What Was The Worst Interview You Ever Had?

6-19-17 | Eagles Field

[Yaelle]

I’ve been HR but in a country where at the time unemployment was 0.5%. When I’d hire young administrative assistants for the departments, they’d come in knowing they could have any one of 20 jobs in town. So they would be asking me, “where is the desk? I’d like a nice view. I also don’t want to be next to the air conditioner, it affects my kidneys. Is there any draft in the room? I get very ill if there is any draft at all. Oh, and I am taking a six month vacation, buying a car in America and traveling across that country, that is coming up. And I’m going to need $25 an hour.” And we had to kiss their spoiled little asses because we needed help. But inside I was all “waaaaah, that’s my country and I always wanted to travel around it for six months....waaaaahh...”

[School of Rational Thought]

I interviewed a woman that wore dress that simultaneously, to too low, to high, too tight and too baggy. The dress was just translucent enough to be able to tell she wasn’t wearing any undergarments. This was for a position in an elementary school library at a Christian school.

So is she doing a good job?

[M Kehoe]

The very first interview I did on TV (local). Disaster.

I figured that sh!t out quickly.

And no, I won’t tell, although there are two FReepers still alive that may remember.

5.56mm

[jobim]

Just having a little fun. I at first thought you were slipping into a
Philip Marlowe voice, which I proffer as a compliment.

[School of Rational Thought]

The interview was with a large credit card company.

Had pre-interview testing; both behavioral and quantitative.

Scored so high on math I had to take it again prior to face-to-face interview to prove I actually took the test.

Face to face was going very well. Interview kept saying “excellent, excellent”. I was kicking ass.

Then the horror. Had to do what essentially was a break even analysis on issuing a new credit card.

They give you some information, some relevant some not. Some information needed to be derived. Some needed to be in a common basis etc.

Moving along, then suddenly a senior moment. I just went blank and could not recover. Sweating heavily by now and heart racing. Panic!

Did not get the position, but after having lunch with the guy I was going to work for, I really did not want it.

[right way right]

I was interviewed by a drop dead gougeous gal with her cleavage busting out and I did everything I could to divert my eyes. I failed miserably.
Never heard from them.
Was it a test to ID my sexual preference?
If it was, it worked.

[mad_as_he$$]

No win. If you constantly look her in the eyes you come off as creepy. Best I could do in a similar situation was look at the end of her nose and take lots of notes. Years later she told me the reason she hired me was because I was a “detail” oriented note taker. Since I was no longer working at that company I said “So it wasn’t that I managed to not stare at your chest?” She said “Oh that too.” lol..she is still a business friend and I consider myself very lucky to have had a moment that I made the right choice for what turned out to be a great job.

99 other time I would of failed miserably.

[BRL]

My best interview or my worst interview depending on how you want to look at it. The interviewer asked me what my bad qualities were. I told him to pick up the phone and call my wife that she would be able to tell him a lot better than I could

[WASCWatch]

Best story I’ve ever heard ws the guy who went into an interview and the obvious question came up:

HR: What’s your biggest weakness?

Candidate: I’m too honest.

HR: Why, I think that is a good strength.

Candidate: I don’t give a shit about what you think.

[lovesdogs]

My worst was with an owner who couldn’t make his mind up about was the job was. First it was p/t then f/t. Then he started vacillating on the scope of job. They had just moved into a larger facility and I think it broke his brain.

[donna]

As times got more modern, we got 5-paid sick days per year. But, once you used 3 sick days, you got a written warning in your permanent file.

[right way right]

Ah,that feeling of getting to turn down a job and let em know why is a tremendous ego boost. Been there.

I have been on the other side too where rejection hurts.
Ow!

[Maceman]

Just be glad you weren’t the person who was responsible for filling that position.

The pressure on that person must be unbearable.

[Grimmy]

My worst interview ever?

Had to be one of the times, oh so many years ago, when I was locked at attention in front of one or the other of my various 1st Sgts while attempting to answer questions relating to my latest bout with near terminal stupidity.

[IamConservative]

My company of 20 years was recently acquired and having been through that as a middle manager before, I knew it was the end of the road for me. My boss at the time got a new job first and when talking prior to his departure, I said in my next job I needed to have some passion for the business and most of all, I was not going to suffer an asshole for a boss. Turns out, my old boss hired me. Teasingly, he said: “I just needed to know if you thought I was an asshole.” Pretty common in IT for people to move around with each other. Very fortunate I met both my goals for what will be my swan song.

