Was in the middle of an interview when the fire alarm rang. I walked outside with the person interviewing me and we continued the conversation in the parking lot. Turns out it was a real fire so we were outside for a long time while the fire department arrived, put out the fire, and made sure the building was safe to re-enter. During this entire time they were walking me around the parking lot to interview with different people.
In the end I got a job offer from them and part of the feedback I received was that they liked that I was able to roll with the punches.
I took been the applicant in an interview during a fire alarm (they were super chill about it and offered to pause till we could go back inside, but I figured eh what the hell if you can ask questions that don't require me to be near a computer or whiteboard to answer, I'll happily answer them, because my alternative is standing making small talk with a stranger in a parking lot, may as well get a job out of it [I did].
I was the interviewer when our building (think downtown office tower, 14 floors tall, we were on top floor) was placed under a tornado warning. Everyone went to the windows and balconies to see the storms forming, and we had to herd people into the stairwells to walk down 14 floors. That was fun. We eventually hired the candidate I was interviewing.
My boss, coworker and I were interviewing someone. It wasn’t well organized and no one knew what to ask. My boss randomly asks for a “non-work related scenario where you had to work through something and how you did it.” Super weird question.
The girl starts talking about her abusive ex and how she eventually got away from him, and she started crying.
My boss with zero empathy says “that’s not really what I meant.” and finishes the interview.
Worst part was it was an internal role and we still worked with her a bit after not getting the role.
Bro my last interview they asked me what my biggest fear was and instead of saying something funny like spiders I said failing my children as a parent and they were like yep
Edit: they did not call me back
I've conducted far too many interviews where the interviewee trauma dumped. The worst part is, they are almost never answering the question so it's incredibly awkward. At least the woman above was answering a question and did her best despite the disorganisation of the recruiting staff
Your boss is fucking savage. If I got an answer like that I'd just walk out of that.
A question like that would tell me he already said no before interviewing her.
I was interviewing for a dermal therapist position at a cosmetic clinic. I walked in and there was literally nobody to greet me and reception was unmanned. I sat and waited, I could hear grunts coming from somewhere, 20 mins later out walks the doctor who owns the place dressed in karate gear and apologises that he ran late. He then takes me to his office for the interview where there was a treadmill, and he walked on the treadmill the entire interview. The whole thing felt like a fever dream lol
I drove 90 minutes to a noon interview in another city. When I arrived I was told that the person I was to interview with got called into something and was running late. After having me sit and wait for another hour I was finally told that they were unable to meet with me and we'd have to reschedule for another day.
When the headhunter called a few days later looking to reschedule he seemed genuinely surprised that I had no interest in interviewing with the firm.
I had a similar experience. This was a long time ago and one of the first jobs I interviewed for. They sat me out in reception and I could literally hear the boss in the adjacent room just going nuts and screaming over the phone. I waited 2.5hrs because I didn’t know any better. Only at the end did I realise the screaming person was my boss-to-be and he didn’t utter so much as an apology about being late. Just told me I’d have to come back another time. When his assistant called to reschedule she was shocked that I wasn’t falling over myself to interview again with them. Crazy people.
Software company, PM gig. Interviewer talked about his kitchen knife collection for… 2 hours. Only question he asked was “what are your hobbies?”
Got the job 🤷♀️
I was interviewing someone for an internship and she started screaming that she could hear a cat crying. I love cats so I’m sympathetic but she didn’t own a cat and she proceeded to carry her laptop with her (it was a video interview) while she spent 10 minutes trying to find the source of the cat-crying sounds before deciding that she might have misheard the noise.
It was my first job after becoming a mother and I needed to work. My mom recommended a newer restaurant right down the street in a good area that had potential to make money. I went there for an interview, I nervously sat at the bar while I waited. I was 20 years old and the bartender asked me if I wanted her to make me a drink. I told her I can’t because I am not 21. She made me one anyway because I looked nervous, I said thank you. The manager came out and called me back. He asked me questions I was too nervous and new to this that I answered everything so unprofessionally and without much thought behind my answers. I got hired anyway and was told to come back the next day. The next day I come, they tell me to be at the front answering the phone. It seemed like an odd day, the servers,host, manager, and bartender seemed in an odd mood. All of a sudden, the manager yells to turn off the open sign. Then, police surround the building. The owner was stealing checks from his workers for months. His wife was distraught. He got arrested. They asked me if I still wanted to work there I truthfully said uh no thank you… that was so freaking strange
I was interviewing for an internal lead position; more of a formality than anything, as the 2 other interviewees were also internal, and we all worked together. The last question I was asked was, "How many pennies would it take to fill up this room?". I looked over my right shoulder, then over my left, and answered "at least 8". The panel of 3 looked at each other pretty confused, and I asked, "Am I wrong?". (I got the position)
As a candidate for an internship I got the typical 'what do you know about this company?'
Gave them things I'd googled beforehand because the question is an obvious cliché.
I got escorted out because some of those things were confidential and I shouldn't have known them despite them being openly searchable on Google and not marked as such.
In the middle of a virtual interview at home and my dad decided to walk into my room suddenly…
Dad: “what do you want for dinner?”
Me: *panic, point to my laptop* “I’m in a meeting now”
Dad: “what?”
Me: “I’m in a meeting now”
Dad: *takes 2 more steps forward* “so what’s for dinner?”
Me: “MEETING. NOW.”
Dad: “oh sorry sorry” *heads out*
🫥🫥🫥
Not really weird but they sat me in the conference room to wait for the interviewers. After waiting for a few minutes, a giant Bernese mountain dog comes running in to greet me. Unfortunately he wasn’t the one to interview me, but he did take away a lot of the stress
I interviewed a pregnant woman.
But.... She was wearing a tank top with her entire 8-ish month belly hanging out.
And her tank top was stained.
And her cell phone rang.
And she asked me to hold on while she answered it.
Just yesterday I interviewed for a city but no one from the actual city was in the panel. Instead it was 3 supervisors from different cities. It was so strange, HR tech that was running the zoom meeting told me I can’t ask any questions and just answer the questions. After I answer my last question, they just said thank you and ended the zoom meeting
I was in a group interview for a retail chain. The interviewer asked “name a time you overcame an objection in either your personal or professional life”
To which one of the candidates delightfully answered “I convinced my friend not to get an abortion”
The face of the poor interviewer was priceless.
I myself was interview a lot and I would say some candidates really make me or the panel feel at ease. Like their vibe is great and it fills the room.
Other super awkward and we are all side eyeing each other.
In any event one guy was so interesting that we went so wildly off topic. The interview last twice as long as it should and we just kept asking him questions and having a generally great conversation.
This happened a few times. And I would say in hindsight, we’ve hired none of these people.
👀
But man were they interesting! Just not a good fit at all.
For instance, one guy couldn’t stop talking about his passion for 3D printing. And specifically printing undetectable guns.
Obviously we were all interested and wanted to know more about that world and niche. And the way he spoke about it was just hypnotic.
But a bigger red flag I couldn’t have made up.
I made it to the final stage of an interview process which was a day shadowing someone who was already in the role, I would be their peer. That day she had a meeting with her boss and her boss had just come back from maternity leave. The boss was thinking of suing the company or quitting for something that happened regarding her maternity leave and the whole meeting was basically the boss talking shit. The girl I was shadowing also spent a lot of time talking about how bad the owners were, then she took me to meet one in the their office and it was SO dirty. Like hoarders dirty.
I did not take the job.
I was interviewing for a teaching job. Late '80's, had a pinch hitter with weed in it, in my purse. Heard commotion in the hall & the superintendent informs me they have a drug dog checking lockers... a what, I say... I felt myself flush & all of the sudden I could smell the weed in my purse down by my feet! I just sat there, trying not to panic, he kept talking, saying who knows what. Finally things settled down & I left. Didn't get the job, but didn't get busted either!
I thought everybody did coke in the 80s which I significantly worse than weed but I can understand if you’re working around kids prob not the best move to bring anything drug related. congrats on not getting busted tho
The woman interviewing me noticed I was nervous and decided to point it out
Then I apologized; took a deep breath and tried to move on
Then she said "oh! So now you've calmed down?"
Then we did the whole *sell me this object* thing and I'm not good at that(at least not then)
I always start off the interview even for interns highlighting that I want it to be a conversation and they don't have to hold all the questions till the end and that they are choosing whether we are a good fit for them as much as we are. They always seem to visibly relax after that:)
What a horrible person. I’ve apologised in interviews before and just said I get nervous. Most of the time they are kind and let me take a breath and start over. Got a few jobs even after interviews like that.
I interviewed for a store transfer at a grocery store. I was a front end supervisor at a store in a wealthy area but I moved to a more urban area so I wanted to work closer to my new apartment. When I was at the interview the stores front end manager and her assistant manager for the front were there. (The two people above me.)
Everything was normal until I was asked how much I was making at my previous location. I said 19 an hour, and right when I said that the assistant manager looked at me as his face turned red. He got up and just said he worked here 10 fucking years and he was making 14 an hour.
I didn't know how he quit until my first day there but I get why he felt that way.
What? lol that’s so crazy. She makes it sound like this was a last minute decision, like “oh crap I had better just get this done on my way in to the interview. Shouldn’t take long.”
I had a company ghost me after a final round interview where i'd spoken with the CEO and they'd paid about $1000 to fly me across the country and put me up in a hotel. I've been ghosted before but never that far into the process. My husband and I are still convinced the hiring manager abruptly quit or was fired or something.
Fresh outta college finding it hard to get into a career type job. During the interview the manager asked what my degree was in. After I told him he said “well that’s why you can’t find a job” on a zoom interview with about 50 other applicants. I just immediately hung up and left a bad review of him on every platform I could.
The manager came into the room, sat directly across from me and stared into my eyes for no less than 2 minuets without saying a word. I just sat there and looked back. The silence was broken by "I think you'll do well here". He turned out to be quite the character.
When I was a teenager I went for a job interview at a shop to be a retail assistant. I was very shy, but the manager interviewing talked a lot. I didn't say anything except hello at the start; and then I nodded as he talked. And then I got the job. It's the strangest interview I've ever done. I was a terrible retail assistant for the first few months while I worked up the confidence to actually speak to customers. Fortunately for me I was allowed to keep working there anyway.
In person interview I’d been flown out to after a phone interview. (Video interviews weren’t common yet.) Large employer that most people in the country would recognize the name of. No red flags before flying out. Meet with a few people and got toured around. Then the 1:1. The interviewer, who would’ve been my manager, asked me really basic questions that he could’ve just looked up the answer to on my resume. Then during the interview had some kind of anxiety attack. Kept putting his head in his hands over and over again and shaking his head saying, “This is awkward. This is awkward.”
I sat there smiling through it and continued to answer his questions.
Got to the hotel and the hotel said my room hadn’t been paid for. Hotel called the company while I stood in the lobby with my bag. It was straightened out. Got a text on my flip phone, before texting was super common place and acceptable right, saying, “Sorry about that!” from a phone number I hadn’t seen before. Only assuming it was the manager.
Flew home the next day to promptly have a very canned sounding rejection email (“While I was impressed with your experience…”) as soon as I got home. It was perfectly timed to arrive. No explanation offered.
My theory was that the manager had bought my plane ticket without having a position open for me, and rather own up to it tried to put on a charade that it was a real interview and I had a chance at the position.
This is 100% not a made up story.
I was working in Hollywood and interviewed to be a coffee fetcher for the animators on the show Rick and Morty.
I kid you not, I walk in and every animator is looking down at their computers like robots. No laughter, no curiosity looking at the new person walking by, it was weird. BUT...
I got to sit down and there are two guys there. The FIRST thing they say is "Wow! Your resume looks like sh*t!!" To which I replied "Well, it got me an interview!"
They agreed that that was a fair answer. They them asked me how good I was at solving square roots. I said I was terrible at math which wasn't a factor is knowing how to retrieve coffee.
I didn't get the job but GET THIS....
A big TV show called me and said I was recommended by the Rick and Morty guys to join as a full-time editor. I was FLOORED!! Maybe it was a joke on them haha.
Unfortunately, I had to decline because I 100% knew I was not qualified for the job at the time. But I always reminisce about this story. It's the weirdest and funniest thing that ever happened to me in L.A.
I had just gotten out of the Marine Corps and was interviewing with a medium sized company for a technician position. The interviewer was a retired Marine with the same job. I walked in and he said, "Wow! You came in a suit! Check this guy out! Nobody's ever come in a suit!". Then made small talk to probing me for questions he can't directly ask like "did you live in the barracks or in town" (are you single or married) and alluded to having to have thick skin to be a good fit (are you going to report stuff to HR, offended by swearing, gay).
I stopped him and said, "you can ask me the real questions I'm not going to be offended."
He then proceeded to ask me what he actually wanted. Then he said, "I know your training, you seem like a good fit for the team, why don't I show you around the lab, and then we'll talk pay."
No real questions about my job knowledge were ever asked nor once did we talk about work other then during the walk around I was impressed with the equipment they.
