Anyone can cheer me up about my job interview blunder?

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Name changed because I'm dying of embarrassment. I just had an incredibly low moment at a job interview and I'm ready to hide myself away for the rest of the day. They asked me a fairly simple knowledge question and my brain just blanked. I suddenly felt like I was in school being grilled by my maths teacher (it was a very exam-y interview). I just blabbered on and then just ended the misery by saying "Sorry, that was a really poor answer." We moved on, the rest was good, but I don't think it can recover this low point. I must have looked like I had lied about all of my experience to not be able to answer this one simple thing. So that's that. Only a dream job, who cares.

Please share your interview blunders and/or moments when your brain just went blank to make me feel better.

Worst one I had was when about 30 seconds before being called into the interview I sneezed and my nose started bleeding quite fast.
I was in a completely empty room that I couldn't leave as I had been buzzed in, with no idea where to find a tissue or a bathroom and before I could pinch my nose it had gotten all over my hands and my face.
The interviewer walked in and looked very suprised and just quietly led me to the toilets while I babbled about the hot weather probably causing nosebleeds.

I cleaned up and walked with him to the interview room, the other interviewer offered me a glass of water from the jug on the table. I said "that would be great thank you, I can still taste all the blood". She looked confused and alarmed, which made sense as neither I or the 1st interviewer had mentioned the nosebleed so I just sounded like a complete weirdo/possibly a vampire.

I LOVE this story.

Aaargh I had an interview last week for an ambitious role (for me). I was very obviously not qualified but applied on the one day of the month when I feel invincible. Almost didn’t go for the interview but friends persuaded me it would be useful experience. ALL of their questions were about working on a massive scale and all of my answers were about working on a tiny scale. I’m so embarrassed. The worst thing is that they were being kind. It was very clear from my first answer that I was not going to get the job but we all had to carry on anyway aaaaargh.

Although on the whole probably not as bad as the interview I had once with a panel of 8 people. I made a slight joke and thought someone had laughed, which encouraged me to laugh and look expectantly around the room. But he was just sniffing. No one laughed at my joke … except me..! Excruciating.

When I was at University, we had a terrible professor. In his lectures he would simply read chapters from the previous professor in the subject's book - word for word. Sometimes in (late afternoon) seminars, he appeared three sheets to the wind, slurring his words. He took an almost instant dislike to my friends and me maybe because we'd make it very obvious that we were also reading the previous professor's book during his lectures. He always referred to us as 'the rabble in the corner'.

Roll on three years, I applied for a job at the University. It was for a professional service role, not academic. So imagine my surprise when that professor was chairing the interview panel. He looked over my application form before saying 'ah yes, I remember you' with a slightly pained expression on his face.

The next 45mins was excruciating.

I didn't get the job.

But why ever did the panel let you continue?

If it's obvious a candidate has misunderstood the question, surely you would at least attempt to get them back on track? I'm always happy to rephrase a question or ask a follow up so I can assess them properly.

Methinks you dodged a bullet.

I had an interview for an administrative role at a university in 2012 (the year is relevant!). I got asked a question around policy changes that might affect the university and what impact they might have. I must have looked a bit blank so they gave me a clue, ‘it’s something that’s happening this year’ (I.e. tuition fees rising to £9000).

Me: ‘the Olympics?’

🙈

I'm really interested what the question was now!

I had a YTS interview for a job when I was 16, it was on a farm.

I knocked on the door and no one arrived, so I knocked again and this huge black Demon Dog from the pit of Hades with surprisingly evil amber eyes bounded around from the back. I'm used to dogs as we had them all my childhood but I wasn't one to rush forward to pat them. I didn't need to, this one grabbed my wrist and proceeded to to drag me around the front garden.

As I didn't know the farmers nor this dog and the fact that I was a confident 16 year old but still just 16, I didn't feel capable of smacking the dog smartly on the nose to make it let go just in case that ended the interview. I ended up getting dizzy from being dragged around in circles for what felt like hours but was probably just a couple of minutes.

The farmer turned up eventually, spotted this mid-teen idiot being dragged around by her wrist and shouted to her black labrador pet dog to her and Demon Dog to me, "FLORA!". Then to me she said "Just tap her on the nose if she does that again, she's only a puppy but she needs to learn".

"Flora?" I blurted in a surprised and disparaging voice before I stopped myself from saying a few choice words. That dog was ginormous the words puppy and flora in relation to this creature just didn't equate in my head! The dog let go and I managed to just about introduce myself realising what a prat I must have looked like being dragged about by her pet. I went on to make a massive fool of myself the whole of the interview, got the name of the dairy cow breed wrong constantly even though I was familiar with the breed, asked all the wrong questions, and generally left feeling a bit down hearted.

