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

[Mum233]

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?

@OverByYer

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.

Ahh this happened to me before. Hadn't realised it was completely dead so sat there shocked until someone helped me up.

I was once interviewing with my male best friend (for a teaching job abroad).

We were waiting in the corridor of this posh hotel for well over an hour. We were getting a bit fed up. He was restless.

Anyway, there were some horsewhips on the wall (décor)....

I don't know why he did it, but he got one down and started whipping his own arse. I don't know what the hell he was doing. He was saying, "Ooooh! If we were staying here tonight..."

The interviewer was behind him.

She said, "We're ready for you now."

He put the whip back on the wall and we had to go in and talk like normal people.

I wanted to die.

We got the job.

They must have been fucking desperate.

My Manager and I were interviewing a lovely woman for an admin position in our department, and things were going really well. She was switched on, proactive and was doing a super job of 'selling' herself as an excellent fit for the role.

About 20 minutes into the interview, my Manager suddenly started to get a bit tongue-tied and flustered, I could see his face was starting to go bright red, but I couldn't work out what the problem was. After a couple of minutes of this, he scribbled a message to me on his interview notes and excused himself briefly.

The message said "Betsy - please discreetly encourage the candidate to rearrange her blouse while I am out of the room"

I hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary myself, but now that I looked, it became obvious that the candidate was very small-chested, so had decided to boost her natural curves with a pair of 'chicken fillet' inserts inside her bra. Unfortunately, they had escaped from the cups of her bra and were instead now clearly visible above the front of the v-neckline!

I quickly announced "I'm just going to track Manager down, back in a couple of minutes... Oh, and I think you've caught your necklace on your top or something", to get her to notice what had happened, then I hightailed it out of there!

When my Manager and I returned a few minutes later, all modesty had been reclaimed, the candidate didn't seem too affected and the only lingering result was the blush that refused to fade from Manager's neck!

The candidate got the job and proved herself to be as totally unflappable as she had been with her chicken fillets on show during a job interview!

The one where one of the panel started ranting at the other panel members about why they ahd shortlisted someone who was not English was not a huge highlight.

I should have realised then. Instead I got the job and spent 4 miserable years with that person as my line manager. Among other things she undermined me, and in ways that are hard to explian actually claimed my work time stats and my clients which then affected things like how much i was paid and if I got a bonus. The rants about my nationality continued and although senior management knew full well what she was doing their response was a wishy washy 'you know what she is like'.

Shame they were a law firm specialising in employment law.

Passed Out

Bf at the time was putting alot of pressure on to find a job - i'd walked from the previous one for numerous reasons.

It was a hot day and felt so much pressure to get the job after applying for loads and hearing nothing back. It was an entry level job and they were tasking me while watching, it just got too much and I ended up passed out on the floor. I was so embarrassed when I came round and of course I didn't get the job. Was a very long time ago now but still makes me cringe.

In local government it's usual for councillors to interview for the most senior executive appointments.
Many years ago I worked for a council that decided that every job above the lowest graded roles should also be a councillor appointment. That was purely because they could then claim expenses for attending as it was treated like a 'committee meeting' and be provided with sandwiches, cakes and tea.
The process was for the councillor 'panel' to read out the interview questions parrot fashion to candidates while the service manager sat in the background taking notes so they could advise the councillors who to appoint. Throughout the interviews they were scoffing their food. Thankfully those days are long gone (I think).

A good few years ago now, but was having a first interview which was quite casual. The guy interviewing me was drop dead gorgeous!

After the first chat he said to me "all sounds great to me now, we will need to get you back in for a further chat - when are you free?" Stupid me replied "you can do me right now?" He just laughed, looked away and said he would give me a call..... yeah still waiting on that call 10+ years later

I was interviewed for a law training contract with the employers thinking I was somebody else entirely. It only came to light when they asked about my home country and it turned out they thought I was from the Far East. I did not get the job!

Interview going well, move to another office for second interview. Got distracted by their dog, missed the chair and sat on the floor

Internal job for a sideways move to a new department.

Had booked a meeting room at work so I could ensure peace and quiet for the interview (middle of covid so everything was being done via Teams).

The meeting room next door was being used by someone having a virtual disciplinary at the same time, walls between us were literally just a sheet of glass and a privacy blind. Throughout my interview I could hear arguing, crying and then the post meeting fall out of the employee calling colleagues and family upset and slagging off their manager.

Was very distracting.

Not necessarily worst but weirdest…

Went for an interview for a little shop position in a rural bakery and the boss literally took me into a cupboard to interview me! It was so weird, I was very young at the time and went along with it - to be fair absolutely nothing odd happened apart from the fact it was literally a walk in cupboard where they stored cleaning stuff etc, I think he just didn’t have anywhere else to interview me! I got the job…! Stayed there 2 years!

My first ever job interview was for a job in the local KFC. The manager had such a thick accent that I couldn't understand a word he was saying. As a shy 16 year old I didn't dare mention it so just answered the questions I thought he was asking while he looked more and more confused I did not get the job!

Interviewed someone recently who was asked to do a ten minute presentation for a senior manager role. It was in the interview process paperwork. Can you get a point across concisely. They got about 1/4 way through and then moaned a lot that ten minutes wasnt long enough and a stupid length of time. To us, the panel.who had set the time limit. If they had laughed it off saying whoops I went over etc then no big deal. I think all of us was squirming for the candidate.

Decades ago, as a rookie HR person fresh from my recruitment training, I was sitting on my very first interview panel. After a couple of candidates we eventually realised that our admin support who was showing the candidates in was drunk. Really, really drunk. Staggering, slurring her words, trying to insert a floppy disk into the computer screen (I said it was decades ago!) All before 11am.

She was discreetly taken to one side and asked to go home but she created a huge scene, shouting and screaming in front of the candidates - stormed out, got in her car and drove off!

Fortunately the team had police officers on it. They leapt into their cars, chased her and arrested her for drink driving.

No other interview panels quite lived up to that one.

Not to me, but to someone I was interviewing. She got stuck on a question and I said we'll come back to that. Came back to it, she burst into tears and ran out. I found her in the toilets, gave her a hug and told her what time to come back the following day.

She came back, answered the question, got the job.

My one that I still remember; 3 people interviewing me, them one side of a table, me the other.

I was given a coffee, but was so nervous I banged it into my teeth when I went to drink it, and coffee dripped down my chin. I didn't have a tissue so had to wipe it away with my hand whilst the panel just stared at me.

Turned out I'd also wiped away the lower half of my carefully applied foundation and looked a right state!

@Worldgonecrazy

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

How on earth this you manage to talk about this?

Remember Guy Goma, the bloke who turned up at BBC intending to interview for a computer technician job but instead ended up being grilled on live TV about an Apple court case after being mistaken for technology expert Guy Kewney.

Watch the interview

@blueshoes

Remember Guy Goma, the bloke who turned up at BBC intending to interview for a computer technician job but instead ended up being grilled on live TV about an Apple court case after being mistaken for technology expert Guy Kewney.

Watch the interview

When this first happened I loved his expression when he realised they thought he was someone else.

Bent down to get a presentation folder out of my bag, hit my temple on the corner of the table. Knocked myself clean out. 🤦🏻‍♀️ Came round finished the interview adamant I was fine, I'll be alright, yes a glass of water will fix it. Got the job for my determination.

Was however the brunt of many a joke for months, but was all in good humour and sport nothing nasty.

I had written my name incorrectly on the application form! It was while we were living overseas, the closing date was near and I was rushing, the phone rang, I took the call then completed the form, putting my surname name twice! I still got the job, at least my application was memorable.