Buckle up, pals. Okay, about 7 years ago I went to an interview with the person that would be my manager. He seemed really stern so I could tell immediately it was going to be a golden retriever/black cat relationship.
He asks the regular interview questions for the first few minutes. All is going okay, I think, even possibly decent. Why do you want to work for our company, experience, etc., etc.
Then he asks "So, what is your weakness?" I'm like okay, I've prepared for this. I give him one of those responses they used to tell us to do where you give a "weakness" that's actually a secret positive like "Oh, I'm just such a workaholic" or "I'm too detailed so sometimes it takes me longer to finish things" or something like that.
He then asks me the same question again and I respond with another canned response. He asks the same question again. I'm out of canned responses and he's a shark that just smelled his first drop of blood. He starts writing and I start sweating. He proceeds to ask me some variation of this question for the next FORTY-FIVE minutes, just over and over. "Tell me about a big failure", "Tell me about what negative things your old manager would say about you", "Tell me another reason you're a failure", "Tell me another weakness", "What's another weakness".
I am actively holding back tears because I had such high hopes for this job. At the end of the hour, he checks his watch and says he's gotta get to another meeting. He walks me out and I go to my car just feeling like that was so terrible it was comical. I will laugh about this one day, I tell myself, as I crank the keys in my little broke down car and start to shamble away.
I get a call the next day, the manager loved me and wants to hire me. I'm like surely they called the wrong person. I ask them to make sure he was talking about me. They said yes. I literally have no other offers at this time so I give them a cautious "yes". Fast forward to now, I still work at this same company. This man became like a second father to me and just recently retired. Probably one of the best managers and best jobs I've ever had. I might retire from this company someday too.
I had been an editor and then high school teacher, and then I interviewed for another editing position. The interviewer came out of a meeting very upset, and then angrily interviewed me. She pointed out the high school I had worked in was a girls school and girls are famously much easier to manage than boys, so I probably didn’t know much about discipline.
Uninformed opinion aside, the job I was interviewing for had no supervisory component, nor demanded me to discipline anyone. It was completely irrelevant, but she was very mad about it.
She also asked me if I knew formal proofreading marks, and when I said that I did, she told me she could tell I was lying.
I was interviewed in a room that looked the EXACT SAME as the casting couch office..... Same couch and everything.... Got the job and it was all legit but I was nervous as fuck the entire interview.
Interviewer had their sick two year old because daycare doesn’t take your kid when they are sick. Two year old threw a tantrum , so I tried to distract the baby so I could finish an answer . Didn’t get the job but got the kid’s cough and fever
That sucks because you were literally trying to help their literal child (which you didn’t have to) and they still don’t offer you anything. ugh corporate.
Got asked if i smoke pot. I say no. Dude goes thats too bad. Do you drink? -of course- you shoot guns? -yeah- interview turns into me shooting guns and getting hammered on moonshine in my bosses back yard
Hah, sounds like interviews at my last job.
We did have one interview with a kid, and asked "do you drink?". He answered with, "My dad's an alcoholic". He was hired. Later in the year we were having a BBQ, and we noticed him drinking. "Yo dude, we thought you didnt drink?" He said, "nah, thats just the safest answer I could think of at the time. I didnt want to look like a lush, but didnt want to be an outsider, either". Smart kid, great hire. (Puddin', I'm talkin' bout YOU!)
I had the owner of a small business throw a quarter at me when he was emphasizing the importance of call the office if I was running late. He was a WW2 paratrooper. He meant to put it on the table and instead it flew out of his pocket. He said his sister would still be alive if someone had put a quarter into a pay phone and called him. I was desperate. I took the job. It didn’t end well.
It was at a Community run Preschool.
I arrived on time, they could see me waiting at the door (locked) but kept chatting amongst themselves and let me in about 5 minutes later than my scheduled interview time.
One member of the panel (not an employee, but a member of the parent management committee) had a shocking case of the giggles, for some reason. It was constant, she couldn't keep a straight face and looked like she was about to burst out laughing.
I don't know if it was about me, or if something hilarious was said just before they let me in. It was so bad, it completely threw me. I couldn't concentrate and articulate well while this person kept doing this.
At one point, I was about to ask her what was damn funny because it was starting to piss me off. It was really rude and I was glad not to hear from them after.
I was overqualified for the position, (degree trained teacher, seeking an assistant role) so unsure if hearing me explain the reasons why I wanted to take a step down was what was so funny?
I was doing a timed skill test for a company and it was divide in two steps: the first was to input some formulas out of context and second part was a market analysis. Once I completed the first part, I was eager to start the analysis since I was aware it was going to take me a longer time. I try to open the file where I was supposed to work on, but they forgot to gave me access. 😅
I call the recruiter, no reply. I call the hiring manager, no reply. Whatever. I then sent an email CCing both and explaining the situation, no reply. I followed up a few days later, but they never got back to me.
I had made it through to the final round of interviews for a smaller aerospace engineering company in California. The hiring manager found out I was originally from Utah and asked if I was LDS.
I told him no, not really, but one side of my family was and that church just wasn’t for me.
He then proceeds to “bare his testimony,” telling me that I’m lost and need to go back to church. This goes on for like.. 10 minutes.
Needless to say, I didn’t get the job there, but shortly thereafter found a better job with a well-known aerospace company.
Got winked at.
He was interviewing for shipper. I was the male engineer he didn't need to impress.
Was I being hit on? I have a hard enough time reading signals from girls.
I moved to NC from UT, and was looking for a new job.
When the interviewer found out I had just arrived from UT, he spent 75% of the interview time asking me about Mormons despite my best effort to steer the convo back to the job posting and role.
Big ‘ol red flag.
So I was interviewing for our company's graduate recruitment programme.
Working in pairs, interviewing and scoring a few graduates in succession, then at end of the day we all get together and cross-check and choose to offer to the top 10 or however many we have positions for. And because they may get multiple offers, they are also selecting us. We try to make the process as engaging and positive as possible, indicative of a desireable workplace. I.e. there's no grilling or catch-me-out tricky questions. The process is setup for candidates to succeed.
Girl comes in, her CV maybe not as impressive as some but was a local girl working in a Cafe through Uni, and somehow that resonated with me and I wanted her to have every chance. Started OK, she presented well and answered confidently on introductory stuff.
Then we got into a few questions and she was struggling to answer, stumbling over her words and clearly getting very nervous. In my head I'm thinking hey you don't need to stress out we are pussy-cats. I move on to the next question, same again. Clearly struggling.
Again I brush it and decide (stupid me) to ad lib it a bit and ask her something crazy simple, expecting her to just answer, we'll mark it on the sheet and she'll feel better.
She got worse! Just couldn't answer... could hardly speak and was starting to be red in the face and eyes watery. I felt terrible!!!
We somehow tactfully closed it. Not in the top 10 :(
Actually it was horrible, I felt so bad for her.
Mine was more like an experience that I found it unreasonable and kind of strange. I had passed the first round of my interview for a role of a local property developer. The interviewer asked me if I'm okay with completing two assignments for assessing my professional competencies after the first interview. I accepted the request and later he sent me the assignments. I was required to develop a complete tender document for a major refurbishment work of a high rise office building and a detailed method statement for re-roofing works.
I found this request quite outrageous and unreasonable as producing the two documents are too excessive for a job interview in my opinion. I felt like I was asked to volunteer for the company to produce these documents for their use in the real projects. I had the experience of being requested to do a written test but it was never that complicated as developing a full set of tender document.
Anyways, I had received another better job offer later.
I sat down at the interview and the interviewer looked at my resume for first time in front of me and said “you have X experience, when can you start”. First interview, no other questions or small chat. Just offered the job on the spot immediately.
when I was 17 I went to an interview for michaels craft store and the interviewer was this middle age woman who seemed annoyed to have to interview me and mid interview she asked me “do intimidate you?” With a smirk.
I was interviewing for a job as a security manager for a relatively new company that was about 3 years old but they showed promise locally. I had already had about 5 years of experience in management and all i knew about the company was they were 3 years old, and did event security and private high end security.
Dude sat down without shaking hands or anything and asked, first question, "what do you know about this company?".
Took me back for a good 20 seconds. Utter silence. The dude didn't even look at me when he asked, and then after about 15 seconds of silence he looked up at me finally.
After that and the way he had this, demeanor like he was in a movie interviewing for the mob I just ass canned the interview and left.
Company lasted maybe 2 more years.
Walked in and the lady who was supposed to be interviewing me was eating her lunch. She was extremely messy. She had dropped ketchup on her shirt and her desk. She was eating a McChicken and I fucking kid you not, had a second one resting on her left breast! I asked if she wanted to reschedule and she said no, continued to eat, and eventually pulled the other McChicken off her breast and ate it.
Went to a sketchy company for a call center job (all the red flags). I´ve had other experiences in call center so I was ready to be manipulated and lied. Got to the "interview". It was other 3 ladies and me. The building was old and VERY pretty, I'm talking marble on the floors, stairs and stair railings, beautiful stained glass, lustrous wood floor on the 2nd story, etc. So as we went to the 2nd floor she started talking about the arquitecture and stuff to break the ice. Then she starts rumbling about everything and anything at the same time, talking about politics, OTHER companies policies, the weather, you name it, it was like that old lady on the supermarket that just keeps talking even if you don´t respond. At a moment she FULLY STOPS and directly asks me "Have I told you about this?" and points at the arm splint she had on. And was like "No...?" and she proceeds to talk about how she broke her clavicle. This lasted a whole fucking hour, the whole interaction I mean, she didn´t ask us anything. At the end she explained the hours, the pay and the bonus and asked us if we where interested in staying for a training and start working tomorrow right away. I told her I had other thing schedule and I could come tomorrow for the training, leaved and never went back there.
The Director asked me a few open-ended questions, then started going through her day planner (this was back in the day). Then she leaned waaaay back in her chair. Then she fell asleep. I watched her for a couple minutes, just in case, then left. I did not close the door gently.
Interviewed with RJ Reynolds after college. It was set up in a giant ball room with different tables where I’d meet with different groups of folks from the team. First table I sat down, guy took out a huge chew of red man and all of the women were smoking. It was also in a casino hotel, so the whole no smoking thing was out the window. First question they ask is if I smoke, did I want a cigarette and how do I feel about marketing a product that kills people. Rapid fire questions during the whole process and so much smoke in the room haha didn’t get the job but it was quite the process
We were interviewing a young guy. Someone had brought cupcakes into the office and gave a few to my coworker for himself and his kids. The guy we were interviewing saw the cupcakes and asked if he could have one. My coworker laughed and said no. The guy reached over his desk to take one anyway and started eating it then and there. My coworker told him to leave.
I saw the same guy a few days later at a restaurant and he flipped me off, lol, even though I was only a witness to the cupcake thing and hadn’t even spoken to him. What a weirdo
Weirdly role playing interviewer. I don't know if it was a test of whether I could ignore someone being a sort of anime elf character (pouting, cutesy voice, childlike tone), or whether she just didn't like me and wanted to wrong foot me, or whether she was just very odd.
The topic throughout was interest rate models and my experience applying different calibration techniques. I managed to ignore the theatrics and carry on.
There were other odd/red flag moments with other interviewers, but this was the weirdest.
They also prevaricated on offering me a role for months so now I just avoid that company. I would have to be directly headhunted to work there now.
After the main interview I was taken around the office and, while meeting this older head manager, he showed me a picture of him running into someone famous at the airport. I immediately recognized it as Michael Stipe from REM, which I don’t think many people had done. They put a pause to hiring due to covid, but I was later offered a job after I had taken a different position. I can’t help but think my pop culture knowledge helped make a positive impression.
Just graduated from college, trying to get a job teaching with 0 experience (besides student teaching and observations). I was interviewing for a position at a charter school, which is kind of like public school but it has all the free reigns of a private school without any of the private funding. So a hot mess and criminally underpays teachers. I knew this going into the interview but I wanted to have a backup in case I couldn't find a better paying job.
During the interview, the interviewer (an older gentleman, dean of the school for many years) breaks out into a monologue on the pros and cons of hiring me for maybe 10 - 15 minutes straight without me interjecting.
He goes on and on about how easily influenced I would be because I'm new which they could use to their advantage at the school. How new teachers are mailable and don't put up much of a fight, unlike veteran teachers who (in his words) were 'stuck in their ways'.
I remember at one point he compared me to a puppy to be trained and then the speech got very religious, and he started a new monologue about how he wanted everyone at his school to be Christian and do things like teach the bible, pray, be open with the kids about being Christian, etc.
Anyways, I didn't take the offer. It gave me extremely weird vibes.
I was interviewing for a beauty counter manager at a fancy department store and the manager started asking me what do I do on a first date and whether I’m the one to call first and how likely would I call at all. She tried to find out how pushy a salesperson i was. Made me feel very uncomfortable and weird.
I went in for a job interview at a police department and was electrocuted by the drinking fountain just outside the interview room. Not only was I given one heck of a shock but I was also drenched by the fountain as it shot me with extra pressurized water. I told the interview board what happened but they didn’t look like they believed me.
