I said the most ridiculous thing in an interview

[Boomerang99]

They asked me how to create an effective team and my mind went blank so I said I would bring them cookies.

I'm not getting the job am I? Still cannot believe I said that!

[quote Boomerang99]@RozHuntleysLeftHand that just made me spit my coffee out. That's brilliant.! Cracking user name too.

@dudsville it's with the civil service so I won't find out for a good while. They are terribly slow when it comes to recruitment.[/quote]
Well from my experience of the civil service there is actually a lot of emphasis on biscuits and brews, so you never know, it might swing you the job! You'd fit right in!

@NotSure94

I went for a sales job fresh out of uni and asked if it would be a problem if I was rubbish at selling. Yeah. Thirty years on safe to say I'm still not working in sales.

Chin up OP it's a nice answer I reckon and won't go against you!

I went for an interview in a jewellery shop when I was 17.

She handed me the most grotesque pair of earrings I have ever seen in my life and told me to sell them to her.

I said "I'm sorry I can't sell these. They are awful" 😂

The interview ended at that point.

My friend said this - she got the job!

I once went for an interview when the person interviewing said 'I do leave early on a Thursday to pick my grandson up sometimes, but often I'm too early and I look like I'm lurking awkwardly at the gates and I think they think I'm a bit dodgy' and straight away I said 'well you do look the type'

He said he gave me the job because he needed someone with a sense of humour

This was nearly twenty years ago. I still cringe in horror.
Medical School interview. First Question...
"Let's get the obvious out of the way.. why do you want to be a doctor?"
Mind went completely blank and I had to admit I couldn't remember. It didn't get any better.

I’ve mentioned this before - interview for a job with the business owner. He obviously hadn’t even looked at my CV and didn’t seem to know why I was there. My cv has a few years ago ‘parental leave’ - it even says it pretty clear.

He asks - why is there a gap in your cab here? So I said the first thing that came into my head ‘I was in prison’. This was a joke that started when I was in art school and we all had to do a presentation to introduce ourselves - one kid said it as a joke and we all ended up saying it in our intros (I guess you had to be there).

I got the job. Absolutely hated the place.

They usually score the answers usually so if that’s all you said you might just not score very highly on that part. If you follows it up with other things that you would do then the cookies are just a bonus

Generally speaking interviewers know within the first 5 minutes whether they want to hire you or not. If they wanted you for the role then the cookie comment won't change their mind. If they didn't think you were right for it then it will have cemented their decision. Either way it won't have made any difference.

I'd love that answer as an interviewer. I'd back it up with some examples of tricky situations and what you'd do though.

I was in an interview for an administrative role in a university and I said "working with academics is no problem to me, we all know it's like herding cats"... to the academic lead I'd be working with. I got the job!

Joke's on me, though - I'm now a PhD student/research assistant being chased by the admin staff for paperwork I've forgotten

@NotSure94

I went for a sales job fresh out of uni and asked if it would be a problem if I was rubbish at selling. Yeah. Thirty years on safe to say I'm still not working in sales.

Chin up OP it's a nice answer I reckon and won't go against you!

I said the same once, told a sales interview I was terrible at sales and hated talking on the phone.

Still got the job, turned out to be cold calling so they would have hired anyone!

Years ago I had a manager - HR Director - who used to say that the most important thing about any challenging meeting was to bring cakes!

I had an interview years ago and they said “what don’t you like” obviously meaning what I don’t like doing in the context of the job and I said “I don’t like wasps much”. Don’t think it was the answer there were looking for!

@Keladrythesaviour

"If they wanted further info they could always press harder in the questioning"

Of course they could! For example, are they choc chip, coconut or ginger cookies?

to the point where my feedback included asking if I'd ever considered having counselling....

My friend once had an interview for a supermarket job and was asked what she thinks about when she hears their shop name. First, she said “dunno”... the interviewer persevered and tried to get her to give an answer so she shrugged her shoulders again and just said “shop” she got the job!

At one interview, I was asked to describe myself in three words. I said dogs dogs dogs. (No, I didn't get the job).

My interview for a job was with the CEO of the company and I told him I’d like to work for a “tiny little company, like yours”

He looked at me like I was talking about his nob

I once intended to make a reference to Poland in an interview (talking about the specifics of a previous project.) I instead called it...Pooland.

Went for an interview in a diamond company and was asked why diamonds? My answer was ' 'because they are sparkly'.

My mind just went blank.

I used the phrase 'and it's a big but' and then stopped, giggled and said 'big butt'. Didn't get that job.

In a job interview for a trainee computer programmer I asked the interviewer if he like my jumper as I knitted it myself! I was very young.

I had an interview where they threw a made up scenario at me which ended with the words, “Who you gonna call?”

I tried. I really did try. But it had a stronger pull than gravity…

“Ghostbusters?”

I was asked if I tended to do a lot of research before making decisions- I really do and it’s a bit of a joke among my friends and family that I have a spreadsheet for everything. Anyway I was so happy that the job seemed like such a good fit I burst out laughing and just shouted “YES THATS LIKE MY WHOLE THING”

Not my best moment, but they did say they appreciated my enthusiasm!

I bet you get it! Everyone loves cookies!