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Original poster

Strangest question a recruiter has asked you?

301 replies

stickydancefloor · 11/05/2021 12:50

Had an online meeting this week with a recruitment agency.

It was all the usual questions until she asked me about the role I held previous to my current one...

"So you were there for 7 years?"
"Yes that's right"
"Who do you keep in touch with from there?"
"Well, no-one nowadays"
"Why's that?"
"I think that's natural when you move onto a new employer that you gradually lose touch with your old colleagues"
But why don't you keep in touch with them?"
"Like I said, we drifted after I left, I think that's quite normal really"
"So you don't speak to any of them?"
"No, it was 7 years ago I left there"
"But why don't you speak to them anymore?"
"Because I'd moved on and things change when you move on and aren't at the same employer"
"So you don't keep in touch with anyone there?"
"NO!!!"

Round and round in a circle!!!!! It was most bizarre!!!!

What the strangest questions you've had from a recruiter?!

OP posts:
Lovethewater · 11/05/2021 13:32

Interview for my first professional role - I was 21 and had completed the required qualification & training
"What have you as a mere child got to offer this Department?"

poorbuthappy · 11/05/2021 13:34

A recruitment consultant asked me if I was married (I wasn't and didn't wear any ring on the wedding finger).
I asked him why and he said you could tell a lot about a person who was married and didn't wear a ring.
I raised an eyebrow and then of course noted he wasn't wearing a ring...so asked him the question right back. And parroted back his response to me when he replied with why....
Twat.

TravelDreamLife · 11/05/2021 13:37

Endless veiled questions about kids, childcare, family plans, am I married. Very obvious discrimination but cloaked in indirect, genuine questions. I never took these jobs as I knew instantly they were inflexible & uncaring about employees needs, kids or not.

Most frustrating was a job advertised as 'part time, suits school hours'. At the final interview they said 'the job will go full time in six months. Can you do that?' Ffs. No.

Pinchmybun · 11/05/2021 13:37

OP was this with REED? As with a previous poster late last week they have some very questionable interview practices!

DespairingHomeowner · 11/05/2021 13:38

@stickydancefloor: I think they either want to recruit for your old company, or have a role with a competitor of your old place & looking for names to contact ...

Mylittlepony374 · 11/05/2021 13:39

If I drove past a bus stop and saw my best friend, an old lady who had obviously fallen and bleeding, and the love of my life/crush etc (can't remember exact scenario, was years ago) and I knew no bus was coming and it was raining etc and I could only pick up one person in my car, who do I pick up? I was so stunned I not even sure what I said. Apparently the best answer is you give your car to best friend to take old lady to hospital and stay at bus stop with love of life. Hmm

Gliblet · 11/05/2021 13:40

When I first started looking for jobs in London I had an interview for a nothing-special job at a firm based near Victoria station. The interviewer kept bringing the interview back round to whether or not I'd done that job/used that skill/demonstrated that competency IN LONDON.

"Yes I've managed a large office before (details, examples etc)"
'Ah, but not IN LONDON!'...

"Yes I've recruited staff before (details, examples etc)"
'But have you done it IN LONDON?'...

London's different, you see Hmm Many years of working in central London later I wished I'd kept his email address so I could have emailed him and said 'No it feckin' isn't' Grin

As some pp have already said, @stickydancefloor if that was an agency recruiter I would assume they're hoping you could put them in touch with people from your past organisation.

Faevern · 11/05/2021 13:45

In the early 1980’s interviewing for a job always meant questions about plans for having children etc. I had all of those usual questions during an interview for a job that may need relocation. Followed by this gem;

Male Interviewer
“How can you relocate if you are married?”

Me : Husband will move with me.

“What, he will move job and follow you?”

Me: Yes, we can move together.

“Really? I don’t understand these modern marriages of men with independent women”

honeylulu · 11/05/2021 13:46

I was asked in 1999 if I had any dependents. I was quite shocked as I didn't think that was allowed.

