Most embarrassing interview?

THEZAPPA

Ever had an interview for a job that makes you cringe?

I had the worst interview of my life today on Skype. All I can say is thank feck there was no video. I'm convinced they got the positions mixed up and thought I had applied for something else because I'm good at my line of work but didn't know any of the answers to there questions.

Needless to say it was awkward and they were laughing at me, didn't help they kept calling me the wrong name ( well my name with an a at the end)

So anyone else want to share their most embarrassing interview stories?

I'm still bright red from embarrassment.. Say they had a good laugh about it after.

Sky King

THEZAPPA wrote: »

Ever had an interview for a job that makes you cringe?.

I wouldn't apply for that kind of job tbh.

Senna

Done a second interview at 9am on a Monday morning after working an 18hour shift that ended at 6am that morning.
Started badly, reversed my car into a parking space that already had a car in it. Had a few minutes to compose myself before being called into the interview. Started off fine, but about 20 minutes in, my brain just turned off, couldn't concentrate on what they were asking me, started taking ages to answer even simple questions, towards the end I just wanted to go home and sleep.
One of the guys interviewing me (think he was agency) had done the first interview and outside he just said "what the he'll happened to you".

Sub_Merged

Cuba Gooding Jr. on the Late Late

byronbay2

Tom Cruise on Oprah!
/thread

kingchess

Anything by pat Kenny when he was "presenting" the late late show

Yurt2

I was doing up my CV before and for some reason just to puff it up or a little joke to myself I put in hang gliding as a hobby meaning to remove it later. It should be noted I don't hang glide, don't have a clue about the sport and am an unlikely looking extreme sports person.

I was sitting in a job interview probably two or three weeks later, all going swimmingly until a lady on the panel who hadn't spoken looked out over her glasses and said 'so I see you hang glide'

My face went white and mouth went dry instantly. 'Ammm yes, I do'

*the lady's bull**** detector obviously going off* 'Where?'

*pause* and I say unconvincingly 'Cork?'

Muffled snickering from the other two people on the panel, and the interview wrapped up thereafter.

I remain convinced I would have got the job only I was pulled on an obvious stinker of a lie on my CV.

rawn

I was 13, and doctored my birth cert to say I was 16. Years ago when they accepted birth certs at interviews lol. Anyways, I used my 16 year old brothers D.O.B so I wouldn't forget it. 1 minute into the interview, she had obviously sussed I was underage, asked was my D.O.B 14/08/1985, I said yes and she laughed. Continued with the interview. After it ended I was halfway home when I copped she had purposely called out the wrong D.O.B and I fell or it. Cringe.

Tetra

I've had several.

Most recent was last week. I had 3 interviews on the same day last week, and by the end of the day I was so exhausted and I couldn't remember where or what I had applied to...anyway the last one was an interview at an English language school. I have been applying for jobs as a TEFL teacher and I read my e-mails and assumed that the job was as a teacher and then I arrived for the interview and he was asking me questions like "so you have administration experience" and I was saying "yeah but my favourite job has been teaching"...and then it dawned on me that the job was a part-time secretary...I was mortified...

Anyway I decided to tell him my mistake...and he said not to worry, we will be looking for teachers in the near future...he said he liked my honesty...

enfant terrible

Don't pick up a glass and start pouring yourself a glass of water without checking glass is right way around

fleet_admiral

I was going for an interview in the sports industry but was incredibly nervous beforehand so I met a friend in a cafe for a milkshake.
I was bricking it so I took a wee dab of speed for the nerves. Pissed through the interview but for some strange reason I didnt hear back from them

thunderdog

fleet_admiral wrote: »

I was going for an interview in the sports industry but was incredibly nervous beforehand so I met a friend in a cafe for a milkshake.
I was bricking it so I took a wee dab of speed for the nerves. Pissed through the interview but for some strange reason I didnt hear back from them

Love those speed milkshakes although some sort of downer flavour might have suited you better that day

dinorebel

Guards pictures on internet blamed wife.

Joe Doe

The most recent one on live TV was via CNBC's Squawk Box when co-host Joe Kernen hissed like a snake-cat at Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman.
Not long before that one of the female stock presenters on same show zoned out like a frozen statue on air for near a solid minute, must be something in the water....

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSScnOwL8tc

JudgeJudy and a few other presenters also had episodes where they was unable to talk or compose a two word sentence, and just spoke 'plain gobbledegooky'. One for the Icke followers perhaps to solve, too much wifi in the studio or something..

...
Once interviewed a tech chap who thought nothing of arriving in old jeans and kicking the cowboy boots up on the conference desk, ah sure make yourself comfortable...
Another time interviewed a magazine Production Artist, when I asked him why his name wasn't on the credits of any of the brought along magazines, his face went red and ran for the exit, ah well...

con___manx1

I had a phone interview when i was living in melbourne. the interview was for 9am. the job was in another part of oz that had a one hour time difference. the dumb ozzie bitch called me at 8am and i was still asleep.I woke up straight away to an interview and completely ****ed it up.

