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Original poster

To ask for your best and worst interview stories?

37 replies

MissMarch · 21/09/2024 14:47

I’ve got two interviews lined up on Monday and Tuesday, back to back, and I’m starting to feel the nerves kick in! To ease the tension, I’d love to hear your best, worse, or even funniest interview stories. Whether it was a disaster or a triumph, I’m sure some of you have had some memorable experiences. Any advice or stories to share?

OP posts:
FranticFrankie · 21/09/2024 14:53

I left my presentation behind after the interview for promotion. So nervous..
then I heard ‘Er Frankie, you forgot something’
I made the next candidate a bit late going in

😳😳

Good luck 🤞🏼

iloveshetlandponies · 21/09/2024 14:54

I once went for an interview for some shitty admin job

After a few generic questions they announced I'd have do a power point presentation. Can't remember what about . and said they'd leave the room for half hour while I prepared it and then I was expected to perform it when they came back

Fuck that

When they left the room I just walked out

No idea if that's normal or not to be asked to do that in an interview but I'm glad I'm self employed now 😝

iloveshetlandponies · 21/09/2024 14:56

I did once read in cosmopolitan magazine years ago some embarrassing interview stories

And the absolute worst one was some woman apparently was sat in an interview and her trousers were too tight . And the way she was sitting somehow made her have an orgasm while the interview was happening 😳😩😩

Not sure how true it was but ffs 🤦‍♀️

Snowpaw · 21/09/2024 14:58

Fire alarm went off half way through interview, when it was already clear to me that I wasn't a good fit for the job and they weren't going to hire me, but we all had to troop out into the car park and stand there and make small talk then go in and conclude the interview. I just felt like legging it.

takealettermsjones · 21/09/2024 14:58

I was once told it was standard practice for them to have new hires work without pay for a month, as a trial period. I said I wouldn't be able to do that unfortunately, so they said they would have to terminate the interview. I said okay and thanked them for their time, and while I was getting up to go the man laughed and said it was only a test and they could continue with the interview. I should have walked out there and then but I didn't, I completed the interview. I then got an email a few days later inviting me to progress to the next stage (some online test) and I replied and withdrew my candidacy.

rewilded · 21/09/2024 15:05

I once went for a post in a bank. I had just dropped out of university and money was tight. My only shoes at the time were some suede Kangol platform sliders. I managed to style them OK with black tights and a skirt. The day before they broke apart and I superglued the strap back and it appeared it be fine.

The interview went OK but as I got up to walk out the strap snapped! I had to walk out with innapropriate office footwear that was also broken. I couldn't walk properly. Instead of making a joke out of it I tried to walk out with shoe slapping on the floor and tripping over it. Grin

I didn't get the job btw!

Meadowfinch · 21/09/2024 15:09

My very first interview. I was a 6th former interviewing for the JLP management scheme.

I travelled to my dsis ( close to interview) and got changed there. My dnephew who was 3 months old, did an explosive poo while being changed and managed to hit my jacket.

Dsis sponged me down and sent me off to interview.

About 5 mins in to interview, the man started to sniff as if he could smell something. Then he surreptitiously checked the bottom of his shoes. I was mortified. Couldn't get out of there fast enough.

AntoinetteCurtain · 21/09/2024 15:12

@rewilded were the suede Kangol sliders blue by any chance??

iloveshetlandponies · 21/09/2024 15:17

takealettermsjones · 21/09/2024 14:58

I was once told it was standard practice for them to have new hires work without pay for a month, as a trial period. I said I wouldn't be able to do that unfortunately, so they said they would have to terminate the interview. I said okay and thanked them for their time, and while I was getting up to go the man laughed and said it was only a test and they could continue with the interview. I should have walked out there and then but I didn't, I completed the interview. I then got an email a few days later inviting me to progress to the next stage (some online test) and I replied and withdrew my candidacy.

Wow dodged a bullet

ThinWomansBrain · 21/09/2024 15:17

Interviewed for an interim role - 6 weeks.
Went well, but the closing 'next steps' was along the lines of we're seeing people all day, and you're the most expensive. I replied with 'hope it goes well, you do get what you pay for".
I had a call before the day was out asking me if I'd accept the role, and could I commit to three months. I stayed for about two years - on a day rate that had factored in the fact that it was such a short role.

ThinWomansBrain · 21/09/2024 15:17

Interviewed for an interim role - 6 weeks.
Went well, but the closing 'next steps' was along the lines of we're seeing people all day, and you're the most expensive. I replied with 'hope it goes well, you do get what you pay for".
I had a call before the day was out asking me if I'd accept the role, and could I commit to three months. I stayed for about two years - on a day rate that had factored in the fact that it was such a short role.

CannotBeBothered2025 · 21/09/2024 15:22

I went for a role where it became very clear that I would be doing all the work the manager didn't want to do. They then outright asked me if I had children and talked about the Christian values the company owners had. They also seemed oddly proud of the fact that they didn't offer any benefits and didn't even offer sick pay beyond SSP!

Unfortunately it was one of my first interviews in 16 years and I was so shocked, I wasn't brave enough to say anything.

I was quite glad I didn't wear my normal necklace which advertises my religion, which is not Christian 😂

Ukhotelsareshit · 21/09/2024 15:26

DH knocked a cup of scalding hot black coffee into the crotch of the man interviewing him. Still got the job.

