Just had an awful interview

[PerfectParisian]

The title pretty much sums it up. I don't feel like I answered any of their questions, and feel like I wasted their time.

Please cheer me up :) Any similar stories out there of tricky interview situations?

I did the same on Monday

In had an interview for a nhs admin job when I was first out of uni
The first question was what is a junior doctor and I waffles in about a young doctor then I knocked over a full glass of water, needless to say that I didnt get it

Oh god, don't worry about it. I've had a couple of interviews like that before I think we all have. Have a drink, shake it off and think fuck 'em you wouldn't have wanted to work with them anyway.

I had a phone interview once. For some reasons, I completely misunderstood which company was calling me, and cheerfully answered every single question believing I was talking to someone else.
I only clicked at the very end when we talked about the nearest tube station to the office.

You will not believe this, but I did not get invited for a second interview. I am still amazed.

Many years ago I interviewed for a job in London while still finishing a degree in the north of England.

Being a poor student I thought it would be a great idea to take the night bus: it's cheaper, AND I would be able to sleep, then arrive rested and energetic. Even built in a three hour buffer to make sure I wasn't late.

Except we stood still on the M1 for three and a half hours, so I had to call ahead and tell them I'd be late.

I also didn't sleep a wink, because there were three babies on board, all of them in a bad mood. And to top it off my nice white shirt got shoe polish on the front, so I looked more like a hobo than a bright young candidate.

During the interview the first interviewer pretty much told me he wasn't terribly impressed. And with the second interviewer I managed to talk at length about maternity benefits (I wasn't pregnant and had no plans to ttc).

Incredibly, they hired me and I'm still there.

I work in HR and quite often its not even about what you say, it's about how you say it and how enthusiastically. A judgement can be made within minutes of you walking into the room and before you've said a great deal so if you look good, smile a lot and come across as interested in the position and company you've pretty much nailed it. Why do you feel you did so badly?

I had an interview where I was handed a glass hand-axe blade to identify. I identified it correctly but also cut my palm on it quite badly when first picking it up and then had to do the rest of the interview trying to cheerily pretend that there wasn't blood running down to my elbow then dripping onto the rug...

Sorry BestZebbie but what were you being interviewed for that identifying a glass hand axe was part of the process? and did you get the position?

I had one a couple of years ago, the first one after 6 years of maternity leave & I can't even remember what I said it was that bad I've blanked it out. I think they asked me about teamwork & I said things about wartime spirit & I just talked & talked with sweat pouring off, they were asking in a concerned way whether I'd like a drink of water. They would ask a question & in the middle of answering it I'd forget what the question was & would have to ask them to repeat it. omg I can't even think about it now.

In interviews I either freeze or babble & there's no way of knowing which its going to be until it happens! My last one was last month though & I got the job so I must be improving somehow :D

Chin up OP, you never know

Don't worry it probably wasn't as bad as you think. Do you have anything else in the pipeline?

I had an interview a very long time ago at a very famous art museum. The interviewer asked me my views on pornography as art, it was a large part of the interview. I only went for an admin job! Didn't get that one.

I had a shit interview for my dream job and still got it.

Interviews are horrible and i've had some shockers in my time too.
i hope the next one is a bit better for you.
you may even get this job though, you never know!

I once interviewed for a job where, when asked if I played golf, I cheerily informed them that I thought it was quite a silly sport.

The job was a chambermaid in a golf hotel.

I have had SO MANY bad interviews.

One for a graduate scheme involved staying away overnight with other candidates. We all got ratted on the (free) wine with dinner. Then during a panel interview the next day - luckily in a hotel room featuring an en-suite bathroom - I had to excuse myself to be sick. The loud heaving sounds would not have been wasted on the panel. I didn't get it.

Another, about 15 years ago, saw me ace the first interview but then make a complete arse of the second interview by talking too fast and rambling. It was nerves. I expect that's what taking cocaine feels like. I could tell that the two interviewers didn't like the way I was behaving, which made it worse and made me do it all the more! The recruiter called me shortly afterwards to say, "they hated you".

The last terrible interview I had, quite recently, involved an interviewer constantly interrupting me to say, "you're not selling yourself very well, are you?", inviting a colleague into the room to listen to me because I was apparently "quaint and hilarious" then inviting two boisterous dogs into the room (!!! I am an accountant, not a vet) to "see how I reacted". I am not making this up. I managed to hold back the tears until I hit the street, but when I let them go a mentally ill man followed me all the way to my car shouting abuse at me. I cried tears of humiliation all the way home but recovered quickly and have dined out on the story since.

I hope your experience was better than that, OP!! Put it behind you. Good luck with your next interview.

Didactylos: it was a university interview for archaeology/anthropology and yes I did.