Rosy Posy

Went for an interview with an NGO to be working in Haiti. I'm quite interested in the indigenous culture and religion and so in the interview waxed lyrical about how it was really important to preserve and respect culture and how I didn't approve of missionary style aid, dependent or with the aim of converting the locals to Christianity and Western values. I was getting quite passionate about it, but the interviewers were exchanging terse glances and hardly asked me any more questions. Only after I left did I look up the NGO's website and realised they were a missionary charity AND one of the interviewers was an actual priest (he hadn't been wearing his priestly raiments at the time). I had been applying to heaps at the time but it was a lesson to me to always research the company before going for interview!

Soft Falling Rain

I'm bad at interviews, but the worst was probably one where I started laughing and said to them midway through it "I think we can stop here." I then got up and left. Thankfully I got a job soon after though.

smcgiff

Two summers ago I went for a lecturing position at a university. It was overcast but fairly humid.

I got a little more delayed in traffic than I planned. I got to the uni to find the car park I wanted to use was closed for some work that was being carried out so I had to park further away than expected.

I looked at my watch and realised I'd have to jog to ensure I got there in time.

I'd built up a sheen of sweat by the time I reached the building and from there on it just wouldn't stop. Whatever I triggered in my system it just kept going.

So, at intervals for the first few minutes of the interview I had to wipe beads of sweat off my brow. I knew it looked terrible and probably added to the sweat production.

I wasn't nervous about the interview process, but it didn't look that way.

Just to take ye out of the suspense. I didn't get offered the job.

Lukehandypants

Imelda May interviewing anyone on her "show"

indigo twist

A friend of mine was doing an interview for a work placement at Quinn Glass (this is way back in the day, when Quinn Group was still making a fortune and Sean Quinn was a bit of a local celebrity in Cavan) ... when she was parking for the interview, she crashed her car into a huge glass window at the front of the building. Just as Sean Quinn happened to be walking by.

She was so upset she had to reschedule the interview ... she still got the job, though!

smcgiff

indigo twist wrote: »

A friend of mine was doing an interview for a work placement at Quinn Glass (this is way back in the day, when Quinn Group was still making a fortune and Sean Quinn was a bit of a local celebrity in Cavan) ... when she was parking for the interview, she crashed her car into a huge glass window at the front of the building. Just as Sean Quinn happened to be walking by.

She was so upset she had to reschedule the interview ... she still got the job, though!

You could say she had a breakthrough. And if not through the glass ceiling, at least through the glass wall.

wp_rathead

Pussy Riot on The Saturday Night Show was a wonderful Clusterfnck of an interview..

Akrasia

A few years ago the department I worked in lost a contract and closed down. There were some open positions in other departments in the company so I applied for every single one of them despite not knowing what half of them were. One interview was for some kind of management information reports role. They kept asking me what made me interested in the role and I had to be honest and told them I actually wasn't interested in it at all, and it actually sounded extremely boring.

Needless to say, I didn't get that job.

Going Strong

Two that stick in my mind.

A complete airhead of a team leader who interviewed me for a QA position on her project.

She hadn't a notion what she was doing, what role she was advertising for or how to conduct an interview. I kept having to correct her all the time while thinking "Get me the feck out of here, she's a complete nightmare." A month later I got another role in the department next to hers and had a ringside seat for her comedy management style of headless chicken proportions. I was told that she'd interviewed nearly fifty people for the position and only chose the 'winner' when senior management told her to "Pick one for God's sake or you're fired."

The second was a mix of myself and one of the interview panel taking an instant dislike to one another. He started it by being obnoxious and sarcastic from the outset. I'd walked through the main floor to the interview room and looked at a sea of miserable faces sitting there with an atmosphere of utter despair hanging over them and thought "Nope, not working here." I was asked questions that only someone already working in the company would really know - like where the XYZ widget of the ABC control software of one of the company's lesser known products might be found variety. The two women on the panel kept looking at your man with "WTF???" expressions and desperately tried to steer the conversation away from him as he sat there and pretty much called me a fool to my face while idly examining his nails in a "You'll not work here if I have anything to do with it" manner. Only for I didn't want to work there I'd have complained about his unprofessional attitude.

SkyBlueClouds

My very first interview for a part time job in a shop at 17, before I knew how interviews ''worked''

What are your salary expectations?