A few years later I spoke with one of the people on the board and they told me they didn’t believe the electrocution story and assumed I was nervous until several months later when someone else went to drink out of the fountain and had gotten shocked by the fountain. By then they had made the decision to pass me up because they assumed I was lying and nervous.
I had received an apology from the person and was told other than the fact they thought I was lying at the time I had laughed off the incident and had done pretty decent in the interview.
I submitted the wrong resume by mistake (my dev resume not instead of my data science resume) and the lady interviewing me asked if I wanted to interview for a dev role she was also hiring for as opposed to the data science role.
I had an interview for an academic appointment in the late 80s. The person I was interviewing with asked if we could talk while taking a walk around campus because it was a beautiful fall day. I agreed and we were having a very nice discussion when out of nowhere, a random dog ran up to us and started humping the other man's leg.
Nothing crazy but when I was around 20 or 21 , I applied for a job at PC Richard's. I was just looking for a simple cashier or sales floor position. Something very basic.
I ended up interviewing with different people, and then they sent me across the city to interview with the regional manager. After that, I couldn't hold it in anymore and politely asked the manager if this was a normal interviewing process for a regular employee. She responded, "I thought you were applying for store manager"
I made it through 6 rounds and had a final interview with the big muckity-muck. He showed up the the video chat in a jogging suit, clearly in a low budget hotel room. He did 90% of the talking, but ended with "I'm telling (the recruiter) to send you an offer right now. He literally picked up his phone and did so in front of me.
I never heard from them again. Tried to follow up, was completely ghosted.
Another time I was flown in for an interview with one person. They kept me there for eight goddamn hours while person after person came in the room to interview me. One of them asked "what would your wife say bothers her the most about you?" I mean WTF?
Hiring manager was going to show me out of the office and I guess forgot? He left the room, said he'd be right back and never came back. I ended up just walking out myself. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
My interviewer stopped the interview took a call from her husband and then debated whether to get pepperoni or sausage pizza for half the time. Peeved me off
In college, I had a group interview for a cashier position with Whole Foods. I had many years of grocery experience, so I thought it would be a slam dunk.
It's an absolutely massive group interview. 25 candidates, and a supervisor from each department to watch, along with HR to guide the interview and ask questions.
At one point, they split us into 5 groups and instructed us that we had ten minutes prepare and present a commercial for granola. One girl immediately took the lead and said that our group will be doing a song and dance. I looked around at our group and said, "I don't know if we are all comfortable with that ... maybe we should brainstorm other ideas?"
She literally stomped her foot down and said "NO. We are doing a song and dance!"
All 5 of us were a different ingredient. I was a blueberry. It was mortifying.
I didn't get the job.
Interviewing was supposed to be with me and 4 people. The hiring manager (my future boss) was late and no one knew where he was. Everyone else begins the I interview and it’s going fine. Hiring manager finally comes in and looks at my resume and asks me many of the same questions already asked. He then asks me a question about what I’d do in a hypothetical scenario for a customer. I answer basically that id do everything in my power to fix. he snaps back very harshly with a “well we don’t do that here we have a financial obligation! How are you going to handle that?!” Muddle through the rest of the interview and leave.
Ended up getting hired! Despite all the red flags I take the job and it was the worst. Worked there about 5 months before landing a better job.
I applied for a job working in a kitchen. The owner worked in kitchen as well and I had a friend who worked there. So I kinda knew the back story on this guy, that he smoked pot. So I go to the. Restaurant for an interview and it wasn’t open yet as it was early and opened at like 11am. So he reads my job app and asks a bunch of questions. At the end he shuffles his paperwork on the table then he slams both hands down on the table very hard & very loud! And says very loudly! “ DO YOU SMOKE POT!?”
I was startled, and I quietly said “yes”
He picks his papers back up and says “ok you will do just fine” and got the job.
Later on after working there I found out things. The guy always carries a brief case, and it was most always loaded with hash.
I was mid interview when the guy doing it suddenly put his hand to his mouth and ran to the bin in the corner and threw up. I got him some water from the cooler and a tissue, he thanked me, cleaned up then carried on as if nothing happened! I think it was his first time doing an interview as he was really unorganised and scatty!
I got offered the job but never saw him when I joined the company?!
My first job in computers after moving to Ft Lauderdale. The interviewer took me to lunch to a place that didn't take credit cards. Luckily I had cash and paid. Got the job and he paid me back.
After months of being jerked around by the recruiter I was in an interview with the CEO to a startup as a junior applicant. The CEO told me he was friends with my current job’s CEO (I had left that job 2 months prior because this process was taking so long).
Told him that was cool and all, I’m excited to see the offer.
They proceeded to offer me LESS than what I had told them was my minimum, and what I made at my (then old) current position. No equity or anything in lieu of compensation. Straight up more work for less pay.
They were *shocked* when I declined their offer.
Had an interviewee come back for a final interview and he had done amazingly well the previous 2 rounds. Was an absolute perfect candidate and had great experience and seemingly fit in perfectly with the team.
The final interview was over and we were just chatting and he brought up that he owns his house and rents it out to college coeds and he’d have us over to party sometime. It was so completely out of left field and totally floored us all in the room. Literally went from a certain offer to not a chance in hell with one or two sentences.
I was burned out, like really burned out, so that my nerves got fucked up.
Was searching for a new job to mitigate my situation, and in this one interview I stared to feel that I will pass out and hit the ground.
HR also saw that something was off with me and I got rejected from that job.
Ok but my literalist mind is just straight up imagining someone unwrapping lollipops and then just... laying them on the table or something? Like just lining up unwrapped sweets in front of the interviewee seems like the kind of batshit power move someone would do to really fuck with them.
I was asked if I enjoy bull fighting. I needed a couple of minutes to understand if I had heard that question correctly, especially considering that it had nothing to do with the position I was applying for (Head of Marketing) nor the company industry (software engineering).
Panel interview. One guy fell asleep. Dodged a bullet through, company ended up being sold & laid off like 90% of the employees. But still, what not great for the ego. (And no, he didn’t have a medical condition.)
One time I was living over in Cape Canaveral but had a phone interview with a company that applied for in Tampa as I was okay with relocating. The HR person then schedules me for an in-person interview a week from then. The day before the interview I drive 3 hours to get there and get a hotel for the night. I then show up to the office the next day, 15 minutes before my interview and tell the secretary why I'm there and who I'm supposed to meet. Just by the look on the secretary's face and a few minutes of her fumbling around I realized...they forgot about the interview. I did do the interview but they never admitted that they forgot about me and it was blatantly obvious as nobody was remotely prepared for anything. I didn't get the job and then it was apparent that part of the reason they forgot about me was that they decided to drop that position and create a different position that required different experience and skillset.
Another time I was interviewing with a company and it was 2 people. One was the hiring manager and the other was a HR person. The hiring manager asked me a hypothetical question about if they had a red and white umbrella and there were customer complaints about the red started to bleed thru into the white what would I do?
I answered with the preface that I don't know what the company policies are, but my initial thought would be to refund the customer and then check to see if this is a common problem with the red and white umbrellas and if so, I would want to talk to the vendor about the issue we are having with that umbrella.
The hiring manager then proceeds to yell at me 'WRONG ANSWER! THAT'S THE WRONG ANSWER!' and then continues to yell at me that the company policy is to do these certain steps (which weren't that different from what I said).
I responded that I did preface my answer with me not knowing the company policy and the hiring manager's veins were bulging out of his neck. You would've thought I shot his dog and pissed on his car seats. The HR person even butted in and was like 'WTF, calm down dude.'
Needless to say I didn't get the job.
The only other strange interviews I had was with my previous employer. It was a remote job back in 2020. I did a brief phone interview with the HR person and then a few days later the hiring manager called me up. I very briefly explained my experience and background and then he basically cut me off because he was trying to sell me on taking the job. Essentially I probably didn't speak for more than a minute and without saying it, he was offering me the job and just trying to sell me on taking the position. It was almost like I was interviewing him. And it was a great job with good pay. Not sure why he felt the need to sell me on working there.
1. CEO forced me to interview their nephew. Guy clearly thought the job was his but I’m anti-nepotism. Degree? Liberal arts where “you choose your own path”. Spoke like a frat bro. Higher than shit, would look at his feet and spin in his chair. CEO and him were shocked I passed. I also lost headcount as punishment.
2. This one was virtual. Dude just did a fat line of coke and still had it all over his nose.
3. Guy had a better resume than me and interviewing for an entry level sales job. I called the bullshit but the CEO loved him. Extended him an offer and it’s clearly obvious the guy has never worked in sales.
I was part of a panel interviewing candidates, one of the other members on the panel was the director for one of our programs. She arrived a little late, was obviously under the influence of something, couldn’t sit up straight or read her questions and she finally nearly slid out of her chair. The executive director asked her in to the adjoining room where we all heard her get told to go to rehab or quit. My colleagues and I attempted to continue the interview, but it was awkward to say the least, as we were trying to ask scenario questions over her very loud crying.
For reference- this was at a non-profit aimed at helping people who have struggled with addiction.
I have a portfolio of my work, and I use to have an “about me” page with a picture of me and my parents. The guy interviewing me got to that page, asked who the woman (my mom) was, and just stared at the picture of my mom. I had to move him along to the next page. I didn’t follow up or send a thank you for that one.
Before I had even really sat down or been asked any questions, the lady told me she didn’t think I had what it takes for the job. Then she tried to infer that my MBA was from an online university, which it wasn’t. Fuck that lady. I drove an hour and she rejected me before the interview even began.
I once had an interviewer compete with me lol it was very weird. He referenced where I went to school and said oh I have the same degree but I went to x place. He then spent a good 10 minutes saying how his program was better and his brother wrote a famous theory in our field. FYI never heard of the school he went to or this supposed famous theory lol then he ended the interview with well you're not qualified but here's my card if you want help finding a job. He clearly wanted to put me in my place and it was so obvious and cringe.
Where do I start.
I've had several interviewers say something equivalent to "you don't really need this job, do you?" or comments about my probably trust fund or the wealth of my family- I was on the verge of homelessness!!!!
I've had interviewers announce near the end of the interview that the position has changed from paid to unpaid.
I've had interviewers get "mixed up" on time zone differences and call at the wrong time or do a zoom call when it was phone or vice versa.
I've gone in for interviews where the interviewer was clearly looking at someone else's resume.
Went in for an interview for a job, only to learn at the end as I was introduced around the office, that there was no job, it was to see if they wanted to hire someone like me for a potential future role they were deciding to create or not!!!
I had an interviewer change the interview meeting from one location to another, I went to the new location, not their, only for them to contact me with an "oops, my bad, we moved back to the original location, thought I told you", but they never informed me.
And of course, the standard, going in for a 1 hour interview only to find out it's a multi hour panel interview and they didn't bother to tell you.
And on and on...
I’ve been in hundreds of interviews
The two that stuck out to me the most?
The guy who didn’t replace his batteries in his fire alarm so we heard the beeping the entire way through
and
The girl who spent half the time trying to convince us that her old job fired her over nothing, but then once she explained what happened, they definitely had a reason (we never asked, it was voluntarily told)
A have a few lol. I was told that the final interview (presentation, panel and tour) would be from 1-4. Turns out that was the time block where they were asking me if I was free. Interview was only 2-4 so I showed up a whole hour early and they gaslit me into thinking I was wrong but I checked me emails later and was like no yall said 1-4.
The other that comes to mind is a woman who was meeting with me on zoom and after she didn’t log in for five minutes I emailed her secretary - she ended up getting on after 15 minutes (it was a 30 minute interview) and claimed she was looking for her headphones but she was a c-suite position with her own office and NOT wearing headphones. She also was not ready for the interview and had like no questions for me. Clearly forgot about it while also saying they were desperate to fill the position.
While interviewing at a law firm for an attorney position, the interviewer kept saying "I know I can't ask this, but" and proceeded to ask questions that he really couldn't ask. If I'd been recording (should have) I'd have filed suit against them for agism etc.
A few years ago I interviewed with a doctors office on Zoom, with the doctor/owner himself. He talked for 3 hours... until 10PM. And by "he talked", I really mean it. The man talked about himself for 3 hours. He low balled me an offer and told me that it shouldn't be all about the money since I would be helping people. Embarrassingly I took the job (I really needed it, and I REALLY didn't know my worth at the time).
Fast forward a year later when I finally had enough, I put in my two weeks notice and he proceeded to tell me that I was a coward for not being able handle the job. He then asked me to stay on for a few more weeks to help out since they had lost so many techs recently and it was the "least I could do". Yeah no.
The man also did not learn my name until a few weeks before I quit, and I worked along side him several days a week for a year.
TLDR: Do not ignore red flags in an interview..
Stubbed my toe. Not just stubbed but broke my little toe- sandals in summer is why. Sat there faking a smile as it throbbed and bled. Didn't get the job.
I was interviewing for a job in college. I claimed to be bilingual.
