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Original poster

Please be sympathetic - just did the worst internal interview EVER!!!

29 replies

embarased · 20/11/2020 16:20

Please come and be nice to me. Just burbled, talked like I was about 5, incompetent, yikes.

I was terrible. Won't have got the job but it was for an internal promotion so now have to go on working alongside the lovely people who interviewed me who must now think I'm an arse. Blush

Literally the worst interview I've ever done. It was so bad I am sure I will be able to laugh about it one day - it would probably make a good comedy sketch of how not to behave in an interview!

If anyone has any words of comfort (or other awful interview stories) they want to share, that would be much appreciated...

OP posts:
lljkk · 20/11/2020 16:24

I didn't do well the other day in an interview.

When you can stop cringing, see if you can list maybe 3 ways you could easily improve next time.

At least after this you can't really embarrass yourself in front of them again -- bar is already so high.

moanymandy · 20/11/2020 16:24

Oh I feel your pain. I too had an internal interview yesterday for a promotion in my own team, that I think went terribly Blush
Won't find out until next week so I'm just drinking through the embarrassment this weekend.
Sending you lots of luck and you never know it may not have gone as badly as you think Flowers

bibbidybobbidyboo · 20/11/2020 16:27

Oh I'm sorry OP!

If it's any consolation, I once went for a job interview at an advertising agency where I spent a good portion of the interview sounding off about a recent well-know advert I really didn't like, only to discover that it was one of theirs...

CoffeeRunner · 20/11/2020 16:30

If it’s any consolation those tend to be the jobs I get offered 😂.

The interviews I feel have gone well usually result in “we went another way”.

Sometimes interviewers are trying to get you stressed or confused just to see how you keep calm and handle it. Fingers crossed it’s one of those scenarios 🤞.

PragmaticWench · 20/11/2020 16:32

Complete sympathy!!

I once had an internal interview for a post in my team, one grade higher. I completely ballsed it up, at one point I had to ask for a question to be repeated as half way through my waffling answer I'd forgotten what had been asked. Blush

Both of my managers were on the panel. I didn't get the job. Gradually got over the embarrassment...

Yorkshirelass04 · 20/11/2020 16:34

If it's an internal with people you already work with, my guess is that they already know if they want you and the interview won't have as much impact.

CoronaIsWatching · 20/11/2020 16:35

Was it your first interview for a while? Mine are all a disaster if I haven't done them for a while. I talk far too fast because I'm nervous, meaning I'm constantly short of breath and gasping for air, and I go rambling on about nonsense. They really need practising beforehand.

Aquamarine1029 · 20/11/2020 16:36

Was it really that bad, op? Perhaps it's just your anxiety fooling you.

ProtectedPeas · 20/11/2020 16:37

I don't really understand the point of internal interviews - surely you already know the person and have seen them actually work.

ICouldHaveCheckedFirst · 20/11/2020 16:43

I went for a sideways move to escape my horrible team and I had a brilliant PowerPoint and everything. I knew all the panel. I'd also, inadvertently overheard part of the previous candidate's interview which was cringe-worthy.

He got the job!

It was partly a customer-facing role and in my PowerPoint I hadn't mentioned the word 'customer' once. Confused

SephrinaX · 20/11/2020 16:47

A friend of mine went for an internal interview at work and took a glass of water in with him. He somehow managed to shatter the glass flooding the desk and all spilling water all over his light coloured trousers.
He spent the next 10mins trying to dry his trousers under the hand dryer in the men's room.
He went back into the interview still looking like he'd wet himself.
He got the job though! Grin

Bamboo15 · 20/11/2020 16:51

If its any help i work in HR i interview people all day long and speak to managers who have to do interviews for their roles.

You would be amazed how many brilliant people mess up interviews all the time. Managers in the main feel nothing but sympathy because (especially when you’re internal) they know you can do the job and that you just massively messed up the interview on the day.

I can also tell you with certainty that every interviewer has also messed up an interview themselves. If i had a pound for every time a manager has said to me - She / He is brilliant they just really messed up on the day, i did the same once...i had this interview for blah, blah blah, and i did blah blah blah......i would be rich!

Bottom line is, it happens to us all, Managers know it, sometimes it just doesn’t work out on the day, even if you are the best person in the world at your job. Everyone knows this.

Best you can do is drop a quick note to say you know it was a terrible interview, you were having an off day and you can’t believe it went as badly as it did on the day, but you appreciate the time they took to interview you.

Then let it go and look forward to a time you can tell your friends about it over a drink and laugh yourself.

Floridana · 20/11/2020 16:58

Most employers can see past a few nerves and badly worded answers, especially if they know you already. If anything being a bit nervous just shows how much you want the job. A cool, indifferent attitude would probably work against you. Just focus on what went well and you may be surprised!Smile

netstaller · 20/11/2020 16:59

Something very similar happened to me the other day - need to practice my interview skills as it's been a while since I last did one. Anyone got any helpful tips, links?

LaceyBetty · 20/11/2020 17:02

Internal interviews are the worst! So sorry OP. Hopefully you can put it aside and focus on the weekend.

