Well that was painful!

[muttleynfelix]

We interviewed a couple students for interning with us while in school. The first guy knocked us out of the water. His resume didn't say he had experience with the computer program and he had no out in the field experience, but he had a lot of work/life experience. Had been in the marines, probably mid 30s and while obviously nervous, he didn't mumble or stumble over his explanations too much. Considering we had him interview with 3 of us, I'm sure it was a bit intimidating. We got done interviewing him and all of us said, we wanted him on board. We interviewed the second guy who said he had some experience out in the field (nope). He was 40 minutes early (but said he lived right down the street). He never completed a complete thought. He kept saying "you know" and "I'm sorry". Now, I'm sitting here trying hard not to make fun of the poor kid.

Anyway, what was the most painful interview that you have conducted? What interview that you have had that has gone the worst?

[Abby Normal]

Anyway, what was the most painful interview that you have conducted?

Too many-but my favorites are:

The freak of a woman who looked like she rolled out of bed.  Mid interview when discussing her work ethic she held up her gnarled hand and said " I broke my hand but I won't go to the doctor because it would inhibit my ability to work".  

The one that brought her Mom with her.

The one that admitted she violated privacy policies for personal reasons (previous job was a university in the student loans office, she pulled a credit report on a family member, then turned herself in) and then spent the next 10 minutes crying.

[HoneyBBQ]

My favorite one is a co-worker "googled" the person we were interviewing just for fun not really expecting to find much...

But - as it turns out she worked as a mermaid in her spare time and had a website full of really weird pictures of her in a sea-shell cup bra and a giant tail at the bottom of a pool. Some sort of weird fetish/model hobby? Unfortunately this was found BEFORE I had to interview her, so all I could think of was MERMAID when I was interviewing her. And we referred to her as "mermaid chick" from then on.

She was not hot.

And she did not get the job.

[Peace Of Mind]

I once advertised for a secretarial position to answer phones, type letters and memos, file and various other specific secretarial duties.  I had some idiot come in to interview who made it clear they didn't do any of those things.  So I made it clear they'd not be considered since they didn't do any of those things.  I actually enjoyed telling her that and I still don't get what she expected after that enlightenment and she was genuinely disappointed she didn't have a chance at the job.   or should it be .

[Tennesseer]

I had a group of folks completing applications.  I would periodically walk around the tables and ask them if they had any questions.  Every once in a while I would pick up the scent of burnt sulfur.  I had no idea what was causing the odor.

After most had completed the application and left the room, I notice a small pile of burnt matches sitting on one of the chairs used by an applicant.  I asked another applicant sitting at the same table if he could explain the pile of burnt matches.  He said the applicant who had sat there kept farting and to avoid the fart smell from permeating the room, he lit a match each time he farted.

The farter never got a second interview because of the matches and other reasons.

[Tennesseer]

One of my favorite interviews was with a bank branch manager looking for a change in careers.  I asked her how she dealt with difficult customers at the bank.  

She told me she grew up in a home where one of her siblings was deaf and so she learned ASL to communicate better with the sibling.  So when ever she dealt with an unreasonable customer at the bank, she would politely listen to the customer rant while she signed obscenities with her hand(s) below the desk top.

[Peace Of Mind]

Sept 25, 2013 16:07:53 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

I had a group of folks completing applications.  I would periodically walk around the tables and ask them if they had any questions.  Every once in a while I would pick up the scent of burnt sulfur.  I had no idea what was causing the odor.

After most had completed the application and left the room, I notice a small pile of burnt matches sitting on one of the chairs used by an applicant.  I asked another applicant sitting at the same table if he could explain the pile of burnt matches.  He said the applicant who had sat there kept farting and to avoid the fart smell from permeating the room, he lit a match each time he farted.

The farter never got a second interview because of the matches and other reasons.

LMAO!!  I think that dude was in the news recently! 

[cronewitch]

I interviewed for a job once named "Invoice Control Clerk".

I told the women I couldn't type, bad handwriting and didn't know anything about invoices.

