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?

They didn't like the ( plain, black) folder I had brought in containing the items of paperwork that they asked me to bring. It was too big, apparently.

My sister actually asked for a copy of the interviewers’ notes (using a subject access request) after they said they wouldn’t be giving any candidates interview feedback. One interviewer had noted my sister’s face “looked blotchy, possible rash?” 😳

In my early 40s, I interviewed for a senior PA role at a insurance underwriting company in the City. The agency that sent me was told I was "too mature and professional". 😂

I was once told they enjoyed meeting me and would get back to me. I had already had two interviews and been verbally offered the job and the meeting was positioned to me simply as a chance to meet the MD before I started.

I did get the job offer in writing two days later having been left gobsmacked and devastated. I was quite young at the time and didn't realise that people at the top could be incompetent.

Sounds like you dodged a bullet there OP.

My weirdest feedback from a receptionist job I went for and didn't get, was that I was "too intense and made too much eye contact". I cried when they told me that as I felt it was unkind and absolute nonsense.

I had a job interview and at the end the guy said that he didn't have a job for me but wanted to meet me because I sounded interesting.

He did say that if anything suitable came up he'd call but he never did.

What a waste of time.

"You interviewed extremely well and fully meet the experience and skills requirements. BUT you seem very positive, optimistic and solution focused. I'm not sure that would go down well around here."

OK then!!!

There is a balance though. I have interviewed people who have suggested they single-handedly achieved everything - even if they did - they aren't going to fit into our team if that's how they like to work. A healthy mix of "we" and "I" is what we look for.

We have a policy of giving constructive feedback on things that the candidate can improve on and won't upset them - they need to be left with a positive view of the company. Sometimes it's really bloody hard because the thing that we have rejected them on is going to be upsetting if we shared the truth. One man said "like" at least 3 times in every sentence he spoke - it was so distracting and annoying - I wish I could have told him to stop doing it - but he got some feedback about working on his communication skills. I do wish we could be more blunt but everyone is worried about upsetting people and sounding discriminatory - so that vague safe feedback gets peddled out every time.

You dodged a bullet there

I sat looking at him speechless and said "sorry, I think I misheard you"

He repeated it and then said, "we don't really need to work hard here, business walks in the door without anyone trying. You come across as someone who would bring in more business & we could really do with less if anything!! I'm already up to my limit.

It was years ago & they are no longer in business funnily enough!

My DH didn’t get a job because he was ‘too calm’ during the interview! Job went to an internal candidate.

I applied for a job in an old folks care home one summer as a student to get a bit of experience and cash.

My interview feedback said I was a really excellent candidate, gave all the right answers, showed genuine care and compassion but I was too attractive and would be a distraction and risk to the gentlemen residents. Basically, they'd be so bowled over by my beauty that they'd all instantly keel over and die.

Reader: I was 19. I was averagely pretty for a 19-year old. But not in the 'give men heart attacks' range of pretty.

That's really interesting but, I think, doesn't do the candidates any favours in terms of improving.

When I interview people, I'm always quite blunt and brutal in feedback because I think it really helps to give people direct pointers. If you say "work on communication skills" the chap might've interpreted that to mean speak louder or slower or make more eye contact or smile more when you talk or gesticulate a little more. So he might keep on saying "like" all the time but do so at a higher volume, slower pace, while staring, grinning like a Cheshire care, into your soul and waving his arms around 😅

So I tend to give broad feedback (work on communication skills) with direct examples (saying 'like') and then explain why (its distracting, it makes it seem like you don't know what you're talking about).

I've actually had people email me several months after their interview feedback to say how helpful the feedback was. I work in academia though where things are a little more flexible.

I was once turned down for a Christmas job in H Samuel because they could see no evidence of me building up to a career in selling jewellery. I was 17 and just looking for some money, it was a very fixed term role with no future prospects. Mind you I did dodge a bullet as they said they were so busy you didn’t get breaks and could
occasionally grab a bite of a sandwich crouched down in the corner behind the counter where no customers could see. As I worked in retail and then more career focussed jobs I realised how bonkers this was.

More recentlY I was told I hadn’t tried hard enough for a 5 minute presentation. The interview was in a tiny room with three interviewers and me, and a flat screen tv on the wall. I said at the start of the presentation that I would stay seated as otherwise I would be in the way of the screen, and the room was so small they’d be staring straight at my stomach the whole time. I was told I hadn’t shown enough spark by not standing up.

I had 3 slides for my presentation, which is more than enough for 5 minutes. I hate with a passion where people cram slides with words and then either read them to you, or flick through way too quickly. Apparently I could have tried harder and put in lots of animations. I’m just glad I don’t have to sit through the kind of presentations they think are great.

I've also had this exact feedback in the past!

I went for a job at my old school, there was only one other applicant at interview. Their feedback was that they only hire oxbridge graduates where possible, and in this case it was. This is a requires improvement school with a minus progress 8 score, so not exactly somewhere that creates oxbridge applicants. My sister works there in admin and told me a month after they hired the other woman, she announced she wouldn't be taking the job after all. That job was for a Christmas start and they are still advertising.

Went for a job where I stated very clearly it would be a career change for me, even spoke to the hiring manager on the phone beforehand to explain why I wanted the change and all of the relevant transferrable skills I had.

I asked if they were looking for someone with direct experience, she said no.

Feedback from the interview was that I was brilliant and had all the transferrable skills they were looking for but didn't have direct experience.

🙄

We didn’t think your accent would be quite what our clients would expect

I went for an internal job in the public sector, it was a step up and I got the job. Afterwards the recruiting manager took me to one side and said that I'd interviewed really well but there was one thing he needed to mention...... they'd noticed I'd worn a suit that I'd worn before and a new suit would have shown that I was really committed.

It was a very smart trouser suit (as was the generally accepted dress code back then) worn with a formal, well ironed blouse. But yes, I had worn it a couple of times before!

@Cakeandslippers I wonder if he would have said that to a male candidate or even noticed their attire at all. Sigh.

This was because you weren’t specific enough about what your role and contribution was. They are interviewing you, not the team.

Quite!

Yes I have had this a number of times. It makes me wonder if the interview panel actually read the applications, or whether HR just save themselves some time by picking applicants names at random out of a hat!

That I was their second choice but only because I hadn't mentioned my children enough.🤷‍♀️

That I was second choice but only because the other woman was older. (And presumably past child-bearing age)