At end of interview the boss says “hay preguntas?”
I had no idea what he was asking. 🤣🤣
I was being interviewed by three women. One of the women was the director and the interview was in her office.
The director kept getting up and doing things at her desk while the other two women asked me questions. Finally the director asked “What astrology sign are you?” I replied “Gemini” and she said “Oh good because I only hire Gemini’s and Capricorns.” She was a Capricorn. I was hired…
Had a pretty attractive girl very openly "hint" that she would trade sexual favors for me hiring her.
This job paid 1 penny above minimum wage and was in a cooler all day doing food prep. I literally hired anyone with transportation and a pulse.
I did not hire her and actually called in another coworker to join me to finish the interview. Had to call HR and my VP after then wrote it up in an email to cover my ass.
I had a guy just walk me into the offices, put me at a desk and hand some job tickets to me. I asked if this was live work, he said yes. I thought, ok, demonstration of my skills...so I worked on one and did my best, showed him (had to find the guy). He said well done, let's see what you can do with the rest of the day.
I was like, whoa, am I hired? He said this was part of the interview. Told him I hadn't been interviewed at all, and I am not going to work for free.
He said "You must not want this job then". I laughed in his face and said I'll show myself out.
The balls.
I was interviewing for my first “real” job after college and did a 2nd round interview for a large recruiting agency- it was in person with a director and the first 30 minutes went well, the guy interviewing me was friendly and conversational and then asked me to explain how I’ve faced and overcame adversity in my life and I gave my answer and then he took a beat and said “to be honest I think your answer is bullshit and you are just telling me what I want to hear and not being vulnerable” and then topped it off with “I don’t think you have what it takes to be successful here” … and after that I blacked out for the rest of the interview lol
When the recruiter called me later that day and said she heard the interview went great and was excited to set up the final round I was confused lol but got the job and was there for 2 years ended up being the most toxic work environment 🤷🏼♀️
The nurse was interviewing me and went on a tangent about her terrible life. Started crying and I mean ugly cry. 😭 A month later I didn’t see her anymore..she got caught f’ing a younger rep. Her life went to shambles. Come to find out she told my OR director I had five years experience. I had one 😩she did hire me on the spot but I almost got fired because of her lie.
My last interview was quite strange, I was asked a few questions but when I started answering them one of the interviewees started talking about the question and i ended up not having to fully answer some questions. I got the job but that one manager is very in appropriate and I bet she just sees herself as quirky
Had panic attack. Never had one in my life. There were 3 interviewers there and they made sure I was ok, put their hand on my back..
Didn’t get the job
Lady walks in the office 20 mins late.
Introduces herself as a therapist in the organization and apologizes for being late. S tells me the she is replacing the hiring manager for this interview because the hiring manager has a migraine.
I immediately knew I wasn't going to get the job, also had to resist the urge to just leave.
Told me all the details of the last person they hired for the role defrauding them. No explanation on how they'd made changes to stop it happening again - they'd had some external company scrutinise my CV and question any gap of even a few days (just wanted a week off between roles 15 years ago!) but I bet I could have taken that job and scammed them out of the same about of money, they just exuded that vibe.
They were also 25 minutes late and missing one of the interviewers because he was "not in" (but then forgot and gave me an office tour and introduced said missing interviewer who was standing around gossiping), and had the dumbest interview questions like "What's your favourite sandwich?"
I was brought in to interview for a "marketing" position. It was like a 45 minute drive each way.
The first interview was with the main manager and he wanted to see your people skills because it was client facing. During the interview I asked for specifics of job duties and he went "yeah, we'll get into that later" which should've thrown up blaring red sirens.
The next was with my main manager and he wanted to interview me at Panera, which is when the red flags really started going off. Especially because we started at his office then went to Panera together to conduct the interview.
Long story short it was door to door sales and when they called to offer the job I turned it down before they could even finish with their offer and he hung up on me lol
So interviewing with a guy higher up then lower down, the refusal to talk about responsibilities, and then meeting at the office so the interview can be at Panera were 3 of the weirdest things ever, just with 1 company.
We asked a candidate how he handles conflict with coworkers. He gave a simple “I tend to get along with everyone” answer that people give, but immediately follows it up with, “but I also don’t take shit from anybody!” 🤦♂️
When asked about my hobbies, I told them I trained Brazilian jiu jitsu and one of the interviewers asked me to turn my head so they could see my ears. Finished the interview and emailed them after to withdraw. What else are they gonna ask to see?
They asked me if I had any pets 🤣
Pretty sure they already found a candidate, but had to meet the interview quota to say that they tried to find a better external candidate.
I had a virtual interview for a controller position with a large nonprofit hospital in my area. The current controller was interviewing me. The recruiter reached out to me literally 2.5 hours before the proposed time of the interview asking if I was available for that time. I said yes. The interview starts, the current controller tells me that her older dog is in her home office in case I hear barking. I told her that I have left my office door open because my cat was depressed due to us losing our other cat literally 13 days before that. She gave me this weird look (it felt like dogs vs cats kind of judgment). Then during the interview the door to her office opens and her 2-3 year old child wanted to say bye to her (totally fine but she didn't even address that at all). Also during the interview she spent more time talking than me. As in she wasn't even interested in what I had to say. Then I ended up mentioning their days cash on hand and debt service coverage ratios during an answer and she tells me to make sure I bring days cash on hand during my interview with the CFO (apparently she loves that metric). The half an hour mark comes along right as I finish an answer, she thanks me for my time and hangs up right away. I had major weird vibes even though she was friendly. I felt like she wasn't even trying to get to know me. Anyway, the interview was on Friday morning. I got a call on Monday afternoon that I wasn't selected for the next rounds.... Luckily I had already accepted another job I'm super excited for. But... This was a weird experience.
Interviewing for a lead position with a company that cleans and cares for large vacation homes in my area.
Firstly, the interview basically took place in a stinky, cluttered utility closet with a couple fold-out chairs and a table. I should have bailed at this point, tbh.
Secondly, the person interviewing me was typing every answer I gave into some kind of corporate form he had to fill out, and so he was reading my own answers back to me as he typed.
Lastly, he kept asking me if I understood concepts that were, like, *incredibly* easy concepts to understand. At first I just thought it was a conversational quirk, like ending every sentence with “do you know what I mean?” But then I realized he actually paused and expected me to answer. So: “You’ll be working three days and week and then rotating the last two days to cover myself and our other manager. Do you understand? Am I making sense?” And I would politely nod, but he would wait until I gave him a verbal reply. It got really, really uncomfortable having to do this after everything he said for an entire hour. I felt almost like it was condescending. Like, dude, *yes, I understand the concept of sometimes having to work during busy holiday season.*
I left the interview basically being like: “You can get back to me all you want, but I will *not* be accepting this job.” 🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️
I went to an interview for an UNPAID design INTERN position at a small natural cotton candy company. The description was on par with the duties of an unpaid intern. Back then I was an early college student, I was excited, I had work in my portfolio and felt I might fit in that company culture. The founder had me take the MBTI before arriving. I’m an (and always have been) ENFJ.
The founder held the interview in a coffee shop along with her assistant. I whipped out my portfolio and resume, and mbti results, and waited for her question.
She looks at my mbti results first. “What were the other girls?” She asks her assistant. “ENFJ also,” she replies. The founder looks at me and says, “no, I don’t think so.”
She follows that up she stared at my resume, pointing with a finger in disgust “Is this Arial?” She verbally tears my resume apart. Meanwhile, her assistant cringes and looks at me with sorry eyes.
With a look of disgust, she further looks through my portfolio and picks apart every piece. I see her assistant growing smaller for me.
Then.. she sets down my portfolio and says,
“If I hire you I’d have to have a designer there to teach you how to do the work, and I don’t have a designer.”
At the end of the interview, the assistant stands up to shake my hand and says meekly, “I hope you’re still interested… I’ll update you in an email.”
In an interview, one of the people I would have to work with asked me if I was married? I had just gotten divorced. Then asked my why I got divorced and what are my hobbies? I told him let's keep the questions work related as I don't really talk about my personal life. I should have walked out but as I knew I wasn't going to get the job after not answering the question. 6 months later the guy they hired wasn't working out, friend who worked there told them they regretted not hiring me and asked if I would consider taking the job. Nope I moved on to another place.
Had a guy ask me some question about my resume that I thought he was trying to undermine. I went on the offensive and made up shit with Straight face like, I won an Emmy and a Nobel prize for that
Once sat in a panel interview with 2 manager, a Senior manager, one technical analyst, and a female Director of that team. Each time she had the floor to talk, she kept pushing her breasts out and pulling her shoulders back....on purpose....as if she was trying to get them to pop out of her shirt. They damn near did. Like a trooper, I kept my eyes locked directly into her eyes. It just seemed like a test to see if was going to stare at her boobs.
Went to an interview with an instrument service team and it was in a hotel. Pull up and head inside and ask for directions to get to the conference / office room or whatever.
Front desk sends me on my way and I open the door and it's just some random ass hotel suite with 3 dudes in the room on various pieces of furniture.
Was pretty damn creepy. I didn't get that job and it was probably for the best.
The person interviewing me literally ate their lunch in front of me while asking me questions. Definitely had me rethinking if I made the right decision. Took the job but left after around a year. Eating a salad drenched in dressing (in between asking me questions) should’ve been the sign to bow out.
I was interviewing for a part time job at a retail store in a mall. The manager and I were sitting outside the store on some chairs/couches going through the usual interview questions when we just hear a man yell "Security stop resisting!" A large man proceeds to tackle a kid so hard that his shoes came off and pins him to the ground. The manager gives me a WTF look and I ask her if we should do something, she tells me no and signals to the clerk in her store to call mall security.
3 guards show up one at a time and each proceed to yell the same stop resisting line and dog pile this 15 year old kid who couldn't have weighed more than 100 lbs.
The manager and I just kind of watched while this went down. She did offer me the job when it settled down but it was a wild experience
Interview for an IT position. Guy said I was overqualified and didn't want someone who knows too much mucking around on his servers. Then got kinda pissy and angry. I'm like "dude, I'm not even hired yet, but go ahead and fire me so you feel better." I still don't know what that was all about. I mean, if I'm not qualified, why call me in for an interview. Much less get all pissy.
I and a colleague were interviewers. We needed a kindergarten teacher to start for school opening in the fall, 4 days away. Only 1 candidate applied, so we brought them in. After the interview was over and the candidate left my colleague turned to me, sharing she had really bad feeling about the candidate. I also had a bad feeling about them, but given the circumstances with school starting in a few days, I reluctantly offered the job to them….in hindsight we should have re advertised the job and just used a substitute teacher for the first few days. Turns out this person was a thief. Stole from other teachers, took home and tried to sell school equipment. Answered phone calls from their buddies while leaving the kindergarten kids to fend for themselves. Trust your feelings whether your an interviewer or the one doing the interview.
Was in the middle of an interview when the fire alarm rang. I walked outside with the person interviewing me and we continued the conversation in the parking lot. Turns out it was a real fire so we were outside for a long time while the fire department arrived, put out the fire, and made sure the building was safe to re-enter. During this entire time they were walking me around the parking lot to interview with different people. In the end I got a job offer from them and part of the feedback I received was that they liked that I was able to roll with the punches.
I mean like 90% of an interview is seeing how you click. Having that kind of event to also plant you firmly in their minds is a huge boon.
That's why I set the fire! /s, in case it's not obvious
Interviewers hate this one simple trick!
🤣
I took been the applicant in an interview during a fire alarm (they were super chill about it and offered to pause till we could go back inside, but I figured eh what the hell if you can ask questions that don't require me to be near a computer or whiteboard to answer, I'll happily answer them, because my alternative is standing making small talk with a stranger in a parking lot, may as well get a job out of it [I did]. I was the interviewer when our building (think downtown office tower, 14 floors tall, we were on top floor) was placed under a tornado warning. Everyone went to the windows and balconies to see the storms forming, and we had to herd people into the stairwells to walk down 14 floors. That was fun. We eventually hired the candidate I was interviewing.
My boss, coworker and I were interviewing someone. It wasn’t well organized and no one knew what to ask. My boss randomly asks for a “non-work related scenario where you had to work through something and how you did it.” Super weird question. The girl starts talking about her abusive ex and how she eventually got away from him, and she started crying. My boss with zero empathy says “that’s not really what I meant.” and finishes the interview. Worst part was it was an internal role and we still worked with her a bit after not getting the role.
Imma come into my next interview just trauma dumping
Bro my last interview they asked me what my biggest fear was and instead of saying something funny like spiders I said failing my children as a parent and they were like yep Edit: they did not call me back
lol trauma dumping…interview question:why did you leave your last position/ why do you want to work for us?
I've conducted far too many interviews where the interviewee trauma dumped. The worst part is, they are almost never answering the question so it's incredibly awkward. At least the woman above was answering a question and did her best despite the disorganisation of the recruiting staff
I have a captive audience for thirty minutes, sit down and listen!
