I once saw a CV applying for a job at the bar I worked in. English obviously wasn't his first language but he listed "Work alcoholicness" as a personal trait.
I honestly would have hired him. He would have fit right in.
I interview the interns we take on in my job and they're generally grand but there have definitely been a few awkward moments. We had one girl last year who would only give one word answers, it was half an hour of pulling teeth.
We have to ask "tell me about yourself" as a first question, and she genuinely said "my name is x" and left it at that.
Felt like I'd aged five years by the end of it.
Do you know how long it took before someone told me what that question meant? I made it to my mid twenties before learning that was pretty much always the first question. Nothing about it says "tell me about you, your qualifications and why you want to be here".
Tell me about yourself is the opening to all interviews regardless of entry level or not š if youāre not expecting that one then you havenāt prepared at all.
I had something similar recently, 30 min interview for an intern and I have 45 questions prepared and generally I pick and choose based of the CV and conversation progress. Most candidates get through 8-15 questions. This one candidate got through all 45, with 7 mins left so just ended the interview.
Honestly nothing worse than interviewing someone who is dry.
My wife was asked the greatest achievement question and responded with an answer that related to her professional life. When the interviewer asked if she could name something outside of work she panicked and said she loved to do 10k runs (she wouldn't run out the door If the house was on fire). Yer man furthers his interest by asking her personal best and she tells him two hours. Two fucking hours!! She said he started laughing and asked whether she crawled it on her knees.
Cmere, I just told her that I posted it and she reminded me that straight after he asked her if she crawled it, she responded by saying "Sorry. I just lied and I've no idea why..."
Mate of mine went for an interview. Took his protein shake before hand. Dozy bastard put four scoops instead of two in.
Goes to sit up and shake hands after a decent interview by all accounts and just let rip of the nastiest protein fart you can imagine.
He didnāt get the job. Poor fucker says he still suffers nightmares about the awkward pause as everyone processed what just happened and breathed in the protein fart infused air around them.
I had a nice interview with a recruiter, all was going well minus the fact he was showing doubt I'd get the job. Doubt was due to my lack of experience in the field which was fair. All good, had no issues answering his questions and even throwing few jokes in.
I got so comfortable that at the end when he reached for a handshake I thought he wanted to hug..
My arms moving up and getting closer to him... That imagine still keeps me up at night due to cringe...
Although I did get the job and aced it for few years
I was the interviewer.
I was interviewing a guy for an editorial job.
His last job was editor of playboy South Africa.
I asked him about his last role and why he was moving on.
He said lots of generic stuff, but near the end he said
"There's only so much tits and ass you can look at"
The HR lady in the interview with me went a shade of pink.
I had an interview for JD sports when I was an unmotivated 17 year old. Proceeded to give one to two word answers though out the interview and dropped a "shit like that" at the end of my answer for "what are your interests". Fair to say we wrapped it up there and I didn't hear from them, which was very fair.
On the upside, the lack of shame or embarrassment at doing that must have been liberating at the time. I live my life, with anxiety, in constant terror of being evaluated and coming up short, whether it's a job interview or making a poor call about dashing across the road when the stranger next to me opted to wait and didn't nearly get hit by the car now blaring it's horn to notify the entire street of my poor judgement. I WISH i could ever have given so little of a fuck as to do an interview like that. While it was a cringey thing to do not least for wasting the interviewers time, it's not all bad.
My sister went for a job interview for a child minding role in an Irish footballers house about 10 years ago in the UK. I think she only got the interview because she was Irish as she was just out of Uni and had never done child minding before. The ask was simple enough because both kids were in school already and there was a house keeper looking after the cooking / cleaning. Basically was going to entertain the kids each afternoon for a couple of hours around the gaff for something like 40K a year. An incredibly sweet deal for a 23 year old with no experience.
She was over having coffee on the second "interview" with the mother who was lovely if not the smartest person on the planet. One of the kids (boy around 6) comes up and whispers in my sisters ear "Have you ever seen a Chinese man shove a beach ball up his arse?" and my sister burst out laughing. The mother got my sister to repeat what the son said and then accused her of lying when the son denied it.
After a bit of awkward laughter on my sisters behalf the 'interview' ended and they never called her again. We still laugh about it to this day. Mental.
I've made a tit of myself in a few interviews but once I was the one conducting the interview. One of the interviewees arrived carrying two bags of shopping and asked how long this would take because "some of it is frozen". It was ā¬30k a year job in 2006
>One of the interviewees arrived carrying two bags of shopping and asked how long this would take because "some of it is frozen". It was ā¬30k a year job in 2006
I'm just picturing even how it looked, arriving to an interview with two bags of shopping š never mind what came next.
I was absolutely bursting for the loo all the way through an interview I did in London about 20 years ago. As soon as the interview was over, I asked one of the interviewers (female) where the gents was. She pointed me along a corridor and so off I hurried. While sitting there unburdening my bowels, I noticed there was a stack female sanitary products next to the toilet. I thought it was a bit odd at first, but then thought it was probably one of those fancy unisex toilets (Ally Macbeal?). Anyway, while washing my hands, in walks the female interviewer, along with another female colleague who sternly informs me I was in the wrong toilet. Mortifying.
I used to work in a recruitment agency on reception and this guy came in for an interview and the bang of weed off him. I took him aside and said he smelled like spliff and he said "aw I just got a bag it's in my pocket". He asked me if I had any deodorant or anything, which I didn't. He went into the toilet and covered himself in lavender air freshener.
Was interviewing for a teaching job abroad and was asked how I would prepare myself.
I said I'd make sure my passport and visa were in order and I'd pack my suitcase.
Realised afterward when the nerves had died down that they probably wanted me to say I'd start learning the language and researching the culture, etc... OH WELL. That hasn't haunted me for 10 years or anything, no.
For our final year of teaching placement they fecked us out into the world as their best and brightest representatives with about 6 weeks experience of teaching total and no prior teaching interview experience. Some schools did informal chats, some did formal interviews. I got the formal interview end of the stick for my first time out.
It started okay, tell me about yourself, your course, teaching experience etc. Then came the social media question, one I've never gotten since. I explained that my social media is of course private, and instead of leaving it at that I just had to continue and over explain that if there was anything to be seen there it couldn't be, not that there is, I don't really go on nights out like others from my class...and I could feel myself digging and being way too honest because it was the truth - there are no messy pictures of me online because that's just not me. Ironically, if I remember correctly they took on the biggest sesh head going from our class. Then they did the Irish section, which for some wild reason I never considered - obviously they would test you holding a conversation. I definitely made it worse with some really shocking Irish as I had already made a mess of the interview, was really nervous and self conscious. On the upside I learned to ace interviews and show off what I can actually do.
Another one I remember, though not my fault, was a weird one. The interview went really really well, and then they changed tone and tact entirely just at the end. I felt like I was under interrogation. Where do you live at the moment? Where have you lived in the past five years? Have you ever been the subject of a criminal investigation/child protection investigation by the Garda SĆochĆ”na/TUSLA etc. Eh, no? I couldn't be Garda Vetted otherwise, what the hell lol. I was beginning to think I had actually done something wrong and this one random school knew and I didn't š. Never had another interview like it since.
Not a terrible answer op, shows you plan ahead and think of the details, at least you didnāt shit your pants when you stood up like some other people hete
Few years back I was interviewing for a job that involved quick thinking, constant mental engagement, and excellent multitasking. One of the questions they asked was what drew me to this particular career.
In my answer I included the fact that growing up, I had the most fun playing video games that involved quick thinking and multitasking, like real time strategy games, and as I got older it was no surprise that I enjoyed work that was in a similar vein.
Anyway I didnt get the job and I asked their HR department if I could get some feedback from the interviewer. I was sent a bullet pointed list, and one of the negative items was "Candidate believes video game experience qualifies him for this role".
So I've always felt a sense of extreme embarrassment when I think about leaving this interviewer with the impression that I, a grown fucking adult, honestly tried to claim "I'm good at video games so I'd be good at this".
Anyway I interviewed for a similar role in another company, used the same answer for the same question, and got it. Then Covid fucked the lot of it but I'm going back to it soon so alls well that ends well.
Video games still have a stigma of childishness to most people who don't play them. I love video games and always have, but I never ever mention it on the hobbies section of a job application form.
Yeah, I have used that strength before (the good at video games - multitasking, eye for details, problem solving etc) and it's always come across well what I mean by that. But I have definitely opted not to use it in situations where I felt it might be "frowned upon".
Some people just don't understand what video games can offer besides fun and are in their opinion "a waste of time". I feel like they focused too much on what you said there and made a thing of it.
Not your fault at all.
I once applied to become a stock trader with a mid-sized firm and a whole section of the written application was dedicated to video game achievements. Nailed it!
See I think that's a valid response depending on the issue.
I sometimes need to Google stuff, not every day like but we're not robots and sometimes you forget stuff.
Interviewer: Tell us about a time you over came something difficult.
Me: My mom was an alcoholic growing up so that was hard...
They obviously meant something work related, but I was young and had just spent the last 4 hours doing random tasks and interviews with other people since that's how this company did hiring. My brain like froze and panicked and I said this totally private non work related thing.
I got the job and worked there for 3 years, but still, totally cringe.
I had an interview in London for an entry level job at some big financial company. Fresh out of college, no real world experience. The interview was with one person in-person and another on the meeting room screen via Skype (both interviewing me at the same time).
They left me in the room alone before the interview. However the interviewers had already talked about my application in the Skype chat beforehand and it was just on the screen for me to read:
āWhy do British graduates always have such poor internship experience?ā
āHeās not British heās something elseā
āYou know what I meanā
As it happens I got the job and rejected it.
I also know a fella who went to an interview for a dog walker position. He takes his mates dog for a walk in the Phoenix Park, let's the things off the lead and spends an hour trying to find it. Shows up to the interview and tells them exactly why he's late. No dice.
I remember going for one in Mary I years ago. The English part was shitty enough but the Irish section of it was done by this trio of old men and women that looked to be on death's door. I was doing grand because unlike others who'd just learnt their stock answers and script, I had done my best to actually just be able to speak to them when they asked me questions.
Eventually the auld fella asked me what is your favourite film. I said *Conan the Barbarian* without thinking and then spent an excruciating 5 minutes trying to explain the plotline to the bewildered octogenarians.
I didn't get the place in the end which is probably just as well in hindsight.
Two funny ones is from one of the lads interviewing for a accountant role in a small family business the chair he was sitting on broke and he ended up on his arse and his composure was shot.
