Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

265 replies

minou123 · 09/05/2022 14:37

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?

OP posts:
bluebellwoods55 · 09/05/2022 21:03

I once said I was writing a book - I wasn't and still don't know why on earth I said it. They wished me all the best with my novel in their rejection letter.

Terfydactyl · 09/05/2022 21:12

RunIsAFourLetterWord · 09/05/2022 15:16

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.

Ah depending how you feel dont ask for feedback.
I went to a multi interviewee interview. I knew quite a few of the other interviewees. We all got feedback despite not asking.
All of us cried at the feedback. Christ it was brutal.

I and the others thought we had done ok, not spectacularly well but not so terrible.
I don't know if the company was having a terrible day or what, but even the men I knew were shell shocked and a bit teary.
I burned mine and have hoped to forget it ever since. Sadly some phrases come to mind now and again and I burn with shame.

KaraVanPark · 09/05/2022 21:33

Tell us about your day…. 5 mins earlier and I could, sat in the interview setting and I swear I was brain dead. I was shit. Manager to the piss for days .. he was so handsome, I fancied the bones of him.. couldn’t stop thinking how pretty he was, didn’t get the job but the role ended 6 months later anyway.

Tdcp · 09/05/2022 22:15

I went blank, rambled a lot trying to work out the answer to their question and then cried... I got the job though 😂I turned it down because I got a better one but I think they gave it to me either out of pity or my sheer determination not to give up on the answer even when I gave myself a breakdown

DaffodilGreen · 10/05/2022 06:07

Eddiesferret · 09/05/2022 17:11

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. 🤣

Nominating this phial of piss for classics 😂@mnhq

Sweepingeyelashes · 10/05/2022 08:48

I once applied for a secondment. From what they told me about the job in the interview, the job sounded like a total nightmare. I'd be responsible for meeting a target when they were part way through the year and not obviously on track. I didn't want to withdraw as it might show lack of keenness "for management challenges". Anyway I didn't get the job thankfully. When they told me I had missed out I was babbling about how the person they had chosen was such a great choice for the job. I don't think they'd ever had somebody missing out on an opportunity looking so cheerful and being so full of praise for the successful applicant. The person who had to break the bad news left looking a bit puzzled.

Cap89 · 10/05/2022 09:21

I had an interview for a dream job years ago. I didn’t get it, got some fabulous and really helpful feedback, I just didn’t have enough experience. But I’m also pretty sure they thought I was trying to seduce them, because when I left the interview I realised that my lovely new soft fabric shirt I’d bought for the interview had come completely unbuttoned and I had my lacy bra on show the whole way through 🙈

WombatNo12 · 10/05/2022 09:32

Blimey, I'm half-tempted to look for a job, just to see how I cope with the interview process, now I'm older. Great thread, feel much better.

WisherWood · 10/05/2022 13:46

I have plain cotton vests in various colours to wear underneath interview shirts. There have been a few times when I've been thankful for this.

chisanunian · 10/05/2022 14:33

Oh lawd, I've just remembered another one. Not quite so much of an actual car crash but still...

The interviewer was manager of the department and would have been my immediate boss, and one of the questions she asked me was "And where do you see yourself in five years' time?"
I answered: "Doing your job".

TheQuern · 10/05/2022 15:40

Threads like these make me feel so much better about my life. In real life I’m surrounded by proper adults with Firsts from ancient universities and shiny bobs and perfect families who never do anything wrong at interviews or at work. I used to think I was the crappest adult in the world before I discovered Mumsnet. Now some days I actually suspect I’m normal, I just have the misfortune to have stumbled into a real life full of robots.

liliainterfrutices · 10/05/2022 17:07

From the other side of the table I was conducting interviews a couple of years ago and since it was the pandemic it was on Zoom. One candidate excused herself, asked for a couple of minutes, and then went and SCREAMED at her partner on the other side of the room. She came back, sat down, apologised and carried on serenely for about five minutes. Then she excused herself and went and screamed at him again. It was very strange.