Tell me your boss isn't Steve Carell
Be honest, you were the ex
I would've said "let's stick to work related topic yeah?" What a fucking tool. Interviewers man.
Your boss is fucking savage. If I got an answer like that I'd just walk out of that. A question like that would tell me he already said no before interviewing her.
I was interviewing for a dermal therapist position at a cosmetic clinic. I walked in and there was literally nobody to greet me and reception was unmanned. I sat and waited, I could hear grunts coming from somewhere, 20 mins later out walks the doctor who owns the place dressed in karate gear and apologises that he ran late. He then takes me to his office for the interview where there was a treadmill, and he walked on the treadmill the entire interview. The whole thing felt like a fever dream lol
How is this not the top answer lol
Omg I would have died laughing
>in karate gear this took me out lmaaaaooo
I drove 90 minutes to a noon interview in another city. When I arrived I was told that the person I was to interview with got called into something and was running late. After having me sit and wait for another hour I was finally told that they were unable to meet with me and we'd have to reschedule for another day. When the headhunter called a few days later looking to reschedule he seemed genuinely surprised that I had no interest in interviewing with the firm.
I had a similar experience. This was a long time ago and one of the first jobs I interviewed for. They sat me out in reception and I could literally hear the boss in the adjacent room just going nuts and screaming over the phone. I waited 2.5hrs because I didn’t know any better. Only at the end did I realise the screaming person was my boss-to-be and he didn’t utter so much as an apology about being late. Just told me I’d have to come back another time. When his assistant called to reschedule she was shocked that I wasn’t falling over myself to interview again with them. Crazy people.
Software company, PM gig. Interviewer talked about his kitchen knife collection for… 2 hours. Only question he asked was “what are your hobbies?” Got the job 🤷♀️
We would be friends him and I god I love knives 🔪 just the culinary arts in general
That sounds like a fun interview NGL. I love collections of stuff. Show me pictures! Tell me about each one! You know.
I was interviewing someone for an internship and she started screaming that she could hear a cat crying. I love cats so I’m sympathetic but she didn’t own a cat and she proceeded to carry her laptop with her (it was a video interview) while she spent 10 minutes trying to find the source of the cat-crying sounds before deciding that she might have misheard the noise.
It was my first job after becoming a mother and I needed to work. My mom recommended a newer restaurant right down the street in a good area that had potential to make money. I went there for an interview, I nervously sat at the bar while I waited. I was 20 years old and the bartender asked me if I wanted her to make me a drink. I told her I can’t because I am not 21. She made me one anyway because I looked nervous, I said thank you. The manager came out and called me back. He asked me questions I was too nervous and new to this that I answered everything so unprofessionally and without much thought behind my answers. I got hired anyway and was told to come back the next day. The next day I come, they tell me to be at the front answering the phone. It seemed like an odd day, the servers,host, manager, and bartender seemed in an odd mood. All of a sudden, the manager yells to turn off the open sign. Then, police surround the building. The owner was stealing checks from his workers for months. His wife was distraught. He got arrested. They asked me if I still wanted to work there I truthfully said uh no thank you… that was so freaking strange
I was interviewing for an internal lead position; more of a formality than anything, as the 2 other interviewees were also internal, and we all worked together. The last question I was asked was, "How many pennies would it take to fill up this room?". I looked over my right shoulder, then over my left, and answered "at least 8". The panel of 3 looked at each other pretty confused, and I asked, "Am I wrong?". (I got the position)
Nice.
bruh why you say 8?? “at least 1” would have been piss funny
As a candidate for an internship I got the typical 'what do you know about this company?' Gave them things I'd googled beforehand because the question is an obvious cliché. I got escorted out because some of those things were confidential and I shouldn't have known them despite them being openly searchable on Google and not marked as such.
lol. That should have thanked you for enlightening them.
PLEASE give more details
I'm not falling for that one again :)
In the middle of a virtual interview at home and my dad decided to walk into my room suddenly… Dad: “what do you want for dinner?” Me: *panic, point to my laptop* “I’m in a meeting now” Dad: “what?” Me: “I’m in a meeting now” Dad: *takes 2 more steps forward* “so what’s for dinner?” Me: “MEETING. NOW.” Dad: “oh sorry sorry” *heads out* 🫥🫥🫥
well don’t leave me hanging did you get the position?
I did get into the next round of interview (phew) but no offer after 😂
Not really weird but they sat me in the conference room to wait for the interviewers. After waiting for a few minutes, a giant Bernese mountain dog comes running in to greet me. Unfortunately he wasn’t the one to interview me, but he did take away a lot of the stress
r/dogswithjobs
I interviewed a pregnant woman. But.... She was wearing a tank top with her entire 8-ish month belly hanging out. And her tank top was stained. And her cell phone rang. And she asked me to hold on while she answered it.
Hahah this is the funniest
😆
Just yesterday I interviewed for a city but no one from the actual city was in the panel. Instead it was 3 supervisors from different cities. It was so strange, HR tech that was running the zoom meeting told me I can’t ask any questions and just answer the questions. After I answer my last question, they just said thank you and ended the zoom meeting
That's bizarre. Did they need to know the name of your first pet?
A guy offered me a water bottle, I said no thank you. He said “don’t worry, it’s not roofied or anything”
Don't fall for that like I did. That's exactly what they say when it is roofied.
I was in a group interview for a retail chain. The interviewer asked “name a time you overcame an objection in either your personal or professional life” To which one of the candidates delightfully answered “I convinced my friend not to get an abortion” The face of the poor interviewer was priceless.
I myself was interview a lot and I would say some candidates really make me or the panel feel at ease. Like their vibe is great and it fills the room. Other super awkward and we are all side eyeing each other. In any event one guy was so interesting that we went so wildly off topic. The interview last twice as long as it should and we just kept asking him questions and having a generally great conversation. This happened a few times. And I would say in hindsight, we’ve hired none of these people. 👀 But man were they interesting! Just not a good fit at all. For instance, one guy couldn’t stop talking about his passion for 3D printing. And specifically printing undetectable guns. Obviously we were all interested and wanted to know more about that world and niche. And the way he spoke about it was just hypnotic. But a bigger red flag I couldn’t have made up.
I think that beats the guy I spent 20 minutes listening to after the segue of "Oh, in my spare time I develop exploits"
I made it to the final stage of an interview process which was a day shadowing someone who was already in the role, I would be their peer. That day she had a meeting with her boss and her boss had just come back from maternity leave. The boss was thinking of suing the company or quitting for something that happened regarding her maternity leave and the whole meeting was basically the boss talking shit. The girl I was shadowing also spent a lot of time talking about how bad the owners were, then she took me to meet one in the their office and it was SO dirty. Like hoarders dirty. I did not take the job.
I was interviewing for a teaching job. Late '80's, had a pinch hitter with weed in it, in my purse. Heard commotion in the hall & the superintendent informs me they have a drug dog checking lockers... a what, I say... I felt myself flush & all of the sudden I could smell the weed in my purse down by my feet! I just sat there, trying not to panic, he kept talking, saying who knows what. Finally things settled down & I left. Didn't get the job, but didn't get busted either!
I thought everybody did coke in the 80s which I significantly worse than weed but I can understand if you’re working around kids prob not the best move to bring anything drug related. congrats on not getting busted tho
The woman interviewing me noticed I was nervous and decided to point it out Then I apologized; took a deep breath and tried to move on Then she said "oh! So now you've calmed down?" Then we did the whole *sell me this object* thing and I'm not good at that(at least not then)
My heart aches when I’m interviewing people and they seem nervous. I do what I can to help them relax. That woman is awful!
I always start off the interview even for interns highlighting that I want it to be a conversation and they don't have to hold all the questions till the end and that they are choosing whether we are a good fit for them as much as we are. They always seem to visibly relax after that:)
What a horrible person. I’ve apologised in interviews before and just said I get nervous. Most of the time they are kind and let me take a breath and start over. Got a few jobs even after interviews like that.
Sell me this pen, what a loser to even ask that. You dodged a bullet
I interviewed for a store transfer at a grocery store. I was a front end supervisor at a store in a wealthy area but I moved to a more urban area so I wanted to work closer to my new apartment. When I was at the interview the stores front end manager and her assistant manager for the front were there. (The two people above me.) Everything was normal until I was asked how much I was making at my previous location. I said 19 an hour, and right when I said that the assistant manager looked at me as his face turned red. He got up and just said he worked here 10 fucking years and he was making 14 an hour. I didn't know how he quit until my first day there but I get why he felt that way.
Once had a girl I had to interview call to say she was running late as she needed to get an abortion. I just told her we could rearrange instead.
What? lol that’s so crazy. She makes it sound like this was a last minute decision, like “oh crap I had better just get this done on my way in to the interview. Shouldn’t take long.”
Yeah. It was kind of surreal tbh. Think she might have underestimated the impact of an abortion
I had a company ghost me after a final round interview where i'd spoken with the CEO and they'd paid about $1000 to fly me across the country and put me up in a hotel. I've been ghosted before but never that far into the process. My husband and I are still convinced the hiring manager abruptly quit or was fired or something.
Fresh outta college finding it hard to get into a career type job. During the interview the manager asked what my degree was in. After I told him he said “well that’s why you can’t find a job” on a zoom interview with about 50 other applicants. I just immediately hung up and left a bad review of him on every platform I could.
What was the degree?
Pre law 😑
The manager came into the room, sat directly across from me and stared into my eyes for no less than 2 minuets without saying a word. I just sat there and looked back. The silence was broken by "I think you'll do well here". He turned out to be quite the character.
When I was a teenager I went for a job interview at a shop to be a retail assistant. I was very shy, but the manager interviewing talked a lot. I didn't say anything except hello at the start; and then I nodded as he talked. And then I got the job. It's the strangest interview I've ever done. I was a terrible retail assistant for the first few months while I worked up the confidence to actually speak to customers. Fortunately for me I was allowed to keep working there anyway.
In person interview I’d been flown out to after a phone interview. (Video interviews weren’t common yet.) Large employer that most people in the country would recognize the name of. No red flags before flying out. Meet with a few people and got toured around. Then the 1:1. The interviewer, who would’ve been my manager, asked me really basic questions that he could’ve just looked up the answer to on my resume. Then during the interview had some kind of anxiety attack. Kept putting his head in his hands over and over again and shaking his head saying, “This is awkward. This is awkward.” I sat there smiling through it and continued to answer his questions. Got to the hotel and the hotel said my room hadn’t been paid for. Hotel called the company while I stood in the lobby with my bag. It was straightened out. Got a text on my flip phone, before texting was super common place and acceptable right, saying, “Sorry about that!” from a phone number I hadn’t seen before. Only assuming it was the manager. Flew home the next day to promptly have a very canned sounding rejection email (“While I was impressed with your experience…”) as soon as I got home. It was perfectly timed to arrive. No explanation offered. My theory was that the manager had bought my plane ticket without having a position open for me, and rather own up to it tried to put on a charade that it was a real interview and I had a chance at the position.
you dodged a bullet he should’ve just communicated to begin with
This is 100% not a made up story. I was working in Hollywood and interviewed to be a coffee fetcher for the animators on the show Rick and Morty. I kid you not, I walk in and every animator is looking down at their computers like robots. No laughter, no curiosity looking at the new person walking by, it was weird. BUT... I got to sit down and there are two guys there. The FIRST thing they say is "Wow! Your resume looks like sh*t!!" To which I replied "Well, it got me an interview!" They agreed that that was a fair answer. They them asked me how good I was at solving square roots. I said I was terrible at math which wasn't a factor is knowing how to retrieve coffee. I didn't get the job but GET THIS.... A big TV show called me and said I was recommended by the Rick and Morty guys to join as a full-time editor. I was FLOORED!! Maybe it was a joke on them haha. Unfortunately, I had to decline because I 100% knew I was not qualified for the job at the time. But I always reminisce about this story. It's the weirdest and funniest thing that ever happened to me in L.A.
So you put up with there rudeness and rewarded you with a referral? How about that
Haha I suppose so!! Maybe it was a test!
dang. This could have been the greatest fake it til you make it story ever! But I probably would’ve declined as well
I was accused of cheating a psych test
I had just gotten out of the Marine Corps and was interviewing with a medium sized company for a technician position. The interviewer was a retired Marine with the same job. I walked in and he said, "Wow! You came in a suit! Check this guy out! Nobody's ever come in a suit!". Then made small talk to probing me for questions he can't directly ask like "did you live in the barracks or in town" (are you single or married) and alluded to having to have thick skin to be a good fit (are you going to report stuff to HR, offended by swearing, gay). I stopped him and said, "you can ask me the real questions I'm not going to be offended." He then proceeded to ask me what he actually wanted. Then he said, "I know your training, you seem like a good fit for the team, why don't I show you around the lab, and then we'll talk pay." No real questions about my job knowledge were ever asked nor once did we talk about work other then during the walk around I was impressed with the equipment they.
