Holy hell, just had THE toughest job interview that I have ever experienced! Come & tell me your interview horror stories.

[Vampiricouncil]

Wow!
2 on the panel with the coldest staring eyes ever.
Absolutely no kindness to be seen!
Just cold hard eyes staring at me barking questions at me…

Interviewed by a baker for a job in his shop. I was one of approx 20 girls in a queue outside his shop. He went along the queue and asked questions such as "if a meat pie was 75p and I wanted 3 of them plus 6 muffins at 20p each ( this was early 80s), how much would you charge me?
I was offered the job a few days later. I started work and was told the first successful applicant had only worked for one day then didn't return. I managed a couple if days then refused to go back after he had insisted I sold reheated (yesterdays) meat pies. Hated him and his business practices.
Didnt get a job as a Carer because I was told I wore too much make up.
Didnt get a job in hair transplant clinic because the interviewer said he thought I would be homesick ( it was 200 miles from home and was planning to move)

My first interview in my life ever, in the late 90s, was for a webmaster job. It was because of a bet. 50+ yr old Interviewer asked about my favourite website. Hadn't seen the internet apart from glimpses prior. Went with Rolling stone magazine. He probably won't know it, he is old... Yeah, he knew it, asked about certain articles. Bluffed my way through, but wanted to die inside. I actually got the job.
Next interview few years later. I had a very brief beige/colorful period apart from my decades long usual black on black. and by then had a small car. Got nicely dressed in beige jeans, beige, light color pullover,... then 3 of my wheels had a flat (someone threw spikes on the road) in a deserted place and my mobile was dead. Changed the worst tire to spare to roll into the garage. About 2 hours late to the interview managed to call the managing director what happened. He said he has a free slot in 30 mins or in 5 weeks as he is flying out. Popped into a cab, just made it. All grimy and oily. I did get the job.
Then didn't do interviews for almost a decade, my next one: managing director fell asleep. (still got the job)
next one: in a garden, in summer. walking to the guy doing the interview to shake hands, stumbled on something in the grass and ended up in his arms. (got the job)
When moving to London, I had skype round with one person, then flew in on the 6am flight for the 9am interview with HoD. Obviously flight was delayed, got here around noon and had to find the Google building in Victoria. Kinda hard to miss. Well I missed it. Called the guy to say I am here, when will he be available, we agreed in an hour's time. Late by hours, tired, hungry, lost, I broke. Sat down on a big building stars to have a small cry and 5min pity party. Guys sits down starts chatting, I dump all my self pity on him and then start a lovely chat about random things (fav. music genre and the likes). He invited me for a sandwich in pret, we talked shop as he turned out to be in the same industry, bit higher level then me. Honestly had one of the best random discussions of my life, he was really funny and nice and clever. We said goodbye, told him I can't be late for my interview again,.... He showed me the building -obv. the one where I sat down in the first place, and came in as well, as he works there, on one of the top floors. He even waited for the guest pass to be issued and came up in the lift with me. Said goodbye again, I went to the restroom to tidy up a bit. Then walked into the conference room to meet the same guy. Was a very short interview :)
Point learnt: do introduce yourself even at the beginning of random conversations...

@mrstea301

Ooh - also managed to get stuck in one of those interviews for a "marketing" job that's actually sales, where they drive you out to a distant town and you shadow someone doing door to door sales who is selling you hard on the job. Never again but I've never forgotten the experience!

I had one of those once! Was on a bus going to way the wrong side of town to sell discount cards for Indian restaurants. Told the girl I was with that it wasn't for me and got off.

What utterly baffles me is why agencies waste everyone's time with totally unsuitable roles and interviews? Maybe if someone from an agency is reading this they can let me know?

I don't drive. I make sure I mention this at every stage, from the moment I step into an agency, at each interview..... Some companies refused to even see me although the role was office based - okay, fair enough, you never know when you might need to drive somewhere....

But an agency once put me forward for a brilliant role at the police. They told me it was based at the local station - 12 minutes from my house by foot. But the interview was at the training college, 20 miles out of town in the middle of nowhere. You try to explain, you cannot get there, you don't drive. They say, there are buses..... No, there aren't. People who don't drive seem to think buses run every 15 minutes into the middle of the country and stop right next to your destination, but they don't.... It would have been a two mile walk down narrow country roads with no pavement....

But it was just for the interview, they told me, they checked, they told me. So I got my dad to give me a lift.

I mentioned I did not drive at the interview. And of course, I aced the interview, and they offered me the job, and I was thrilled but when I got the contract, the role was not based at the local police station at all, but at this training centre, which I had told them, at all stages, I couldn't get to.