She asked why I applied and I explained I needed a job, so she asked what I did before. I explained I worked for a CPA firm doing bank reconciliations, financial statements,tax returns and things. She was so impressed I could reconcile a bank account that she said if I would do the bank reconciliations she would do the invoices and hired me. I worked for her a year and a half and never did an invoice. I reconciled the bank account, did internal financial statements, payroll, taxes and AR as invoice control clerk. Her husband would write checks and not record anything so she spent days doing one bank reconciliation. After I left they didn't do another for 10 months then hired someone to come once a month to do just bank reconciliation.

[Regis]

I once had a woman come in for an interview.  I met her and handed her an application to fill out, letting her know where to find me when she had completed it.  She asked if we did drug testing prior to employment.  When I answered that we did, she said "I may be wasting your time", handed me back the application, turned around and walked out.

Another story:  My department was looking for a CAD drafter and we had received several resumes.  I was extremely busy at the time so one of the senior designers asked if I wanted him to take a look at the resumes.  Since I trusted him, I told him to rank them from best to worst and call the top three so I could interview them.  He did so and made his first phone call.  When the phone was answered, he asked for the person who had sent us the resume.  The person on the other end asked who he was and why he was calling.  When he explained that he was calling to set up an interview with the person, my co-worker was told that the prospective employee couldn't come in because she had passed away the day before.  My co-worker expressed his condolences and then marched into my office, threw the resumes on my desk and said he had no interest in calling any of the others.  We did do an internet search for the person who had sent us the resume and found her obituary.  She really did die the day before we had called.

[Deleted]

I interviewed for a teaching job two weeks after daughter  was born... I'm sure if the net reviewer were on here, it would make their list... My brain just would not function at all.

[Deleted]

I once asked someone why they wanted the position and they said because they wanted to move to the city where the job was located.

Appreciate the honesty, I guess. But he didn't get the job.

[Tennesseer]

I rejected a guy for employment.  Apparently the guy told his wife he got the job.  For 3 or 4 weeks he disappeared each day to who knows where.  Finally his wife called me and demanded to know why he had not yet received his pay check.  I told her nothing other than to ask her husband why the delay in the pay check.  She never called again.

[JustLurkin]

Sept 25, 2013 16:17:25 GMT -5 Peace Of Mind said:

Sept 25, 2013 16:07:53 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

I had a group of folks completing applications.  I would periodically walk around the tables and ask them if they had any questions.  Every once in a while I would pick up the scent of burnt sulfur.  I had no idea what was causing the odor.

After most had completed the application and left the room, I notice a small pile of burnt matches sitting on one of the chairs used by an applicant.  I asked another applicant sitting at the same table if he could explain the pile of burnt matches.  He said the applicant who had sat there kept farting and to avoid the fart smell from permeating the room, he lit a match each time he farted.

The farter never got a second interview because of the matches and other reasons.

LMAO!!  I think that dude was in the news recently! 

Note to self: take small pile of matches with me on next job to place in chair of person prior to me!

I bombbbbbed my last interview.  Bombed.  Bommmmmmbed.  I was asked to apply, and really didn't want it, then I  was asked to just go and hear about the job.   It was an internal position, and I got the job.  When I was told, I started laughing and laughing which made the interviewer get all flustered.  I told him I knew my interview sucked, how did I get the job?  He smiled and said, you did suck...but you know your shit and I want you on my team.  Then I started imitating him during the initial interview..."If you could be any tree, which would you be and why?"...seriously dude, you couldn't ask "walk me through IPing a printer?"  Which made him laugh and explain why he was asking different questions. The meeting of him saying "you got the job", which I'm sure he'd planned to spend 5 minutes on, ended up being twice as long as the interview and I think we both felt way better about each other before I started the new position.

[Deleted]

Not an interview for a job, but an interview for a roommate.  This ties into the post on Bonny's thread of going all YM.

We had a roommate that we got along with well when we first moved here to OK.  Eventually we moved out, to be way closer to work, and then we bought a house.