Mashingthecompost · 20/11/2020 17:14

I've done literally this. It was awful. I work best on adrenaline and performance energy and being interviewed by my managers I just felt like a total lying bod, like I couldn't sell myself at all. I moved on to better hours in a different place, which then gave me the experience to move on to the best jobe I'd ever had. I still cringe at stuff I've said in the past but I am more agog now with the knowledge I have, at the way it was run, and the things some of the staff said and did. I saw something the other day saying peopke just expected to be paid more and promoted because of their age - there was a lot of that going on there.

WensleydalewithCranberry · 20/11/2020 17:17

It feels awful now OP but in a few days will probably seem much better.

It may not have been as bad as you think but either way your colleagues will know what you can really do and that it was just a bad day.

I used to feel the same about internal meetings when I felt I hadn't expressed myself very articulately. Sometimes I really hadn't, and sometimes it wasn't as bad as I thought.

I had to present a section to the board in their annual meeting once and submitted a brief overview to each member's PA first as requested. It was clear that nobody had read it, I felt a bit wrong footed and that I didn't present well at all. I was so worried I spoke to my manager later to say that I recognised I could have explained it all much better and she was surprised and said she thought I'd handled myself well. She was always the first to give constructive criticism and honest feedback so it obviously wasn't that bad even though I felt all red faced and embarrassed all day.

I've also had an experience of being bulldozed by a manager of another team but actually recollecting myself, asking him to come back and saying "actually, I don't think I made myself clear but I think x y z" it was sort of embarrassing but I was glad I revisited it and actually got my point across which I don't always find easy with very dominant characters

WensleydalewithCranberry · 20/11/2020 17:19

Oh but as you want stories to make you feel better, one genuinely awful moment was when I kept trying ineffectively to say something in an internal meeting and burbling on until my manager said "stop, really, just stop talking now" in a completely serious way! She was a bit scary! Someone else actually gave me a hug after and said they knew what I was trying to say and that it must have been frustrating nobody was hearing it. It made people laugh at least (but afterwards, nobody would have dared laugh in the meeting)

FullofSurprises · 20/11/2020 17:41

I once did an online interview where you basically recorded yourself answering set questions.
When I got towards the end, I panicked whilst trying to answer a question and recorded myself having a breakdown and giving up, rather than scrapping the entire thing for some bizarre reason I pressed submit and I eventually got a not successful email back. I cringed at the thought of whoever had to watch me have a breakdown.

Original poster
embarased · 25/11/2020 20:27

Thank you, all. Had been cringing too much to come back to this thread! Trying to hide from my own head! Blush

Thank you for the stories - SephrinaX's one had me howling with laughter, as did those from WensleydalewithCranberry and FullofSurprises - glad it's not just me, then. Blush

I have to say there is nothing positive I can take away from this interview - I knew my lovely manager was rooting for me, and I still entirely cacked it up from start to finish.

Ah well. Good to know I am not alone in cacking things up occasionally, though, so thanks. Flowers

OP posts:
MiniMum97 · 25/11/2020 20:32

I had an interview for a secondment today. I was terrible. It was mortifying. Desperately trying to get it out of my head but it keeps popping back in.

It was like a horrible verbal exam for which I hadn't revised. (I did tons of prep btw that's just how it felt).

Gah! Feel so useless and embarrassed!!!

Stripyhoglets1 · 25/11/2020 20:32

I had an internal job interview which was awful. My boss completely changed their personality and went for my jugular in it and I froze like a rabbit in the headlights! I cried afterwards.
I got the job though as I was the only applicant and had been doing the job for 2 years unpaid already! But fuck me it was traumatic.
And I am usually good at interviews!

Stripyhoglets1 · 25/11/2020 20:33

Unpaid at the higher level the job was I mean. Tbh they knew I had a justified grievance if I wasn't paid more but made me jump through the interview hoops to get it!

Hottesttrikeintown · 25/11/2020 20:34

I did this exactly! I’m generally good at interviews but had an internal one (cs so v formal even though I was friends with the panel) and fell to bits. I spent the next month walking long ways round the building to avoid one of the panel members! 6 months later did another one and got the promotion so hang in there!

MiniMum97 · 25/11/2020 20:35

@Bamboo15

If its any help i work in HR i interview people all day long and speak to managers who have to do interviews for their roles.

You would be amazed how many brilliant people mess up interviews all the time. Managers in the main feel nothing but sympathy because (especially when you’re internal) they know you can do the job and that you just massively messed up the interview on the day.

I can also tell you with certainty that every interviewer has also messed up an interview themselves. If i had a pound for every time a manager has said to me - She / He is brilliant they just really messed up on the day, i did the same once...i had this interview for blah, blah blah, and i did blah blah blah......i would be rich!

Bottom line is, it happens to us all, Managers know it, sometimes it just doesn’t work out on the day, even if you are the best person in the world at your job. Everyone knows this.

Best you can do is drop a quick note to say you know it was a terrible interview, you were having an off day and you can’t believe it went as badly as it did on the day, but you appreciate the time they took to interview you.

Then let it go and look forward to a time you can tell your friends about it over a drink and laugh yourself.

Thanks for posting this. Has made me feel a bit better after my horrendous interview today.
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