Blowthemandown · 10/05/2022 18:20

Dogmum40 · 09/05/2022 15:47

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 😆

😂that'd be me

TedLassosMoustache · 10/05/2022 18:27

This happened to me, and they offered me the job! I was embarrassed to turn up on my first day because it was so awful!

onetimeonlyipromise · 10/05/2022 18:34

When I was asked what I considered to be the most important quality to have as a solicitor in the housing team, I responded ‘to believe in yourself’. Couldn’t have been more American Teen movie if I had tried. Didn’t get the job. In hindsight, a very good thing!

SavBbunny · 10/05/2022 18:38

Ah. I am the queen of the shit interview. Best thing I did at Christmas was choose not to be desperate anymore (redundant, old , fat, rabbit in headlights) . I have two this week, Thursday and Friday. I always over talk and say too much. Now I think, this is me. I am ace at what I do, pay up or go away.
Very freeing. It is a candidate's market as very few want non wfh jobs.
Good luck op.

pcl09 · 10/05/2022 18:46

If they were laughing, take it all in your stride. I have interviewed plenty of people over the years and the ones that stick with me were the people who were just unlikeable. It sounds like you showed a bit of humility and self awareness so whilst you might not get the job, they were probably wishing they could give you a hug for how you felt afterwards!!! Dine out on this story, embrace it as part of your colourful life history and chuckle rather than cringe. Tomorrow is another day!!

OlympicProcrastinator · 10/05/2022 19:01

I once had an interview that was going fine until I was suddenly asked, “Why are you looking to leave your current job?” And the truth was I hated my boss. I couldn’t say that so I instead I just opened and closed my mouth more times than was comfortable like a silent guppy. Everyone shifted awkwardly in their seats. Someone broke the silence by making up something on my behalf like, “well I’m sure she just likes a change right?”
I nodded gratefully and the interview ended. I did not get the job.

Hobnob90 · 10/05/2022 19:06

Years ago in his early twenties My husbands friend had a job interview. He couldn’t find the location of interview and had been driving round for ages. He called the person from the interview and said he can’t find the door to building to the interview. The interviewer explained that they could see his car. He then punched the steering wheel in frustration and the airbag went off. Needless to say he didn’t attend the interview. 😂

MakeMineALarge1 · 10/05/2022 19:07

I went for a promotion at work.
So I'm an internal candidate, I suggested we all went for a walk in response to one question!
I genuinely thought I'd be escorted off the premises.
I was do embarrassed.

Ferris124 · 10/05/2022 20:06

Contact one of them through Linked-In and apologise and say you were crap for some reason. I would give you another go (maybe)..

Kteeb1 · 10/05/2022 20:25

Well if its any consolation this made me laugh. I had an interview a few years back that was so awful I wanted to get up and walk out in the middle. On one question I rambled for a good 5 minutes then couldn't remember what I was trying to say so I just stopped mid sentence and we all just sat there looking at each other! In silence :( Chalk it up to experience if you don't normally choke and better luck next time.

Mummadeze · 10/05/2022 20:30

I went for an interview at Oxford University to do English and the panel only really asked me about two books I hadn’t really read. I tried to blag my way through but I couldn’t even remember the characters names and was saying things like ‘you know, the woman who is married to the main character’. It was excruciating. The only feedback my school got was that I seemed like a nice person when I was rejected.

Original poster
minou123 · 10/05/2022 20:33

Your similar experiences are making me feel better. 😂

I've had a couple of moments today where I've had flashbacks <shudder>

I will update as soon as I have hear about the job.

OP posts:
AnnieSnap · 10/05/2022 21:05

Don’t feel so bad about it. I have been on the other side. On the panel interviewing someone who was obviously very nervous and rambling. Most people empathise and are just glad that they are not the one being interviewed. Put it down to experience and let it go.