MaMisled · 21/09/2024 15:36

I was being interviewed for a senior position in private residential care for the elderly. I tried to suppress a fart but failed very loudly. She laughed and said "I think you'll fit in very well here!" She never let me forget it in the 12 happy years I worked there.😁

rewilded · 21/09/2024 16:05

AntoinetteCurtain · 21/09/2024 15:12

@rewilded were the suede Kangol sliders blue by any chance??

Edited

This was in the late 90s. I think they were blue/black. I loved those shoes, haha.

I had also taken two buses out to an industrial estate and had to get back. It was a bloody awful day!

Mrsredlipstick · 21/09/2024 16:31

Ooh I attract the baddies.

One asked me how old I was last year (57)
My father's rank in the army.
My husband's profession (I said neuro surgeon.
My mortgage amount
Had I ever sued an ex employer (I have)

I sat in a chair that fell apart and they were filming. A 'test' apparently.
And the worst? two managers at the national cancer charity who told me I'd work every Sunday because they didn't have to!

Nothing can be as bad as these, so good luck.

elQuintoConyo · 21/09/2024 16:46

In one, the interviewer sat on my desk and farted.

One was a phone interview which I did naked.

One, when i was around 19, for a waitressing job, the hotel manager told me id have to wear something low-cut if I got the job. While staring at my tits. Disgusting bastard.

At another interview both owners (a couple) were drunk.

I'm surprised I've ever had a job 😂

SleepToad · 21/09/2024 17:22

A few stinkers. First ever interview in the management side of one of those trueprint photo developers. It was pissing down, arrived soaking, not even asked to take me coat off, asked why I took maths, English, history and geography o levels as they were "a strange choice"...looking around the entire office was female and it's clear the boss didn't want a man(boy really I was 16) there.
The presentation went brilliantly for in house promotion...Sat down and couldn't answer a single question...later apologised for the shit interview.
The worst was applying for a sales roll with a competitive salary in the leisure and tourism industry...is what the add said. Sat waiting in the office when lots of couples came and went carrying small boxes. A guy in his 50s long grey hair, white suit and shoes basically pushed in front of me "tell him it's Trev he'll see me". Offered the job there and then, "don't work your notice, we don't care about references" pay was commission only. I politely declined. Turns out it's a big time share rip off promising expensive jewellery if people turned up for a presentation....

Posithor · 21/09/2024 17:31

I was interviewing before and the young whipper snapper in front of me applying for a graduate job said the words
"Someone of your generation wouldn't know..."
I don't know what I was more offended by the fact the bloke I was interviewing with was a good 15 years older than me and he'd lumped us both together or that at 37 I was past it in his eyes 😂😂😂

I'd like to add the rest of his interview wasnt great so he didn't get the job anyway.

OneTC · 21/09/2024 17:35

Woke up feeling fine, was on my way to the interview (for working in a boots photo minilab) when I started to feel a bit ill, got to the interview and explained I wasn't feeling very well but the person said do the interview anyway.

Puked in a bin about half way through.

Didn't get the job.

roses2 · 21/09/2024 17:39

Went for an internal interview a few years ago at my previous company. Hiring manager spent the whole time on his phone not paying attention whilst HR asked all the questions. They gave a topic and said I would need to give a presentation. I researched the topic of course and post interview feedback was I wasn't supposed to research and they wanted an on the fly presentation. WTF did they give the topic in advance then??

Sleepersausage · 21/09/2024 17:39

Not me but I was on an interview panel for a catering assistant role at my work and this poor lady came in dressed in trackies, held her handbag on her lap the entire time and in fact, didn't speak any English. Not even enough to answer some basic questions, the hiring manager just kept asking things louder and louder. It was incredibly uncomfortable all round. The job involved manning the tills and serving customers so English was quite important

Gallowayan · 21/09/2024 17:41

Had been working nights and nodded off during the interview.

takealettermsjones · 21/09/2024 17:42

ThinWomansBrain · 21/09/2024 15:17

Interviewed for an interim role - 6 weeks.
Went well, but the closing 'next steps' was along the lines of we're seeing people all day, and you're the most expensive. I replied with 'hope it goes well, you do get what you pay for".
I had a call before the day was out asking me if I'd accept the role, and could I commit to three months. I stayed for about two years - on a day rate that had factored in the fact that it was such a short role.

That's a brilliant answer to that comment, I'd have been proud to think of that on the spot!

Substitutiarylocomotion · 21/09/2024 17:45

Worst: I wish I could remember exactly what was so awful about it...I think it was partially some chauvinistic comments from one of the interviewers...but I remember it was a 2 part interview, first part with a panel asking questions and the second part a computer test. After the first part one of the interviewers asked me to follow her to the lab for the computer test and I said 'no thank you I've decided I don't want the job' and left.

In another one a panelist referenced my age (24) and asked if I had plans to have children anytime soon. The HR person shot him down so fast and then they had a very clipped argument about why he wasn't allowed to ask that 😅

There were two which were awful where I was the one interviewing. One poor guy so strongly resembled my recently departed grandad I genuinely barely heard a word he said. In another the interviewee directed all his answers to my male colleagues and totally ignored me. I asked how he would cope working in a team where the most senior person was a female and he still only spoke to the men. I was the most senior person in the room. He didn't get the job.

Best: in one I'm pretty sure we ended up swapping recipes for brownies and in another they called me before I even reached my car to offer me the job!