[outofsalt]

They got a buildin’ down in New York City called Whitehall Street, where you
Walk in, you get injected, inspected, detected, infected, neglected and selected!
I went down and got my physical examination one day, and I walked in, sat
Down (got good and drunk the night before, so I looked and felt my best when
I went in that morning, ‘cause I wanted to look like the All-American Kid
From New York City. I wanted to feel like I wanted to be the
All-american Kid from New York), and I walked in, sat down, I was hung down
Brung down, hung up and all kinds of mean, nasty, ugly things
And I walked in, I sat down, they gave me a piece of paper that said “Kid
See the psychiatrist in room 604”
I went up there, I said, “Shrink, I want to kill. I want to kill! I want to see
Blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth! Eat dead, burnt bodies! I
Mean Kill. Kill!”
And I started jumpin’ up and down, yellin’ “KILL! Kill!” and he started
Jumpin’ up and down with me, and we was both jumpin’ up and down, yellin’
“Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!” and the sergeant came over, pinned a medal on me
Sent me down the hall, said “You’re our boy”. Didn’t feel too good about it
Proceeded down the hall, gettin’ more injections, inspections, detections
Neglections, and all kinds of stuff that they was doin’ to me at the thing
There, and I was there for two hours three hours four hours I was
There for a long time goin’ through all kinds of mean, nasty, ugly things
And I was just havin’ a tough time there, and they was inspectin’,
Injectin’, every single part of me, and they was leavin’ no part untouched!
Proceeded through, and I finally came to see the very last man. I walked in,
Sat down, after a whole big thing there. I walked up, and I said, “what do
You want?” He said, “kid, we only got one question, have you ever been
Arrested?”

[Rome2000]

Rimshot!

I’ll file that answer away for future use.

[crazy scenario]

" My wurst interview was for a job in a sausage factory.................."

I got schlonged back in 1992, while working for a large telecommunications firm. I applied for a new position in a different state. There were several openings which I thought I would qualify for.

My excitement was curtailed when a secretary came to the lobby to escort me back to the interview room. She had the most sour disposition I've ever encountered. My comments trying to break the empty silence were barely answered by her grunt.

I was introduced to the hiring manager, who at least seemed civil, so I thought. The interview itself seemed OK. Until, the questioning ended and the hiring manager said he didn't think he could hire me because he didn't think I was gay friendly (remember it's 1992 & gays were not as powerful as 2017). He said I'd have to work closely with his secretary, the sour witch that brought me to the interview room. I was floored.

I left the office wondering what the he!! had just happened! The only thing I could think of was, at the beginning of the interview he ask me to tell him about myself. I began by saying I was married with X children. Our family does X,Y,Z together. We attend church because GOD is very important to us. I think that last statement was when the interview turned against me.

I flew back to my home state and the next day went to work. My manager called me into his office and ask me about the interview. I recounted the way the interview went. He made a joke about how I should have grabed this other manager`s leg and winked at him.

I knew this was the wrong place to work and a year later I was out of there!!!

[atc23]

Pathology assistant at a major hospital is Newport Beach, Calif. The department head conducted my interview in the morgue and we spent 90 minutes going over diseased internal organs, procedures for mixing fixative, where the jars were located for assembling tissue samples and how to clean the xray machine.

The Department Head was a small man about 5'3 inches tall, wispy, stringy strands of "hair" were combed over his bald and liver spotted head. He possessed the voice and temperament of a juvenile female - his dental plate pushed itself forward almost completely out between his purple lips as he spoke - his rheumy eyes watered a lot and darted about the polished ceramic tile and stainless steel room.

The last 30 minutes he enjoyed jerking open and out the trays of the deceased in the cold storage area - I assume to gauge my reaction. Here was a man who loved his work.

I was hired on the spot after the interview and spent many years under the tutelage of this Great Man.

[Hoffer Rand]

I interviewed for an administrative job at one of the federal mints once. It solely consisted of “fill out these 10 forms every day in this particular order, nothing more, nothing less.” No deviation from the order, no creativity on filling them out electronically or making templates to make filling them out easier. Just fill out the same 10 forms in the same order, every single day. They were thrilled that I seemed very competent, but worried I might be bored after a while. I told them there was NO chance I was interested, I’d lose my mind inside a week.