Another interviewer asked if I knew the percentages in my cv didn't add up. When I checked later they did. I suspect he asked to see if I would get flustered or challenge him (dick). I got flustered and didn't get the job.

clary · 11/05/2021 13:47

Not a recruiter, but I was once asked in an interview what car I drove!

Obviously the questioner and his sidekick, chatting about their swanky company cars, were men.

I think my muttered "Citroen Picasso, got three kids" did not impress!

Faevern · 11/05/2021 13:48

@Lovethewater oooh I was asked that too at age 20 and I gave some garbled spiel about a lifetime of service and energy and new ideas 😂

BonnyandPoppy · 11/05/2021 13:51

I was asked if I was offered the job would I take it. Thought that was a bit weird. I got the job. Maybe I should ask my boss why she asked me that!

TroysMammy · 11/05/2021 13:52

I was asked in my first interview if I knew someone who was from my village. He was about 10 years older than me and he was starting work in the local head office the following week, I didn't know him but I got the job. I did work with him at branch level many years later and he knew my Dad.

Susannahmoody · 11/05/2021 13:52

What does your dad do for a living?

AtoZed · 11/05/2021 13:55

“We supply a uniform. Do you mind wearing a blue top (like this - pointing at her own top) at work?” Confused

BetterThanKleenex · 11/05/2021 13:55

She asked what my husband does and how much he has to earn to fund both of us. Then asked if he was okay with me working, and how it would affect our relationship. Also asked if the part time job (3 hours a day, 4 days a week) would affect my abilities as a housewife- would I be able to clean and cook and keep the house to my husband's standard?

She finished by asking when I was planning on having children so they could arrange maternity cover. When I told her I'm infertile she finally shut up.

Susannahmoody · 11/05/2021 13:57

Recently had an interview and the woman interviewing me said she was friends with XYZ person from my previous job. Who was a total cunt.

I called HR afterwards and withdrew.

Tambora · 11/05/2021 13:57

At an interview with a building society in the late 1980's I got asked whether DH and I were planning on having any children.

idontlikealdi · 11/05/2021 13:57

I was asked by an interviewer very recently if I was done having kids. I told him that he really shouldn't have asked. He had the grace to accept it and I told him that I was done with having kids. I turned the job down!

AtoZed · 11/05/2021 13:58

Think the quickest interview was where she said “I don't ask questions in interviews. I can tell just by looking”

30 seconds later she said “we’ll let you know next week” and that was it. I had barely warmed the chair!

I obviously didn't fit her mind’s image of the successful applicant. Hmm

Yawnthisway · 11/05/2021 13:58

One asked if I’d coped ok working at a big firm Hmm at that point I’d worked at big firm 5 years and the job before then I’d only been at 6 months as a stepping stone!

Doublechins · 11/05/2021 13:59

Was asked if I was on any contraception!

BoyTree · 11/05/2021 14:00

I was asked if I was offered the job would I take it.

I think that's becoming more common now that interviews are seen more as a two - way process. I've asked it before when interviewing for quite a heavy-going position!

Yawnthisway · 11/05/2021 14:02

@Gliblet

When I first started looking for jobs in London I had an interview for a nothing-special job at a firm based near Victoria station. The interviewer kept bringing the interview back round to whether or not I'd done that job/used that skill/demonstrated that competency IN LONDON.

"Yes I've managed a large office before (details, examples etc)"
'Ah, but not IN LONDON!'...

"Yes I've recruited staff before (details, examples etc)"
'But have you done it IN LONDON?'...

London's different, you see Hmm Many years of working in central London later I wished I'd kept his email address so I could have emailed him and said 'No it feckin' isn't' Grin

As some pp have already said, @stickydancefloor if that was an agency recruiter I would assume they're hoping you could put them in touch with people from your past organisation.

We had a newbie at work who thought we expected more from him because he was “from London” and therefore we’d think he was better than us . I left that job soon after but I hope he had a rude awakening.
eandz13 · 11/05/2021 14:07

I was asked if I was going to have any more kids at an interview once, I answered yeah probably some day, they then asked me when I planned to do so. I came out like Hmm