Worst interview ever...I need to leave the country, don't I?

[minou123]

Just had an interview it was, without fail, the worst, most embarrassing thing I've ever done.

One minute I was rambling, next minute I couldn't speak.
I was over enthused about the greatness of 'action plans'. To my shame, i even said I have action plans to clean my house 🙄

I cant remember the rest, I think my brain is trying to protect me from the shame I have brought upon myself.

I need to leave the country, don't I? The thought of ever bumping into the interview panel is filling me with fear.
Albu?

Oh @minou123 , you poor poppet. Have a nice big G&T tonight and allow yourself to lick your wounds for a bit.

I've been there. Had an interview for a job that I really wanted, in an area (of work, not geographical) that I was desperate to get into. I prepped so much, I was so ready. Then at the actual interview, I went between sitting in panicked silence at some questions, to babbling on endlessly at others. Then when given the chance to show what I knew about the organisation, basically recited their website. History, values, departments, staff, mission statement. I'd memorised it all and just spewed it at three shocked looking interviewers 😂

Needless to say, I did not get the job. I did however ask for feedback, and they very kindly agreed and scheduled a call with me and the interview panel. The call lasted about 35 minutes, they had a lot of feedback 😬😬. However, I took it on board, and the next job I applied for in the same area, I got, was offered it almost immediately.

So if you don't get the job, maybe ask for feedback and turn it into a positive? I get it though, I still sometimes get hit with the cringe out of nowhere (for that interview and many, many other things) and find myself blushing walking down the street cringing about something embarrassing I did 2/10/17 years ago.

Years ago, I did an interview that was so bad that I asked if I could step outside as I felt so nervous and was rambling on and on.. I just needed a breather. They looked bemused but said OK, so I walked outside, got in the car and left.. I still shudder almost a decade later!!

Amazing advice for so many aspects of life

Don't worry!!
You might still get the job!

Interviewers can see your nervous & it's refreshing to see someone being 'human'.

Oh, you're all so lovely. I feel a bit better now.

Large G&T is in my hand.

You will laugh about this one day. I'm laughing about it now!

Thanks for cheering me up (I'm sure we've all done this)...

Can’t be as bad as one where I was the interviewer. A mid senior role where the applicant mansplained (very obviously) what risk management was and a) didn’t do it very well, missed a number of crucial points b) explained why I probably wouldn’t know that. I was head of risk at that point….

I arrived 20 minutes late to an interview last week. I nearly cried on the bus haha. Had to compose myself. The interview was awkward- I rambled about a topic I was clueless about, then ranted about something and was cut off abruptly, as they asked if I have any other questions today.

These things happen, when you get the job you want, you'll look back at this and laugh. Some interviews are great, like a nice normal chat. Others are really tricky or you say the wrong thing.

Also, if I can tell
that the applicant is obviously nervous but there seems to be some nuggets in there I may well invite back for a second interview. In each one of those cases they proceeded to perform brilliantly second time around so you never know…

I went for a legal role in 2020 and was asked to summarise a "recent" Court of Appeal or Supreme Court decision not in my area who reads cases not in their area FFS.

Mind blank. Only one I can think of is one from 1990.

The interviewer said very sweetly they had been hoping for something a little more recent.

Christ I am coming over all hot with shame just thinking of it

I was once interviewing for a role for someone that I would have to work closely with on a daily basis. The experience needed was quite specific and could mostly be established from a CV.

I ended up offering to the person who put her foot in it three times during the interview because it was clear she was nervous but it was also clear she was smart, had the experience and was an actual human who could laugh at herself meaning that we would get on,

A couple of others on the interview panel thought I was a bit mad but I didn't want to spend the few few years working with a perfectly prepared but perfectly dry bore, and I had seen enough to think the clumsy woman was just bad at interviews.

I was right and she was great. We are still in touch.

I’ve been for an interview where one of the questions revealed to me, quite suddenly, that the job I was interviewing for was not in fact the job I thought it was. As in, I thought it was working with a particular group of clients, and it turned out it was working with a completely different group of clients with very different needs, under a scheme I had to admit I had never heard of. I checked, and that definitely was not clear from the job description. But still. Mortifying. I did not get the job.

