Interviewer laughed at me

[Sooocold]

I’ve just come from an interview this morning and I thought it was going quite well until the second to last second. It threw me off and I thought it was quite a difficult one to answer but I tried my best and came up with an answer anyway. Whilst I was speaking they were writing my answers down and I saw one of the interviewers smirk and chuckle as to himself and then he looked at the other man who was sat next to him with a big smirk on his face and to get his reaction. it really put me off to be honest and I felt silly and humiliated after that.

I feel so down now because I pushed myself to go to this interview and I felt like I tried my best. I have anxiety and I felt proud that I’d gone but I’ve left feeling like an idiot

You should be proud of yourself for going to the interview, try not to let it knock your confidence.
Maybe look at it like this:

You will either get the job, or you won't.

If you do, they were smiling because they liked your answer. And if you don't, they were bellends and you don't want to work for them anyway.

Try to do something you enjoy this evening, and try not to think about it too much 😊

Soocold - better to be smirked at in an interview, than when you go to work for someone.

I had misgivings on my last video interview, when just before the interviewers came on camera unbeknown to them unmuted, I heard a let's do this from two bored-sounding not looking forward to interviewing people. God I wish it was a bullet dodged looking back.

Today I'm in the contact centre, ahem room of three people, getting smirked at whilst trying to deal with a telephone call in an industry I now don't think I understand.

Of course, I hope you are worrying over nothing but trust your gut. (you posted here for a reason) many hugs.

Good luck anyway, but if they really did laugh then you wouldn’t want to work for them anyway. We all cock up sometimes in interviews. You are normal.

It may have been an in joke or that everyone answered in the same way and they were acknowledging that between them. It was rude though. Don’t dwell, it’s as much an interview for you as them. DD went for an interview lately and they were so disorganised and the staff she met on arrival were not professional and almost dismissed her for being in the wrong place( she had followed instructions) and then the interviewer told her she’s be swamped with work and there would be little training!! She got offered the job but declined. They asked for feedback and she gave it to them!

It's possible you mentioned something that's an in joke, or impossible within their systems for example. That's way more likely than their laughing at you OP. Well done on the interview!

@Sooocold I hope you've heard back, they sound dickheads but maybe as PPs have said they liked your answer.

Many years ago as a teenage mother I had a job interview and I'd spent my last 30 quid on an interview clothes, the interviewer laughed at some "crossed wires", (I'd specified no nights on my application, he'd called me in on an interview for a night position and had offered me it, then told me the rota) I started crying, like ugly tears and said, "but I bought these trousers from next, fucking next Andrew, fucking next!"
Poor Andrew was mortified, anyway I get home and get a call from Andrew saying if I can wait 2 weeks he would give me a day job on another site he managed.
As I thanked him and apologised simultaneously he said, "well Lauren, we couldn't have you buying trousers from FUCKING NEXT to not get the job, could we?"

I hope your interview is something you'll laugh at in the future x

Don't feel bad. Feel glad that they showed their true colors at the interview. They were rude, unprofessional, ignorant and childish. Do you want to work with idiots like that? You are a better person than they are regardless of whether you knew the answer to the question or not. And sometimes in interviews I've been asked questions that have not been articulated properly due to the person asking it not being articulate enough. You have dodged a bullet. Next time hold you head up high, look them straight in the eye and I'm sorry I don't have an answer for that question, do you have another? Good luck to you!! Don't let them get you down x

Well done on getting an interview and for pushing yourself to go. If this isn't the right job for you it's still good practice.

Don't worry about it now. If it was a bad answer and you don't get the job then you'll probably never see them again. They may have been smiling because you gave a great answer, said something they had been hoping to hear but other interviewees had missed. Or because you mentioned something they are really interested in.

Good luck your job search

When I interview and someone says something that covers what we’ve been looking for I’ll smile across to my Co interviewer. Now wondering if that is taken in the wrong way!

if he was actually laughing at you he was just plain rude

😊

Having sat on interview panels, I've seen candidates who have skirted round the answer we needed without giving us it, then, we got the answer from a candidate!! Finally! Eureka! Thank the lord! A celebratory smile while frantically scribbling notes may have slipped out!