The old roommate wondered if he and his new roommate could live with us.  We knew the old roommate, and the new one seemed nice enough.

When the new roommate got to our house, he didn't remember having been to our house before.

He then cheerfully proceeded to ask us if we could get him pot from CA (granted, we are from a major marijuana hub), or if we could get him a contact who would ship it over state lines.

During our chatting, he told us a story about how one of his good friends once stole $600 from him when he was looped out.  His solution was to buy high powered shotgun used by law enforcement that can literally blow doorknobs off, along with several other heavy destruction guns.  His theory is that if you have high powered guns like that, people think twice about messing with you.  He's still friends with everyone who might've stolen the money though, because he wasn't sure who it was for certain.

Drug dealer who uses his own iphone for deals, has powerful gun arsenal and friends who steal from him... in Oklahoma... while DF is in the security field...  no.  

My eyes were pretty big though.  I couldn't believe he was telling us this.  DF and I don't smoke anything or drink (too expensive in my mind, him for family reasons), but the culture we came from with pot was sedate, it was just used a bit after work like enjoying a beer.  Not a wanna be thug life thing.  The new roommate had super rich parents and a trust fund and everything, he was just big on "street cred." 

We found out later the new roommate was also addicted to Oxy, which I think accounted for his very faulty memory and no filters.  As a side note, when we visited the old roommate later, and he said the new roommate was at his sister's, helping to repair a hole in the ceiling.  I asked "oh, from hail?" since there'd been a big storm recently with large hail.  He went quiet and changed the subject.  Thinking back on it, it was probably a shotgun hole in the ceiling    Drugs and guns shouldn't be mixed.  

[movingforward]

My supervisor and I interviewed for a legislative coordinator position and one of our interviewees talked non-stop.  We couldn't even finish a question without her interrupting.  Then proceeded to tell us she was done with the interview and would expect our call by a certain date.  After she left my supervisor turned to me and said there is no way in hell she would ever have that lady working in our office.  This person had a great education and the experience we were looking for but a terrible personality.  Perhaps she was just nervous or needed some more practice interviewing but I can't imagine anyone giving her a job.

[muttleynfelix]

When he explained that he was calling to set up an interview with the person, my co-worker was told that the prospective employee couldn't come in because she had passed away the day before. My co-worker expressed his condolences and then marched into my office, threw the resumes on my desk and said he had no interest in calling any of the others. We did do an internet search for the person who had sent us the resume and found her obituary. She really did die the day before we had called.

 

My boss had me decide which 2 of the 5 resumes we were going interview and I'm glad we did the first guy first otherwise, I would have been sitting on pins and needles hoping the second guy worked out.


Personally, I never had an interview I felt bad about. Probably because my first "job" was working for my dad. Then the first job I actually interviewed for was for a camp counselor position and I was very confident in myself.  I didn't do so well at the job itself, but I did interview well. I've actually gotten every job I interviewed for except a couple interviews on-campus for full time post grad work.  My one off-campus interview I got the job.  I've been at this job for 7 years. I have no idea how I would interview now.

[973beachbum]

The one that stands out was a man who was wearing weird, to me, clothes and had piercings all over his face.  I don't mean like a nose ring or five earings on his ears.  I mean he had shaved his eyebrows completely and put those studs in instead plus nose rings and lip piercings.  His hair was about five colors none of which are natural to the animal kindgom.   He had on more makeup than I did and most of it was black and white colored.    He was wearing short shiny black shorts with black and white striped tights, that were Pippy Longstocking type, not verticle.   He topped it off with high heeled leather boots and a long black trench coat.  

I can't explain how buttoned up and conservative this company was.  I don't think a woman with more than one earring on one ear would have been considered acceptable at the time.  

The worst interview I ever had was at a company where they didn't feel it was a good use of their time to do rounds of interviews with applicants, so they had all 12 managers do the interview with me at the same time.    I couldn't manage to get a word in edgewise.  As soon as someone would ask a question someone else would ask another before I could even start to answer the first one.  After about a half an hour of that they started getting pissed at each other, and it devolved into a shouting match between them.