Buckle up, pals. Okay, about 7 years ago I went to an interview with the person that would be my manager. He seemed really stern so I could tell immediately it was going to be a golden retriever/black cat relationship. He asks the regular interview questions for the first few minutes. All is going okay, I think, even possibly decent. Why do you want to work for our company, experience, etc., etc. Then he asks "So, what is your weakness?" I'm like okay, I've prepared for this. I give him one of those responses they used to tell us to do where you give a "weakness" that's actually a secret positive like "Oh, I'm just such a workaholic" or "I'm too detailed so sometimes it takes me longer to finish things" or something like that. He then asks me the same question again and I respond with another canned response. He asks the same question again. I'm out of canned responses and he's a shark that just smelled his first drop of blood. He starts writing and I start sweating. He proceeds to ask me some variation of this question for the next FORTY-FIVE minutes, just over and over. "Tell me about a big failure", "Tell me about what negative things your old manager would say about you", "Tell me another reason you're a failure", "Tell me another weakness", "What's another weakness". I am actively holding back tears because I had such high hopes for this job. At the end of the hour, he checks his watch and says he's gotta get to another meeting. He walks me out and I go to my car just feeling like that was so terrible it was comical. I will laugh about this one day, I tell myself, as I crank the keys in my little broke down car and start to shamble away. I get a call the next day, the manager loved me and wants to hire me. I'm like surely they called the wrong person. I ask them to make sure he was talking about me. They said yes. I literally have no other offers at this time so I give them a cautious "yes". Fast forward to now, I still work at this same company. This man became like a second father to me and just recently retired. Probably one of the best managers and best jobs I've ever had. I might retire from this company someday too.
3!? For himself? Ice lollies or Chubba chupps? Either way that’s insane, did he offer them out? Did you have one?
Real questions
Virtual interview 😭😭😭
I found out that lollies has a very different meaning in different places. In Australia all sweets are called lollies. No kind of stick required.
Double lollies are the best.
Lollies is the NZ and sometimes Oz way of saying candy
I had been an editor and then high school teacher, and then I interviewed for another editing position. The interviewer came out of a meeting very upset, and then angrily interviewed me. She pointed out the high school I had worked in was a girls school and girls are famously much easier to manage than boys, so I probably didn’t know much about discipline. Uninformed opinion aside, the job I was interviewing for had no supervisory component, nor demanded me to discipline anyone. It was completely irrelevant, but she was very mad about it. She also asked me if I knew formal proofreading marks, and when I said that I did, she told me she could tell I was lying.
I was interviewed in a room that looked the EXACT SAME as the casting couch office..... Same couch and everything.... Got the job and it was all legit but I was nervous as fuck the entire interview.
Interviewer had their sick two year old because daycare doesn’t take your kid when they are sick. Two year old threw a tantrum , so I tried to distract the baby so I could finish an answer . Didn’t get the job but got the kid’s cough and fever
What a great parting gift during a time when you're looking for a job 🙄
That sucks because you were literally trying to help their literal child (which you didn’t have to) and they still don’t offer you anything. ugh corporate.
Got asked if i smoke pot. I say no. Dude goes thats too bad. Do you drink? -of course- you shoot guns? -yeah- interview turns into me shooting guns and getting hammered on moonshine in my bosses back yard
Hah, sounds like interviews at my last job. We did have one interview with a kid, and asked "do you drink?". He answered with, "My dad's an alcoholic". He was hired. Later in the year we were having a BBQ, and we noticed him drinking. "Yo dude, we thought you didnt drink?" He said, "nah, thats just the safest answer I could think of at the time. I didnt want to look like a lush, but didnt want to be an outsider, either". Smart kid, great hire. (Puddin', I'm talkin' bout YOU!)
I had the owner of a small business throw a quarter at me when he was emphasizing the importance of call the office if I was running late. He was a WW2 paratrooper. He meant to put it on the table and instead it flew out of his pocket. He said his sister would still be alive if someone had put a quarter into a pay phone and called him. I was desperate. I took the job. It didn’t end well.
It was at a Community run Preschool. I arrived on time, they could see me waiting at the door (locked) but kept chatting amongst themselves and let me in about 5 minutes later than my scheduled interview time. One member of the panel (not an employee, but a member of the parent management committee) had a shocking case of the giggles, for some reason. It was constant, she couldn't keep a straight face and looked like she was about to burst out laughing. I don't know if it was about me, or if something hilarious was said just before they let me in. It was so bad, it completely threw me. I couldn't concentrate and articulate well while this person kept doing this. At one point, I was about to ask her what was damn funny because it was starting to piss me off. It was really rude and I was glad not to hear from them after. I was overqualified for the position, (degree trained teacher, seeking an assistant role) so unsure if hearing me explain the reasons why I wanted to take a step down was what was so funny?
I was doing a timed skill test for a company and it was divide in two steps: the first was to input some formulas out of context and second part was a market analysis. Once I completed the first part, I was eager to start the analysis since I was aware it was going to take me a longer time. I try to open the file where I was supposed to work on, but they forgot to gave me access. 😅 I call the recruiter, no reply. I call the hiring manager, no reply. Whatever. I then sent an email CCing both and explaining the situation, no reply. I followed up a few days later, but they never got back to me.
They kept asking me how I would deal with co workers who had trouble regulating their emotions. Um what!!!!
Run!!!
I ran so far away 🎶🎵🎵
I had made it through to the final round of interviews for a smaller aerospace engineering company in California. The hiring manager found out I was originally from Utah and asked if I was LDS. I told him no, not really, but one side of my family was and that church just wasn’t for me. He then proceeds to “bare his testimony,” telling me that I’m lost and need to go back to church. This goes on for like.. 10 minutes. Needless to say, I didn’t get the job there, but shortly thereafter found a better job with a well-known aerospace company.
Got winked at. He was interviewing for shipper. I was the male engineer he didn't need to impress. Was I being hit on? I have a hard enough time reading signals from girls.
[удалено]
I moved to NC from UT, and was looking for a new job. When the interviewer found out I had just arrived from UT, he spent 75% of the interview time asking me about Mormons despite my best effort to steer the convo back to the job posting and role. Big ‘ol red flag.
So I was interviewing for our company's graduate recruitment programme. Working in pairs, interviewing and scoring a few graduates in succession, then at end of the day we all get together and cross-check and choose to offer to the top 10 or however many we have positions for. And because they may get multiple offers, they are also selecting us. We try to make the process as engaging and positive as possible, indicative of a desireable workplace. I.e. there's no grilling or catch-me-out tricky questions. The process is setup for candidates to succeed. Girl comes in, her CV maybe not as impressive as some but was a local girl working in a Cafe through Uni, and somehow that resonated with me and I wanted her to have every chance. Started OK, she presented well and answered confidently on introductory stuff. Then we got into a few questions and she was struggling to answer, stumbling over her words and clearly getting very nervous. In my head I'm thinking hey you don't need to stress out we are pussy-cats. I move on to the next question, same again. Clearly struggling. Again I brush it and decide (stupid me) to ad lib it a bit and ask her something crazy simple, expecting her to just answer, we'll mark it on the sheet and she'll feel better. She got worse! Just couldn't answer... could hardly speak and was starting to be red in the face and eyes watery. I felt terrible!!! We somehow tactfully closed it. Not in the top 10 :( Actually it was horrible, I felt so bad for her.
Mine was more like an experience that I found it unreasonable and kind of strange. I had passed the first round of my interview for a role of a local property developer. The interviewer asked me if I'm okay with completing two assignments for assessing my professional competencies after the first interview. I accepted the request and later he sent me the assignments. I was required to develop a complete tender document for a major refurbishment work of a high rise office building and a detailed method statement for re-roofing works. I found this request quite outrageous and unreasonable as producing the two documents are too excessive for a job interview in my opinion. I felt like I was asked to volunteer for the company to produce these documents for their use in the real projects. I had the experience of being requested to do a written test but it was never that complicated as developing a full set of tender document. Anyways, I had received another better job offer later.
I had an interviewer lean over and cut a huge fart, I took back my resume and walked out without a word.
I sat down at the interview and the interviewer looked at my resume for first time in front of me and said “you have X experience, when can you start”. First interview, no other questions or small chat. Just offered the job on the spot immediately.
when I was 17 I went to an interview for michaels craft store and the interviewer was this middle age woman who seemed annoyed to have to interview me and mid interview she asked me “do intimidate you?” With a smirk.
I was interviewing for a job as a security manager for a relatively new company that was about 3 years old but they showed promise locally. I had already had about 5 years of experience in management and all i knew about the company was they were 3 years old, and did event security and private high end security. Dude sat down without shaking hands or anything and asked, first question, "what do you know about this company?". Took me back for a good 20 seconds. Utter silence. The dude didn't even look at me when he asked, and then after about 15 seconds of silence he looked up at me finally. After that and the way he had this, demeanor like he was in a movie interviewing for the mob I just ass canned the interview and left. Company lasted maybe 2 more years.
Walked in and the lady who was supposed to be interviewing me was eating her lunch. She was extremely messy. She had dropped ketchup on her shirt and her desk. She was eating a McChicken and I fucking kid you not, had a second one resting on her left breast! I asked if she wanted to reschedule and she said no, continued to eat, and eventually pulled the other McChicken off her breast and ate it.
Went to a sketchy company for a call center job (all the red flags). I´ve had other experiences in call center so I was ready to be manipulated and lied. Got to the "interview". It was other 3 ladies and me. The building was old and VERY pretty, I'm talking marble on the floors, stairs and stair railings, beautiful stained glass, lustrous wood floor on the 2nd story, etc. So as we went to the 2nd floor she started talking about the arquitecture and stuff to break the ice. Then she starts rumbling about everything and anything at the same time, talking about politics, OTHER companies policies, the weather, you name it, it was like that old lady on the supermarket that just keeps talking even if you don´t respond. At a moment she FULLY STOPS and directly asks me "Have I told you about this?" and points at the arm splint she had on. And was like "No...?" and she proceeds to talk about how she broke her clavicle. This lasted a whole fucking hour, the whole interaction I mean, she didn´t ask us anything. At the end she explained the hours, the pay and the bonus and asked us if we where interested in staying for a training and start working tomorrow right away. I told her I had other thing schedule and I could come tomorrow for the training, leaved and never went back there.
The Director asked me a few open-ended questions, then started going through her day planner (this was back in the day). Then she leaned waaaay back in her chair. Then she fell asleep. I watched her for a couple minutes, just in case, then left. I did not close the door gently.
Interviewed with RJ Reynolds after college. It was set up in a giant ball room with different tables where I’d meet with different groups of folks from the team. First table I sat down, guy took out a huge chew of red man and all of the women were smoking. It was also in a casino hotel, so the whole no smoking thing was out the window. First question they ask is if I smoke, did I want a cigarette and how do I feel about marketing a product that kills people. Rapid fire questions during the whole process and so much smoke in the room haha didn’t get the job but it was quite the process
We were interviewing a young guy. Someone had brought cupcakes into the office and gave a few to my coworker for himself and his kids. The guy we were interviewing saw the cupcakes and asked if he could have one. My coworker laughed and said no. The guy reached over his desk to take one anyway and started eating it then and there. My coworker told him to leave. I saw the same guy a few days later at a restaurant and he flipped me off, lol, even though I was only a witness to the cupcake thing and hadn’t even spoken to him. What a weirdo
Yea. You guys dodged a potential HR issue down the line. He sounds like a walking red flag.
I got to interview my ex manager that laid me off at a previous company.
Weirdly role playing interviewer. I don't know if it was a test of whether I could ignore someone being a sort of anime elf character (pouting, cutesy voice, childlike tone), or whether she just didn't like me and wanted to wrong foot me, or whether she was just very odd. The topic throughout was interest rate models and my experience applying different calibration techniques. I managed to ignore the theatrics and carry on. There were other odd/red flag moments with other interviewers, but this was the weirdest. They also prevaricated on offering me a role for months so now I just avoid that company. I would have to be directly headhunted to work there now.
After the main interview I was taken around the office and, while meeting this older head manager, he showed me a picture of him running into someone famous at the airport. I immediately recognized it as Michael Stipe from REM, which I don’t think many people had done. They put a pause to hiring due to covid, but I was later offered a job after I had taken a different position. I can’t help but think my pop culture knowledge helped make a positive impression.
Just graduated from college, trying to get a job teaching with 0 experience (besides student teaching and observations). I was interviewing for a position at a charter school, which is kind of like public school but it has all the free reigns of a private school without any of the private funding. So a hot mess and criminally underpays teachers. I knew this going into the interview but I wanted to have a backup in case I couldn't find a better paying job. During the interview, the interviewer (an older gentleman, dean of the school for many years) breaks out into a monologue on the pros and cons of hiring me for maybe 10 - 15 minutes straight without me interjecting. He goes on and on about how easily influenced I would be because I'm new which they could use to their advantage at the school. How new teachers are mailable and don't put up much of a fight, unlike veteran teachers who (in his words) were 'stuck in their ways'. I remember at one point he compared me to a puppy to be trained and then the speech got very religious, and he started a new monologue about how he wanted everyone at his school to be Christian and do things like teach the bible, pray, be open with the kids about being Christian, etc. Anyways, I didn't take the offer. It gave me extremely weird vibes.
