What is the strangest feedback you've had from an interview?

[Confusedmummytotwo]

Hi All,

This one has got me interested today.

I had a job interview last week, set up via a recruitment agent, at a big posh relatively newly built building, with two managers who had been the longest serving members of staff in the whole nationwide company- at 4 years tenure, this put me off so I wasn't interested in the job.

However, I've just had the feedback from the recruitment agent which has made me laugh. Apparently they feel I wouldn't fit in with their team as I'm not 'rough enough' and they don't feel I would be able to deal with the banter, that their staff have.

So what is the strangest feedback you have ever been given?

That I was wearing "inappropriate clothing" whilst wearing a dress very similar to this...

That I wasn't aggressive enough.

It was for a compliance manager role...

That I didn't give enough eye contact.

The interviewer spent the entire time looking down at her papers on the table and never once looked at me so I don't know how I would have managed it.

Throughout the job advert and the pre-interview chat, the employer kept emphasising they want someone dynamic. So I focused somewhat on that in my interview, giving examples etc.
Then I got rejected because I seemed “too dynamic”!
The interviewer also sat slouching back with their arms crossed the entire time. Dodged a bullet!

Not having recent enough experience for a school role. I hadn't exactly hidden this on my application.

Being interviewed for an identical role to one I have done previously yet being rejected for not having the right experience. Obviously a bullshit excuse.

I refused to go to one interview because they wanted me to do a presentation, a comedy routine, an instructional video and an extensive in-tray experience. Yup, you've guessed it, all for minimum wage.

I was too posh for a career in advertising. I’m not remotely posh, I just have an RP accent. I asked the recruitment agent, who had relayed this valuable information back from the ad agency, if I was more likely to get a job in advertising if I started to drop my t’s. I was told completely seriously that yes this would help.

@MalcolmTuckersBollockingface a comedy routine?! And an in-tray experience? In what kind of role are both of those relevant?!

I was told my head was full of empty knowledge!

I was told I didn't get a job because I didn't give a strong enough answer to the question 'where do you see yourself in five years' and the answer I gave wasn't sufficiently aligned with the hiring company's strategic long term aims.

It was a six month FTC role with absolutely no possibility of extension or any internal move or promotion within the company - for a niche one off project with a defined end date that I was perfectly qualified for. I was a little bemused 🤔

Also got told I wasn't a cultural fit for a company because one solitary interviewer took some weird dislike to me after aceing and getting excellent feedback from all of the previous 5 (!!!) interview rounds with numerous people I'd be working closely with across the business. I wasn't even going to be working directly with this one person (and had actually been warned by one of the previous interviewers that he was notoriously difficult!). Fair enough that he didn't like me for whatever reason but I found it a bit odd that he'd then take it upon himself to define his own personal opinion as being representative of the entire company's culture! I do wonder if they ever found someone to live up to his standards...

"We don't hire people who attended private school."
It was a job in a private school.

Oh, I also got 'not a good cultural fit' for an interview for a trainee position in a very posh, old school law firm. The interviewer seemed to have an unhealthy interest in my dad's job (he's a carpenter) and my schooling (state and pretty unusual, was a secondary school drop out then went back to college as an adult). Also interrogated at length about my part time roles through college and uni (and my work history prior to that) as a cleaner, warehouse worker and barmaid. All such a cliche I probably wouldn't even believe it had happened if someone else told me about it.

To be fair he was probably correct that I wouldn't have been a cultural fit so I see it as a lucky escape!

This was for a Teaching Assistant post. I have managed to get similar posts, in the past, without suffering this indignity. And people wonder why some schools struggle to recruit.

Oh good grief, I'm embarrassed for them that they even asked that of candidates. I wonder how many takers they had.

My DH gotnthe feedback that they would have hired him but he didn't have a degree which was a prerequisite of the role. Absolutely fine, but they could see thay from his CV, why waste everybody's time? He actually asked that and was told they were hoping he was going to pull one out of his sleeve, as it were, because he was so good on paper minus that one issue. (Ministry of Defence role). He's now joined a company who is putting him through an MSc.

On the opposite side of the table, my DH & his co interviewer were complained about by a female applicant. DH was apparently 'not used to dealing with an intelligent woman'. I have a degree from Cambridge.

Yes, I’ve had the ‘we’ vs ‘I’ feedback and I actually found it helpful. As others have said, the interviewers needed to know specifically what ‘I’ did. I’m much clearer on this now in interview situations.

I was told I hadn't dressed smartly enough. I wore a smart black jacket and trousers and a fine knit short sleeved jumper. The interviewer wore crumpled linen trousers and a crumpled linen shirt.

Oh yeah, I've also had similar - applied for a role that asked for experience in a specific area and a related qualification, I made it clear in my application, on my CV and in pre-interview discussions with the recruitment agency that I didn't have that experience or qualification but was willing to learn and undertake further study etc etc. Feedback was that I was an excellent candidate and they loved me but they needed someone who already had the specified experience and qualification. Would have saved so much time all round if they'd just said that upfront!

The FCA once told me I was too inexperienced for a role that was the same as mine. I think they rejected me as I didn’t have a degree while other candidates did. But the person they did choose had zero experience (I met her during our assessment centre and we became friends) - she was a totally fresh graduate, no relevant experience, but was picked because she had an Oxford degree. She left after 3 months to work somewhere in her field & that that role has come up again like clockwork every single year for the past 5 years.

I’ve had exactly the same. So annoying- I felt penalised for not lying and taking credit myself for a team effort.

’The interviewers really liked you, thought you demonstrated excellent experience and could clearly do the role but didn’t think you were right for the role’

I’ve had exactly the same. So annoying- I felt penalised for not lying and taking credit myself for a team effort

they’re not asking you to lie, they’re asking what YOUR role and contribution was to the results. They don’t care what your team-mate did!

At the (internal) interview I was asked if I had any questions, I asked what my strengths are. My boss, an interviewee, said that I "just do the job, I get on with the job and fulfill it"... the feedback basically a load of twisted shit because they have their favourites.

...

Many years ago - they wanted an outgoing person but not an extrovert 🤣

Careers coach here. This is one of the top mistakes people make in interviews. When you get asked a competency question (“Give me an example of a time when…”) about teamwork, they want to know what you achieved within the team. You don’t have to say you did it all yourself, just what your contribution was towards whatever was accomplished.