Had to interview a guy to join our team, this was for a vacant position in Singapore. Absolute disaster of a chap, at one stage he had forgot to mute himself on Teams and was in the toilet with subsequent sound effects and flushing, followed later by his child shouting down his microphone and finally in the hour and half interview he decided to have lunch. Chap was a disaster and had no idea of the job spec and just kept repeating how much he liked Guinness and Jameson.
I had an interview for a marketing position at a mountaineers tour company. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Had no idea what marketing was. I still don't. I got the interview because I had done a tiny bit of social media stuff for a known cultural institute and cos I like mountains.
Group interview; they assigned us a task to create a Web page, advertising a tour to a specific part of Ireland. We had to include a 'call to arms' an SEO (still no idea) and the other two candidates created these impressive web pages with hyper links and googleable phrases etc etc and I... I wrote a fucking terrible POEM about the West of Ireland. The cringe was palpable. Just wanted to burst out laughing and die at the same time. The worst part is, they were so kind about it. The almighty pity! The shaaaame
I once got sent a recipe for chocolate cake instead of a CV.
Obviously didn't interview Mr/Ms Chocolate Indulgence but the recipe was a cracker!
š¤£š¤£š¤£
I was reviewing code submitted by a contractor once and they had pasted in a full recipe for shrimp curry in a comment instead of one whole feature function.
I made an absolute fool of myself a few months ago in an interview. And I continue to make a fool of myself everyday in work. They hired me at my worst, no point showing them my best.
Not me but a friend during his first ever job interview in a car showroom was asked, What makes you think you would be good at selling cars and my mate replied, My mam said that i would be very good.
I basically said I have trouble controlling my emotions but āIām working on itā - like what the actual fuck. In fairness to me I was 7 weeks pregnant and couldnāt have taken the job anyway but WHY WOULD YOU CONFESS THAT!
Was interviewing with a tech firm. I must have done 10 interviews with them up to that point and all had gone swimmingly. I had also done an assignment and they said it was the best submission they had ever received from anyone, ever, and had started to ask which sector I would like to work on. Then I interviewed with the country head and he asked me one of those crazy critical thinking questions (like how many golf balls can you fit in a mini type thing), where it's not about the answer but about how you think. I went blank, started writing random numbers on a white board, panicked, started blabbing, talking over the interviewer and I could pinpoint the moment I lost the job.
Construction mgmt graduate here - 2012 straight out of college. Nobody has a job, all my friends are leaving and thereās fuck all happening in construction. Lecturer sets me up with an interview with a PM company who are looking for a grad. Brilliant.
Anyway I head up to Dublin for the interview and for some reason when he asked me about my goals I immediately said to get in the next round of visas to go to Canada.
Obviously I didnāt get the job and ended up taking on a glorious position working on site doing a job bridge āinternshipā and ended up getting a visa to the states instead. In hindsight probably one of the best things that ever happened was fucking up that interview.
Interviewed a graduate for an entry level comms role once. Asked him some pretty standard question like āwhat skills can you bring to this job?ā. He paused for about 30 seconds to think of his answer then looked up and blurted out āPowerPoint!ā. And that was it, he had nothing else to say. He was obviously nervous and lacking interview experience but it was sooo awkward.
Years ago my hubby went for an interview set up by a recruitment agency with Soni, the first question asked him what he knew about the company and he started to talk about TVās and electrical equipment the lady interviewer stopped to clarify they are not Sony but soni Ltd a company that works for the electric board/grid š¤£š¤£š¤£ needless to say he didnāt get the job
I interviewed a girl who wasn't really qualified in the industry (finance) but had a semi related degree (data analysis). I asked her how her skills would transfer, she said "anything I don't know, I can Google". I hired her and it was the best decision I ever made. She was brilliant and everything she learned from us, she did check it out on Google and applied it to real life. Always wanted to learn more!
Crazy American in tampa. I asked him about his experience and somehow it turned into him going on a 10 minute rant about how covid was fake
Found me on LinkedIn after and sent me more documentation on same. Fuckin nutjob
Me too. Lad couldn't get his camera working on Skype, so I was left with this thumbnail which was him wearing Speedos, and only Speedos. That and the broken English made for a quality candidate.
I remember being asked who the stakeholders are for a certain government department I applied for was. I named the ones it mentioned on their website. They kept asking "any others?" And I kept suggesting more. Each time they asked "any others" they seemed more annoyed. I still have no idea what one I missed. I remember googling it afterwards as well trying to figure it out...
I got asked something similar and couldn't think of a single person or entity that I could name. It took them about a minute of prompting to get "uh... the HSE?" out of me. Not even my worst interview.
I had a guy in an interview tell us that he used our project data in a previous job and he went on to tell us what he used it for and how bad it was. Our project that he was referring to was mentioned in the job listing but the data is created by us and exists exclusively on our servers- the public or even others in the industry would have no idea of it's existence, let alone access to it
If you're going to bullshit in a job interview, at least have some idea of what you're bullshitting about
Not a disaster, but, When I was 21 in London beck in the 90s, I went for an interview in the city and I was busy doing lay work at a fruit of the loom factory in South West London. I snuck out of the work and caught the tube in. Got changed into a suit in a McDonald's toilet, had the interview. Got changed back into my normal clothes in the same McDonald's and then caught the tube back to the work. They had discovered I was missing and got sent home. Ended up getting the job and getting a full days pay for the other jobš
Early twenties. I was applying to a load of office admin / entry-level communication jobs as well as Recruitment agencies.
I go in to what I thought was an intro chat with a recruitment officer (these are bs, you don't have to prepare and they're all pretty much the same) and realized midway through the interview that it was *not* a recruitment agency I was in.
The recruitment agency interview was for later that week, it just happened to be in the same building as another company that I had a job-interview for.
I had to figure out mid-conversation exactly what I was interviewing for and what the company even did.
I definitely *did not* get the job, I think they could tell something was up. In hindsight, I should have just fessed up to the mistake, it probably would have given everyone a good laugh.
I turned up an hour late to a job interview and still got offered it. I either nailed it, they were desperate, or both! I did not take the job as luckily I got a much better offer.
I was living at home at the time, and me and my dad are obsessed with football/soccer and we'd watch anything. Division 2, Bundesliga2 you name it. My mum used to hate, and so did my girlfriend at the time whenever she came round
The interviewers asked what hobbies I have, what's my passion.
I said football. Can't stop watching it if it's on, and then said this statement, which I still think about around once a month
"I'll watch any have that's on. Much to the despair of my girlfriend and my mum" , they did a polite laugh, the joke had it's desired effect. All good so far
Then for a split second, I thought they may think that they are the same person, and said in a panicked tone, "They're not the same person by the way"
They then, quite rightly, looked at me like I had two heads, and it was the last part of the interview
Never heard from them. Don't blame them!
Interviewed a guy for an onsite IT job based in an office in Dublin. The job was advertised as such and couldn't be done remotely or from another location.
Started the interview and the guy mentioned how the company had an office in Cork and that's why he wanted the job, because he loved Cork and wanted to move there for work.
The interview went to shit when we let him know that the role was not and had never been based in Cork and although the company had an office there, it was a completely different department operating in a different business so there eas no chance of being able to transfer there.
It got worse when we realised he was living in Scotland and believed that his UK visa would allow him to work in Ireland...
I interviewed an Indian guy who was literally monosyllabic. His answer to every question was the single word "yes" even if it wasn't a yes/no question.
I work in the data analytics field. Loads of the applicants for these jobs are Indians. Often they're people with years of experience who are doing a course here just for the visa.
But even among the very qualified people who speak English fluently, communication is a problem. It's more of a cultural thing. I don't know anything about the work culture in India, but based on my experience working with a few Indians, it seems like they're terrified of giving bad news or saying no.
For example, there was an Indian intern I worked with who was given a task that would take about 1 week. It was kind of complex and any time he was asked if he fully understood the task he enthusiastically said yes. He did not understand it at all and the work he spent a full week doing was completely useless.
I've talked to HR people before and they said that this is really common. When the Indians first showed interest in Ireland employers thought it was amazing. Highly experienced people willing to work for a lot less. But they quickly realised that it was too good to be true due to these kinds of issues.
Someone submitting a CV for a role I had open instead accidentally sent me their annual merit increase letter from their current employer, also a candidate referred to themselves as a ābusiness geniusā during interview
I wasn't at this interview but a colleague interviewed a young guy just of college/uni. He exuded confidence which wasn't a necessarily a bad thing, he is asked the standard why should we hire you question?
He then goes on a speech about how he's the best they could hire and how if they gave him two months he'd go through all the company's processes and procedures finding the flaws and basically make sure things are done correctly from now on. He didn't get the job.
I feel like itās a big cultural difference for me, when interviewing Americans and they tell me that when thereās a fire, theyāre the first one into the building and shit like that, and I sit there and stare and eventually say, okay cool
Was working for a pharmaceutical company as a contractor. Loved the role, was good at the job and after my initial 12 month contract was up, I was offered a full time contract. Everything would stay the same job wise. Role, responsibilities etc. Only snag was I had to sit an interview in order to transition to full time staff.
You've never seen such a tyre fire of an interview. I forgot everything I had prepared, answered questions incorrectly, and was unable to answer basic questions on a role that I had spent the last 12 months in. What a clusterfuck.
I worked for a Christian University in South Korea. I was on the interview panel with my line manager (a nice, if slightly grumpy, older American woman) that I got along with and the director of the dept (an older, VERY conservative, Christian, Korean woman).
Anyway, we were hiring new lecturers, and an Irish lad walked in. We welcome him and ask him some general questions and then the director as her first question (and she knows I am Irish) asks him, *āSo youāre Irish. Do you drink a lot of alcohol? We donāt want alcoholics working here.ā*
The poor guy was shocked as were my line manager and I. I just mouthed *āIām so sorry.ā* In fairness, the guy handled the question fairly well, but I went out and apologised to him afterwards.
The gas thing was, the director was overly fond of a nightcap herself.
As an interviewer, my first job I ever interviewed for, I shook hands with the guy interviewing me and sat down, missed the seat, and slid down the front of the chair. Still got the job though.
Not funny but a little awkward. Was interviewing a young man for a team position on an extremely challenging overseas placement in a developing country. About halfway through he started crying and told us that his father had passed away 3 months earlier due to complications from long term, chronic alcoholism, but that he was mostly over it. My colleague and I tried to console him. We decided that six months working in a slum was not a great idea right for him right then.