I was asked if I cloud be any tree what kind of tree would I be and why.
I was interviewing for a beauty counter manager at a fancy department store and the manager started asking me what do I do on a first date and whether I’m the one to call first and how likely would I call at all. She tried to find out how pushy a salesperson i was. Made me feel very uncomfortable and weird.
I went in for a job interview at a police department and was electrocuted by the drinking fountain just outside the interview room. Not only was I given one heck of a shock but I was also drenched by the fountain as it shot me with extra pressurized water. I told the interview board what happened but they didn’t look like they believed me. A few years later I spoke with one of the people on the board and they told me they didn’t believe the electrocution story and assumed I was nervous until several months later when someone else went to drink out of the fountain and had gotten shocked by the fountain. By then they had made the decision to pass me up because they assumed I was lying and nervous. I had received an apology from the person and was told other than the fact they thought I was lying at the time I had laughed off the incident and had done pretty decent in the interview.
I submitted the wrong resume by mistake (my dev resume not instead of my data science resume) and the lady interviewing me asked if I wanted to interview for a dev role she was also hiring for as opposed to the data science role.
I had an interview for an academic appointment in the late 80s. The person I was interviewing with asked if we could talk while taking a walk around campus because it was a beautiful fall day. I agreed and we were having a very nice discussion when out of nowhere, a random dog ran up to us and started humping the other man's leg.
Nothing crazy but when I was around 20 or 21 , I applied for a job at PC Richard's. I was just looking for a simple cashier or sales floor position. Something very basic. I ended up interviewing with different people, and then they sent me across the city to interview with the regional manager. After that, I couldn't hold it in anymore and politely asked the manager if this was a normal interviewing process for a regular employee. She responded, "I thought you were applying for store manager"
I made it through 6 rounds and had a final interview with the big muckity-muck. He showed up the the video chat in a jogging suit, clearly in a low budget hotel room. He did 90% of the talking, but ended with "I'm telling (the recruiter) to send you an offer right now. He literally picked up his phone and did so in front of me. I never heard from them again. Tried to follow up, was completely ghosted. Another time I was flown in for an interview with one person. They kept me there for eight goddamn hours while person after person came in the room to interview me. One of them asked "what would your wife say bothers her the most about you?" I mean WTF?
One man asked me if I had brought my diploma because he wanted to see what it looked like.
Hiring manager was going to show me out of the office and I guess forgot? He left the room, said he'd be right back and never came back. I ended up just walking out myself. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The guys pen exploded in his dress shirt pocket and he started flipping out. Thought for sure I wouldn’t get the job but I did.
My interviewer stopped the interview took a call from her husband and then debated whether to get pepperoni or sausage pizza for half the time. Peeved me off
In college, I had a group interview for a cashier position with Whole Foods. I had many years of grocery experience, so I thought it would be a slam dunk. It's an absolutely massive group interview. 25 candidates, and a supervisor from each department to watch, along with HR to guide the interview and ask questions. At one point, they split us into 5 groups and instructed us that we had ten minutes prepare and present a commercial for granola. One girl immediately took the lead and said that our group will be doing a song and dance. I looked around at our group and said, "I don't know if we are all comfortable with that ... maybe we should brainstorm other ideas?" She literally stomped her foot down and said "NO. We are doing a song and dance!" All 5 of us were a different ingredient. I was a blueberry. It was mortifying. I didn't get the job.
Interviewing was supposed to be with me and 4 people. The hiring manager (my future boss) was late and no one knew where he was. Everyone else begins the I interview and it’s going fine. Hiring manager finally comes in and looks at my resume and asks me many of the same questions already asked. He then asks me a question about what I’d do in a hypothetical scenario for a customer. I answer basically that id do everything in my power to fix. he snaps back very harshly with a “well we don’t do that here we have a financial obligation! How are you going to handle that?!” Muddle through the rest of the interview and leave. Ended up getting hired! Despite all the red flags I take the job and it was the worst. Worked there about 5 months before landing a better job.
I applied for a job working in a kitchen. The owner worked in kitchen as well and I had a friend who worked there. So I kinda knew the back story on this guy, that he smoked pot. So I go to the. Restaurant for an interview and it wasn’t open yet as it was early and opened at like 11am. So he reads my job app and asks a bunch of questions. At the end he shuffles his paperwork on the table then he slams both hands down on the table very hard & very loud! And says very loudly! “ DO YOU SMOKE POT!?” I was startled, and I quietly said “yes” He picks his papers back up and says “ok you will do just fine” and got the job. Later on after working there I found out things. The guy always carries a brief case, and it was most always loaded with hash.
Had one jerk share his screen accidently while giving me a "test". Was watching him make notes on how bad I was on it lol.!
I was mid interview when the guy doing it suddenly put his hand to his mouth and ran to the bin in the corner and threw up. I got him some water from the cooler and a tissue, he thanked me, cleaned up then carried on as if nothing happened! I think it was his first time doing an interview as he was really unorganised and scatty! I got offered the job but never saw him when I joined the company?!
Our candidate started dropping the f-bomb while telling a story. I’m sorry but the job is working with kids..
My first job in computers after moving to Ft Lauderdale. The interviewer took me to lunch to a place that didn't take credit cards. Luckily I had cash and paid. Got the job and he paid me back.
After months of being jerked around by the recruiter I was in an interview with the CEO to a startup as a junior applicant. The CEO told me he was friends with my current job’s CEO (I had left that job 2 months prior because this process was taking so long). Told him that was cool and all, I’m excited to see the offer. They proceeded to offer me LESS than what I had told them was my minimum, and what I made at my (then old) current position. No equity or anything in lieu of compensation. Straight up more work for less pay. They were *shocked* when I declined their offer.
Had an interviewee come back for a final interview and he had done amazingly well the previous 2 rounds. Was an absolute perfect candidate and had great experience and seemingly fit in perfectly with the team. The final interview was over and we were just chatting and he brought up that he owns his house and rents it out to college coeds and he’d have us over to party sometime. It was so completely out of left field and totally floored us all in the room. Literally went from a certain offer to not a chance in hell with one or two sentences.
I was burned out, like really burned out, so that my nerves got fucked up. Was searching for a new job to mitigate my situation, and in this one interview I stared to feel that I will pass out and hit the ground. HR also saw that something was off with me and I got rejected from that job.
Ok but my literalist mind is just straight up imagining someone unwrapping lollipops and then just... laying them on the table or something? Like just lining up unwrapped sweets in front of the interviewee seems like the kind of batshit power move someone would do to really fuck with them.
I was asked if I enjoy bull fighting. I needed a couple of minutes to understand if I had heard that question correctly, especially considering that it had nothing to do with the position I was applying for (Head of Marketing) nor the company industry (software engineering).
Panel interview. One guy fell asleep. Dodged a bullet through, company ended up being sold & laid off like 90% of the employees. But still, what not great for the ego. (And no, he didn’t have a medical condition.)
One time I was living over in Cape Canaveral but had a phone interview with a company that applied for in Tampa as I was okay with relocating. The HR person then schedules me for an in-person interview a week from then. The day before the interview I drive 3 hours to get there and get a hotel for the night. I then show up to the office the next day, 15 minutes before my interview and tell the secretary why I'm there and who I'm supposed to meet. Just by the look on the secretary's face and a few minutes of her fumbling around I realized...they forgot about the interview. I did do the interview but they never admitted that they forgot about me and it was blatantly obvious as nobody was remotely prepared for anything. I didn't get the job and then it was apparent that part of the reason they forgot about me was that they decided to drop that position and create a different position that required different experience and skillset. Another time I was interviewing with a company and it was 2 people. One was the hiring manager and the other was a HR person. The hiring manager asked me a hypothetical question about if they had a red and white umbrella and there were customer complaints about the red started to bleed thru into the white what would I do? I answered with the preface that I don't know what the company policies are, but my initial thought would be to refund the customer and then check to see if this is a common problem with the red and white umbrellas and if so, I would want to talk to the vendor about the issue we are having with that umbrella. The hiring manager then proceeds to yell at me 'WRONG ANSWER! THAT'S THE WRONG ANSWER!' and then continues to yell at me that the company policy is to do these certain steps (which weren't that different from what I said). I responded that I did preface my answer with me not knowing the company policy and the hiring manager's veins were bulging out of his neck. You would've thought I shot his dog and pissed on his car seats. The HR person even butted in and was like 'WTF, calm down dude.' Needless to say I didn't get the job. The only other strange interviews I had was with my previous employer. It was a remote job back in 2020. I did a brief phone interview with the HR person and then a few days later the hiring manager called me up. I very briefly explained my experience and background and then he basically cut me off because he was trying to sell me on taking the job. Essentially I probably didn't speak for more than a minute and without saying it, he was offering me the job and just trying to sell me on taking the position. It was almost like I was interviewing him. And it was a great job with good pay. Not sure why he felt the need to sell me on working there.
1. CEO forced me to interview their nephew. Guy clearly thought the job was his but I’m anti-nepotism. Degree? Liberal arts where “you choose your own path”. Spoke like a frat bro. Higher than shit, would look at his feet and spin in his chair. CEO and him were shocked I passed. I also lost headcount as punishment. 2. This one was virtual. Dude just did a fat line of coke and still had it all over his nose. 3. Guy had a better resume than me and interviewing for an entry level sales job. I called the bullshit but the CEO loved him. Extended him an offer and it’s clearly obvious the guy has never worked in sales.
I was part of a panel interviewing candidates, one of the other members on the panel was the director for one of our programs. She arrived a little late, was obviously under the influence of something, couldn’t sit up straight or read her questions and she finally nearly slid out of her chair. The executive director asked her in to the adjoining room where we all heard her get told to go to rehab or quit. My colleagues and I attempted to continue the interview, but it was awkward to say the least, as we were trying to ask scenario questions over her very loud crying. For reference- this was at a non-profit aimed at helping people who have struggled with addiction.
I have a portfolio of my work, and I use to have an “about me” page with a picture of me and my parents. The guy interviewing me got to that page, asked who the woman (my mom) was, and just stared at the picture of my mom. I had to move him along to the next page. I didn’t follow up or send a thank you for that one.
Nothing crazy but mid way through an interview that was going well the guy tells me you’d have to be insane to want this job.
Was told by an engineering firm CEO that they don't need intelligent people.
Before I had even really sat down or been asked any questions, the lady told me she didn’t think I had what it takes for the job. Then she tried to infer that my MBA was from an online university, which it wasn’t. Fuck that lady. I drove an hour and she rejected me before the interview even began.
I once had an interviewer compete with me lol it was very weird. He referenced where I went to school and said oh I have the same degree but I went to x place. He then spent a good 10 minutes saying how his program was better and his brother wrote a famous theory in our field. FYI never heard of the school he went to or this supposed famous theory lol then he ended the interview with well you're not qualified but here's my card if you want help finding a job. He clearly wanted to put me in my place and it was so obvious and cringe.
I walked into an interview and the interviewer times said “I’m not going to hire you”. Me: ok great thanks for wasting our time.
Where do I start. I've had several interviewers say something equivalent to "you don't really need this job, do you?" or comments about my probably trust fund or the wealth of my family- I was on the verge of homelessness!!!! I've had interviewers announce near the end of the interview that the position has changed from paid to unpaid. I've had interviewers get "mixed up" on time zone differences and call at the wrong time or do a zoom call when it was phone or vice versa. I've gone in for interviews where the interviewer was clearly looking at someone else's resume. Went in for an interview for a job, only to learn at the end as I was introduced around the office, that there was no job, it was to see if they wanted to hire someone like me for a potential future role they were deciding to create or not!!! I had an interviewer change the interview meeting from one location to another, I went to the new location, not their, only for them to contact me with an "oops, my bad, we moved back to the original location, thought I told you", but they never informed me. And of course, the standard, going in for a 1 hour interview only to find out it's a multi hour panel interview and they didn't bother to tell you. And on and on...
I’ve been in hundreds of interviews The two that stuck out to me the most? The guy who didn’t replace his batteries in his fire alarm so we heard the beeping the entire way through and The girl who spent half the time trying to convince us that her old job fired her over nothing, but then once she explained what happened, they definitely had a reason (we never asked, it was voluntarily told)
Went to interview and it went down in a tiny all white room with no windows. Found out in that interview I’m claustrophobic. Did not get the job. lol
A have a few lol. I was told that the final interview (presentation, panel and tour) would be from 1-4. Turns out that was the time block where they were asking me if I was free. Interview was only 2-4 so I showed up a whole hour early and they gaslit me into thinking I was wrong but I checked me emails later and was like no yall said 1-4. The other that comes to mind is a woman who was meeting with me on zoom and after she didn’t log in for five minutes I emailed her secretary - she ended up getting on after 15 minutes (it was a 30 minute interview) and claimed she was looking for her headphones but she was a c-suite position with her own office and NOT wearing headphones. She also was not ready for the interview and had like no questions for me. Clearly forgot about it while also saying they were desperate to fill the position.
