To ask if anyone’s ever gone to an interview where the panel were absolute nightmares?

[CandidOpalSnake]

I went to one recently where the atmosphere was so cold and performatively rude that I left thinking, even if I got the job, I wouldn’t take it. They were condescending, dismissive and acted like they were doing me a favour by being there - no warmth, no interest, just attitude. It’s honestly mad how some interviewers act like you’re the one on trial, when they’re supposed to be selling the role too.

AIBU to think some interviewers seriously need a reminder on basic respect?

Yeah, but that gets you someone who needs the role, not a great candidate.

I'd hate to put off a great candidate with a shitty interview.

Not in person, but a couple of years ago I applied for a senior position in an international firm and got to the 3rd and final interview. There were 6 people in the online meeting and all but one had their cameras turned off. I made an official complaint to the recruiter and he was genuinely shocked by their rudeness.

Yes me at a big accountancy practice in London in early 2000's. I was kept waiting for over an hour , they asked me what role was I interviewing for as looked so young. I had 8 years of experience. Then one mocked my accent interupting me while I was speaking. I stared at him until he looked away , picked up my bag and left without saying a word.
They rang me while I was leaving the building, I didn't answer the phone.
They then offered me the job presumably so I wouldn't take it further. I declined. Got another job where I stayed happily for over 10 years until I returned home.
So maybe it was a blessing.

I've had all the interviews from hell due to being a consultant / contractor.

The plastic surgeon that massaged his face with oil whilst he asked questions. His sidekick was an orange (fake tan) gnome like creature.

The management consultancy with a hidden camera and calapsing chair. Luckily I wore trousers.

The brand founder who called me a :big girl'.

The frequent men who wanted to know my father's rank in the army.

The women who wanted to know my husbands job (I say neurosurgeon now!)

The HR director who didn't like my handbag and apparently woujdnt buy that brand. I wasn't there selling bags!

The CEO who wanted to know how much I paid for my house.

I've now given up. Retirement is next year, hoo bloody rah.

One particularly bad one for a contract role where it was an hrs drive and the main interviewer dialled in. I was given a seat speaking into the speaker phone and sideways on to the other interviewers in a cramped space not set up for a panel where one member was dialling in. I started by confirmed what they were looking for and answered their questions with my experience in that space. They later turned me down because they said wanted experience in something else (that they hadn’t mentioned in the spec or on the day and I had plenty of experience in that as well but since it wasn’t what they were looking for I didn’t cover it, it was on my cv).

it was a tech job I applied for with my gender neutral short name, they won’t have realised I was female when they agreed the interview but will have realised between offering me an interview and me turning up so not sure the panel was the problem.

I had one donkey's years back that was really intimidating. It was for the Home Office.

The interview was in a giant, old-fashioned, hotel function room. The panel sat behind a big table with crystal decanters, think there were about six of them. They were in front of a massive bay window. My chair was in front right in the middle of the room, really far away from them. I was probably squinting at them because the window was really bright behind them. It was like in a film when you go to be interviewed for military intelligence! And no it was not to be a spy!!!

Didn't want the job after that.

I had a job interview when I was in my early 20s for a symphony orchestra. One of the interviewers openly scoffed at the name of the school I had gone to (a Catholic state school). Then obviously read down my CV and noticed that I had gone to the same university as him. What a twat. I don't think you can get away with classest behaviour these days.

The last interview I went to was ridiculous. 4 hours, much of which was spent in a tiny glass office with 3 interviewers, one of whom kept getting distracted by what was going on the other side of the glass while I was talking.

I walked into an interview many years ago and was taken aback to see 8 people arrayed opposite my chair. Turned out that they had all been flown in from all over the world for this ( an international bureaucracy). None of them were in the least able understand the job, let alone judge who to recruit. It turned into me questioning them, calling in a more senior person to answer some more detail about the requirements of the organisation and me summing up by saying that they didn’t need a person of my level and experience to do the job in question, they needed a competent technical person at a much, much lower rate of pay. It finished by me drawing up a new job spec ( giving everyone a bit of input, however spurious , to save face ) and me suggesting where they could look for the right person.

In retrospect, I should have charged them a consultancy fee, though I did get a nice thank you letter and apology !

I had one during covid, so it was a teams interview and before I hung up I could hear one of the panel saying my interview was a fucking nightmare. Unfortunately it was a promoted post in my organisation at the time. I didn't bother the next time the post came up and put my efforts into gaining a promotion with a different organisation which I was successful with.

Not for a job, but I was interviewed to see if I would be awarded a small grant to take a professional exam.

It was the weirdest thing. I was asked nothing about what I planned to do with the qualification. The panel asked me about myself and latched on to one thing I mentioned about where I worked and asked me loads of questions about that which I was not able to answer as not actually part of my job. I mentioned something about my volunteering(very relevant to the grant) and how long I'd been doing this and one lady quite aggressively started telling me did I know that wouldn't be counted for the exam. Of course I knew, I was just giving some context about how long I'd been doing this.

They also asked how I planned to fund recertification in 5 years, which felt like a trap. If I said I could afford it, I wouldn't need the grant to qualify now. If I said I didn't know if I would be able to, surely giving me the grant would be a waste if I wouldn't stick with it??

I was planning on taking the exam as I finally felt ready and able but I sobbed after that feeling completely deflated and like I wasn't good enough.