Queue some phonecalls, which took days to get the answer, and finally about two weeks after I had been offered the role the agency phoned me saying that actually, the job role had been rewritten so it was going to be based out of town and they would need a driver..... Was I wrong to be a bit annoyed? But the agency seemed to think it was MY fault somehow.... But who was it who wasted everyone's time??!! It wasn't me!!

What did they think would happen? Did they think I would miraculously pass my test and buy a car in a few days? Or that a bus would materialise out of nowhere?

Oh well, I did have an excellent road trip with my dad who was pointing out all the different kinds of trees and hedgerows and we saw loads of deer.....

@rabbitwoman public transport baffles drivers, doesn't it? I was offered agency work which started very early in the morning, and the woman wouldn't have it that trains didn't get there that early, angrily pointing to the website that said the trains got to my station at 6am. Indeed they did - going in the opposite direction. She couldn't seem to grasp that!

..... there is also the attitude that 'if you wanted it enough, you would find a way to get there......'

But actually, sometimes it really is not possible....

Jeremy Kyle used to do the 'I would walk through the night to get to a job interview if I had to!!!!' sounds great..... But walking through the night is v dangerous. And then, you have to walk back....

I once went to a job interview all suited and booted - got offered the job literally there on the spot, the interviewer walked me out but I had to change my shoes for the two mile walk back to the station.

Her face dropped, she lloked really disgusted and the next day I got a letter saying I had not made it to the second round.

For changing my shoes so I could walk home.....???

My student son went for an interview for a summer holiday job at a local supermarket. The woman interviewing was an ex colleague of mine and I had been her superior. She was a nightmare to work with and I was given the task of firing her.
When she realised who my son 's mother was she changed her attitude and was so rude and obviously he was rejected.
She called my house the next day to give him feedback but he wasn't in so I suggested she call his mobile, which is the number he had given her, not my home number. However, she decided to give me lots of negative feedback about him. I told her she was very unprofessional and breaching confidentiality and I had a good mind to report her.

Years ago I co interviewed with my manager and she brought her lunch in with her which was a baked potato and chilli....I was pretty appalled and I imagine the interviewee was too!

Makes me laugh now

@LemonMuffins

To be honest, my worst ones are the ones that have gone really well in both directions and I'm then told they've given the job to the internal candidate who was going to get the job all along. It really fucking infuriates me when my time is wasted.

I had a weird interview with a completely inappropriate solicitor in my youth. I think he'd already decided I wasn't the right look for the job so spent the interview telling me that legal secretary jobs were shit and that I should aim higher so I could have £200k cars like him. There was also the MI5 one where no matter what long winded answer I gave, the interviewer kept sitting there silently anticipating more... I really wanted to run away.

This 100% I was interviewed for a senior position in a charity, interview went over as they were asking me additional questions and really gelled with the panel.

Only to be told the job went to the internal candidate. A week later they asked if I would join their board and help with other aspects that would be within the chosen candidate's role (for no pay etc just because it's good to do good things, eg completing funding applications)

Given that the charity was campaigning for better employee rights, this felt v v wrong.

I had one over Teams, started well, questions like "tell me about a time when....." I was doing OK but after 1.5 hours of this I was starting to run out of examples.
In the end I was tired, bored and exasperated so I said "I give in, you've beaten me" & I started laughing, unbelievably I got the job

A friend recently interviewed for a logistics job.

They asked him to describe his life from birth.

Weird!

He did get it though 😅

I had a job interview once where they asked me what my favourite meal was. My mind went blank and I said 'ratatouille' as I'd had it the night before and suddenly couldn't think of any other meal in the world.

They looked ridiculously surprised and asked why, which was a stupid question and I had no answer, clearly. I ended up saying "I just really like CHOPPING THINGS" and did some kind of weird serial killer knife motion because I didn't know what else to do with the silence that ensued.

I did get the job but they admitted to me years later that the pool of candidates was particularly crap.

@LemonMuffins

To be honest, my worst ones are the ones that have gone really well in both directions and I'm then told they've given the job to the internal candidate who was going to get the job all along. It really fucking infuriates me when my time is wasted.

I had a weird interview with a completely inappropriate solicitor in my youth. I think he'd already decided I wasn't the right look for the job so spent the interview telling me that legal secretary jobs were shit and that I should aim higher so I could have £200k cars like him. There was also the MI5 one where no matter what long winded answer I gave, the interviewer kept sitting there silently anticipating more... I really wanted to run away.

I'm not certain for sure, but apparently the silence method , is a technique used to get people to talk more as apparently in some cases some people don't like the silence , then in order to gain more information silence is golden so to speak. If one may ask, What role was you applying for ?

Bizarre rather than tough but I remember being interviewed for a place on a hair and beauty college course back in the 80s. I was still at school and it was my first interview, and for some reason I was interviewed along with another girl at the same time.
And her grandmother sat in with us, she answered for her granddaughter and joined in with my answers too.