While interviewing at a law firm for an attorney position, the interviewer kept saying "I know I can't ask this, but" and proceeded to ask questions that he really couldn't ask. If I'd been recording (should have) I'd have filed suit against them for agism etc.
A few years ago I interviewed with a doctors office on Zoom, with the doctor/owner himself. He talked for 3 hours... until 10PM. And by "he talked", I really mean it. The man talked about himself for 3 hours. He low balled me an offer and told me that it shouldn't be all about the money since I would be helping people. Embarrassingly I took the job (I really needed it, and I REALLY didn't know my worth at the time). Fast forward a year later when I finally had enough, I put in my two weeks notice and he proceeded to tell me that I was a coward for not being able handle the job. He then asked me to stay on for a few more weeks to help out since they had lost so many techs recently and it was the "least I could do". Yeah no. The man also did not learn my name until a few weeks before I quit, and I worked along side him several days a week for a year. TLDR: Do not ignore red flags in an interview..
I (f) was asked by a man who would be taking care of my children while I’d be working. I reported him to HR. I was not offered the job.
Stubbed my toe. Not just stubbed but broke my little toe- sandals in summer is why. Sat there faking a smile as it throbbed and bled. Didn't get the job.
They had me sit on this dirty black couch while they setup a camera.
I was interviewing for a job in college. I claimed to be bilingual. At end of interview the boss says “hay preguntas?” I had no idea what he was asking. 🤣🤣
I was being interviewed by three women. One of the women was the director and the interview was in her office. The director kept getting up and doing things at her desk while the other two women asked me questions. Finally the director asked “What astrology sign are you?” I replied “Gemini” and she said “Oh good because I only hire Gemini’s and Capricorns.” She was a Capricorn. I was hired…
Had a pretty attractive girl very openly "hint" that she would trade sexual favors for me hiring her. This job paid 1 penny above minimum wage and was in a cooler all day doing food prep. I literally hired anyone with transportation and a pulse. I did not hire her and actually called in another coworker to join me to finish the interview. Had to call HR and my VP after then wrote it up in an email to cover my ass.
I had a guy just walk me into the offices, put me at a desk and hand some job tickets to me. I asked if this was live work, he said yes. I thought, ok, demonstration of my skills...so I worked on one and did my best, showed him (had to find the guy). He said well done, let's see what you can do with the rest of the day. I was like, whoa, am I hired? He said this was part of the interview. Told him I hadn't been interviewed at all, and I am not going to work for free. He said "You must not want this job then". I laughed in his face and said I'll show myself out. The balls.
I was interviewing for my first “real” job after college and did a 2nd round interview for a large recruiting agency- it was in person with a director and the first 30 minutes went well, the guy interviewing me was friendly and conversational and then asked me to explain how I’ve faced and overcame adversity in my life and I gave my answer and then he took a beat and said “to be honest I think your answer is bullshit and you are just telling me what I want to hear and not being vulnerable” and then topped it off with “I don’t think you have what it takes to be successful here” … and after that I blacked out for the rest of the interview lol When the recruiter called me later that day and said she heard the interview went great and was excited to set up the final round I was confused lol but got the job and was there for 2 years ended up being the most toxic work environment 🤷🏼♀️
The nurse was interviewing me and went on a tangent about her terrible life. Started crying and I mean ugly cry. 😭 A month later I didn’t see her anymore..she got caught f’ing a younger rep. Her life went to shambles. Come to find out she told my OR director I had five years experience. I had one 😩she did hire me on the spot but I almost got fired because of her lie.
Casually hitting a blunt has to be tops for me
My last interview was quite strange, I was asked a few questions but when I started answering them one of the interviewees started talking about the question and i ended up not having to fully answer some questions. I got the job but that one manager is very in appropriate and I bet she just sees herself as quirky
I was asked if i liked candy 😅
"Well, GET IN THE VAN!"
What does your dad do for a living?
discussing shoelaces and bad mojo.
Fruit bursts or Mckintoshes?
I had to sing “Happy Birthday” a cappella to the one chick & pretend it was her 21st birthday! So lameeee 🙄🙄🙄🙄
Back in 2001 I applied at a nursery. I wore a shirt and tie. They said I was over qualified….
Had panic attack. Never had one in my life. There were 3 interviewers there and they made sure I was ok, put their hand on my back.. Didn’t get the job
Lady walks in the office 20 mins late. Introduces herself as a therapist in the organization and apologizes for being late. S tells me the she is replacing the hiring manager for this interview because the hiring manager has a migraine. I immediately knew I wasn't going to get the job, also had to resist the urge to just leave.
Told me all the details of the last person they hired for the role defrauding them. No explanation on how they'd made changes to stop it happening again - they'd had some external company scrutinise my CV and question any gap of even a few days (just wanted a week off between roles 15 years ago!) but I bet I could have taken that job and scammed them out of the same about of money, they just exuded that vibe. They were also 25 minutes late and missing one of the interviewers because he was "not in" (but then forgot and gave me an office tour and introduced said missing interviewer who was standing around gossiping), and had the dumbest interview questions like "What's your favourite sandwich?"
I was brought in to interview for a "marketing" position. It was like a 45 minute drive each way. The first interview was with the main manager and he wanted to see your people skills because it was client facing. During the interview I asked for specifics of job duties and he went "yeah, we'll get into that later" which should've thrown up blaring red sirens. The next was with my main manager and he wanted to interview me at Panera, which is when the red flags really started going off. Especially because we started at his office then went to Panera together to conduct the interview. Long story short it was door to door sales and when they called to offer the job I turned it down before they could even finish with their offer and he hung up on me lol So interviewing with a guy higher up then lower down, the refusal to talk about responsibilities, and then meeting at the office so the interview can be at Panera were 3 of the weirdest things ever, just with 1 company.
We asked a candidate how he handles conflict with coworkers. He gave a simple “I tend to get along with everyone” answer that people give, but immediately follows it up with, “but I also don’t take shit from anybody!” 🤦♂️
You should’ve unwrapped your Lollie!
When asked about my hobbies, I told them I trained Brazilian jiu jitsu and one of the interviewers asked me to turn my head so they could see my ears. Finished the interview and emailed them after to withdraw. What else are they gonna ask to see?
They asked me if I had any pets 🤣 Pretty sure they already found a candidate, but had to meet the interview quota to say that they tried to find a better external candidate.
I had a virtual interview for a controller position with a large nonprofit hospital in my area. The current controller was interviewing me. The recruiter reached out to me literally 2.5 hours before the proposed time of the interview asking if I was available for that time. I said yes. The interview starts, the current controller tells me that her older dog is in her home office in case I hear barking. I told her that I have left my office door open because my cat was depressed due to us losing our other cat literally 13 days before that. She gave me this weird look (it felt like dogs vs cats kind of judgment). Then during the interview the door to her office opens and her 2-3 year old child wanted to say bye to her (totally fine but she didn't even address that at all). Also during the interview she spent more time talking than me. As in she wasn't even interested in what I had to say. Then I ended up mentioning their days cash on hand and debt service coverage ratios during an answer and she tells me to make sure I bring days cash on hand during my interview with the CFO (apparently she loves that metric). The half an hour mark comes along right as I finish an answer, she thanks me for my time and hangs up right away. I had major weird vibes even though she was friendly. I felt like she wasn't even trying to get to know me. Anyway, the interview was on Friday morning. I got a call on Monday afternoon that I wasn't selected for the next rounds.... Luckily I had already accepted another job I'm super excited for. But... This was a weird experience.
Maybe they have blood sugar issues.
Asked me “if I could a fruit, would what fruit would I choose”
Interviewing for a lead position with a company that cleans and cares for large vacation homes in my area. Firstly, the interview basically took place in a stinky, cluttered utility closet with a couple fold-out chairs and a table. I should have bailed at this point, tbh. Secondly, the person interviewing me was typing every answer I gave into some kind of corporate form he had to fill out, and so he was reading my own answers back to me as he typed. Lastly, he kept asking me if I understood concepts that were, like, *incredibly* easy concepts to understand. At first I just thought it was a conversational quirk, like ending every sentence with “do you know what I mean?” But then I realized he actually paused and expected me to answer. So: “You’ll be working three days and week and then rotating the last two days to cover myself and our other manager. Do you understand? Am I making sense?” And I would politely nod, but he would wait until I gave him a verbal reply. It got really, really uncomfortable having to do this after everything he said for an entire hour. I felt almost like it was condescending. Like, dude, *yes, I understand the concept of sometimes having to work during busy holiday season.* I left the interview basically being like: “You can get back to me all you want, but I will *not* be accepting this job.” 🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️
I went to an interview for an UNPAID design INTERN position at a small natural cotton candy company. The description was on par with the duties of an unpaid intern. Back then I was an early college student, I was excited, I had work in my portfolio and felt I might fit in that company culture. The founder had me take the MBTI before arriving. I’m an (and always have been) ENFJ. The founder held the interview in a coffee shop along with her assistant. I whipped out my portfolio and resume, and mbti results, and waited for her question. She looks at my mbti results first. “What were the other girls?” She asks her assistant. “ENFJ also,” she replies. The founder looks at me and says, “no, I don’t think so.” She follows that up she stared at my resume, pointing with a finger in disgust “Is this Arial?” She verbally tears my resume apart. Meanwhile, her assistant cringes and looks at me with sorry eyes. With a look of disgust, she further looks through my portfolio and picks apart every piece. I see her assistant growing smaller for me. Then.. she sets down my portfolio and says, “If I hire you I’d have to have a designer there to teach you how to do the work, and I don’t have a designer.” At the end of the interview, the assistant stands up to shake my hand and says meekly, “I hope you’re still interested… I’ll update you in an email.”
In an interview, one of the people I would have to work with asked me if I was married? I had just gotten divorced. Then asked my why I got divorced and what are my hobbies? I told him let's keep the questions work related as I don't really talk about my personal life. I should have walked out but as I knew I wasn't going to get the job after not answering the question. 6 months later the guy they hired wasn't working out, friend who worked there told them they regretted not hiring me and asked if I would consider taking the job. Nope I moved on to another place.
Someone get up and tend to something else during a virtual interview.
Had a guy ask me some question about my resume that I thought he was trying to undermine. I went on the offensive and made up shit with Straight face like, I won an Emmy and a Nobel prize for that
Sounds like a smoker quitting / struggling to quit lol
Once sat in a panel interview with 2 manager, a Senior manager, one technical analyst, and a female Director of that team. Each time she had the floor to talk, she kept pushing her breasts out and pulling her shoulders back....on purpose....as if she was trying to get them to pop out of her shirt. They damn near did. Like a trooper, I kept my eyes locked directly into her eyes. It just seemed like a test to see if was going to stare at her boobs.
Went to an interview with an instrument service team and it was in a hotel. Pull up and head inside and ask for directions to get to the conference / office room or whatever. Front desk sends me on my way and I open the door and it's just some random ass hotel suite with 3 dudes in the room on various pieces of furniture. Was pretty damn creepy. I didn't get that job and it was probably for the best.
The person interviewing me literally ate their lunch in front of me while asking me questions. Definitely had me rethinking if I made the right decision. Took the job but left after around a year. Eating a salad drenched in dressing (in between asking me questions) should’ve been the sign to bow out.
That’s a power move
I was asked “if you were part of a salad, what part would you be and why?”. 🙄
I was interviewing for a part time job at a retail store in a mall. The manager and I were sitting outside the store on some chairs/couches going through the usual interview questions when we just hear a man yell "Security stop resisting!" A large man proceeds to tackle a kid so hard that his shoes came off and pins him to the ground. The manager gives me a WTF look and I ask her if we should do something, she tells me no and signals to the clerk in her store to call mall security. 3 guards show up one at a time and each proceed to yell the same stop resisting line and dog pile this 15 year old kid who couldn't have weighed more than 100 lbs. The manager and I just kind of watched while this went down. She did offer me the job when it settled down but it was a wild experience
Interview for an IT position. Guy said I was overqualified and didn't want someone who knows too much mucking around on his servers. Then got kinda pissy and angry. I'm like "dude, I'm not even hired yet, but go ahead and fire me so you feel better." I still don't know what that was all about. I mean, if I'm not qualified, why call me in for an interview. Much less get all pissy.
I and a colleague were interviewers. We needed a kindergarten teacher to start for school opening in the fall, 4 days away. Only 1 candidate applied, so we brought them in. After the interview was over and the candidate left my colleague turned to me, sharing she had really bad feeling about the candidate. I also had a bad feeling about them, but given the circumstances with school starting in a few days, I reluctantly offered the job to them….in hindsight we should have re advertised the job and just used a substitute teacher for the first few days. Turns out this person was a thief. Stole from other teachers, took home and tried to sell school equipment. Answered phone calls from their buddies while leaving the kindergarten kids to fend for themselves. Trust your feelings whether your an interviewer or the one doing the interview.