If he was laughing at you, you’ve had a lucky escape, not somewhere you would want to work.

I always smile a lot as an interviewer, more so if they are nervous, I’m trying to be reassuring and encouraging. Now hoping it doesn’t come across the wrong way!

Yes! Interviewees forget that interviewers actually want to find the right candidate, they're not just putting you through purgatory for the fun of it! They want you to succeed.

It's hard to say when we don't know what your answer is.

Occasionally someone says something ridiculous. Of course the interviewers shouldn't react.

Other times though I think I have smiled/chuckled if they have said something that really resonated -.although I do always explain my reaction to the interviewee

I once had an interview and I remember vividly because of how much it threw me. It was just for a minimum wage, stacking shelves type job, I think Debenhams (because I didn’t get that one, or Bestbuy but probably the former). It was the standard ‘tell me a problem and how you overcame it’.
I had been asked this previously and said the generic answer and this time I said something specific to me - how in uni we have issues printing our work with 100+ people trying to print 10 A1s of full colour at stupidly high resolution. Some would take an hour each page before they got faster printers. Genuine nightmare and caused me so much stress. I often didn’t sleep or eat for 2 days because I couldn’t lose the slot to get my finished digital work in a physical form. (I’m extremely jealous that other unis accept a digital submission).

So I gave a brief of that and how I overcame it because of the previous time when I had got into trouble.

She was extremely condescending and gave me a snotty reply ‘that’s not really a problem though is it?!’ And other things and asked me to elaborate. I remember having to defend myself that it was a problem. Probably good that I didn’t get that one.

I think that she must just naively not be able to understand anyone else’s issues if she doesn’t see it that way. She was so rude though. It’s not a reflection of me though, some people just aren’t on the same wavelength.

I interview a lot of staff and if I heard the answered I’d been looking for all day (and nobody else had got it right) I might be tempted to inwardly smirk. I’d hope to keep it to myself though but some people are an open book. I’d never smirk if I heard an incorrect or ‘wrong’ answer. Overall I think it’s a positive sign if anything.

Some interview questions are just pure nonsense. If you were a biscuit, what biscuit would you be? I understand what the interviewer is looking for with that but make sure that kind of question is attached to the level of job the candidate is applying for.

Yes, it might well be this. I had this in an internal interview for a promotion. We all knew what had led to that question being on the list though.

Not great on their part when you’re not in the know.

Wait for your feedback from them. Then ask to give your feedback about your interviewers. There’s a great website called glassdoor where you can also leave a review of the interview process.
is it possible that they were smirking because your answer reminded them of somebody they work with, or there are some poor employees who aren’t as good as you so it was ironic to hear an jnterviewee give the right answer.?

It’s unprofessional but it might be the 10th variation on an answer they’d heard that day.

Don't let these idiots get to you. I had a similar experience many years ago. I was sat in a small room with several male managers on the interview panel - intimidating enough. One of them started to rub his eyes as though bored - one of the others grinned and made a stupid comment. I didn't know what was going on, but think they were testing my reaction. I'm sure that's the same in your case. You're better off without them - if they behave like childish prats towards strangers in interviews what will they be like to work with? Good luck with the job search, I'm sure you'll find something you want.

Your interviewer probably wasn't bright enough to get into university, hence the off hand comment! It sounds like a very stressful situation to deal with.

Awful to be working for idiots. I was plagued by a condescending, arrogant fool, very rude to staff in his team. It was a relief to be working from home during lockdown, & he retired during that time. I left this year, and a great relief as a new broom has come in. She decided to restructure - they're using agency staff as not enough permanent staff, and the agency staff keep leaving! Fun and games, and I could care less 🙂

He could have been being a dick or it might be cos he found you endearing

Totally unprofessional. I train people in interviewing skills and this is an example of very poor interviewing behaviour. Ignore them. It’s their behaviour that’s lacking.