Please tell me about your embarrassing job interviews

[Itdoesntrain]

I've been made redundant and applied for a few jobs. I had 5 booked in (different jobs at different companies!) but 2 were cancelled due to the mini budget announcements so am feeling sorry for myself

Anyway, last minute interview arranged at 9am today for 10am today on Zoom.

It was a complete and utter disaster. I had such good answers in my head but just ended up tripping over all my words and stuttering. I couldn't even think of a decent question to ask at the end.

I even started getting teary eyed when they asked why I left my old job (redundancy!) - but I didn't actually cry. I know they noticed my watery eyes though...

I KNOW I haven't got the job, but I'm feeling so cringe about it all and keep having flashbacks 🤣

Please cheer me up with your embarrassing interviews. Extra points if you cried in your interview!

Please update us the outcome, fingers crossed

As an interviewer - I was doing the interview for a young woman, she arrived with her ID. Unfortunately, she only had a provisional driver's licence and we didn't accept those at the time.

Except we did. The interviewer pack had been prepared ahead of time and the rules had changed. I had sent her away and was chatting to someone - luckily he told me I was wrong and I was able to catch her just walking out the front door.

Needless to say I spent the entire interview absolutely puce and she would have got the job regardless of what she said!

Not myself being interviewed but I have interviewed a few corkers. When asked the dutiful why would you be right for the role question, the male candidate prefaced everything with ‘being a man, I’m better at ……..’. Both I and the other interviewer were female and I would have been managing and gobsmackingly had managed to do the job just fine as a female. Another memorable one was a religious nut who managed to insert their faith into every single response including how they would essentially be privileged to lead patients to God. They had no self-awareness of how absolutely inappropriate they were.

I will @autumnisnear :)

Omg @HoppingPavlova 😲 no words on those. I'm glad I wasn't that embarrassing!

Love these! The link to the other thread had me laughing SO much. I'm going to go and finish reading it...

I once asked someone during an interview "do you have any bad habits?" They replied, "the wife says I do because I always leave the toilet seat up."

I had an interview (stage 4) recently and my brain just went on holiday for an hour.
I was asked if I have ever taught a certain subject, I gave a big cheery "nope"
Yes I do, yes I do, every damn day I do.....🤦🏻‍♀️

Nothing will beat the time I went for an interview, slipped off the chair, smacked my head really hard, and pretended I was dead so I wouldn't have to deal with the embarrassment

I once walked out of an interview, glanced down and realised all of my buttons had burst open down to the waist...I looked like I'd deliberately gone for the plunging neckline lacy bra look!

Did it work? :)

I once had to interview for my own job but with a different manager to my usual one.

The night before my interview I had been up all night after a relative had been rushed to hospital and my DC had all been ill during the night.

I could barely remember my own name, the Teams Link wouldn't work and when they asked me why I thought I was good for the job all I could think was 'I have been doing it well for the last 3 years'. I couldn't think of any examples, it was horrendous. Needless to say I didn't get the job.

My manager was horrified as she said my original was one of the strongest she had ever had and I should have postponed the interview. I had to leave and get a new job and I still miss that job now.

First ever interview at 16 was for an admin apprenticeship.
Interviewer: Do you have any experience answering the phone?
Me: No, but I’m sure I could pick it up.

They had no sense of humour and didn’t get the pun. I decided the employer wasn’t the right fit for me.

That link seems to have been deleted now, which is a shame.

Keep scrolling down, the rest of the thread is there.

@Torturedsoul this is what I'm seeing when I click the link. I'm on the app so possibly the reason? Although I keep reading posts which just stop halfway through with text missing, or it shows someone's replies to a quote and you can see the post they're quoting but the response by the poster just isn't there. Both of those are happening frequently, on almost every thread I've read for the last few days, so seems something may be up with the app? All very odd!

Sorry, meant to post a screenshot on that. Hopefully it's managed to attach itself with no problem here!

Oh how odd. Does this link to page 2 work any better?

www.mumsnet.com/talk/mumsnet_classics/650904-The-Least-Professional-Moments-of-My-Illustrious-Career-Please-Feel?page=2

I am on a browser and am reading the thread :).

How strange! I can read it... so weird!! :)

University application

“Your application says your long term aim is to be a XXX, why is that?”

“Er well I’m not sure of my long term aims but I was having a chat with my tutor and he suggested that”

Why? Why did I say that? Why did I even put it on the form just because my tutor suggested it?

Didn’t get an offer 😬

I've been the note taker in an interview when the candidate completely froze . It was awful, the poor man looked like a rabbit in the headlights.
Our recruitment team were really understanding, took a 5 mins break for him to get himself together then we tried again, but changed the format to more of a chat than question and answers.

