To feel so down after a job interview that went badly

[Emma1992x]

Hey guys

had an interview on Monday for a more internal senior role to the one I am doing now, had spent hours preparing for the possible questions and competencies they were looking for only to be basically asked none of them resulting in at least three of the questions me having to just think about on the spot…. Lots of silent moments

i must’ve asked the interviewer to repeat at least three questions, felt like an idiot! One of the questions I felt for sure I’ve failed on as I didn’t get to answer the whole thing before the interviewer moved on to the next question

Ive been so miserable since Monday and have been kicking myself! It’s all I have been thinking about and I have been driving my partner mad talking about it, just want to put it behind me

anyone else just waffle incoherently at interviews and completely lose track of themselves? Worst experience and I’m 90% sure I’ve blown it!

some stories to know I’m not alone would be nice, feeling so down currently!

That's honestly probably not a bad interview. I've interviewed people that have not answered questions at all and sometimes cried.

Yes me. I cannot interview to save my life - really, really hate it. I just fall apart and waffle.

I do sometimes think the main thing you need to get ahead in life is confidence - it's a bit depressing.

The doesn’t sound that bad. I had the most horrendous interview a few years ago. I still cringe, I couldn’t answer two questions and started crying while giving an example (it was an attempted suicide example but this role involved dealing with that sort of thing) I just wanted it to end.

Yours does not sound anywhere near that bad. From another point of view, I have interviewed people and when I called them to tell them they were successful, they were shocked as they thought they had done terribly.

Aww OP! An interview going badly is the interviewee turning up in jeans and flip flops and telling me they were born for the role but not able to answer one single question!

Sounds like you demonstrated that you didn’t just throw any old shite into the ring as an answer, you paused and thought about your answers, when not sure you asked for a repeat to clarify so to me, you are careful, measured and a safe bet.

Don’t be so hard on yourself!

Positives would be at least I answered every question they just weren’t answered to the best of my abilities and I’m just so annoyed at myself!

I genuinely wanted to end the call halfway through I felt it had gone that badly 😫

I don’t find out until Monday or Tuesday and hate this limbo- I’d really just rather know either way so I can move on with it, the kicker is I know I’d be brilliant at this jobs but have never been fantastic at interviews!

The fact it was for an internal interview ia a positive as they already know you and your capabilities so will likely give you grace for your nerves. Don’t give up hope!

i once was headhunted for a role. I was happy where i was but thought as it was a giant tech company, it would be worth having a chat nonetheless. I was told it would be a 30 min informal chat with the global head of the function. During the interview:

he was immediately rude
he repeatedly shouted at me
accused me of lying
told me that the team is manage wouldn’t respect me cos they were more highly qualified than me
the interview went on for an hour rather than the 30 mins
at one point I considered just logging off the call there and then and I was close to tears
at fhe end of the interview he pleasantly said ‘well done, I know I was hard on you but it was a psychological test’. wtf?!

I knew immediately I wouldn’t work for him so I just ignored the follow up calls from the internal recruiter. It made me feel like shit for days and made me feel worthless

6 months later they called me again and said ‘we’d love to see you again cos the Head of X liked you so much and there’s another role he’d like to talk to you about’. F*ck off!!!

coincidently, I then found out that my first ever Boyf was the CFO of this same company… I was so tempted to write to him to say what a terrible human being this guy was!

OP I’ve been there and feel your pain 😩 I tend to over prepare but then lose track of questions and let myself down. Competency based questions that are multi-part are easy to screw up part way through.
After fluffing an interview in this way a few months ago, I took a leap and applied again recently (public sector, multiple posts), and this time I did what I always tell applicants to do: I took notes during the interview. I told the panel I would be noting down the question as they asked it, and they were absolutely fine with this. The result was I didn’t forget any bits, I did the whole SAOR/STAR thing, and this time I got the job 🎉
So forgive yourself, try to let the burning embarrassment fade and remember that the panel won’t think about any poor answers for long. Honestly, if someone else scored higher they’ll forget about any uncomfortable moments in your interview. Onwards and upwards, and just keep applying for anything vaguely interesting. Every interview is good practice.

I had an interview like this for GMP once. So many awkward silences and felt like I totally wasn't prepared. Then I fell down the steps on the way out!

Internal interviews are the worst. Hold your head up for putting yourself forward and chalk it up to experience.

I have done interviews where I have had to repeat every question- never mind three. This is completely ok. You should hear the discussion to decide on the wording.

Another time a candidate failed completely to answer the question and disappeared into a completely different tangent to avoid it.

Years ago, I interviewed for a role that I was desperate to get. It was my first interview after graduation, so I was a bit wet behind the ears as to what to expect.

I prepared and delivered a presentation, which went fine, then I sat in front of the panel for questioning. I didn't feel like I was doing very well, I was waffling a bit, but just about holding up...
Until it came to a question, "describe 3 personal strengths and weaknesses". I managed to come up with 3 strengths which I'd pre-prepared, but I couldn't think of a single weakness.

I have plenty of weaknesses, but not any that felt appropriate to divulge to an interview panel!
In total silence, I was wracking my brains - a bit disorganised? No, can't say that. Have difficulty prioritising? Definitely can't say that!
I tried thinking of some "positive" weaknesses, but they sounded so cheesy and implausible - stuff like, 'I sometimes get so involved in my role, I find it difficult to switch off'. I couldn't bring myself to say it out loud.

After a silent 3 minutes, no help or prompting from the panel, just deathly silence, I had to admit defeat and say I couldn't think of any weaknesses 😳.

I didn't get the job 😂

Oh gosh that’s horrible

see that wasn’t even a question that was asked for me although I did mention some of my weaknesses in one answer but also explained how I deal with them in my day to day activities and how I manage my weaknesses now that I am aware of them..

I think it’s just one of those things isn’t it? In the moment you cannot think of anything to say and then you walk away and think about all the things you could have said! It’s awful

I think I’ve just mentally accepted I haven’t got the job but there’s this horrible small glimmer of hope I still have and I hate it! Can’t wait to be put out of my misery! 🤣 I suppose it is a learning curve, just a shame as the job I applied for are few and far between!

I did an interview last year for a civil service post.

It was analysis based which I had previously done in the civil service. Was really excited to be selected for interview. On sift I had scored straights 6s.

3 days before the interview I had emergency surgery to remove a very gross abcess on my chest wall. Stupidly didn't want to see if I could reschedule and went ahead. It was a really deep wound so I was given 30/500 cocodomol. Felt rough on the morning so took 2. Honestly I was off my face and giggled at one point and wondered off topic a few times.

I didn't get the post which was not a surprise. However I was first on reserve list for another team and I got offered a post from that. Just going through the security checks.

Thank you all for your comments, starting to feel better about it all

Internal interviews are the worst IMHO, as least if you are being interviewed externally you don’t ever need to see the interviewers again! You probably did a lot better than you thought. Good luck.

Oh my gosh I could have written this myself. I hope you have done better than you thought and get the role.

I feel so down about how poor my interview performance was this past week. It was for a job I’d have loved and think I could have been really good at. Sadly I panicked at the interview and out came a load of overly technical, incoherent ramblings that didn’t really address the questions asked. I’m so mortified that I’ve just wanted to dig myself a hole to hide in ever since 😭😭😭 So sad for myself that I blew it so spectacularly, and wish the person would just put my out of my misery rather than making me wait for the inevitable rejection.