Share your (not great) job interview stories

[1001 others]

I had an interview with a company today which was just so strange ... I can't put my finger on it, but my spidey tingly senses are telling me to run from it.

First up, I had the interview at 8am. It's for a part-time role doing something I recently qualified in and is quite close to home ... it sounded ideal on the surface, and they were very quick to call after I submitted my application.

So, I met the interviewer (there's just this one person and whoever gets the job, in the office - nobody else), and after 5 minutes they told me I'm exactly what they're looking for and they'd like to make me an offer (!). We also discussed money and hours.

They then asked if I could come upstairs (we met at a cafe initially) to their office to view the contract. I said that would be fine, but I wouldn't sign anything without reading through it carefully first, which I'd like to take the few days over Easter to do. They then gave me a bit of a funny look and said that was fine, before suggesting that we embark on a trial period of a few hours right there and then, for which they'd pay me, with a view to checking our compatibility first. I didn't have anything planned this morning so agreed to it. It all seemed to go well, and I managed to complete a few things with no trouble.

At the end of the agreed shift, they paid me in cash (a BIG red flag), and then said they have someone else they'd like to see so they'll let me know if I'm successful. At this, my head started spinning ... didn't they tell me earlier I had the job? So, so confusing.

There were a couple of other funny things too ... the person who would be my boss had nothing for me to do initially, so tasked me with following up on debtors (completely unrelated to my skill set and the job I would be doing). When I asked where I could find those, they said they had no idea and would expect I should know where to find them. Um, no. Your systems, your processes, your logins to whatever accounting system you use (which they didn't know), mate ... these are not universal things! They ended up calling someone in Head Office who told them off for getting me - someone who is unknown to the business and hasn't signed any sort of confidentiality agreement - involved with sensitive information, after which they abandoned that idea and got me to do some report checking instead (more up my alley).

I will not be taking the job if it is offered to me - I think the universe has given me more than enough signs that doing so would be a mistake.

 

[wotdidijustwatch]

Ever been for an interview and the interview was really in depth with stupid tasks to complete and you're like mate, its a warehouse order picking job.. all this fuss for that

 

[LaurieLaurie]

If your gut is saying no then I’d listen to it.

 

[Booington]

I had an interview with a company today which was just so strange ... I can't put my finger on it, but my spidey tingly senses are telling me to run from it.

First up, I had the interview at 8am. It's for a part-time role doing something I recently qualified in and is quite close to home ... it sounded ideal on the surface, and they were very quick to call after I submitted my application.

So, I met the interviewer (there's just this one person and whoever gets the job, in the office - nobody else), and after 5 minutes they told me I'm exactly what they're looking for and they'd like to make me an offer (!). We also discussed money and hours.

They then asked if I could come upstairs (we met at a cafe initially) to their office to view the contract. I said that would be fine, but I wouldn't sign anything without reading through it carefully first, which I'd like to take the few days over Easter to do. They then gave me a bit of a funny look and said that was fine, before suggesting that we embark on a trial period of a few hours right there and then, for which they'd pay me, with a view to checking our compatibility first. I didn't have anything planned this morning so agreed to it. It all seemed to go well, and I managed to complete a few things with no trouble.

At the end of the agreed shift, they paid me in cash (a BIG red flag), and then said they have someone else they'd like to see so they'll let me know if I'm successful. At this, my head started spinning ... didn't they tell me earlier I had the job? So, so confusing.

There were a couple of other funny things too ... the person who would be my boss had nothing for me to do initially, so tasked me with following up on debtors (completely unrelated to my skill set and the job I would be doing). When I asked where I could find those, they said they had no idea and would expect I should know where to find them. Um, no. Your systems, your processes, your logins to whatever accounting system you use (which they didn't know), mate ... these are not universal things! They ended up calling someone in Head Office who told them off for getting me - someone who is unknown to the business and hasn't signed any sort of confidentiality agreement - involved with sensitive information, after which they abandoned that idea and got me to do some report checking instead (more up my alley).