In my first proper interview, I was given a written questionnaire to complete. Filled it in and sat there for aaaages (maybe an hour). The interviewer came back into the room to go through my answers and in silence slid the paper back over to me, and opened it up. I only filled in the front page and it was 2 sheets back to back.

I tried to laugh it off and apologised - she didn't think it was funny. She then proceeded to read the questions out to me which were all about attention to detail. Horrific.

I somehow got the job.

Many moons ago I had to travel quite some way (maybe an hour to two hours?) for an interview and I was on a very low income at the time. Hand to mouth and bouncy cheques.

The morning of the interview I was at the station fresh and early at 8am which would have got me to the location with 45 minutes to spare and prepare myself. Ooh maybe a coffee while I make thoughtful notes. I went to buy tickets and my card declined as I hadn't been paid at the usual 7am. Every single month for two years I had been paid at that time and not a penny in my account to get the train.

So I called my employer. They told me there was a delay as the payroll lady was sick and I wouldn't be paid till tomorrow. I made an excuse I had to travel for work and needed the money now! They suggested I go into the office and essentially do a payday loan which I did.

So now I've missed the train I meant to get that would get me there with plenty of time to spare and any trains I could get now would get me there 10 mins late. Not acceptable. I realise if I get a taxi I might just make it on time but it's going to cost me about £200. I decide to do it.
Jump in cab and we hit traffic on outskirts of city. Gridlock. I phone the company and tell them I'll be late. Maybe a few minutes. Fine they say but they have another interview an hour later so my interview time will be cut short. Not a great look but I'm in the game now.

Gridlock continues and I finally arrive 25 minutes late. I run in sweating and stressed and sit in reception for 10 minutes. I get collected and we walk what felt like 15 miles to the interview room which has 5 stony faced executives in it. I have to set up my laptop as I'm expected to kick off with a 10 minute presentation.

My laptop is so old that the big screen connector isn't right so someone has to call IT to get a converter. We all sit in relative silence as we wait for IT man and I'm sweating so much it drips in my eyes and my hair is soaking wet.

IT man appears and after the usual fiddling the laptop screen appears on the big screen!

Hooray! Now we can start! Only it's now 5 minutes to the hour and the next candidate has arrived. The panel thanked me for my time and sent me on my way.

£600 for a morning of stress a sweaty 2 minute interview, weeks of preparation and total embarrassment.

Other interviews have been more successful and I'm now very senior in the industry I was interviewing as a entry role for! £600 and humiliation well spent!

Farted loudly as I went to pick something out of my bag. I nearly cried was so embarrassed. Can laugh about it now though.

Many moons ago ( in 2001) I had an interview in Dorothy Perkins for part time weekend job
It was a hot summers day and I wore black 3/4 black trousers with pockets and I white top with lace detail on the sleeves.
The manager asked me at the beginning of the interview to pick up 3 outfits - for wedding, job interview and casual.
After browsing the shop floor for few minutes and picking up what I thought would be suitable outfits we went back to the office and I had to present and explain why did I picked each outfit.
When it came to the interview outfit ( I picked a blazer and suit trousers and a white blouse) I explained why I chose it.
She just stared at me at my face with death stare and just said: So why didn’t you wear it yourself? The interview is over.
Obvs never got the job..

My first interview, ever. A weekend job in a shoe shop.

The manager and his assistant had a long, protracted argument about fitting stools while I sat there like a lemon. They told me I mustn’t wear a skirt like some girls choose to, because I’d have to go up and down stairs into the stock room and skirts are inappropriate for use on the stairs. Then the manager told me all about how Emma Watson’s stunt double goes to his gym and how attractive he thinks she is.

Confusing, bewildering, and embarrassing as I was too muddled to think of a single thing to say. I even forgot how to count when discussing stock levels. What an introduction to working life!

I once tried to get a summer job at Supermarket X back in the early 90's as an 17 year old a-level student. I'd done a Saturday job at Supermarket Y a few years earlier so reckoned I was a shoo-in and did no prep at all
Interviewer asked me why I wanted to work at Supermarket X. I decided the fact it was closer to home and wasn't open 24 hours (my real reasons) wouldn't wash so my panicked response was 'because you mainly sell pre packaged fruit and veg and I don't think the public can be trusted with loose stuff". Maniac.
As I left the interviewer said to me "I know you are young but I would suggest you don't wear such a short skirt next time, it's very distracting and inappropriate, but good luck anyway" I didn't get the job
Fucking appalling thing to say but it's stuck with me for years.