I also had one interview which wasn't for the job that they had said it was.  I actually told them thank you for your time and excused myself about ten minutes into it.  They looked shocked as shit that I did it.

[resolution]

The absolutely worst interview I ever had was a hugely obese applicant who couldn't fit into any of the chairs. The room was set up in advance by HR and all the chairs had arms on them. It was really terrible and he fell apart and bombed the interview because he was so upset and embarrassed. After that I always made a point of showing up early for interviews and replacing the chairs in the room with ones that didn't have arms. 

[Pants]

I have given a PRACTICE interview with a woman in business school who was fine prior to startng the interview but then could not stop shaking. Like, shaking shaking. It was intense.

My biggest interview flub was in an interview with a big-name company during business school, the interviewers asked me why I wanted to work for them, and I could not think of a single reason. Not one. And it's not that I hadn't prepared for the interview, I just could not think of a single thing to say in the moment. MOST AWKWARD SILENCE EVER.

[movingforward]

A few years ago I was interviewed by a very well known company.  It was a 2.5 hr process where they put me in a conference room and I had to individually interview with 5 different people.  The first person came in and right after he introduced himself his first words were "so how do you feel about working at a place where you are micromanaged all day long on a non-stop basis"   Then he proceeded to tell me that people will be looking over my shoulder, shouting at me and monitoring what I do.  The 2nd person that came in told me she had only been there for 3 weeks and was just asked to describe the job to me because she does the same thing.  The 3rd person never showed up.  I should have left then and seriously thought about it because by this point I had already decided I didn't want this job. I also felt sure I must be on Candid Camera or a SNL skit.  The 4th person came in and told me how no one trusted anyone and to watch my back.  The 5th and final person (the top level manager) came in and proceeded to sit down, lean back in her chair, cross her arms and say "so what exactly do you THINK you would be doing here if you took this job."  By this time I had really had enough so I said "apparently watching my back and being micromanaged.  Why don't you tell me what the job consist of because I honestly have no idea."  She says well, first off you will come in really really early and leave really really late.  Then she props her feet on the desk and says "and you WILL follow my directions to the letter without complaints"    I still to this day feel like I must have been some sort of experiment.  This company is so well known and I had been so excited about the interview. 

[Nazgul Girl]

Sept 26, 2013 8:50:03 GMT -5 resolution said:

The absolutely worst interview I ever had was a hugely obese applicant who couldn't fit into any of the chairs. The room was set up in advance by HR and all the chairs had arms on them. It was really terrible and he fell apart and bombed the interview because he was so upset and embarrassed. After that I always made a point of showing up early for interviews and replacing the chairs in the room with ones that didn't have arms. 

   Why didn't somebody just go get an armless chair, bring it into the room, and say, " Let me make you more comfortable " before the interview actually began ?  

[Nazgul Girl]

    The wors interview that I ever had ( as the interviewee ) was with a woman who owned a medical billing company.   She liked my experience and thought I had interviewed well, from what she told me.   Then, when she asked me if I had any questions, I had the temerity to ask if she offered health insurance.   She got very upset with me, told me that she didn't offer health insurance, that she was a small business owner, that most of her employees had health insurance thru their husbands, yada yada.

   She offered me a job anyway, but kept bitching to me about that pesky health insurance question.   I told her that I would just go buy my own thru Blue Cross, which I did.   The start date she gave me got delayed twice, although she assured me, " Don't worry, I won't leave you twisting in the wind."   I figured business wasn't too good and that she didn't really need me as a biller, even though she had put an ad in the paper.

   Finally, six and half months later ( ! ), she called me up, told me my start date as if she had interviewed me the previous week, and I accepted the job as a temporary one for me.   ( I had a start date at my present employer, but it wasn't for two months until the position became open due to an interdepartmental transfer ).   She acted like my accepting the job was " okay " even though she had just given me my third start date after lying to me twice, and then said, " But, I still have a question about you since you wanted health insurance...."    I told her to stop wasting my time, that she had promised not to leave me twisting in the wind but had done so, that everyone wants health insurance, and to never call me again.   I think she just about shit a brick.   It was GREAT !

