Your Worst Interview Horror Stories
Nothing kills the excitement of a potential new job like a terrible job interview. Last week we asked you what your worst job interviews were and you answered. Here are some of the worst experiences you’ve shared.
The one with the curious CEO from GingertheDoc :
When applying for an internship before my doctorate, I was interviewed by several agencies in a few weeks. Only one thing was particularly awful:
I usually arrived about 20 minutes early, and it took me part of those minutes to find the right offices in a large 12-story building. When I entered the waiting area, the receptionist was not there, so I rang the bell. When the administrator returned, I was greeted gloomily and given forms to fill out (such as copy-copy-copy-copy), all the requested information was easily and clearly available on the site, online forms required for the interview process, but everything is in order. I filled out the forms 10 minutes before my appointment.
I was not seen until 45 minutes after the appointment. There was no explanation or apology.
During the interview itself, the CEO asked me at least three times if I spoke Spanish; Yes, and this information has been flagged in at least four places in my application materials (required to be voluminous in the process). She also spent at least half of the interview time, telling me how I should behave (due to the fact that there was nothing in the interview) and asking personal questions about family (do I have children?) And religion. Another interviewer looked clearly uncomfortable with her questions and tried to ask more important questions. During the interview, the CEO never once pronounced my name correctly (my names are quite common). I was never given the opportunity to ask questions or provide additional information about the various agency programs I would work for if I were there …
When the interview was over, I left with an unpleasant feeling and had no idea what the year would look like in terms of real work. I went back and forth and then presented my ratings with them down below, thinking, “Something is better than nothing.”
At 11:40 pm, I logged in again to remove them from my list … only to realize that the rating closed at midnight EST … and I was living in California. The day has come for the results, and you know what? I went to this beautiful place.
I spent a terrible year there and had little choice. I could say a lot more about the actual year of placement because it was bad, but suffice it to say: I had to listen to my intuition from the beginning.
TL; DR – Trust your impressions and your feelings; people who seem terrible at first glance are usually terrible all the time.
The one with the really nice guy, from Matt Carter :
During an interview with a mid-sized company, a guy tells me at the end of a two-hour interview, “Well, you’re a good candidate, but we’ve already made the decision to go with someone else.” K, great, thanks for your time. He said he already had an interview scheduled and didn’t want to sound rude. Swell. Fast forward in 3 weeks, I work in a different (much better) job, I got a call from a guy offering me a job. I said, “You told me you were going with someone else.” He says: “N-n-no, I didn’t do that!” Click.
The One With Karma , from Psychodog :
I am interviewing for a position in a successful family business … In about 30 minutes interview (interviews with father and son, CEO and president respectively). Dad says, “Where do you go to church?” I dodge the question, “I don’t know what this has to do with job responsibilities.”
A few minutes later, Dad asks, “How many times have you been married?” Again, dismiss the question and wait for the next one. The son’s phone rings, gets up to answer, and dad talks for a minute. The son returns and says that the interview is over. Tells me that they could not have any divorced work for them (it looks like during the interview someone did a search in public records).
I tell them that this is the wrong criterion and their questions were illegal. The son says that they do not care that this is their business, and they run it the way they want. I celebrated a little when a few months later it was revealed that their “kind, Christian” controller had embezzled $ 2.1 million.
The one with whom there is an erroneous production code from JustDoIt :
Interviewed for the position of a coder. They handed me a piece of code and asked me to interpret what it does. They gave me a notebook, said they would give me 20 minutes, and on the way out they said: “Oh, there might be a beetle there.”
So, I went through the code in my head (it was a statistical analysis program) and after a while I found an error if the numbers had too many decimal places. When they returned, they asked for the notebook back. I had 3 lines of numbers written. Then I began to explain to them what the program was. They wanted to see my work, but they agreed that my calculations were correct. I told them I ran the numbers in my mind. Then I explained the error I saw in decimal precision, that is, 3 lines on a notepad. They got very angry and told me that this is real production code that they are using and there are no errors. They said I wouldn’t fit.
Two weeks later, they called me, apologized and explained that I was right about the mistake. Their own testers never caught it. They asked if I would return for the interview, but I already had a different job offer.
The one with a confusing homonym , from Nick Foote :
In one of my first interviews, I made a surprisingly noteworthy move. I can’t believe how stupid I was. The interviewer received a question: “Do you have a criminal record?”
I sit and think for a few seconds and then I say, “Well, no, not really.”
The interviewer just looks at me with his mouth slightly open. I thought he was referring to beliefs as “strong convictions,” not “convicted of a crime,” which is a standard interview question. He was surprised not only that I thought about the answer to the question “yes” or “no” for so long, but also that I gave a weak answer. We laughed awkwardly about it, and then I didn’t get the job.
The one where this dude needed solid , from Brometeus :
… I responded to a marketing position ad I found on the Internet. They hired employees, and after a short routine telephone interview, they called me in person for an interview at their office, which was about 45 minutes from where I lived. I was pretty desperate so the commute didn’t bother me too much …
After a few minutes of waiting, I was called back to the office when I met my interviewer, who, I was 100% sure, was under 18 years old. I have a little face, but this dude really had it. He starts the interview and immediately feels like he is too excited and very nervous when he starts asking all these questions that seemed inappropriate for the interview. Questions about hobbies, interests, a little about past work and whether I wanted to break out of the usual 9-5, because that’s what they were aiming for.
He said that if I had enough time, I could open my own branch in my hometown. Eventually, he starts talking about work, but in a very vague way, such as “customer oriented” and “mobile”. I began to doubt what he was representing me when he told me, “If you get a job, you will only sell one company. Our people make up only one company. ” So I asked him which company. He stepped aside from the question.