I went to what turned out to be a really weird interview, years ago.
The job advert was asking for a Spanish speaker, I'm bilingual so applied and spent ages on the application as was desperate to leave the job I was in at the time. The Spanish speaking job would have been right up my street but when I arrived at the interview, it was in a really seedy office, down a dingy back alley and the receptionist locked the entrance door after welcoming me in.
Spanish music was playing but that was basically the only mention of anything Spanish. Interviewers didn't even check my language skills, they basically wanted a door to door salesperson to sell kitchens... in Manchester! No idea why on earth the salesperson would even need to speak Spanish. It was a question of knocking on residential addresses. I politely sat out the interview but ignored all calls from them afterwards... They left voicemail offered the job but I just ignored.

I had one where I was asked a question and one panel member said in a raised voice "I don't believe you" almost as soon as I finished speaking.
I responded with the evidence and he huffed and rolled his eyes
I was actually offered that job but turned it down when I found out Dickhead would be my manager - a more Senior person phoned me to change my mind and said one of the reasons I got the job was it was felt I could "handle" Dickhead
I had no wish to

Yep. Many years ago. The two women asked me nothing (I mean nothing) and just talked about themselves for 20 minutes. Deeply odd

NHS. Three candidates (one internal) given 20 minutes to read a 70 page document then present to the panel. Internal candidate was a co-author of the document, me and the other had obviously never seen it before.

In the Q&A after the presentation the panel directed all the questions straight to the internal candidate.

The other candidate and I both walked out immediately afterwards, before the 1-2-1 interviews, and the HR person came running after us to ask if there was something wrong.

I had one years ago with a hedge fund company and the first interviewer was incredibly rude and insulting. Then he left and second interviewer walked in. At which point I said I was leaving and didn't want the job. Then the second interviewer said he's not that bad and please I will get him to offer you the job and I want to work with someone who will walk out and stand up for themselves. I said thanks but still no and left. Think it was the right decision, if someone reveals themselves to be difficult at interview it doesn't improve.

I went through an interview for promotion in my last job for a role I was already acting up into but knowing I wasn't going to get it because the managers friend who had left wanted to come back and it was earmarked for her.
I gave a great interview, didn't get it as I knew I wouldn't, then chased her for weeks for feedback that she didn't want to give because she and I both knew the score and that I'd performed well at the interview but it was never going to change the outcome.
Handing in my notice to that job on the same day she told me the role was coming back up if I wanted to reapply was delicious.
I'm sure it'll come a surprise to no one who's worked within the system that this was in the NHS.

The worst interview I ever attended was with a local authority.

the interviewer who would have been my line manager was extremely unprofessional. She looked at me with a very sarcastic smile and spoke to me like I was a complete simpleton. She mocked my work ethic and rolled her eyes at note taker before saying I think we’ll leave it there.

I got a rejection email even before I left the building, saying we have considered your application carefully but…. So I responded asking them how that could be given that I was still in the building.

they struggled to answer me and gave me some fluff about my work ethic. How could they possibly have any idea what my work ethic is based on a ten minute meeting?

I went for a job once where you had to attend in advance to do a test basically writing a press release and comms plan. The woman running the test centre was an absolute bitch. She shouted at people for picking up their pens before the time officially started. They also made everybody hand write everything why they couldn’t source laptops I don’t know. I’m so regretful that I didn’t actually just walk out.

One of the 2 on the interview panel stretched her arms up to the ceiling while yawning very widely.
I had just entered the room, not even spoken. That was my welcome.

They couldn’t have given less fucks that I was there. Obviously had someone lined up.

How utterly bizarre! Some people are so strange.

Most recent the interviewers talked AT me for an hour.
Asked me 1or 2 questions but didn’t really let me answer. Then talked at me again.
Weird thing is.. the interview slots were 30 minutes each. I was there for an hour each slot.

Felt like they were “selling” me the company and the role.
Waiting to hear if I’ve got it or not.

Not quite on the topic, but I had a one-to-one interview once where it was quite clear that both the interviewer and I strongly disliked each other virtually on sight.

We had a very polite and stilted 20 minute question and answer session but we both knew he wouldn't offer me he job (it was as his assistant) and I wouldn't take it even if it was.

It was all quite odd really.

Two members of the three person interview panel started fighting. The position I was applying for was admin for two different managers. When I was asked how I would prioritise the workload, they started fighting verbally and very nastily about which of them had the more important work.

I couldn't believe it. It was insane. It went on for at least ten minutes. The third interviewer, their director, just sat there. I was ignored.

I withdrew my application. The person who got the job lasted three months if that.

Had a couple - one guy was trying to start an argument, got frustrated when I had a reasonable answer for him, the other was just snarky throughout, sent me the rudest rejection letter saying they'd found someone far better! However, years later, when I bought a flat and was looking for tiles for my kitchen, I went to the second guy's showroom (having forgotten the name of the company in the meantime) - the look on his face was priceless!

Yes. I’m a lecturer and I went for a position at a different uni before I got my current job. It wasn’t the whole panel but the professor who was head of department. He literally eyed me up and down as I walked in which immediately set the tone. He was aggressive, kept interrupting me, sighing, checking the clock. He made me feel like he’d rather be absolutely anywhere else. I felt the same way as you, that I wouldn’t accept it even if successful though I knew the chances of success were next to none. I think he’d made his mind up about me as soon as I walked in.

I’ll be honest, it actually put me off the whole uni and I’ve never thought about it in the same light since. I’ve worked at Russell’s including Oxford and never ever met an academic like him.