   The worst interview I ever had with a potential job candidate was when I was interviewing applicants for the job of " kennel cleaner."   My first husband and I owned a vet clinic with a large boarding kennel in the back, and needed some cleaning help.   One lady came in, told me all about her animals in a dreamy sort of way, assured me that she "just loved " kitties and puppies, and then told me she didn't want to clean kennels.    I explained to her that that was what the job was all about - cleaning and washing down kennels twice a day.  She got a kind of stubborn look on her face.  I guess she thought that she would be paid to pet the cats and dogs, or something.   We didn't hire her.

[resolution]

Sept 27, 2013 5:23:26 GMT -5 Nazgul Girl said:

Sept 26, 2013 8:50:03 GMT -5 resolution said:

The absolutely worst interview I ever had was a hugely obese applicant who couldn't fit into any of the chairs. The room was set up in advance by HR and all the chairs had arms on them. It was really terrible and he fell apart and bombed the interview because he was so upset and embarrassed. After that I always made a point of showing up early for interviews and replacing the chairs in the room with ones that didn't have arms. 

   Why didn't somebody just go get an armless chair, bring it into the room, and say, " Let me make you more comfortable " before the interview actually began ?  

We did, but the damage to his composure was already done. It is hard to explain the extent to which he fell apart, but he could barely talk.

[raeoflyte]

I interviewed for a job earlier this year, that didn't end up being the job he posted for. In hindsight I think he just had no idea what he was looking for. I wish I had just walked out of that one, but just couldn't do it.

[Nazgul Girl]

Sept 27, 2013 7:14:13 GMT -5 resolution said:

Sept 27, 2013 5:23:26 GMT -5 Nazgul Girl said:

   Why didn't somebody just go get an armless chair, bring it into the room, and say, " Let me make you more comfortable " before the interview actually began ?  

We did, but the damage to his composure was already done. It is hard to explain the extent to which he fell apart, but he could barely talk.

   Wow, well your company did its best to help him, so the rest was up to him.   I'm overweight, and can hold myself together through an interview.   I feel sorry for him, but it would have better for him to say "thank you " when he got the chair which was better suited to his stature/weight, and just moved right on. 

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I still to this day feel like I must have been some sort of experiment. This company is so well known and I had been so excited about the interview.

If I didn't know any better I'd swear you interviewed at Creighton.  I had the exact same experience except person #1 also told me I should run for the hills and never look back.

I really should have left right after he got up but I had no clue what to do.  It kept going downhill from there.  I thought for sure I must be on Candid Camera.

That was the most bizarre interview I've ever had.

Second worst one was with Victoria's Secret, I have no clue what possessed me to seek a part time job with them.  They made everyone sit at a table together and do a round table discussion/interview.  Turns out the last woman was a buddy of the person doing the interview and had worked at VS in Westroads.

So the interview spent the rest of the interview gossiping with her.   I knew the right t hing to do was leave but I was fascinated by the trainwreck I was observing so I stayed to enjoy the the show.

It's like interviewing to be on the HS cheer squad with those people.  At least the nutballs at Creighton were professional.

[violagirl]

This is just an opinion on interviews in general. To me, as the job applicant, it is as much about ME interviewing the potential employer to see if we would be a good fit as it is about them. 

It was not like that when I was fresh out of school, but now that I have more experience, I know that I can do a good job wherever I go, but whether the corporate culture will work with my personality and work style, is the biggest factor. 

I always thought I was pretty amiable and a good worker so it wouldn't matter where I worked. But after one experience where my gut feeling at the interview was this isn't going to be a fit and I took the job anyway, I will never ignore my gut feelings again. 

My last interview, where they pursued me and I wasn't even looking for a job, was definitely me interviewing the employer and not the other way around. I liked that.