.
Couldn't get the presentation to work (luckily I had a print out)

He called me 2 hours later and offered me the job.

Next time I met him I dropped a bowling ball on his foot.

He left, I'm still there 5 years later.

@Harlequin1088 bloody love that story.

😂😂😂

[quote WingBingo]@Harlequin1088 bloody love that story.

😂😂😂[/quote]
It's the best - I've dined out on that one for years 😂

I burped in an interview once and got the job lol

They said I woud hear back today so trying to distract myself and not over think everything. Am trying to focus on coursework instead.

Currently about 10 hobnobs down.

I was a poor student and really stressed because I was getting no hours at my restaurant job as things were quiet. Popped into a shop that had just opened and saw they were hiring so asked the manager about it. We agreed for me to come back in an hour for an interview.

My hair was a windswept mess and then she asked me why I was leaving my current job as one of the first questions and I explained that I wasn’t getting the hours I needed and to my horror my eyes welled up a bit! (Later learned this manager hated any display of emotion)

She practically force fed me a cup of tea (which I hate) and I got through the rest of the interview.

I guess my desperation was attractive and made her think I would be a hard worker. (It was true to be fair!)