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Original poster

The worst thing that’s happened in a job interview..

71 replies

Mum233 · 13/07/2021 14:32

The thread is prompted by being in a coffee shop recently and next to a table where someone was being interviewed. Halfway through the interview he leaps up from the table (the candidate), runs to the toilet and then appears ten minutes later with sweat literally pouring out of his head. This then happened again. He then tried to keep going and it was awful. He looked so ill and I felt so sorry for him.
What’s the worst thing that’s happened to you in a job interview?

OP posts:
FriendlyBiscuit · 13/07/2021 14:35

I don’t have one but I’m sure I remember someone on here years ago who kept smelling whiffs of poo during her interview. And didn’t want to mention anything.

Then she realised she had a dirty nappy in a nappy sack she had accidentally shoved in her handbag and not yet removed.

memberofthewedding · 13/07/2021 14:39

It didnt happen to me but I interviewed (for a place at uni) a student who began a nose bleed! It started out as a dribble but refused to stop so I called the medical center and they sent a nurse over. I know from experience that prolonged nosebleeds can be serious. We simply rescheduled for the following week.

SoddingWeddings · 13/07/2021 14:44

Not dramatic, but I dressed super smart in a dress and suit jacket, heels etc then changed into my trainers for the 1hr drive and managed to leave the heels in my living room....

Managed to brazen it out with a laugh and got the job!

Worldgonecrazy · 13/07/2021 14:52

Talking about seeing a young man killed at a car race. It was the interviewer’ son.

onlyhereforthecake · 13/07/2021 14:54

I had a last minute interview on a day I was going out straight after work, and instead of boring bog standard suit I normally wore, was wearing a mini-dress and high knee boots Grin

I got a final interview after that, so they were obviously very forgiving!

BrilliantBetty · 13/07/2021 15:07

Worst thing that's happened in an interview...
I was young, went for a job in a pub. The interviewer (man) said are you good at following instructions, I said yeah. He then got the male bar staff gathered round quickly and said to me 'go over to that chalk board and wash off the writing'. It was high up, I had to stand on a chair, leaned against the board cleaning it. Turned round they were all staring at my arse, possibly up my skirt smirking and giggling. He'd asked me to do it purely to get a good look i'm sure. I was humiliated. Only then one of them came over, said he'd clean the board instead and helped me down.

It was my first interview / job.
Manager was never such a perv or dickhead after but it stuck with me.

BrilliantBetty · 13/07/2021 15:08

This was about 10 years ago. Not that long ago really. It sounds like something out of the stone ages!

OverByYer · 13/07/2021 15:10

I know someone who sat through the interview with their legs tightly crossed. They ended up giving themselves a dead leg. When they got up to leave they promptly feel to the floor.

NatMoz · 13/07/2021 15:13
  1. I fire alarm went off half way through my interview so I had to stand in the cold and the rain for 45 minutes before returning and finishing off the interview. Got the job for that one.
  1. One interview I remember them constantly interrupting me and rushing me along when I was answering a competency based question, this went on until the interview concluded, massively distracting then at the end as I was leaving I heard one of the interviewers say 'thank god that's over, I'm absolutely starving and need my lunch'. Didn't get that one...
invisiblesuit · 13/07/2021 15:15

I went for an interview and there was a pre-interview research and writing task. I did a really good job of it and was feeling optimistic. They then called me in for the interview and asked to see what I'd written. They weren't able to read my handwriting. I offered to read it to them, but they refused. I offered to type it up, either then or after the interview, but they refused. They said that treating me in any way differently from other candidates would be unfair. They asked how I would cope in the job if my writing was illegible. I said that I would type everything on a computer, which everyone did anyway. This didn't appear to impress them. I have to say, I wasn't too upset the interview was such a disaster - what a stupid rigid way for a public body to recruit, in the computer age. They didn't find anyone for the job, as they re-advertised it.

Gallowayan · 13/07/2021 15:17

I once nodded off whilst being interviewed. I had not had any sleep for several days due to shift work.