I will not be taking the job if it is offered to me - I think the universe has given me more than enough signs that doing so would be a mistake.

so is it a legit company? At first I was thinking was it a money laundering thing?

 

[AnderbeauJohnson]

That does sound quite sketchy - and if it is legit it sounds like it would be a really bad boss.

My worst interview was maybe 10ish years ago - it was at a recruitment agency for a receptionist role and the woman sat down opposite me, looked me up and down and said "well, this is a customer facing role so we'd want someone more attra... well presented. We'll let you know."

Whole interview lasted less than 90 seconds.

 

[Tinkerbell cat]

Many years ago I worked as a customer advisor for an insurance company and really loved it however the insurance company was relocating, so we all applied internally for other roles on different contracts. One was for Cisco, proper IT kind of role which i had absolutely no experience in but applied anyway as I didn't want to be out of work. I went for the interview and honestly I had no clue to half the questions they were asking me. One question was something along the lines of ''Tell us about our products'' and I basically answered ''Well I know you do office phones for companies...'' and that was it. I walked out of that interview, met my mum for a coffee and got a phone call from them telling me I wasn't successful and maybe just apply for roles that i am interest in or have some knowledge in Thinking back I genuinely can't believe I actually tried to wing that and went for the interview. I wouldn't dare attempt that now!

 

[GlitteryKitten]

At the end of the interview, I said "I love you" by accident (I didn't get the job lol)

 

[jaymie]

2 weeks ago. Location:UK
The company is held by a private equity firm.

Questions asked were:
1. How old I am
2. Am I married
3. Do I have kids
4. Why not

I am not joking, I swear! Interviewer is EU citizen. I will be forgiving if she is from some third world countries as these type of questions can be quite normal, but this....

Haven’t heard back since last Wednesday, interviewing is a two way street. I won’t be taking up the offer even if they offer me one...

 

[wotdidijustwatch]

Me and my husband used to work together, thats how we met. We ended up getting made redundant but the company we worked for managed several other firms. One of them had similar job roles so around 15 of us went for an interview there during our redundancy notice period thingy.

The interview was at 5pm and we all had to attend together at the same time as yes, you guessed it, it involved lots of team exercises. The usual...introduce ourselves, two truths and a lie, you're all stranded in the woods one of you is injured and all you have is a torch, lighter, vodka blah blah crappy stuff so they can see how you work as a team. Tea and cakes. Then we had to role play so pretend to be customers and the call handlers. Then we each got our one to one interviews and a simple thanks, we will let you know.
Not kidding this fiasco went on from like 5pm to easily after 8pm. Looking back we should have walked out but we needed jobs so had to stay to see how it panned out.

Needless to say we didn't get the job and i think they only took on two out of our groups. We look back at it now and laugh at how stupid the whole process was for a simple customer service job. A normal one to one interview would have done the trick.

Luckily we had a few irons in the fire and was more or less straight into new jobs after our last day at work.

Still the daftest and longest interview we have ever attended.

 

[Samf2020]

Applied for a role in an insurance firm. Got an interview, then they decided a supervisor role would be better so changed it to that. Great more money.
Get there and the female interviewer hadnt read her list so was unaware of change. She gor really really pissed off and made it one of the nastiest interviews I have ever had. She rolled her eyes at all my answers and interupted the male interviewer constantly and said she had to write everything down as she couldnt believe I was going for this.
Bloke was horrified.
I sat through the whole thing and knew she would not want me to have the job.
At the end I was asked if I had any questions, did the usual ones..
And then I asked if I would have to work with her in any way, she said yes. I smiled and said in that case I dont want to be considered as I dont think its professional to turn up to interview someone unprepared and then take your frustration at your own incompetence out on them by being nasty and rude. I told her to make a note of that too.
She sat there with her jaw hanging open I thanked the bloke for his time and apologised but I was not that desparate for a job to work with someone like her.