Friend of mine once went for an interview for a v. smart, upcoming marketing company - he dropped his portfolio in a puddle on the way in, drank a bottle of lucozade and didn't realise it had stained his tongue and top lip bright orange, and to top it off, realised when he got home he'd only shaved half his face that morning

Didn't get the job, oddly enough.

I just don't feel like I sold myself enough or showed enough passion. So frustrating. I've only got myself to blame really.

One of the interviewers kept on raising his eyebrow at my answers as if to say that they weren't good enough or they weren't quite what he was expecting.

At one point, they asked me how my friends would describe me, and I just crumbled. Had no idea what to say. So waffled something crap.

In another question (which is fairly crucial to doing the job effectively), I took an absolute age to answer it and kept on asking for more time to answer. My mind had gone absolutely blank. It was so awful.

Thanks everyone for your support and stories

My crigiest interview. I was ill (NOT contagious, think similar to migraine) and would have called in sick for a full day of work but convinced myself it was too late to cancel interview and thought "it won't last long, I'll pump un on paracetamol and lucozade, I'm well prepared anyway"

it.was.WTF-AWFUL

It dragged on and my paracetamol and lucozade wore off, i was leaning on the table fantasising about putting my head down and and taking a nap

I was asked a long WWYD type question and my reply was "um, that wouldn't be good". That was it! WTF

They kept staring at me expecting longer answers

it was mortifying

and it was internal, so I see the panel around (well they don't see me around cause I duck out of the way so I don't have to face them!)

The worst part? they didn't even call to turn me down! It was that much of a given when I walked out that they didn't even bother to formally tell me I didn't get it!

I think it's quite common to think you've done badly when actually you've done quite well; you're possibly just being blindsided by the beauty of time and hindsight :) Fingers crossed!

During a company restructure, I had to interview for my own job. I should have been the top candidate - I did the job all day, more comptetently than anyone before me had ever done it, and knew exactly what they were looking for.

Except I'm awful at interviews. The words turned to ash in my mouth and I couldn't even answer the question about my key stakeholders; an entire report and review on which I'd written singlehandedly the month before. My own line manager said that, had it not been a formality exercise and had he not known exactly what I'm capable of, he wouldn't have given me the job!

Was it for the NHS OP ? I just finished interviewing, wonder if it was you lol

I had an interview for a job in a school. People had warned me the school was awful but I thought how bad could it be? Interview was at 2pm by which time I'd been on site six hours, had been in a couple of awful classes where even year 7 ran riot and the teacher had no control. Teaching assistants I was introduced to told me to try and get a job at the rival school down the road. The two lovely year 9 kids who showed me round admitted their parents were trying to change what school they went to. It was a very strange school atmosphere.

Roll on to 2.05 pm..

"What makes you think you'd be a good candidate for this school Easily?"

Tumbleweed silence before brain back up systems kicked in and I gave a generic answer. Interview was really awkward after that.....

Oh and we spoke a bit about the Guardian. I said it was centrist, even though I know it is left-leaning, The interviewers looked quite surprised

I really tried hard to prepare for this interview, but just feel like it's all gone to shit.

I felt like I was giving 'politician's answers' and not answering the interviewers' questions

At least the feedback (if they give any) will be interesting.

Nettle I should think you had a lucky escape there. Who would want to work for a person like that?

I have have done some terrible things.
Signed in at the university career center for an interview. Ten minutes after it was scheduled I asked the receptionist if they were running late and was told that series of interviews were being held at a hotel in the center of the city. I ran two miles there in interview dress and heels. No I did not get the job as I looked like I'd been attacked by an animal and was also deranged.

At an interview with ICI I was asked to draw the instrumentation on the distillation columns I was doing for my design project. I drew them and when I stepped back realized I had drawn something that looked like two caterpillars doing the wild thing. No job. Probably just as well as ICI seemed to employ very serious people and I just wouldn't have fitted in at all.

Interviewed for BP and it turned out I'd accidentally applied to work on a North Sea oil rig instead of in research. I attempted to style that one out by expressing my great desire to work on rigs (about which I knew less than nothing). Thank God I didn't get that job. My very English friend had managed to tick the 'Chinese' box under ethnicity on his application form so I think there was something a bit dodgy about their forms back then.

I wasn't getting second interviews to went to the careers service at the university who videoed me in a practice interview to find out what was going wrong. I looked and spoke like Princess Diana on speed. Once we'd sorted that out I did actually get a job.

At a group assessment thing, we had to give a presentation that had eight, or however many of us there were, parts so we had to read one each. I didn't understand what we were meant to be speaking about. Had no clue what was going on. Stayed completely silent throughout the planning and then when it got to my part, I just stood there like a muppet until somebody else stepped in. In hindsight, I should've given it up as a bad job and walked out way before it got to that point!