CushionsandCandles · 13/07/2021 15:21

I finished an interview for a high profile job. When they invited me to leave the room at the end and I exited out if the wrong door and walked into the cleaning cupboard.
At least everyone laughed..... (and I got the job)

SimonJT · 13/07/2021 15:23

I was on an interview panel and the guy we were interviewing was essentially the real life version of Ron Bergundy, when I realised this I had to leave the room as I was going to burst out laughing.

unlimiteddilutingjuice · 13/07/2021 15:25

Got a job that turned out to be terrible

cantgetmyheadroundit · 13/07/2021 15:26

When I was about 20, I went to an interview on a Saturday morning in a hotel, to be manager of a shoe shop. Never even worked in a shoe shop.

Anyway, I'd been out on the Friday night, and I was hanging out of my arse. Sweating, shaking, I must have reeked of booze. No idea what possessed me to even show up Hmm

burritofan · 13/07/2021 15:28

Cried. The full wobbly lip, hot face, raw throat, shaky voice lead-up to it too. Aaargh.

somuchtea · 13/07/2021 15:28

I was once interviewing a lovely girl who'd just finished uni so was about 21. She was talking about her good attention to detail. She meant to say "I love being anal about work" or something like that but what she actually said was "I love anal". You could just see the colour drain from her face.

(she did get the job , and we had a good laugh about it once we got to know her, so hopefully she isn't too traumatised!)

3scape · 13/07/2021 15:29

I cried. They asked me a question about my Manager in the job I was in. I'd prepared answers but my head just went to all the awful things he'd said and done. Awful. I managed the rest of the day a presentation and various technical tests. But I wasn't going to get it after that.

PinkTonic · 13/07/2021 15:30

When I was peri menopausal I had a massive hot flush in an interview. Hot, dizzy, pounding heartbeat, it was awful. I didn’t get the job and I’m sure they thought they’d caught me out in a huge lie or something.

ClaudiaWankleman · 13/07/2021 15:31

I wrote a really careful and comprehensive cover letter/ application for a summer internship (and it was very clear in the application), and got an interview. At the end of the interview they asked about my availability and I told them my university summer break dates.

They didn't seem to know I was there for a summer internship and were blindsided when I said I had to return for another year to complete my degree. They shoved me out the door and I never heard another peep.

I was very annoyed. I'd spent about £70 on train tickets which was never reimbursed of course.

mindutopia · 13/07/2021 15:32

Not a job interview, but I had an interview for a master's programme. It was with the dean of the school. She welcomed me into her office and then went to sit down on her sofa in her office next to me and the button at the front of her shirt popped off and went flying across the room. And well, she was fairly 'exposed' shall we say? She looked panicked and then did her best to tuck things back in and adjust her scarf to create some modesty and we carried on. I must have handled it okay because I did get accepted to the programme. I didn't accept the offer, which is probably for the best - so I didn't have to see her again!

Readeatcake · 13/07/2021 15:35

Interveiw for a Saturday job for 6 hours working on the till at a local electronics shop when I was 15.

Get there and it's a full panel interveiw with the owner, his wife and the store manager.

I was then asked at the end to stay for a couple of hours for free so they could see me work and would make their decision.

I did like a mug, and later they rung me to ask I come back and complete a trial period again unpaid for two Saturdays before ther make their decision.

My mother put a stop to it and knew they would string me along.

Odile13 · 13/07/2021 15:36

As a teenager I was asked what jobs my parents did at an interview to work in a bookshop. I was embarrassed and instinctively felt the interviewer wanted a candidate whose parents had professional jobs, which my parents didn’t have.

Nimora · 13/07/2021 15:47

Had to do a 15 minute presentation for a lecturing job. Three out of the four interviewers fell asleep.

Noshowlomo · 13/07/2021 15:50

It wasn't a job interview as such but a load of us doing work experience in general electrics. We were sitting on the floor and I was in an awkward position and I moved and farted. proper squeak.. a few people looked at me.. I just pretended it didn't happen.

I also farted by accident in a science lesson in school once. There is a theme here..