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?

You poor thing, try not to dwell on it. You never know, you might have said enough to get the job.

I hate job interviews. I interview horribly, I go in knowing what to say in my head, but it comes out at super speed and I ramble on.

Worse job interview I had, passed all the assessments and the last(ish) question was "how are you at managing phone calls" and I replied "I hate speaking on the phone, try to get other people to answer a phone if I can get away with it". Job was at a bank call centre, surprisingly never got the job. It was circa 1999/2000 and I still cringe when I think about it.

I had to do a 20 minute presentation as part of an interview. I had timed myself over and over to make sure I could deliver everything within the allotted time. The interviewer bellowed "2 minutes left" when I knew there were at least 10 minutes left. So that was obviously their way to get me to wrap it up as I'd clearly missed the mark. I was really embarrassed. Didn't get the job.

Next job I went for I also had to do a presentation - thinking back to how I'd approached the presentation for interview 1, I did a much more streamlined presentation this time. Nailed it. And got the job!

OP - it's horrid when it all goes wrong but put it down to experience and use the experience to help you nail it next time (and you never know, you might not have been as bad as you think!).

It sounds like a complete success compared to an interview I once had where I burst into tears. It’s been almost 20 years but still could never work for that company! Just very glad it wasn’t an internal interview with my current employer as I probably would’ve had to resign with the shame!

Perhaps you’ve given them all an opportunity to revel in Schadenfreude and they'll be better disposed towards you than you imagine. The appeal of seeing someone else being competent and lucid has its limits after all.

I’m a internal recruiter.

I can absolutely guarantee you, that they will have interviewed people with far worse responses etc than you 😂 If it helps, I genuinely don’t think anything you said was that bad at all.

Trust me, I’ve seen it all. 24 years in recruitment, I could write a book on it 😂

Oh no we have all been there so not worry!! I would definitely ask for feedback, and if you receive say “thanks very much for taking the time to provide that, I’ll definitely take it on board.” Don’t get all weird making excuses in a response! I’ve had some great feedback that way. If it is nerves that wreck you then beta blockers re always a handy interview buddy!

I was interviewing someone and when making small talk in the lift up to the meeting room she told me she had pulled a sickie with her currently company to come to the interview today.
I don't think she even realised what she had said.
As soon as we got to the floor we were going to I wanted to push G but had to go through the interview knowing I was never going to be offering her the job.

I had an "I need to leave the country" job interview last week, I accidentally referenced the sex offender register ffs. Got a call back for a second interview today, I'm actually judging the company at this point 😂

I once did an interview for Selafield and started banging on about conservation and I couldn't stop. It was surreal. In the end one of them got up and opened the door.

I once came down with proper flu during the course of a half day interview. I remember being there but not getting home or the phone call afterwards that must have happened. I dread to think what they thought and presumably I gave them all flu too

It will not have been as bad as you think. I have interviewed loads during my time as a senior sister in the NHS. The best one was a fairly junior nurse just applying for a staff nurse post in critical care - training given experience not expected. She had done her research and gave a fantastic presentation. The 3 of us interviewing just looked at one another after her interview and said unanimously- yes she has got a job here. Poor girl turned up on her first day, panicked, ran away and rang up to say she could not do the job!!!!
I think she went on to get a non-patient facing role.
As an interviewer you just don’t know!!!

I went for an interview in my early 20s and wasn't sure where I was going. My friend who used to get the train to the same city everyday said she would get the same train and walk me to the street where my interview was (we are talking before mobiles and internet etc.) She bloody well didn't turn up and I was left not knowing where to go. I managed to get there from what little knowledge I had of the city and by asking people. I turned up late for the interview hot and sweaty and out of breath from running in a totally panicked state. Still got the job though😁

I've never forgotten my friend doing that though - I think she was jealous and tried to sabotage my chances - we are no longer in touch....

I feel for you. I have had two interviews in my life that made me want to lea e the country. ..

The first was where having completed the interview in front of a panel - I got up and left the room (or so I thought) when in fact I walked into a cupboard... ahhh I said. I see you moved the door.. at least they laughed.