But they were very kind in their feedback. They basically said I did really well in the rest of the interview and they wished I’d rung for an informal chat before the interview so I could have been more prepared. It was important lesson. Always, always ring for a chat first!

I bet they loved you, OP, as well as giving them a giggle. You never know; the job could be yours especially as you were so memorable!!

I didn't realise until I was interviewing other people for professional jobs that most of them seemed to be at least part train wreck.

I've forgotten most of the applicants though, with the exception of the one who wrote at length about making bagels in his covering letter (the job was in no way food related) and another who finished every other sentence with "if you so desired". I was so desperate to get the interview over with by the end that I repressed my curiosity as to how on earth it took him 5 years to get a 2:2 in his BA from Bath Spa University.

I once had an interview for a Bank and to my horror, I realised as the interview started I had totally forgotten to research the company. They asked me what I knew, so I started total waffle about how many branches they have and they said 'Just gonna stop you there...we have one branch.'

Still got the job. Hold out!

And if not then learn for next time. Dont forget you are allowed to sit and think about an answer, and compose yourself!

No one ever reads cases unrelated to their area of practice! That’s a mean and also pointless question. If it’s any consolation I would have given a similarly useless answer 😂

I always try to think of it as if you get the job it obviously wasn’t that bad, and if you don’t you’ll probably never see any of them again. And if you do pass one of them in Asda you can just pretend you don’t know them - how do they know you don’t have an identical twin?

It will be OK. I still remember with horror an interview from years ago when they were really pressing me to come up with any negative qualities I had.

Under extreme pressure and desperate to not say anything work-related I said "Sometimes I drink a bit too much." Then I watched the chap write "drinks too much" on his pad. Mortified. Glad I didn't get the job actually, but the horror-shudders remained...

I burst into tears after an interview, because I said I couldn't remember how much time off I had had at uni. I was offered the job half an hour later because I got all floaty about beautiful plants and animals.

Interviews are strange.

I have worked in academia for years and years. I was recently in an interview where I was asked about 'scholarship'. Scholarship is intertwined in all aspects of academia and a buzzword and talked about all the time. For some reason in that moment, that word didn't sound like a real word to me and didn't make sense and I could only think of the financial aid definition which clearly didn't make sense in the context of the question. I started rambling about who knows what to cover for my inability to comprehend the word they just said, as I was rambling my brain kicked back into gear and I transitioned to a real answer but they really had to wonder about my sanity!

That made me smile @minou123. Enjoy your g&t and happy job hunting. As long as you are yourself stuff them! 🥂

I once turned up to an interview with a raging hangover, I could barely speak never mind think. I was asked a safeguarding question (I’m NHS) along the lines of ‘what would you do if you saw a mother smack her child while she was waiting for your clinic’ and answered with ‘well we all have our off days!’ The second I said it I was horrified by myself, I am completely anti-smacking and knew the exact answer they were looking for! What an idiot. No, I didn’t get the job.

Also I interviewed someone once and when asked about strengths they would bring to the position, the candidate told me he had really good eyesight. I had no idea what to do with that as eyesight - while beneficial in most jobs - had nothing specific to do with this role or job! He later said he just panicked and had recently been at the eye doctor who had told him he had great eyesight and that was all that popped into his head when he was trying to think about what he was good at! We hired him and teased him about that for years to come!

Under extreme pressure and desperate to not say anything work-related I said "Sometimes I drink a bit too much." Then I watched the chap write "drinks too much" on his pad. Mortified. Glad I didn't get the job actually, but the horror-shudders remained...

This really made me LOL, I can only imagine someone saying that at a job interview… even though it’s probably true for a lot of people.

I once tripped up in the interview/conference room and went head first into their display case and shouted fuck, fucking, shit and Bollocks at various points of that trip, they all burst out laughing and hired me there and then as they realised I fitted in perfectly with their team, before that fall I apparently was a nervous wreck, talking rubbish and wasn’t going to offer me the job but the fall calmed me down and I became normal 😆