Several months later the farmer, then my boss admitted that they would never have offered me the job based on the interview and the first days work which was another huge mess of minsunderstandings, sheer lack of skill, and ability. The only reason they took me on was because I was the only applicant, but they were so very glad they did because I turned out to be the best worker they had in the end.

It doesn't always start out right but with a bit of good fortune and some compromises for those terrible first impressions, it can be the right decision.

Oh and Flora turned out to be lovely in the end, she never did it again.

Honestly, that’s nothing. Probably happens in a good 25% of interviews.

I once had an interviewee vomit on me and then pass out. So you’re fine.

I think they let me continue so they could have a good laugh about it afterwards!
You're completely right though, bullet well and truly dodged, the guy that actually got the job over me said it was the worst team he had ever worked with and left after six months!

Over 20 years ago I was a comparatively fresh university professor and was shortlisted for a very prestigious research fellowship. We had a great discussion about the research proposal I had submitted, all was going well, then one panel member asked me where I wanted to be in 5 years' time. I stared at him blankly then said 'I don't want to be a Dean'.

I did get the fellowship, but in the three months between interview and results I didn't get much sleep 😯. I was too busy kicking myself.

I answered a question in an interview recently about negotiating with people with differing views by talking about not always giving my son Haribo when he wanted it... tbh it was not the worst point of the interview and got a laugh but I didn't get the job.

I've told this on here before but...through nerves I bit the skin off down the side of my thumbnail while waiting to be called into the room.

Only once I left and went to the loo in a cafe did I realise it had bled, and I had smeared blood all over my face somehow.

I must have looked like a fucking psychopath.

Didn't get the job 😂

We've asked several people about the preparation they did for the interview (meaning I've looked at your website, social media, see you have just rebranded etc).

Several have told us what they had for breakfast, that they had a shower and then read through their CVs.

One corrected and laughed and did get the job.

I’ve been a conveyancing assistant - you definitely expect to be stressed (the vast majority of the time!).

Now work in probate. A bit calmer!

I found conveyancing enormously stressful. Makes me twitchy just reading about things like chains falling through and solicitors not responding just on MN!

Could not get out fast enough.

I once cried in an interview when answering a value base question.... I still got the job 😂

I recently had an interview where I answered a question about partnerships and how is work with them in different environments and gave details about one and then said "and I'd use the same principles in X and Y". Y was the one area I knew very little about, so you can imagine my horror when they asked a supplementary question with "I'm glad you've mentioned Y... What would you do in this situation....."

I gave a few general answers then said "I'm kicking myself for mentioning Y now as what I know about them can be written on my fingernail" 🤦‍♂️

I couldn't believe I'd said it!! 🤣

Anyway, I GOT THE BLOODY Job!!

Apparently they valued my honesty and thought my general principles were sound!! 🤣

It was a huge increase (25%) in salary and my dream job, so I'm glad I messed up in a way!!

Now waiting to start and desperately learning about Y!!!

@GoogleWhacking wow, congratulations!

.Did you get the job?

Sorry didn't rtfta

I think you win!

I've been offered jobs where the interview went badly and not when the interview went well. You just can't tell, without knowing what they're looking for, what the other candidates are like, if there's an internal one etc.

I did love the stories about the peace process and the empty gin bottle though!

I had a dodgy interview once when they asked me about childcare (I had no children) and after they made me a cup of tea and I used the loo, I realised they had no running water in the place (they had a porta loo with hand sanitiser). No, it was not a construction site but a very odd organisation.

I'd interviewed at lunchtime so went back to my existing job thinking, well this is a boring job with odd people but at least it has modern sanitation...

This was in London about 15 years ago!

@honeylulu That is very funny 🤣 Love this story!

My worst interview ever - I work in quite a technical area of financial services and recently went for a job a level below what i do now. They asked me a very, very basic yet uncommon and therefore totally unexpected question and because id prepared lots of very technical questions, my mind went very blank. I couldn't even fumble my way through, i just had to say "I'm sorry i just can't remember. I do know it but my mind has gone blank". My face was burning with embarrassment. There wasn't any way to rephrase the question - it's basically "what's the difference between x and y". They still just sat there waiting for the answer for ages watching me fumbling until i asked if we could move on.

I wanted to hang up (zoom interview) but i battled through. I honestly just couldn't remember the answer. (ADHD) They didn't give me the job because they felt my technical knowledge wasnt there. Which might be fair enough, but it is annoying because my technical knowledge is absolutely there, but so is my disability (which i had disclosed prior to the interview).

I didn't want the job anyway, because i think they would have been an inflexible nightmare to work for but it still stings!

I think interviews are the worst possible way for me to get a job. I've worked for the same company for 20 years because whole I'm great at my job when i have access to everything i need to know with all the workarounds I've created and would bring with me, i cannot do interviews. I've failed every one for the last 15 years. But that was the worst.