Bad interviews

Curious if anyone has any bad interview stories they wish to share.

I had an interview at a company, it was a two hour drive away from where I lived at the time. I threw up beforehand due to nerves, had a splitting headache due to not eating or drinking all day, I woke up too late, my car broke down shortly after departure, borrowed my dads car which he wasn’t using at the time as the engine was cutting out and shattered the windscreen en route, got lost, couldn’t park so had to run 1km from the car to the place, then lost the will to live entirely, don’t remember anything past that point.

Worked there for seven years.

11 Likes

Funny, my worst interview I got the job too. It was for an summer internship. One role available for many applicants. Phone interview went well. When i got there I was overdressed, wearing a suit and tie. Future boss was wearing a polo shirt and jeans. He asked me what interested me in Engineering, I had no good answer. He asked me which of the prospective projects I was interested in pursuing during the internship. I was like “what prospective projects.” They were in the job description and had been emailed to me twice :grimacing:. He showed me the projects and I told him which one i was interested in. Initially I didn’t get the job, then they called me and said the person they picked dropped out of the job for some reason so it was mine. Had a great summer and the boss ended up loving me :shushing_face:

7 Likes

I just think it’s funny that sometimes when you think an interview went poorly you actually get the job, and sometimes when you think you aced it that’s when you get rejected. I wouldn’t call it a horror story, but I had one frustrating interview with a guy that I seemed to have a great rapport with. I did my research about the company, I gave great answers to every question intended to catch me off balance, and we discussed every aspect of the job for over an hour. I thought we had pretty decent chemistry by the end. I had never had an interview that went on for 80 minutes or so, not even close. So I left feeling pretty confident I landed it. Never even heard back though. I had to eventually email them to inquire of the status of my application and they confirmed my suspicion that I didn’t get it. I was dejected about that for a couple days. Then a week later, I had a breezy 10 minute interview with another place and got a job with them on the spot, so… :man_shrugging:

By the way, I changed the tag to ‘discussion’ as this doesn’t really fit ‘fun and games.’

6 Likes

Early 2000’s as a newbie exchange student in Taiwan looking for a coop placement. A lady in the International office set me up with an interview. Half a semester in and my Chinese is non existent, road signs are not yet translated to pinyin, I don’t know my way around the city and google maps is not yet a thing so I’m relying on a map book…in Chinese. You’d think I’d leave early, but on the day of the interview I put on my best clothes jump on the scooter and head down the mountain… late. As it does in Kaohsiung at times, the skies open up, starts hammering rain, I’m late, speeding down the winding back roads, getting soaked and take a corner a little too fast… ok, way too fast, especially considering my scooter had bald tires and no brakes. But that’s what you get when you rent a scooter from what I’m pretty sure was a chop shop. Anyways, I dump the scooter, slide down the mountain on my ass, burn a hole in my pants, pick myself up, check the scooter and carry on hoping nobody will notice my left cheek hanging out of my pants. I carry on through the industrial zone with trucks spraying me as they charge through the puddles when passing me. I make it too the interview, soaking wet, filthy and late with a hole in the ass of my pants. Remember, I’m a newbie and I’m late, so I rush into the office - breeze past the slippers at the front door and walk into the interview with shoes on, soaking wet, filthy, with a big old hole in my pants. Shoes so wet they are squishing/squeeking every step I take. Ignorant kid that I am with no Chinese and no experience I walked out with a job.

10 Likes

Fair enough, as long as people don’t take it too seriously :cowboy_hat_face:

Mint :ok_hand: way she goes sometimes. It works both ways though.

I had another interview years ago at an popular fruit-named Technology Store to be one of those Greeter people. It was an edgy Group interview, complete with role-playing. I turned up to that with the sauce from a McDonalds Double Cheeseburger down my front after sleeping on a mates sofa after a night out. The brief was that an old lady was coming into the store as her phone was broken and she couldn’t call her grandkids. You had to sell her an iPhone.

My response was something along the lines of “there’s a supermarket across the road, you can buy a Nokia for £10”

9 Likes

So… With some experience as a hiring manager, the long interviews are almost never the good ones. Those are the people who can’t answer the questions clearly and succinctly, so you need to ask for clarifications or do additional prompting. Once in a while it’s because you have a good rapport and dive deeper, but that’s not usually the case.

3 Likes

Interesting, never thought of that. I was worried about the interviews for my current job because they were supposed to be an hour and only lasted about 30 mins. Every job I’ve ever gotten has had seemingly short interviews.