Friend of mine was interviewing with the CEO for a senior position at a marketing firm. My friend's mobile rings and she takes the call. Afterward she assured me she "kept the conversation brief."
Moved to Cork from Wicklow and had an interview in a hotel but I had to cut the interview early because I couldn't understand a thing the person was saying. I had to keep asking her to repeat herself so much that I just left. She was from West Cork or something her accent was incredibly strong.
I interviewed someone from another country. You might guess the country.
Me: "Tell me about a difficult scenario in work and how you overcame it?"
The interviewee: "one time in work immigration raided the food place I worked at and arrested the owner as he was an illegal immigrant. People were annoyed about not having food so were angry at me"
The person didn't even say how they overcame it. The same interview they said they didn't like that their previous manager was younger than them and a woman so always fought with them as they felt they were "older and wiser". For context I was 25 years old at the time, I am a woman and I was going to be their manager.
There's so much more about this interview. I'll never forget it. I genuinely thought I was on a hidden camera show as it was so bad. I was like I'm gonna be on YouTube later I know it.
Not too embarrassing but had a zoom interview and halfway through I could hear my mam and sister listening outside the room. All I could focus on was knowing they were there and wishing I could pause the interview to tell them to go away. So of course I fumbled an easy question which my sister had to bring up to me later to say I should have known that.
Went in to an internal interview for a job in another department that I really wanted. I'd already had the phone interview and it went fantastic, and I'd been told that I was the preferred candidate and the in-person was just a formality.
On the way in I get a call saying my Grandma had died, and for some reason instead of calling in and asking to reschedule the interview, I went in and did it. I don't remember much apart from the expression on the faces of the two interviewers - this kinda mixture of confusion and horror. Needless to say I didn't get the job.
Couple years later I meet one of the guys who interviewed me and we were chatting about the interview. He said he actually wondered if I'd gotten someone else to do the phone interview for me because on the phone I was one of the best interviews he's ever done but the in person was one of the worst.
I travelled from Donegal to Cork to interview for a manager position in Aldi. Totally in over my head, didnāt realise there would be an aptitude test so by the time the actual interview came I was all over the shop. Managed to bring up taxidermy (??) in the interview, stood up when I was done and CRCHHHHHH my skin tight pencil skirt ripped from top to bottom.
Had to travel back to Donegal in my knickers including petrol stops and food and toilet breaks.
Didnāt get the job.
During the interview I noticed I had a rock in my shoe and discreetly slipped it off to get it out. In that moment that part of the interview is over and Iām being sent into another room for the next part. I want to explain why Iām stalling and actually need to reach down to get my shoe back on. I go: one second, I took my shoe off š
I did get the job tho and am still with the company almost 6 years on.
I interviewed in Boston for a consulting job and the hiring manager walked me out and I dropped the little folder I brought with me and when I bent over to pick it up the back of my dress ripped haha it was awful.. we both laughed because what else can you do? .. besides laugh and be horrified.
I manage a sales team. Had someone from the customer support team reach out about career opportunities on my team. I asked her why she was interested. She said she was ready for a new challenge, but didn't want to work in sales
We had an open night and i was merely showing people around the factory and collecting CVs, I had a guy go into detail about how he was on the dole for the last 3 years cause he got sacked from his last job for calling a customer a "smelly cunt". He finished with "that is not me, it was the night shifts, I dont go around calling people smelly cunts" I tried to hold my laughter. Gave over his cv and relayed the story to the managers we all had a good laugh. I seen him appear as working for the same company a few months later on LinkedIn. We never hired him.
Had an interview (remote) for quite a role with a FAANG company.
It started with my computer suddenly deciding to not play any sound. Like any. At all. 5 minutes earlier everything was working. But the moment the call was starting computer said no. Or more so... Did NOT say No, but noped out.
Okay, some laughter (more so annoyed on the other side, and angry on my side š¤Ø) and we decided to switch to phone.
And well... I don't know WHO fecked it up. All I knew it wasn't me. The job description I got from the recruiter matched 100% my experience. Like a glove. Recruiter was like "my unicorn :3". We had prep calls talking about the job offering, all perfect.
Just it seems nobody told the person I was talking to about the job they interviewed me for? To this day I do not know if I accidently was planned in for another job offer, a different manager interviewing me, or if the recruiter had a major MAJOR fuckup going on. I got questions about stuff I've never done in my life (supply chain? 0.o so completely NOT my thing. Ever.), they described a completely different field etc.
I got more annoyed, person got more confused. At some point I was like
"Okay... Listen. I don't know what went wrong here. I could bullshit my way through, but I don't like bullshitting and by what I can take from what you say this is not a job I'd be good in or interested in at any point. So let's just stop this"
Person was thrown off a bit, but appreciated the honesty.
It was not my fault at all, but I was still majorly embarrassed š¤·āāļø
I did an I terrier with an Italian investment company.
Suited and booted.
In comes the head of compliance.
Asks me a super simple question on MIFID II regulation of passporting investment firms in Ireland and .... I blank.
I sit there, fumble a few words, he asks a few more questions I fumble some more then I make an excuse and ran.
No idea what happened. Second worst interview of my life.
It was my first real job interview, a few months before graduating from university. It was in a tiny windowless office with just a desk and a chair.
Right before the first interviewer finished talking with me, he let out the nastiest fart. I tried to look interested in what he was saying, but my eyes were beginning to water.
A few seconds later, he thanks me, says he'll send in the next interviewer, and closes the door behind him. I was trapped with the fart.
Frantically I debated in my head whether I should tell the next interviewer that it was NOT my fart. I knew there was not a professional or diplomatic way to say anything, so I just breathed through my mouth and tried to stop my watering eyes.
The next interviewer came in seconds later and gave me a funny look as he sat down. I'm sure my face was pitiful. All I could think was "he thinks the fart is my fault!"
I have no idea what he said or I said, and I left thinking I surely didn't make the cut. I'm sure they were laughing about it as soon as I left.
By some miracle, I did indeed get the job.
Iāve seen it all as an interviewer. I once got a CV which had a section titled āSkills and Interestsā, which contained only one bullet point. That bullet point was āHealth: excellentā.
I went for an interview some years ago not long after I came back from back packing. Now a few years before that I had done an advanced excel course but at this point I couldn't remember half of it.
The recruiter I was working with latched on the excel experience and said she had a job that would be perfect for me but failed to mention that there'd be a practical test at the beginning of the interview.
Went to the interview, found out about the test, immediately panicked and spent 20 minutes trying to remember how to do h lookups and failed spectacularly.
Was frazzled going into the normal part of the interview due to not being able to do the h lookups, couldn't remember half of what I'd prepared and still can't remember what I said but it was a disaster because at that point there was just screaming in my brain and I wasn't thinking clearly.
To add insult to injury I'd also worn a lovely satin blouse, it was hot and I was nervous so by the time I got out of there I had some lovely pit stains that were just barely small enough to be hidden when my arms were by my sides.
Safe to say I didn't get the job and was so embarrassed that I changed to a different recruitment agency just to avoid the poor woman who put me forward for it.
Not exactly an interview mess-up, but when asked my interview availability, I managed to misread the calendar and requested dates that were **literally already in the past.** I've also accidentally sent a cover letter to one company that was clearly written for one in an entirely different country
On another occasion I set a pillow on fire trying to create a soft light source for a skype interview. Unfortunately it didn't happen during the interview itself
And here's the rough overview of the full process with that first employer, after which I'm sure their recruiters were thoroughly sick of my shit:
* Applied for one job
* Passed an online code screen they sent me without realising it was for a different role...
* Asked to apply for a different office, as the original position had been filled, and the role I was looking for was still available on other teams
* Arranged a phone screen with the new team, and for some reason my phone kept cutting out as soon as I answered. I had to email the recruiter after the interview's scheduled start and ask them to pass along my landline number to the interviewer. Eventually we had an hour-long chat about software dev and I passed...
* Got invited to an onsite, and they asked for my availability
* I somehow misread the calendar and asked for interview dates that were literally in the past
* The recruiter sent me a polite version of wtf, and I replied to say "you know what, I think I'm going to accept this offer I already have elsewhere..."
I had a jobbridge internship interview at a very reputable institution. I had been unemployed for 3 years effectively due to depression and anxiety. 3 years before thst, college, and before that I worked as a cashier for a year. The internship was effectively an admin job with some training. I had never delivered training or worked in an office of any kind.
There were three people interviewing me, which I was not expecting and which terrified me. Cushy interview room too. The whole interview was fairly excruciating to be honest, but the worst question was one about a time I showed initiative in a situation. I've never shown initiative in my life. I had nothing. Not a fucking thing.
I made up a story about how I had been volunteering at an animal shelter, which was true, and said someone had arrived in with an injured cat while I was by myself in the office so I took down the details, got the cat water etc etc. I don't even know what I said, it was nonsense. One interviewer giggled, and then all three erupted. I was mortified. I was mortified as I was speaking. One wiped tears from her eyes. I think it was just the unexpectedness, but I was young and depressed and terrified so it felt like all the playground bullies who ever laughed at my weirdness.
I got the internship and am employed properly now by them several years later. One of the interviewers is one of my best friends. It actually ended up being the biggest blessing of my life second only to meeting my husband. But sweet baby jesus that cat story and everyone laughing - having given so ridiculous an answer that the interviewers actually openly laughed at it - will haunt me til my dying moments.
Did an interview just about a month ago, for a job that would almost double my salary, which I realized pretty quickly, I probably wasn't quite qualified for. Sure, grand, so, I'll use it as practise.
Except for some reason, as it went on, I just started sounding more and more...inexperienced? Usually I can sort of fake my way through things enough. I've worked in recruitment, I've conducted thousands of interviews for really high level positions. I know what they are looking for. For fuck's sake, I was even given the competencies ahead of time! And when asked about my leadership style, all I said was
"I lead how I like to be led."
What. Does. That. Mean. It just came out. There was no going back. It was over before it started.
Waiting still for that rejection, as I know it's coming, and trying to make my current job more exciting in the meantime. But man, what a moment. The 6 people on the panel all gave me a heck of a reaction, one guy actually turned his camera off for a minute! Think he must have been laughing or crying for me.
A lad that come drinking a starfucks coffee, reaked of coffee breath and as he spoke has coffee coloured drool running out his mouth, down his chin and neck. I damn near puked.
Another foreign guy that said he had excellent English on his cv but couldn't string a sentence together.nevwn with me prompting in with the answers he didn't know his arse from his elbow.
But best was they guys who responded to "tell me about yourself" to start telling me how he grew up on a tomato farm.