Another one 5 minutes into it I knew I wasnt getting it and it kept going on and on. Aftet 30 minutes of this I said I know Im not getting this job so lets just end it so we can all get on with our day. Stood up shook hands and walked out.

Another one, turns out I wasnt supposed to be interviewed the woman had contacted the wrong person. 2 minutes into it her boss realises Im the wrong person and asked her what she had done. It was awful I felt really bad for her . He insisted on carrying on, I called a halt to that quickly too

Another one, the time was set for 12 then 1 then 1:30 then 2. But no one told me until I got there and had to go off for 2 hours.
I was then made to wait for 50 minutes in a tiny reception area. It was deliberate to see how long I would wait.
I know this because I stood up and took the visitor badge off and was signing out and the interviewer came running out to greet me.
It was a security firm and I was on camera.
Didnt get the job.

Ive had quite a lot of crap interviews. I use them as a learning exercise.

 

[Croc]

I was once asked in an interview if, in a very boisterous bantery office, I could 'hold my own'.

Replied that from what I'd seen if the standard of the blokes there i wouldn't be holding anyone else's.

Got the job

 

[hydeist]

The worst one I ever had was for a recruitment agency where the interviewer grilled me on all my GCSEs, demanding to know why I'd "done so many subjects at school" because it made me look like I had "no direction in life"! Because I have 11 GCSEs that I picked when I was FOURTEEN a decade before the interview! I had A levels and a degree and this guy is losing his mind about my GCSEs

 

[jarv]

This one is my fault but I had an interview a few years ago for a step up role in a really good international company.

Went out for usual Thursday night drinks with some pals but ended up staying out until 3am. Woke up at 9am with a random in my bed and my interview was at 10. Managed to get there but I was such a state. Obviously didn't get the job

 

[Rippedjeanmaybe]

I remember my first ever job interview. It was for Tesco and I was 18 at the time. Honestly I felt like a school child having a chat with a teacher. It was all very awkward and there was just me and one woman in the room. Obviously I didn’t get the job, they didn’t even call or email me to let me know either.

 

[Ghostpumpkin]

I had an interview for McDonald’s when I was about 18. I had an interview the same day for a pub which I really wanted and was nearer to me!
I went to this McDonald’s which was in a really rough area, after a 10 minute chat they basically flung a very tight polo top to me god knows where it came from. Told me to get changed in the toilets lol and I would be doing a trial on the drive through, I had literally no training and the other staff were equally as young and didn’t seem to give a tit about teaching anyone, I had no idea how to grasps the screens with multiple orders on, one guy came and I gave him two lots of meals so he ended up with his own meal and about 5 happy meals. I didn’t realise what I’d done until he obviously drove off very fast haha. I was very stressed and was so glad I was offered the pub job instead!

 

[1001 others]

so is it a legit company? At first I was thinking was it a money laundering thing?

Oh, it is legit. It's a very small branch of a national organisation. I don't think the interviewer could be assed setting someone up on the payroll system for just a few hours' work. I don't think they had any interviewing experience either. The whole thing was a shambles.

 

[kittypaws]

I am loving all these stories hahaha

I had an interview for an admin based role in a care home a few years ago. I was early 20s and the 2 girls interviewing me weren’t much older. It was weird as duck, got really odd vibes. The woman quizzed me about a gap on my LinkedIn profile which she’d looked up (think I’d left some charity work off which was on my CV) and she kept going on about why my CV and LinkedIn didn’t match even though I said I never used LinkedIn. She was definitely implying I was lying/dodgy.
2 questions I will NEVER forget her asking me were

“What’s your address?” told her what road I lived in and then said “what number in that street do you live in?”
Her next question was”what’s your star sign?” - wtf!?!? It’s like she thought I was a catfish and was trying to catch me out!!!