Second time I came into the room and sat down. Then somehow kicked my handbag which was on the floor to my right. Causing the urine sample I had to drop back at the doctors after the interview to roll across the floor coming to a halt under the desk of the interviewers . I'm not sure if the vanity panel under the desk was a God send or not. As it happened it halted its trajectory and remained my side of the desk requiring me to get down on hands and knees to retrieve it. The alternative would have been the panel clearly identifying that I had thrown a phial of piss at them..

Got both jobs. 🤣

Feel your pain! I went the wrong office for an interview once. That was good.

No! But to be fair, I only hit the wall because I'd had to swerve out of the way of a maniac in an Audi coming out of their car park at warp speed.

I had an interview last year and they asked me about one of the campaigns they had running. It was very big charity campaign, very present on social media etc and I had absolutely nothing to say about it, nothing. I knew it, but I made out I had done zero research on the company, or even aware of their existence! I didn't get the job obviously, but 4 months later I reapplied and knew my stuff!! I got it that time!

There is a specific type of paperwork that needs to be completed, when asked about my experience I said
"I'm not an expert, I am aware of it. I'll need training on it and if I don't know what I'm doing I'll ask someone for help
😬don't know why I said that, what a stupid answer.

I think it's a perfectly good answer. If it was key to the job presumably it was on the JD and they would be able to tell from your CV if you had it or not. I'd rather someone said something like that than attempted to blag and got it all wrong.

A few years ago I had an interview where I was pretty sure I'd done well. I know it can be hard to tell but there were no questions that fazed me. I'd predicted them and prepared for them. Interview feedback was that they couldn't fault me at interview. They don't need to say things like that to be kind. IME if there are faults they will tell you when they give feedback. They then went on to say that despite this they couldn't offer me the job because I was over-qualified.

It's an absolute bollocks excuse. All my qualifications are on my CV. The job was mat leave cover, maximum 12 months, so it wasn't as if they could have been worried about me leaving, since it was the point of the job that you leave. It really soured my whole experience of the recruitment process. Why bother interviewing someone if you're going to turn them down for something that is evident from their CV? So don't worry about doing a bad interview. You can do that and get the job. You can do a great interview and not get it. Most of the process is bollocks. They'll give you the job if they like you, and not if they don't.

I went for a job at an airport once and when they asked if l had any questions l said do you get many foreigners? What l meant was do you many regular customers from abroad but it all came out wrong!! And no l didn't get the job!

Ha! I went for a job interview in a travel agent years ago! They asked me about the Taj Mahal and I told them it was in South America!! Eek!

I feel your pain;

When I was younger;
Interviewer; why would you like to work at X?
Me; I don't know and shrugged my shoulders

🤣🙈

Oh I had one of these! It was 10 years ago but I still cringe. I had feedback that I was sweet, WTAF?!

My recommendation is don’t even try and remember it, just let your brain file it away in the “let’s not go there” folder. Forget it and move on!

Although, saying that I suspect I don't have the experience for this job.
There is a specific type of paperwork that needs to be completed, when asked about my experience I said
"I'm not an expert, I am aware of it. I'll need training on it and if I don't know what I'm doing I'll ask someone for help

😬don't know why I said that, what a stupid answer.

Actually it isn't. My mums been a teacher since the 70's. She went for a job interview after the invent of all the computers and it becoming more ingrained in education.

She was asked in a job interview what she knew about computers. She said "well, I can turn one on - and I'm sure the pupils will help me!" Then added she really wasn't computer literate but realised it was becoming a fundamental part of the job so had been looking into and was going to enrol on clait courses.

She got the job.

Is this a grumblebrag OP? most of your answers (except the crying one) are the sort of thing my managers spout on an hourly basis.

The honest answer to that question is almost always going to be 'because you're offering money for stuff I can do, under circumstances I consider to be OK.' Very few of us would continue working if we weren't being paid to do so. I'm always a little bit tempted to throw that one deliberately.

This really made me laugh!