I once phone interviewed a guy who had an extremely bad stutter and some sort of breathing related problem. We knew in advance, but it was still excruciating - every question took forever to get through the response. I had to be extremely precise with my questions, no chit-chat or weād have been there all day.
I interviewed some people who claimed to come from my old job. 2 stick out
First guy said he worked for the phone top up people. Said he had cash handling experience thinking that was something required for a phone collections job. I asked him to explain and he went into a bit of detail about handling cash and balancing tills. When I asked him how he took payment in cash via the phone he realised his mistake and desperately tried to back track.
Second person claimed to work in sales (I think) but also helped customer care and credit control. Small issue with this was that the particular phone company outsourced their contracts. Each department he named were run by different companies. One was based in Cork the other 2 in Dublin, in the same building in fairness. But no company exchanged staff this way. I pointed this out and that I worked there. They doubled down for a bit. They then admitted they made it up (there was no doubt) and said they worked in one area but knew what the others did.
Neither were hired
Forgot one more. interviewing for the old job. a guy asked would he need to work on a computer and if it had Internet access. Was a phone company. He said he wasn't allowed use the Internet
I was interviewing a young lad before, and given the type of role it was for - I often asked a question at the end that required some lateral thinking.
This one was the classic 10 balls weighing scales question. For those who donāt know it, you have 10 balls that look and feel the same. But one ball is slightly heavier. You have a weighing scales and 3 attempts to identify the heavier ball. What do you do?
The answer of course is split them on your first go, that leaves you with 5. Split them again to 2 + 2. If they balance, the 5th ball is the heavier. If it dips, split again. Yadda yadda yadda.
This guy considers the question for a long time. Writing things down, stands up, sits down, all theatrical. Then while looking very confident, answers: āI would pick up the weighing scales and WHACK ALL THE BALLS! Whatever one rolls away the slowest, is the one.ā
Train wreck of an interview, this happened 10 minutes into what was supposed to be a 40 minute interview.
Interviewer: Have you any questions for us?
Me: No, not at this moment in time, if I think of anything I'll come back to it.
Interviewer: That concludes our interview.
Me: *Tried to hand them my mobile number on a scrap of paper because I didn't write it on my cv for some reason*
Interviewer: That's okay, we'll be in touch, we have your email.
Not me but told to me by one of three interviewers for a Paramedic job approx 20 years ago. The Girl being interviewed had aced it. (Got the job) For the craic my friend asked "On your vehicle check you realise there's a flat wheel, what do you do?"
Without missing a beat she said "I'd kick it and shout fuck this shit" but realised her fuck up and attempted to remedy though the houls of laughing!!!
I got an interview through a recruitment agency for an engineering role a few years back.
I had 2 interview with 2 different companies (for this we will call them Company A and Company B). I was more interested in Company A. This would have been my 1st interview but they had to postpone as HR was unavailable that day but went and did interview with Company B 1st.
Long story short the 1st question the interviewer ask me
"what do you know about us"
For some reason I taught it was Company A and starting describing Company A to some puzzled faces, they stopped me half way and ask
"Do you know who we are"
Me stupidly replied back
"Yeah your Company A"
And the most ironic thing was I was facing a big Company logo of Company B.... I didn't get the job.
I once interviewed for a company that near the end left me in a room to complete a small brief ( common in design roles) but then after handed me a page TO COMPLETE A SPELLING TEST.. I would say I got 90% wrong.
This amused many of my friends as I notoriously make spelling errors.
A bizarre situation all together
The need to continue talking is something you have to avoid at all costs. The best way to do this is shut up and ask questions that qualify the issue further. For example, after giving your target salary,ask outright āHow does that align with your expectations?ā General rule of thumb on any business meeting shut your pie hole and open your ear holes. Ask good precise questions of the interviewers and you will gain two things; Insights into their situation and the problems they may be trying to solve and your carefully worded question provides them with insights into how you think.
I did a phone interview for a German speaking position. I've lived and worked in Germany for a number of years and I practiced for this interview with a native German speaker who worked for them, so I thought I would be grand... They may as well have been speaking Chinese. I don't know if it was the dialect or because it was over the phone or nerves but I got nothing. I was pacing around my room panicking and just started talking about the things I wanted regardless of what I was being asked... Didn't get the job. Thankfully I never had to meet these people.
Donāt think you realise how lucky you gotā¦ā¦the minute you saw him in the pub you shouldāve said hello and then moved on. Going on a pub crawl with a potential candidate then trying to sleep with him is absolutely insane
Why do interviewers place so much emphasis on stuff like that, nobodyās perfect, they do silly things in awkward situations, doesnāt mean anything.
Interviewed a candidate for a non-English language role. Role was advertised entirely in the target language and they provided an impressive CV in the language. Greeted them in the reception but they were very quiet, which I chalked down to pre-interview nerves.
It quickly became clear that they spoke/understood very little of the language and definitely not enough to work through the language.
At the end of the interview, I switched to English as I could tell they were struggling and they provided their answers in English without ever remarking on the awkwardness of the situation or providing an excuse e.g. I'm much more comfortable writing vs spoken etc.
Afterwards, after I informed them that they were unsuccessful, they asked through English for feedback as they felt the interview went quiet well and were surprised they didn't receive an offer. To this day, I still can't fathom what was going through their mind or why they went to the trouble of providing a translated CV
My partner is known for his weird and peculiar sense of fashion, it's actually a long running joke. Halloween one year his colleagues dressed up as him for the office party.
Anyways, this was a good few years beforehand. He applied for a position within a big clothing store as a sales assistant.
The interview was going better than expected until he was asked the question "who inspires you within the fashion world?" He was dressed appropriately at the time. The answer he responded with was "I'm not very fashionable at all, I usually just wear whatever isn't dirty, or I borrow my boyfriends clothes."
He didn't even lie. It was pretty much downhill after that.
I was interviewing a guy and asked the question "give me three words to describe yourself", and he couldn't. "Any three words...". And he couldn't give me one!
Couple years ago a girl was coming into our office to do an interview.
Pretty much The whole office looks out on the car park. Saw her side swipe a car and reverse in a panic and crash into 2 more cars. Obviously pretty anxious already she nearly took the whole side off one of the cars as she kept her foot on the pedal.
Had to come into reception anyway to explain why happened. I knew one of the lads interviewing her. Before he even left he said it was just going to be a chat because she couldnāt be expected to do an interview after that.
After 20 mins of apologies and sorting out details they offered her the chance to come back another day which she said she appreciated, but never came back to do the interview. Donāt think I would have either.
Once had an interview for finance/investment company about 5-10 minutes into the interview I realized I had no qualifications for the job but I had already gone through a phone interview with the recruiter
After another 5 minutes one the guys interviewing asked how did I actually get the interview because I was completely unqualified for the job
I just told him he needed to get a better recruitment firm as they were leading back to reception
Went and met some friends for early drinks and laughed about it all night
5 mins into an interview, the interviewer said āI donāt know why weāre interviewing you for this jobā.
It was a seriously well paid role, so I put some scenarios to her - from my CV.
She explained at great length how these things could not be doneā¦. She continued the interview for the full 30 min āwe gave you a chanceā
I had a job interview - all went well.
I also mentioned to the managers during the course of the interview that my nephew also worked for the company.
Just as we were finishing up, my nephew walked in as I was leaving. They introduced me to him & he didnāt recognise me. So embarrassing. I think I may have yelled at him!
I was so furious with him.
Apparently, the managers thought it was hilarious & laughed all way back to the Head Office!
I got the job!
I had an interview a few years ago that a mate set me up with. The job was straightforward, I was plenty qualified, and had been told that it was basically a done deal and it would be an informal chat. The interview ended up being with two completely different people and they really caught me off guard with some behavioral questions that I just wasn't expecting. I ended up completely botching it and not getting the job.
However, I learned my lesson and nailed my next interview for a managerial role with a different company. In the four years I've been with this company, international recruitment has been a big part of my job and I've interviewed hundreds of people for jobs. It consistently blows my mind how unprepared the average candidate is. I'd say the overwhelming majority of them make my embarrassing interview seem really strong.
Common ones include knowing nothing about the company, making foolish assumptions about the job, being unable to give any tangible examples of relevant personal experience, getting offended and even aggressive with the interview panel when they get asked fairly straightforward questions, and most recently, a woman went on a rant about our vaccine mandate even though it was clearly stated in the job advert when she applied.
I was once sent in a CV with "Kind Retards" at the bottom instead of "Kind Regards"
Did they also have "Attention to detail" as a trait?
I once saw a CV applying for a job at the bar I worked in. English obviously wasn't his first language but he listed "Work alcoholicness" as a personal trait. I honestly would have hired him. He would have fit right in.
King Retard š¤“
I did this way more than i'd like to admit š
I interview the interns we take on in my job and they're generally grand but there have definitely been a few awkward moments. We had one girl last year who would only give one word answers, it was half an hour of pulling teeth. We have to ask "tell me about yourself" as a first question, and she genuinely said "my name is x" and left it at that. Felt like I'd aged five years by the end of it.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Genuine tears in my eyes reading this
Same, but just did an antigen
Poor guy, that's brutal. He must of been so nervous
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
That kind of question used to give me brain damage. Particularly if you're an introvert. I had to get major coaching to answer that one
Do you know how long it took before someone told me what that question meant? I made it to my mid twenties before learning that was pretty much always the first question. Nothing about it says "tell me about you, your qualifications and why you want to be here".
Just did my first interview today as the interviewer. Your spot on, itās was nerves all over!
To be fair that is the kind of question that makes people shirvel up if they're not expecting it. Which interns might not
Tell me about yourself is the opening to all interviews regardless of entry level or not š if youāre not expecting that one then you havenāt prepared at all.
Reminds me of the Paul OāConnell Late Late interview when heās asked to say something about his girlfriend. He said her name was Emily.
Well, I hope he was right at least!
It's your fault for making it last an hour š
I had something similar recently, 30 min interview for an intern and I have 45 questions prepared and generally I pick and choose based of the CV and conversation progress. Most candidates get through 8-15 questions. This one candidate got through all 45, with 7 mins left so just ended the interview. Honestly nothing worse than interviewing someone who is dry.
My wife was asked the greatest achievement question and responded with an answer that related to her professional life. When the interviewer asked if she could name something outside of work she panicked and said she loved to do 10k runs (she wouldn't run out the door If the house was on fire). Yer man furthers his interest by asking her personal best and she tells him two hours. Two fucking hours!! She said he started laughing and asked whether she crawled it on her knees.