A few months later I had an interview for a marketing company. The boss and his assistant held the interview in the lobby of a posh hotel. He was a really obnoxious guy, but I answered the questions well enough.
He then asked me where I was working currently. I said I was out of work but doing some voluntary work at the solicitors where my mum works. He left that for a while then came back to it and he asked what solicitors it was. I told him and he suddenly asked so many questions. Where the solicitors was, what street it was in, asked me to describe the outside. Asked what area my mum worked in, what her job role was, what work I was doing etc. It was REALLY weird.
He then said to me unfortunately he was going to have to cut this interview short, as he was currently in a personal legal battle and the solicitors where my mum worked was representing the other party. He said it was too risky and a conflict of interest for him personally. I was in shock!!!! I asked if I would have been successful otherwise and he said yes.
So I told my mum about this and gave her the name of the guy. She did some digging and asked people in her office and turns out he was going through a messy divorce and he was an absolute horrible, nasty piece of work! I had a lucky escape!

 

[Monkeybum]

Many years ago I worked as a customer advisor for an insurance company and really loved it however the insurance company was relocating, so we all applied internally for other roles on different contracts. One was for Cisco, proper IT kind of role which i had absolutely no experience in but applied anyway as I didn't want to be out of work. I went for the interview and honestly I had no clue to half the questions they were asking me. One question was something along the lines of ''Tell us about our products'' and I basically answered ''Well I know you do office phones for companies...'' and that was it. I walked out of that interview, met my mum for a coffee and got a phone call from them telling me I wasn't successful and maybe just apply for roles that i am interest in or have some knowledge in Thinking back I genuinely can't believe I actually tried to wing that and went for the interview. I wouldn't dare attempt that now!

I've worked in the civil service forever and this reminds me of my interview there which I somehow got (they must have been desperate )

I started in the Benefits bit at a Jobcentre, I only went because my Dad said I'd get a good pension. Knew nothing about the Benefits Agency or Jobcentres and made no effort to find anything out. The interview was in my home town and when I was waiting a bloke asked if I'd be based there or the office in the nearest city.

In the interview they asked what I knew about them. I said I knew they processed benefits. They asked if I knew how many offices they had. I said I knew they have that one and smugly added ' and I know you have one in the nearest city'

I was mortified when I started and realised there's offices in every city and most towns, they must have thought I was a complete and utterly moron

 

[Emperor]

One of the panel clearly didn't rate me (feedback said that there was a feeling I was aloof and arrogant and I bet it was him) as he yawned during my answers. I said for the next question, 'I get the feeling I'm boring you.' I didn't get the job but genuinely didn't want it.

 

[Rbarb-bkini]

Ooh I was actually thinking of starting a thread about bad interviews the other day!
A few years ago I went for an interview at a chain hotel for a wedding and events assistant as I have events experience. It was advertised as general office admin to support event planning as well as on the day support.
When I got there I immediately got a weird vibe from the woman interviewing me. She sat me down in a booth in their bar area and asked me to talk about myself. Bit odd. She maybe asked me two or three questions and then made me fill out an application, even though I'd already put a lot of it on my online application, and sat there chatting to me whilst I filled it out. It was so strange. And then that was it. The entire thing lasted less than 5 mins and didn't feel like a proper interview at all.
She did call and asked me if I could come in for a trial shift at a wedding that weekend, which is fair enough if I'm going to be doing on the day support.
But, and I don't mean to put this down at all, I just think the job description badly misrepresented the job. It was a waitressing job. That was it. I'd also never done waitressing in my life. Also the other staff I met on that shift were so vapid and rude. The woman who had interviewed me even made a homophobic joke to one of her bar staff.
She called me a few days later to ask me what my thoughts were and I outright told her that it wasn't what I was looking for, I thought it was going to be a mix of office work and event support. She got defensive, can't remember exactly what she said but was with an attitude of "Take it or leave it but that's the job" - so I politely declined it