We go back and forth again before he mentions one company again. I ask again which company and again he shies away from it. Now I’m not so sure and I need to show it through the poker face because it immediately talks about bringing me back for the last interview / job tracking. At the end, I plan a final interview, but I ask him which company. He shyly smiles at me and says: “Quill pen.” I go home and search.
It turns out that this marketing position is actually a cross-business sales position, one of the many that Qwill loves to use, and I am immediately greeted with stories of predatory, demanding sales targets and harassment. I call back to the office and leave him a message stating that I am no longer interested in this job, because I don’t think it suits me. Over the next four days, the guy who interviewed me called me 15 times. I let everyone go to the answering machine, but the last one was the most ridiculous. He called at 10:30 pm and I could hear the bar noise in the background. The dude starts asking me if I’m sure I’m not interested in this and ends the conversation on a very depressing note: “Do me kindness, dude. My boss told me that if I didn’t hire anyone, I would have to go back to selling … ”Needless to say, I didn’t do him that good.
The One Not To Live In Burbville , by kcunning :
It was a great interview. People loved me, especially the woman who was supposed to be my boss. “You are like me ten years ago and this is EXACTLY what I asked my boss to do!” I was very excited because work would mean more money, more mobility and doing what I loved.
Then things got weird.
My boss asked where I live and I answered him. It was about an hour’s drive away, but in our area (let’s call it Burbville) it was not unusual for people to commute to work for over an hour. So it is in our region. It looks like he was pondering this.
“So, are you planning to get closer?”
“Um … if I haven’t misunderstood the potential salary, no. This is an insanely expensive area, and rent and living costs are much cheaper where I am. “
“Yes, but … you live in Burbville . It’s not very … nice.
Please note: Our city is often denigrated for being “ghetto” or “hood”, mainly because it is the last accessible city in the area, and also because it is not 90% white.
“… We have one of the lowest crime rates in the region, we are in close proximity to two of the main highways in the area, and we have excellent schools. It’s not fashionable, but it works for me. “
“However, you are planning to move here, right? How about a trip to work? “
“I drove on for less money, and that’s my problem, not yours.”
He paused and I thought he was going to let it fall. Then he looked at my hand.
“You’re married. Isn’t your husband making you enough money to live here?”
* gritting teeth * “His salary isn’t your problem either.”
A week later, they called me and said that they went with another candidate who lived closer. The woman who would be my boss was pissed off because the other candidate was significantly less qualified.
Although I’ve had worse interviews (one left me in tears), it was a cold bucket of reality water where I realized how shitty the world really could be.
The one that became the internet sensation of 2013 , from RightOnTopOfThatRose :
I was sent to Florida for a two day interview. About an hour after I arrived on the first day, I was invited to a staff meeting to make an “exciting” announcement. Surprise! The marketing department decided to shoot a video of Harlem Shake !!! Everyone had to participate …
The one with the heartbreaking character on the other side of the table , from StephanFH :
I conducted loss prevention interviews for a Fortune 100 corporation (after it went out of business). The people I interviewed have already gone through two interviews and a resume review … Basically, anyone I interviewed should have been hired if they overcome the last hurdle. To me.
Loss prevention interviews are interrogations, not interviews; he immediately becomes hostile. I asked questions that suggested guilt in their posing. I asked not “Have you ever stolen from an employer?” But “What is the biggest thing you’ve ever taken from an employer?”
On this day, I interviewed a very smart young lady. She was interviewed for a position where someone dishonest or under someone’s dishonest influence can steal a lot of money. She was in her twenties and was neatly groomed, well dressed, and spoke well. I was going to give her consent based on the enthusiasm of her previous interviewers, but went through a minimum of questions.
Then, completely not at my request, she began to talk about her passion and motivation for work. She was returning from hell. She was a drug addict and a prostitute. She had two boys at home, whom she had just received from the State Family Service. She recovered in just over a year. She was building a new life and was looking forward to the new opportunities that this work would open up. Outstanding! I myself was recovering and knew how honest and hardworking people who overcome problems can be. I was glad to hire her, and she saw it …
Shortly before leaving, she shyly told me that her boyfriend and the father of her two boys, who had just been released from prison for trafficking and armed robbery, had just been released from prison and returned to her apartment. He didn’t deal, he just used a little and everything worked out. After she left, I spent a few minutes and then scored her statement. I can still see her happy face when she leaves my office.
The one with the fire drill , from oly0015 :
A fire alarm is triggered. The guy runs away for 10 minutes and comes back, says it’s a fire drill and continues while she cries. Come to find out at the end of the interview that the building is on fire …
The one with the third wheel , from the Hellion breeding :
Came early for an interview. While waiting at the front desk, I saw a toilet in the lobby, so I decided to go and check my makeup. I’m there, all my makeup spread out on the counter, and a woman in a suit comes in. We give each other a forced smile of gratitude, as you do when you meet a stranger in a public toilet. She walked into the stall and I went back to my makeup.
The next thing I hear is the sound of that poor woman tearing up her ass. I have never heard anything like it before or after. I started frantically grabbing all my makeup and brushes and stuffing them back into my makeup bag so I could get out of there and let the woman explode in peace, but then the smell hit. It was so bad, I honestly thought I was going to vomit, so I grabbed my things and ran, leaving a trail of dropped lipstick and eyeliner.
Guess who my interviewer was? We both nearly died when I was ushered into the room. It was the most embarrassing interview ever. She was red to the roots of her hair all the time and could barely even speak because of embarrassment, but there was a colleague in the room with her, so there was no way to shed light on this and try to purify the air (har-har). At some point, a colleague had to take over because she’s simple. could not. even. He was puzzled, and I wanted to find the nearest hole and climb into it. I have no idea if the answers I gave made any sense at all. It was so disgusting.
Hopefully your next interview won’t be like this!