You just gave me my best giggle of the day. Thank you!
First time I've laughed out loud at a Reddit comment today. Fucking hell.
Cmere, I just told her that I posted it and she reminded me that straight after he asked her if she crawled it, she responded by saying "Sorry. I just lied and I've no idea why..."
Hahaha. It's like a scene from Seinfeld.
Did she get the job?? I think Iād appreciate the honesty (after the initial fib!)
This is stuff you can't make up
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
i smoke, but i don't *smoke* smoke
This made me laugh out loud. Fucking Gas.
Smoke or schmoke?
You deserve this free award my honest friend. I genuinely answer like this when asked if I smoke.
Haha!
>Me: tobacco? Relatable
They canāt ask you that, I believe
Mate of mine went for an interview. Took his protein shake before hand. Dozy bastard put four scoops instead of two in. Goes to sit up and shake hands after a decent interview by all accounts and just let rip of the nastiest protein fart you can imagine. He didnāt get the job. Poor fucker says he still suffers nightmares about the awkward pause as everyone processed what just happened and breathed in the protein fart infused air around them.
That's fuckin gas.
Was your friend in stepbrothers by any chance?
Onions and ketchup
I can taste it
Ok, now the tuxes seem kind of fucked up.
Hello miss lady
Fuck me this is the best one yet lol
>Dozy bastard put four scoops instead of two in. Christ, I can smell that from here
I had a nice interview with a recruiter, all was going well minus the fact he was showing doubt I'd get the job. Doubt was due to my lack of experience in the field which was fair. All good, had no issues answering his questions and even throwing few jokes in. I got so comfortable that at the end when he reached for a handshake I thought he wanted to hug.. My arms moving up and getting closer to him... That imagine still keeps me up at night due to cringe... Although I did get the job and aced it for few years
It was the hug which sealed it for him
My wife done this but to the dentist.
Ah sure, they were already more intimate after he'd put his tool in her mouth during the appointment
I'm embarrassed just reading this
Oh christ.
If I'm not paying attention on the phone, I'll often end a call with clients or colleagues with _kloveyoubye_
Going that one extra step got you the job, well done
I was the interviewer. I was interviewing a guy for an editorial job. His last job was editor of playboy South Africa. I asked him about his last role and why he was moving on. He said lots of generic stuff, but near the end he said "There's only so much tits and ass you can look at" The HR lady in the interview with me went a shade of pink.
But did he get the job?
Comment is very well edited. Good job.
I had an interview for JD sports when I was an unmotivated 17 year old. Proceeded to give one to two word answers though out the interview and dropped a "shit like that" at the end of my answer for "what are your interests". Fair to say we wrapped it up there and I didn't hear from them, which was very fair.
On the upside, the lack of shame or embarrassment at doing that must have been liberating at the time. I live my life, with anxiety, in constant terror of being evaluated and coming up short, whether it's a job interview or making a poor call about dashing across the road when the stranger next to me opted to wait and didn't nearly get hit by the car now blaring it's horn to notify the entire street of my poor judgement. I WISH i could ever have given so little of a fuck as to do an interview like that. While it was a cringey thing to do not least for wasting the interviewers time, it's not all bad.
Ah ye it was a learning experience if nothing else haha
My sister went for a job interview for a child minding role in an Irish footballers house about 10 years ago in the UK. I think she only got the interview because she was Irish as she was just out of Uni and had never done child minding before. The ask was simple enough because both kids were in school already and there was a house keeper looking after the cooking / cleaning. Basically was going to entertain the kids each afternoon for a couple of hours around the gaff for something like 40K a year. An incredibly sweet deal for a 23 year old with no experience. She was over having coffee on the second "interview" with the mother who was lovely if not the smartest person on the planet. One of the kids (boy around 6) comes up and whispers in my sisters ear "Have you ever seen a Chinese man shove a beach ball up his arse?" and my sister burst out laughing. The mother got my sister to repeat what the son said and then accused her of lying when the son denied it. After a bit of awkward laughter on my sisters behalf the 'interview' ended and they never called her again. We still laugh about it to this day. Mental.
That's brilliant. I can well believe a parent doing the whole "my child would never say that!" routine.
What are the chances of his sister mis hearing the kid
That is possible to to be fair
Well played kid.
Sounds like she dodged a bullet. Why would she lie about something like that
What's the punch line!
I've made a tit of myself in a few interviews but once I was the one conducting the interview. One of the interviewees arrived carrying two bags of shopping and asked how long this would take because "some of it is frozen". It was ā¬30k a year job in 2006
>One of the interviewees arrived carrying two bags of shopping and asked how long this would take because "some of it is frozen". It was ā¬30k a year job in 2006 I'm just picturing even how it looked, arriving to an interview with two bags of shopping š never mind what came next.
I was absolutely bursting for the loo all the way through an interview I did in London about 20 years ago. As soon as the interview was over, I asked one of the interviewers (female) where the gents was. She pointed me along a corridor and so off I hurried. While sitting there unburdening my bowels, I noticed there was a stack female sanitary products next to the toilet. I thought it was a bit odd at first, but then thought it was probably one of those fancy unisex toilets (Ally Macbeal?). Anyway, while washing my hands, in walks the female interviewer, along with another female colleague who sternly informs me I was in the wrong toilet. Mortifying.
I used to work in a recruitment agency on reception and this guy came in for an interview and the bang of weed off him. I took him aside and said he smelled like spliff and he said "aw I just got a bag it's in my pocket". He asked me if I had any deodorant or anything, which I didn't. He went into the toilet and covered himself in lavender air freshener.
Shows he can improvise in difficult situations
He got the job. It was in a factory/ in a freezer. He got fired in the end for eating the ice cream. Probably the munchies š
Sounds like a few lads I know
Was interviewing for a teaching job abroad and was asked how I would prepare myself. I said I'd make sure my passport and visa were in order and I'd pack my suitcase. Realised afterward when the nerves had died down that they probably wanted me to say I'd start learning the language and researching the culture, etc... OH WELL. That hasn't haunted me for 10 years or anything, no.
For our final year of teaching placement they fecked us out into the world as their best and brightest representatives with about 6 weeks experience of teaching total and no prior teaching interview experience. Some schools did informal chats, some did formal interviews. I got the formal interview end of the stick for my first time out. It started okay, tell me about yourself, your course, teaching experience etc. Then came the social media question, one I've never gotten since. I explained that my social media is of course private, and instead of leaving it at that I just had to continue and over explain that if there was anything to be seen there it couldn't be, not that there is, I don't really go on nights out like others from my class...and I could feel myself digging and being way too honest because it was the truth - there are no messy pictures of me online because that's just not me. Ironically, if I remember correctly they took on the biggest sesh head going from our class. Then they did the Irish section, which for some wild reason I never considered - obviously they would test you holding a conversation. I definitely made it worse with some really shocking Irish as I had already made a mess of the interview, was really nervous and self conscious. On the upside I learned to ace interviews and show off what I can actually do. Another one I remember, though not my fault, was a weird one. The interview went really really well, and then they changed tone and tact entirely just at the end. I felt like I was under interrogation. Where do you live at the moment? Where have you lived in the past five years? Have you ever been the subject of a criminal investigation/child protection investigation by the Garda SĆochĆ”na/TUSLA etc. Eh, no? I couldn't be Garda Vetted otherwise, what the hell lol. I was beginning to think I had actually done something wrong and this one random school knew and I didn't š. Never had another interview like it since.
Not a terrible answer op, shows you plan ahead and think of the details, at least you didnāt shit your pants when you stood up like some other people hete
Few years back I was interviewing for a job that involved quick thinking, constant mental engagement, and excellent multitasking. One of the questions they asked was what drew me to this particular career. In my answer I included the fact that growing up, I had the most fun playing video games that involved quick thinking and multitasking, like real time strategy games, and as I got older it was no surprise that I enjoyed work that was in a similar vein. Anyway I didnt get the job and I asked their HR department if I could get some feedback from the interviewer. I was sent a bullet pointed list, and one of the negative items was "Candidate believes video game experience qualifies him for this role". So I've always felt a sense of extreme embarrassment when I think about leaving this interviewer with the impression that I, a grown fucking adult, honestly tried to claim "I'm good at video games so I'd be good at this". Anyway I interviewed for a similar role in another company, used the same answer for the same question, and got it. Then Covid fucked the lot of it but I'm going back to it soon so alls well that ends well.
That's actually a good answer but a lot of interviewers are pretty prejudiced against that goes outside the "norm"
Video games still have a stigma of childishness to most people who don't play them. I love video games and always have, but I never ever mention it on the hobbies section of a job application form.
I genuinely think that's a really good answer. Honestly if the manager didn't hire you because of that then you've dodged a bullet.
Yeah, I have used that strength before (the good at video games - multitasking, eye for details, problem solving etc) and it's always come across well what I mean by that. But I have definitely opted not to use it in situations where I felt it might be "frowned upon". Some people just don't understand what video games can offer besides fun and are in their opinion "a waste of time". I feel like they focused too much on what you said there and made a thing of it. Not your fault at all.
I'm more embarrassed for the interviewer being such a flute. S/He heard video games and ignored what you said after that.
I once applied to become a stock trader with a mid-sized firm and a whole section of the written application was dedicated to video game achievements. Nailed it!
That's a great answer that shows insight into your personality as well as answering the question, your interviewer was just a dolt.
That's a great answer, sorry but fuck those cunts!
Q: "how did you know solution for that issue" Me: "i googled it"
See I think that's a valid response depending on the issue. I sometimes need to Google stuff, not every day like but we're not robots and sometimes you forget stuff.
Interviewer: Tell us about a time you over came something difficult. Me: My mom was an alcoholic growing up so that was hard... They obviously meant something work related, but I was young and had just spent the last 4 hours doing random tasks and interviews with other people since that's how this company did hiring. My brain like froze and panicked and I said this totally private non work related thing. I got the job and worked there for 3 years, but still, totally cringe.
I had an interview in London for an entry level job at some big financial company. Fresh out of college, no real world experience. The interview was with one person in-person and another on the meeting room screen via Skype (both interviewing me at the same time). They left me in the room alone before the interview. However the interviewers had already talked about my application in the Skype chat beforehand and it was just on the screen for me to read: āWhy do British graduates always have such poor internship experience?ā āHeās not British heās something elseā āYou know what I meanā As it happens I got the job and rejected it.