1 Like

That’s why when someone asks me how it went I always say “terrible”

1 Like

I don’t get it. If the interviewer senses the applicant isn’t up to snuff, then wouldn’t they normally want to end the interview as quick as possible to move on to the next applicant? Doesn’t sound very efficient. Anyway, maybe I’m remembering it with rose-colored glasses, but I can’t recall any points where I dropped the ball during the interview.

The interview process is pretty biased. For whatever reason i don’t get nervous for them. I’m normally as smooth as can be. Some people freak out and can’t show they’re a good candidate for the job. I’ve interviewed some people before that can barely make eye contact. :disappointed:

Best advice I ever got about interviews as a younger person was that you got an interview. You basically already have the job. The interview is you telling them you shouldn’t be employed. So the interview is you telling them why you should be employed. Nothing to be nervous about. Just tell them your skills and attributes, show a positive attitude and generally don’t be an idiot.

Coincidentally I just saw this and figured this was the perfect thread for it.

6 Likes

Sure, you want to. Doesn’t mean there aren’t HR checkboxes to get through. ;D

1 Like

I’m always a bit nervous before the interview, but never during the interview for some reason. I’m the same with dates and presentations. I just enter a kind of zen mindset once it starts.

1 Like

Would be even better if he had no pants on in the last image!

2 Likes

It took me a while to understand it was a green screen… :happy_frog:

I did six interviews for my current job. A lot of big companies/orgs can do multiple rounds with different managers and it can take weeks, even months. I don’t know if that is efficient but it ticks the boxes for them.

Some people get a bit carried away with the whole Devil’s advocate thing. :imp:

My interview with Microsoft was pretty weird. This was around Y2K and it would have been my first job out of grad school, so things may have definitely changed…probably have changed.

A guy in my grad program who was a year ahead of me got a job at MS and after I graduated helped me get my foot in the door for an interview. He was also able to give me some insight about their process. While a specific team may decide to bring you in, you are likely interviewing for that same role across a multitude of teams (they never tell you that but you can deduce it). Your interviewers might be people from your field across those different teams and/or mangers from other related functions or stakeholders of your work.

The final interviews (after several phone interview rounds) are in person on their campus and generally consists of 3 morning sessions of about about 45 mins each, a longer lunch interview, then 3 more afternoon interviews. So it runs from 9ish to 4 or 5 and is with 6 or 7 people. It is a long grueling day. What you don’t know as a candidate, unless someone inside tells you, is that any one person on the interview chain can end the process at any point. One person has the power to veto you. In this case, your later interviews will be mysteriously cancelled and you are sent packing not really knowing what happened.

So why was mine bad? I made it to the last interview and was supposed to start at 3:30. These can be in different buildings and they shuttle you around if necessary. So I am dropped off at my last one on time and am told to wait in the lobby. And so I wait, and wait, and finally about 4:30 my last interviewer comes to get me. I was dog tired. We go into this guy’s office, and he’s got a punching bag in the corner. He proceeds to put some gloves on and start hitting the bag and starts the interview. It was… bizarre. He’d hit the bag a bit, ask a question, continue to hit the bag while I was answering. I was trying to remain focused, it wasn’t happening to be honest.

I put up with it for a bit and try to muddle through, but then his line of questioning turns a bit hostile. He keeps asking me to give an answer to the same question using different examples over and over again. After about 5 times, I just sort of politely decline to go for a 6th round and indicate as politely as I could that I thought he was being rude/inappropriate. He’s like, “well I guess I’m finished then”. I thanked him and was taken back to my hotel.

My friend was shown some of the discussion about me that day (all of it happened over email). Of course I’d made it through all the earlier interviews and was all but assured of an offer based on those discussions, but this guy started a serious debate about my “enthusiasm” for wanting to work at MS. The rest of the interview team wanted to offer, but he had a bit of clout, used his veto, and despite their efforts that was that. I understand shortly after that he was let go.

I had an offer in hand at another place that I actually liked better, so it worked out in the end. It is probably not only the weirdest interview I’ve ever been a part of (on both sides), but maybe the weirdest corporate anything I’ve ever experienced. Perhaps I’m lucky in that regard? I’ve heard some horror stories from female colleagues.

10 Likes

Dude sounds like one of those toxic narcissists that are so common in the corporate world.

2 Likes