I was accepted onto the course but I didn’t see the other girl again.

Worst ever?
We walked in the room and I was asked to take a seat. She slapped the folder down on the table and said "right, shall we begin by discussing all the mistakes in your application form?"
It felt like punishment rather than an interview.

As a student, I had an interview for a summer job supposedly handling orders from large offices for stationery. The advert made it sound like I'd basically be taking phone orders from existing customers and arranging delivery etc. (it was before everywhere had a website so I was not able to easily check what the business was). When I arrived for the interview there were about 30 other confused looking candidates as well and the 'office' was entirely empty except for rows of desks (arranged like a class room) each with a phone on it. We were all basically told that we would be selling fax machine paper and told how many amazing bonuses we could earn (no mention of hourly pay). After about an hour we were ushered out and told to come back the next day with our own yellow pages (presumably to use for numbers to cold call) to start work. As we left, another batch of 'candidates' were arriving.

It all felt off and I have often wondered whether it was just an attempt to get students working for free (with the promise of bonuses) or some more complicated scam. The empty office with no existing staff, signage etc made it feel very sinister.

I had a panel of 5 people firing questions at me.

It all got too much. I told them I can't always explain the decisions I make, I've never had a life plan, but things are going ok so far.

The 5 serious people laughed.

I got the job and spent 10 amazing years there. I would go back in a heartbeat.

But did you get the job @TheSunIsStillShining ?

Worst interview was for a teaching post Scale something or other at a secondary school. I asked for a question to be repeated and the member of panel said "Never mind" brusquely and waved the interview on. Having done Equal Opportunities training in Interviewing in schools, the rule was, if the candidate asks again, it means you've phrased it badly, so you must re-phrase.The interview ran its course., though it was very uncomfortable as I was very miffed. At the end I was given the standard "do you have any questions?" so I said no, but I will answer your question now to Mr Rude. I did so, and did it well.

As was the deal in teaching, all candidates wait around for the news. I was told I didn't get it because I had no ESL experience, which wasn't in the job description or the selection criteria. I pointed this out, with some asperity, that I wouldn't have applied for the job had this been the case.

No doubt my reaction was relayed to the HT. As I was leaving, I saw her ahead of me. I called out, could I speak with her a moment. Without turning she sped up considerably, thinks close to a gallop as can be maintained in high heels, and was soon gone. :o

It's the only time I've been treated with anything except courtesy and encouragement in a teaching interview. I'm still proud I took no shit and that the HT was too cowardly to speak to me and ran.

Reading about all the awful interviews for teaching...no wonder there is a shortage...i thought they were desperate these days...!!..

@Vampiricouncil

Wow! 2 on the panel with the coldest staring eyes ever. Absolutely no kindness to be seen! Just cold hard eyes staring at me barking questions at me…

An interview is a 2-way street. You can make up your mind whether you would like to work for these people while they are interviewing you.

They sound cold and unpleasant, and if I'd been interviewed by people like that and offered the job, I'd turn it down.

@HebeMumsnet

I had a job interview once where they asked me what my favourite meal was. My mind went blank and I said 'ratatouille' as I'd had it the night before and suddenly couldn't think of any other meal in the world.

They looked ridiculously surprised and asked why, which was a stupid question and I had no answer, clearly. I ended up saying "I just really like CHOPPING THINGS" and did some kind of weird serial killer knife motion because I didn't know what else to do with the silence that ensued.

I did get the job but they admitted to me years later that the pool of candidates was particularly crap.

That made me laugh. I do hope that the position you interviewed for was not the role you are doing now!

I had a telephone interview a few years ago with a man who spent the entire time telling me how lousy my cv was, asking why I had bothered to apply for the job when my cv was so lousy, boasted about how wonderful he was and finished by complaining that he couldn't find a good candidate.

That was bizarre.

Another interview, this time last year. I had to do two 10-minute presentation and talk a panel of four hostile people through my presentations. The questions were bizarre, like "what you do if the project was due the next day and the software wasn't working and the contractor was off sick and you couldn't get hold of anyone to help you?" Hunh?

It was for a 12-month contract.

A couple of weeks later I got a very cold email telling me that they were not pursuing my application.

Another one, just over a year ago: three sets of interviews, a personality test and then a panel interview with a group of Mormons who clearly hated me, possibly because I'm not a Mormon.

Oh, and weeks after the fact I got an email telling me that they weren't following up on my application. After four sets of interviews and a personality test. Not a good look, Mormons.

@AlfonsoTheUnrepentant That made me laugh. I do hope that the position you interviewed for was not the role you are doing now! grin

Perish the thought! No, I never heard back after my Mumsnet interview... I don't think they know I'm here. I'm trying to go under the radar.