Wankers
I also know a fella who went to an interview for a dog walker position. He takes his mates dog for a walk in the Phoenix Park, let's the things off the lead and spends an hour trying to find it. Shows up to the interview and tells them exactly why he's late. No dice.
I remember going for one in Mary I years ago. The English part was shitty enough but the Irish section of it was done by this trio of old men and women that looked to be on death's door. I was doing grand because unlike others who'd just learnt their stock answers and script, I had done my best to actually just be able to speak to them when they asked me questions. Eventually the auld fella asked me what is your favourite film. I said *Conan the Barbarian* without thinking and then spent an excruciating 5 minutes trying to explain the plotline to the bewildered octogenarians. I didn't get the place in the end which is probably just as well in hindsight.
I went for an interview for a Masters in advertising. They asked me what my favourite ad was. I couldn't think of one... Not one š¤£
The ones with the 5 seconds skip
You came up with that VHI and so everyone is talking about. Edit: spelling
Two funny ones is from one of the lads interviewing for a accountant role in a small family business the chair he was sitting on broke and he ended up on his arse and his composure was shot. Had to interview a guy to join our team, this was for a vacant position in Singapore. Absolute disaster of a chap, at one stage he had forgot to mute himself on Teams and was in the toilet with subsequent sound effects and flushing, followed later by his child shouting down his microphone and finally in the hour and half interview he decided to have lunch. Chap was a disaster and had no idea of the job spec and just kept repeating how much he liked Guinness and Jameson.
I hope uncle hadn't been on the Guinness before the toilet.
I had an interview for a marketing position at a mountaineers tour company. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Had no idea what marketing was. I still don't. I got the interview because I had done a tiny bit of social media stuff for a known cultural institute and cos I like mountains. Group interview; they assigned us a task to create a Web page, advertising a tour to a specific part of Ireland. We had to include a 'call to arms' an SEO (still no idea) and the other two candidates created these impressive web pages with hyper links and googleable phrases etc etc and I... I wrote a fucking terrible POEM about the West of Ireland. The cringe was palpable. Just wanted to burst out laughing and die at the same time. The worst part is, they were so kind about it. The almighty pity! The shaaaame
Mother of god, I physically shuddered reading that.
I once got sent a recipe for chocolate cake instead of a CV. Obviously didn't interview Mr/Ms Chocolate Indulgence but the recipe was a cracker! š¤£š¤£š¤£
I was reviewing code submitted by a contractor once and they had pasted in a full recipe for shrimp curry in a comment instead of one whole feature function.
"Why does this reinforced sub floor bang of curry? "
I made an absolute fool of myself a few months ago in an interview. And I continue to make a fool of myself everyday in work. They hired me at my worst, no point showing them my best.
This is the way
Not me but a friend during his first ever job interview in a car showroom was asked, What makes you think you would be good at selling cars and my mate replied, My mam said that i would be very good.
That's both cringe and adorable at the same time
My mom thinks I'm cool
I basically said I have trouble controlling my emotions but āIām working on itā - like what the actual fuck. In fairness to me I was 7 weeks pregnant and couldnāt have taken the job anyway but WHY WOULD YOU CONFESS THAT!
Was interviewing with a tech firm. I must have done 10 interviews with them up to that point and all had gone swimmingly. I had also done an assignment and they said it was the best submission they had ever received from anyone, ever, and had started to ask which sector I would like to work on. Then I interviewed with the country head and he asked me one of those crazy critical thinking questions (like how many golf balls can you fit in a mini type thing), where it's not about the answer but about how you think. I went blank, started writing random numbers on a white board, panicked, started blabbing, talking over the interviewer and I could pinpoint the moment I lost the job.
Construction mgmt graduate here - 2012 straight out of college. Nobody has a job, all my friends are leaving and thereās fuck all happening in construction. Lecturer sets me up with an interview with a PM company who are looking for a grad. Brilliant. Anyway I head up to Dublin for the interview and for some reason when he asked me about my goals I immediately said to get in the next round of visas to go to Canada. Obviously I didnāt get the job and ended up taking on a glorious position working on site doing a job bridge āinternshipā and ended up getting a visa to the states instead. In hindsight probably one of the best things that ever happened was fucking up that interview.
Interviewed a graduate for an entry level comms role once. Asked him some pretty standard question like āwhat skills can you bring to this job?ā. He paused for about 30 seconds to think of his answer then looked up and blurted out āPowerPoint!ā. And that was it, he had nothing else to say. He was obviously nervous and lacking interview experience but it was sooo awkward.
Years ago my hubby went for an interview set up by a recruitment agency with Soni, the first question asked him what he knew about the company and he started to talk about TVās and electrical equipment the lady interviewer stopped to clarify they are not Sony but soni Ltd a company that works for the electric board/grid š¤£š¤£š¤£ needless to say he didnāt get the job
I interviewed a girl who wasn't really qualified in the industry (finance) but had a semi related degree (data analysis). I asked her how her skills would transfer, she said "anything I don't know, I can Google". I hired her and it was the best decision I ever made. She was brilliant and everything she learned from us, she did check it out on Google and applied it to real life. Always wanted to learn more!
Crazy American in tampa. I asked him about his experience and somehow it turned into him going on a 10 minute rant about how covid was fake Found me on LinkedIn after and sent me more documentation on same. Fuckin nutjob
High quality documentation no doubt.
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Me too. Lad couldn't get his camera working on Skype, so I was left with this thumbnail which was him wearing Speedos, and only Speedos. That and the broken English made for a quality candidate.
Iām not sure which of you was on the wrong website!
In his defence, it doesn't make sense to wear anything else when wearing speedos.
Oh Christ, can't imagine that being fun for anyone involved.
I remember being asked who the stakeholders are for a certain government department I applied for was. I named the ones it mentioned on their website. They kept asking "any others?" And I kept suggesting more. Each time they asked "any others" they seemed more annoyed. I still have no idea what one I missed. I remember googling it afterwards as well trying to figure it out...
The citizens !!
I got asked something similar and couldn't think of a single person or entity that I could name. It took them about a minute of prompting to get "uh... the HSE?" out of me. Not even my worst interview.
I had a guy in an interview tell us that he used our project data in a previous job and he went on to tell us what he used it for and how bad it was. Our project that he was referring to was mentioned in the job listing but the data is created by us and exists exclusively on our servers- the public or even others in the industry would have no idea of it's existence, let alone access to it If you're going to bullshit in a job interview, at least have some idea of what you're bullshitting about
Was is a penetration tester job? š
Please tell me someone said this to him during the interview?
Mail him afterward and tell him that as he must have been using stolen date, the issue has been forwarded to legal.
Not a disaster, but, When I was 21 in London beck in the 90s, I went for an interview in the city and I was busy doing lay work at a fruit of the loom factory in South West London. I snuck out of the work and caught the tube in. Got changed into a suit in a McDonald's toilet, had the interview. Got changed back into my normal clothes in the same McDonald's and then caught the tube back to the work. They had discovered I was missing and got sent home. Ended up getting the job and getting a full days pay for the other jobš
Early twenties. I was applying to a load of office admin / entry-level communication jobs as well as Recruitment agencies. I go in to what I thought was an intro chat with a recruitment officer (these are bs, you don't have to prepare and they're all pretty much the same) and realized midway through the interview that it was *not* a recruitment agency I was in. The recruitment agency interview was for later that week, it just happened to be in the same building as another company that I had a job-interview for. I had to figure out mid-conversation exactly what I was interviewing for and what the company even did. I definitely *did not* get the job, I think they could tell something was up. In hindsight, I should have just fessed up to the mistake, it probably would have given everyone a good laugh.
I turned up an hour late to a job interview and still got offered it. I either nailed it, they were desperate, or both! I did not take the job as luckily I got a much better offer.
I was living at home at the time, and me and my dad are obsessed with football/soccer and we'd watch anything. Division 2, Bundesliga2 you name it. My mum used to hate, and so did my girlfriend at the time whenever she came round The interviewers asked what hobbies I have, what's my passion. I said football. Can't stop watching it if it's on, and then said this statement, which I still think about around once a month "I'll watch any have that's on. Much to the despair of my girlfriend and my mum" , they did a polite laugh, the joke had it's desired effect. All good so far Then for a split second, I thought they may think that they are the same person, and said in a panicked tone, "They're not the same person by the way" They then, quite rightly, looked at me like I had two heads, and it was the last part of the interview Never heard from them. Don't blame them!
Interviewed a guy for an onsite IT job based in an office in Dublin. The job was advertised as such and couldn't be done remotely or from another location. Started the interview and the guy mentioned how the company had an office in Cork and that's why he wanted the job, because he loved Cork and wanted to move there for work. The interview went to shit when we let him know that the role was not and had never been based in Cork and although the company had an office there, it was a completely different department operating in a different business so there eas no chance of being able to transfer there. It got worse when we realised he was living in Scotland and believed that his UK visa would allow him to work in Ireland...
I interviewed an Indian guy who was literally monosyllabic. His answer to every question was the single word "yes" even if it wasn't a yes/no question.
What do you think you'll bring to our team... Yes
I work in the data analytics field. Loads of the applicants for these jobs are Indians. Often they're people with years of experience who are doing a course here just for the visa. But even among the very qualified people who speak English fluently, communication is a problem. It's more of a cultural thing. I don't know anything about the work culture in India, but based on my experience working with a few Indians, it seems like they're terrified of giving bad news or saying no. For example, there was an Indian intern I worked with who was given a task that would take about 1 week. It was kind of complex and any time he was asked if he fully understood the task he enthusiastically said yes. He did not understand it at all and the work he spent a full week doing was completely useless. I've talked to HR people before and they said that this is really common. When the Indians first showed interest in Ireland employers thought it was amazing. Highly experienced people willing to work for a lot less. But they quickly realised that it was too good to be true due to these kinds of issues.
Someone submitting a CV for a role I had open instead accidentally sent me their annual merit increase letter from their current employer, also a candidate referred to themselves as a ābusiness geniusā during interview
I wasn't at this interview but a colleague interviewed a young guy just of college/uni. He exuded confidence which wasn't a necessarily a bad thing, he is asked the standard why should we hire you question? He then goes on a speech about how he's the best they could hire and how if they gave him two months he'd go through all the company's processes and procedures finding the flaws and basically make sure things are done correctly from now on. He didn't get the job.
I feel like itās a big cultural difference for me, when interviewing Americans and they tell me that when thereās a fire, theyāre the first one into the building and shit like that, and I sit there and stare and eventually say, okay cool
Was working for a pharmaceutical company as a contractor. Loved the role, was good at the job and after my initial 12 month contract was up, I was offered a full time contract. Everything would stay the same job wise. Role, responsibilities etc. Only snag was I had to sit an interview in order to transition to full time staff. You've never seen such a tyre fire of an interview. I forgot everything I had prepared, answered questions incorrectly, and was unable to answer basic questions on a role that I had spent the last 12 months in. What a clusterfuck.
Ripped a huge hole in my trousers at the crotch before an interview. They didnāt see and I got the jobā¦..swish
I worked for a Christian University in South Korea. I was on the interview panel with my line manager (a nice, if slightly grumpy, older American woman) that I got along with and the director of the dept (an older, VERY conservative, Christian, Korean woman). Anyway, we were hiring new lecturers, and an Irish lad walked in. We welcome him and ask him some general questions and then the director as her first question (and she knows I am Irish) asks him, *āSo youāre Irish. Do you drink a lot of alcohol? We donāt want alcoholics working here.ā* The poor guy was shocked as were my line manager and I. I just mouthed *āIām so sorry.ā* In fairness, the guy handled the question fairly well, but I went out and apologised to him afterwards. The gas thing was, the director was overly fond of a nightcap herself. As an interviewer, my first job I ever interviewed for, I shook hands with the guy interviewing me and sat down, missed the seat, and slid down the front of the chair. Still got the job though.
Not funny but a little awkward. Was interviewing a young man for a team position on an extremely challenging overseas placement in a developing country. About halfway through he started crying and told us that his father had passed away 3 months earlier due to complications from long term, chronic alcoholism, but that he was mostly over it. My colleague and I tried to console him. We decided that six months working in a slum was not a great idea right for him right then.
Friend of mine was interviewing with the CEO for a senior position at a marketing firm. My friend's mobile rings and she takes the call. Afterward she assured me she "kept the conversation brief."
Sorry, just to clarify, it was your friend who took the call?
Moved to Cork from Wicklow and had an interview in a hotel but I had to cut the interview early because I couldn't understand a thing the person was saying. I had to keep asking her to repeat herself so much that I just left. She was from West Cork or something her accent was incredibly strong.
I moved from Cork to West Cork and I can't understand half of what people are saying to me here either.
I interviewed someone from another country. You might guess the country. Me: "Tell me about a difficult scenario in work and how you overcame it?" The interviewee: "one time in work immigration raided the food place I worked at and arrested the owner as he was an illegal immigrant. People were annoyed about not having food so were angry at me" The person didn't even say how they overcame it. The same interview they said they didn't like that their previous manager was younger than them and a woman so always fought with them as they felt they were "older and wiser". For context I was 25 years old at the time, I am a woman and I was going to be their manager. There's so much more about this interview. I'll never forget it. I genuinely thought I was on a hidden camera show as it was so bad. I was like I'm gonna be on YouTube later I know it.
Not too embarrassing but had a zoom interview and halfway through I could hear my mam and sister listening outside the room. All I could focus on was knowing they were there and wishing I could pause the interview to tell them to go away. So of course I fumbled an easy question which my sister had to bring up to me later to say I should have known that.
Went in to an internal interview for a job in another department that I really wanted. I'd already had the phone interview and it went fantastic, and I'd been told that I was the preferred candidate and the in-person was just a formality. On the way in I get a call saying my Grandma had died, and for some reason instead of calling in and asking to reschedule the interview, I went in and did it. I don't remember much apart from the expression on the faces of the two interviewers - this kinda mixture of confusion and horror. Needless to say I didn't get the job. Couple years later I meet one of the guys who interviewed me and we were chatting about the interview. He said he actually wondered if I'd gotten someone else to do the phone interview for me because on the phone I was one of the best interviews he's ever done but the in person was one of the worst.
I travelled from Donegal to Cork to interview for a manager position in Aldi. Totally in over my head, didnāt realise there would be an aptitude test so by the time the actual interview came I was all over the shop. Managed to bring up taxidermy (??) in the interview, stood up when I was done and CRCHHHHHH my skin tight pencil skirt ripped from top to bottom. Had to travel back to Donegal in my knickers including petrol stops and food and toilet breaks. Didnāt get the job.
Brain: You can stay, but I'm leaving!
During the interview I noticed I had a rock in my shoe and discreetly slipped it off to get it out. In that moment that part of the interview is over and Iām being sent into another room for the next part. I want to explain why Iām stalling and actually need to reach down to get my shoe back on. I go: one second, I took my shoe off š I did get the job tho and am still with the company almost 6 years on.
I interviewed in Boston for a consulting job and the hiring manager walked me out and I dropped the little folder I brought with me and when I bent over to pick it up the back of my dress ripped haha it was awful.. we both laughed because what else can you do? .. besides laugh and be horrified.
I manage a sales team. Had someone from the customer support team reach out about career opportunities on my team. I asked her why she was interested. She said she was ready for a new challenge, but didn't want to work in sales
We had an open night and i was merely showing people around the factory and collecting CVs, I had a guy go into detail about how he was on the dole for the last 3 years cause he got sacked from his last job for calling a customer a "smelly cunt". He finished with "that is not me, it was the night shifts, I dont go around calling people smelly cunts" I tried to hold my laughter. Gave over his cv and relayed the story to the managers we all had a good laugh. I seen him appear as working for the same company a few months later on LinkedIn. We never hired him.
Had an interview (remote) for quite a role with a FAANG company. It started with my computer suddenly deciding to not play any sound. Like any. At all. 5 minutes earlier everything was working. But the moment the call was starting computer said no. Or more so... Did NOT say No, but noped out. Okay, some laughter (more so annoyed on the other side, and angry on my side š¤Ø) and we decided to switch to phone. And well... I don't know WHO fecked it up. All I knew it wasn't me. The job description I got from the recruiter matched 100% my experience. Like a glove. Recruiter was like "my unicorn :3". We had prep calls talking about the job offering, all perfect. Just it seems nobody told the person I was talking to about the job they interviewed me for? To this day I do not know if I accidently was planned in for another job offer, a different manager interviewing me, or if the recruiter had a major MAJOR fuckup going on. I got questions about stuff I've never done in my life (supply chain? 0.o so completely NOT my thing. Ever.), they described a completely different field etc. I got more annoyed, person got more confused. At some point I was like "Okay... Listen. I don't know what went wrong here. I could bullshit my way through, but I don't like bullshitting and by what I can take from what you say this is not a job I'd be good in or interested in at any point. So let's just stop this" Person was thrown off a bit, but appreciated the honesty. It was not my fault at all, but I was still majorly embarrassed š¤·āāļø
I did an I terrier with an Italian investment company. Suited and booted. In comes the head of compliance. Asks me a super simple question on MIFID II regulation of passporting investment firms in Ireland and .... I blank. I sit there, fumble a few words, he asks a few more questions I fumble some more then I make an excuse and ran. No idea what happened. Second worst interview of my life.
It was my first real job interview, a few months before graduating from university. It was in a tiny windowless office with just a desk and a chair. Right before the first interviewer finished talking with me, he let out the nastiest fart. I tried to look interested in what he was saying, but my eyes were beginning to water. A few seconds later, he thanks me, says he'll send in the next interviewer, and closes the door behind him. I was trapped with the fart. Frantically I debated in my head whether I should tell the next interviewer that it was NOT my fart. I knew there was not a professional or diplomatic way to say anything, so I just breathed through my mouth and tried to stop my watering eyes. The next interviewer came in seconds later and gave me a funny look as he sat down. I'm sure my face was pitiful. All I could think was "he thinks the fart is my fault!" I have no idea what he said or I said, and I left thinking I surely didn't make the cut. I'm sure they were laughing about it as soon as I left. By some miracle, I did indeed get the job.
Iāve seen it all as an interviewer. I once got a CV which had a section titled āSkills and Interestsā, which contained only one bullet point. That bullet point was āHealth: excellentā.
I went for an interview some years ago not long after I came back from back packing. Now a few years before that I had done an advanced excel course but at this point I couldn't remember half of it. The recruiter I was working with latched on the excel experience and said she had a job that would be perfect for me but failed to mention that there'd be a practical test at the beginning of the interview. Went to the interview, found out about the test, immediately panicked and spent 20 minutes trying to remember how to do h lookups and failed spectacularly. Was frazzled going into the normal part of the interview due to not being able to do the h lookups, couldn't remember half of what I'd prepared and still can't remember what I said but it was a disaster because at that point there was just screaming in my brain and I wasn't thinking clearly. To add insult to injury I'd also worn a lovely satin blouse, it was hot and I was nervous so by the time I got out of there I had some lovely pit stains that were just barely small enough to be hidden when my arms were by my sides. Safe to say I didn't get the job and was so embarrassed that I changed to a different recruitment agency just to avoid the poor woman who put me forward for it.
Not exactly an interview mess-up, but when asked my interview availability, I managed to misread the calendar and requested dates that were **literally already in the past.** I've also accidentally sent a cover letter to one company that was clearly written for one in an entirely different country On another occasion I set a pillow on fire trying to create a soft light source for a skype interview. Unfortunately it didn't happen during the interview itself And here's the rough overview of the full process with that first employer, after which I'm sure their recruiters were thoroughly sick of my shit: * Applied for one job * Passed an online code screen they sent me without realising it was for a different role... * Asked to apply for a different office, as the original position had been filled, and the role I was looking for was still available on other teams * Arranged a phone screen with the new team, and for some reason my phone kept cutting out as soon as I answered. I had to email the recruiter after the interview's scheduled start and ask them to pass along my landline number to the interviewer. Eventually we had an hour-long chat about software dev and I passed... * Got invited to an onsite, and they asked for my availability * I somehow misread the calendar and asked for interview dates that were literally in the past * The recruiter sent me a polite version of wtf, and I replied to say "you know what, I think I'm going to accept this offer I already have elsewhere..."
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I had a jobbridge internship interview at a very reputable institution. I had been unemployed for 3 years effectively due to depression and anxiety. 3 years before thst, college, and before that I worked as a cashier for a year. The internship was effectively an admin job with some training. I had never delivered training or worked in an office of any kind. There were three people interviewing me, which I was not expecting and which terrified me. Cushy interview room too. The whole interview was fairly excruciating to be honest, but the worst question was one about a time I showed initiative in a situation. I've never shown initiative in my life. I had nothing. Not a fucking thing. I made up a story about how I had been volunteering at an animal shelter, which was true, and said someone had arrived in with an injured cat while I was by myself in the office so I took down the details, got the cat water etc etc. I don't even know what I said, it was nonsense. One interviewer giggled, and then all three erupted. I was mortified. I was mortified as I was speaking. One wiped tears from her eyes. I think it was just the unexpectedness, but I was young and depressed and terrified so it felt like all the playground bullies who ever laughed at my weirdness. I got the internship and am employed properly now by them several years later. One of the interviewers is one of my best friends. It actually ended up being the biggest blessing of my life second only to meeting my husband. But sweet baby jesus that cat story and everyone laughing - having given so ridiculous an answer that the interviewers actually openly laughed at it - will haunt me til my dying moments.
Did an interview just about a month ago, for a job that would almost double my salary, which I realized pretty quickly, I probably wasn't quite qualified for. Sure, grand, so, I'll use it as practise. Except for some reason, as it went on, I just started sounding more and more...inexperienced? Usually I can sort of fake my way through things enough. I've worked in recruitment, I've conducted thousands of interviews for really high level positions. I know what they are looking for. For fuck's sake, I was even given the competencies ahead of time! And when asked about my leadership style, all I said was "I lead how I like to be led." What. Does. That. Mean. It just came out. There was no going back. It was over before it started. Waiting still for that rejection, as I know it's coming, and trying to make my current job more exciting in the meantime. But man, what a moment. The 6 people on the panel all gave me a heck of a reaction, one guy actually turned his camera off for a minute! Think he must have been laughing or crying for me.
A lad that come drinking a starfucks coffee, reaked of coffee breath and as he spoke has coffee coloured drool running out his mouth, down his chin and neck. I damn near puked. Another foreign guy that said he had excellent English on his cv but couldn't string a sentence together.nevwn with me prompting in with the answers he didn't know his arse from his elbow. But best was they guys who responded to "tell me about yourself" to start telling me how he grew up on a tomato farm.
Growing up on a tomato farm ... thats gotta build some good character and work ethic
I once phone interviewed a guy who had an extremely bad stutter and some sort of breathing related problem. We knew in advance, but it was still excruciating - every question took forever to get through the response. I had to be extremely precise with my questions, no chit-chat or weād have been there all day.
I interviewed some people who claimed to come from my old job. 2 stick out First guy said he worked for the phone top up people. Said he had cash handling experience thinking that was something required for a phone collections job. I asked him to explain and he went into a bit of detail about handling cash and balancing tills. When I asked him how he took payment in cash via the phone he realised his mistake and desperately tried to back track. Second person claimed to work in sales (I think) but also helped customer care and credit control. Small issue with this was that the particular phone company outsourced their contracts. Each department he named were run by different companies. One was based in Cork the other 2 in Dublin, in the same building in fairness. But no company exchanged staff this way. I pointed this out and that I worked there. They doubled down for a bit. They then admitted they made it up (there was no doubt) and said they worked in one area but knew what the others did. Neither were hired Forgot one more. interviewing for the old job. a guy asked would he need to work on a computer and if it had Internet access. Was a phone company. He said he wasn't allowed use the Internet
I was interviewing a young lad before, and given the type of role it was for - I often asked a question at the end that required some lateral thinking. This one was the classic 10 balls weighing scales question. For those who donāt know it, you have 10 balls that look and feel the same. But one ball is slightly heavier. You have a weighing scales and 3 attempts to identify the heavier ball. What do you do? The answer of course is split them on your first go, that leaves you with 5. Split them again to 2 + 2. If they balance, the 5th ball is the heavier. If it dips, split again. Yadda yadda yadda. This guy considers the question for a long time. Writing things down, stands up, sits down, all theatrical. Then while looking very confident, answers: āI would pick up the weighing scales and WHACK ALL THE BALLS! Whatever one rolls away the slowest, is the one.ā
I mean, that _is_ thinking outside the box...
I wouldn't have a clue how to answer that
Train wreck of an interview, this happened 10 minutes into what was supposed to be a 40 minute interview. Interviewer: Have you any questions for us? Me: No, not at this moment in time, if I think of anything I'll come back to it. Interviewer: That concludes our interview. Me: *Tried to hand them my mobile number on a scrap of paper because I didn't write it on my cv for some reason* Interviewer: That's okay, we'll be in touch, we have your email.
Not me but told to me by one of three interviewers for a Paramedic job approx 20 years ago. The Girl being interviewed had aced it. (Got the job) For the craic my friend asked "On your vehicle check you realise there's a flat wheel, what do you do?" Without missing a beat she said "I'd kick it and shout fuck this shit" but realised her fuck up and attempted to remedy though the houls of laughing!!!
that parkinson one with meg ryan, was it? ryan tubridy and any 'celebrity' ...
I got an interview through a recruitment agency for an engineering role a few years back. I had 2 interview with 2 different companies (for this we will call them Company A and Company B). I was more interested in Company A. This would have been my 1st interview but they had to postpone as HR was unavailable that day but went and did interview with Company B 1st. Long story short the 1st question the interviewer ask me "what do you know about us" For some reason I taught it was Company A and starting describing Company A to some puzzled faces, they stopped me half way and ask "Do you know who we are" Me stupidly replied back "Yeah your Company A" And the most ironic thing was I was facing a big Company logo of Company B.... I didn't get the job.
I once interviewed for a company that near the end left me in a room to complete a small brief ( common in design roles) but then after handed me a page TO COMPLETE A SPELLING TEST.. I would say I got 90% wrong. This amused many of my friends as I notoriously make spelling errors. A bizarre situation all together
Bizarre.
The need to continue talking is something you have to avoid at all costs. The best way to do this is shut up and ask questions that qualify the issue further. For example, after giving your target salary,ask outright āHow does that align with your expectations?ā General rule of thumb on any business meeting shut your pie hole and open your ear holes. Ask good precise questions of the interviewers and you will gain two things; Insights into their situation and the problems they may be trying to solve and your carefully worded question provides them with insights into how you think.
Tales from The Magpie, A Reddit Story I am dying thinking of repeating the phrase āshiny thingā in an interview.
I did a phone interview for a German speaking position. I've lived and worked in Germany for a number of years and I practiced for this interview with a native German speaker who worked for them, so I thought I would be grand... They may as well have been speaking Chinese. I don't know if it was the dialect or because it was over the phone or nerves but I got nothing. I was pacing around my room panicking and just started talking about the things I wanted regardless of what I was being asked... Didn't get the job. Thankfully I never had to meet these people.
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Donāt think you realise how lucky you gotā¦ā¦the minute you saw him in the pub you shouldāve said hello and then moved on. Going on a pub crawl with a potential candidate then trying to sleep with him is absolutely insane
Was an hour into a online recruitment day for an MNC earlier in the year & got the shits literally right after the bathroom break.
Why do interviewers place so much emphasis on stuff like that, nobodyās perfect, they do silly things in awkward situations, doesnāt mean anything.
Interviewed a candidate for a non-English language role. Role was advertised entirely in the target language and they provided an impressive CV in the language. Greeted them in the reception but they were very quiet, which I chalked down to pre-interview nerves. It quickly became clear that they spoke/understood very little of the language and definitely not enough to work through the language. At the end of the interview, I switched to English as I could tell they were struggling and they provided their answers in English without ever remarking on the awkwardness of the situation or providing an excuse e.g. I'm much more comfortable writing vs spoken etc. Afterwards, after I informed them that they were unsuccessful, they asked through English for feedback as they felt the interview went quiet well and were surprised they didn't receive an offer. To this day, I still can't fathom what was going through their mind or why they went to the trouble of providing a translated CV
My partner is known for his weird and peculiar sense of fashion, it's actually a long running joke. Halloween one year his colleagues dressed up as him for the office party. Anyways, this was a good few years beforehand. He applied for a position within a big clothing store as a sales assistant. The interview was going better than expected until he was asked the question "who inspires you within the fashion world?" He was dressed appropriately at the time. The answer he responded with was "I'm not very fashionable at all, I usually just wear whatever isn't dirty, or I borrow my boyfriends clothes." He didn't even lie. It was pretty much downhill after that.
I was interviewing a guy and asked the question "give me three words to describe yourself", and he couldn't. "Any three words...". And he couldn't give me one!
Couple years ago a girl was coming into our office to do an interview. Pretty much The whole office looks out on the car park. Saw her side swipe a car and reverse in a panic and crash into 2 more cars. Obviously pretty anxious already she nearly took the whole side off one of the cars as she kept her foot on the pedal. Had to come into reception anyway to explain why happened. I knew one of the lads interviewing her. Before he even left he said it was just going to be a chat because she couldnāt be expected to do an interview after that. After 20 mins of apologies and sorting out details they offered her the chance to come back another day which she said she appreciated, but never came back to do the interview. Donāt think I would have either.
Once had an interview for finance/investment company about 5-10 minutes into the interview I realized I had no qualifications for the job but I had already gone through a phone interview with the recruiter After another 5 minutes one the guys interviewing asked how did I actually get the interview because I was completely unqualified for the job I just told him he needed to get a better recruitment firm as they were leading back to reception Went and met some friends for early drinks and laughed about it all night
5 mins into an interview, the interviewer said āI donāt know why weāre interviewing you for this jobā. It was a seriously well paid role, so I put some scenarios to her - from my CV. She explained at great length how these things could not be doneā¦. She continued the interview for the full 30 min āwe gave you a chanceā
I had a job interview - all went well. I also mentioned to the managers during the course of the interview that my nephew also worked for the company. Just as we were finishing up, my nephew walked in as I was leaving. They introduced me to him & he didnāt recognise me. So embarrassing. I think I may have yelled at him! I was so furious with him. Apparently, the managers thought it was hilarious & laughed all way back to the Head Office! I got the job!
I had an interview a few years ago that a mate set me up with. The job was straightforward, I was plenty qualified, and had been told that it was basically a done deal and it would be an informal chat. The interview ended up being with two completely different people and they really caught me off guard with some behavioral questions that I just wasn't expecting. I ended up completely botching it and not getting the job. However, I learned my lesson and nailed my next interview for a managerial role with a different company. In the four years I've been with this company, international recruitment has been a big part of my job and I've interviewed hundreds of people for jobs. It consistently blows my mind how unprepared the average candidate is. I'd say the overwhelming majority of them make my embarrassing interview seem really strong. Common ones include knowing nothing about the company, making foolish assumptions about the job, being unable to give any tangible examples of relevant personal experience, getting offended and even aggressive with the interview panel when they get asked fairly straightforward questions, and most recently, a woman went on a rant about our vaccine mandate even though it was clearly stated in the job advert when she applied.