Me (jokingly) ''More then you can offer haha''

Needless to say didn't get the callback. :rolleyes:

fasttalkerchat

Online video interview for a graduate management job. There were 5 questions with 2 minutes to answer each. The last 2 questions were exactly the same.
I found out later that everyone got different questions so it was probably a mistake and not some dumb test.
I didn't get the job.

kylith

I got called for an interview, researched the hell out of the company and was good to go. Then I not only got lost en route to the place, it turned out that I'd misheard the name of the company on the phone and had prepared for an interview for a totally industry.

Still got the job though :cool:

Going Strong

SkyBlueClouds wrote: »

My very first interview for a part time job in a shop at 17, before I knew how interviews ''worked''

What are your salary expectations?

Me (jokingly) ''More then you can offer haha''

Needless to say didn't get the callback. :rolleyes:

I was on a computer course years and years ago. There was a complete eejit in the class who thought he knew it all but couldn't turn on a computer without some disaster happening. Anyways, we were interviewed for a work experience position as part of the course. A company came in with their interview panel and we all did our best. Except for the eejit who not only came out with the classic "You can forget about all the others, I'm the man you want." line but went on to tell the owner of the company where he was going wrong when it came to running his own company. Strangely, he was the only one of us who didn't get a work experience placement.

kylith

SkyBlueClouds wrote: »

My very first interview for a part time job in a shop at 17, before I knew how interviews ''worked''

What are your salary expectations?

Me (jokingly) ''More then you can offer haha''

Needless to say didn't get the callback. :rolleyes:

At about the same age I went for an interview with Dunnes. That's where I learned that "Because I need money" is not the correct answer to "Why do you want to work here". You'd think that honesty would count for something.

--LOS--

I did an interview for my twin sister before, we both had interviews there, she was abroad with too much work to come home for it, it was just a temporary clerical thing so if you appear like a normal person with half a brain you get the job. Brought 2 changes of clothes, put my fringe back in a hairband for one of the interviews. The panel commented of course, was I not there already or something, just said that was probably my twin sister, both had jobs for the summer grand.

breakfasttime

--LOS-- wrote: »

I did an interview for my twin sister before, we both had interviews there, she was abroad with too much work to come home for it, it was just a temporary clerical thing so if you appear like a normal person with half a brain you get the job. Brought 2 changes of clothes, put my fringe back in a hairband for one of the interviews. The panel commented of course, was I not there already or something, just said that was probably my twin sister, both had jobs for the summer grand.

SkyBlueClouds

kylith wrote: »

At about the same age I went for an interview with Dunnes. That's where I learned that "Because I need money" is not the correct answer to "Why do you want to work here". You'd think that honesty would count for something.

You would think that, but sadly no. I'm sure alot of nice people work in HR and recruitment - the ones iv'e encounterd are blood sucking parasites seeking BS awnsers to BS questions - most don't even have the deceny to send a rejection email.

--LOS--

breakfasttime wrote: »

I'd love to try it now since we're both in very different areas

cactuspaw

Had one where i had to do a presentation and the night before my housemate had a massive drama which i had to sort out. the interview was horrific. it was a very wet day, so i was soaked, the people interviewing me looked at me like i didnt have a clue what i was talking about and i was so shattered from the night before that i almost fell asleep. horrendous experience. needless to say i didnt get the job.

Sir Osis of Liver.

--LOS-- wrote: »

I did an interview for my twin sister before, we both had interviews there, she was abroad with too much work to come home for it, it was just a temporary clerical thing so if you appear like a normal person with half a brain you get the job. Brought 2 changes of clothes, put my fringe back in a hairband for one of the interviews. The panel commented of course, was I not there already or something, just said that was probably my twin sister, both had jobs for the summer grand.

Good story,but would have been funnier if ye were different sex twins.

coopdog85

Had an interview for near enough my dream job. Arrived a good 25 minutes early, signed in with the secretary & was told to take a seat in the lobby area of the building by her. I sat there nervous as hell & just stared out the window psyching myself up for the interview I was about to nail. Next thing I hear a fella call my name & say "oh you decided to come in & see us did you? You're only 15 minutes late. C'mon while we still have time". The stupid cow of a secretary never scanned through my name & it was as if I had just got there 5 seconds before the guy came looking for me. I tried to explain myself on the way up to the interview but the guy was having none of it. I knew before I even set foot in the room I didn't get the job. Worse was yet to come...

I was basically getting the piss taken out of me in the interview. There was a girl probably my age on the panel & she had a really bad fake D4 accent, I must have had some look on my face because halfway through one of her questions she asked "sorry, am I boring you? Would you like me to stop". I didn't know what to say so after a good 10 seconds of stumbling I announced "well maybe yeah because I'm not getting this job am I?" Before I even finished the guy stood up & extended his hand for me to shake it. I just stood up & walked out I didn't even say anything.

Possibly the worst day of my life let alone the worst interview. Haven't got any confidence in interview situations since.

Boscoirl

Sir Osis of Liver. wrote: »

Good story,but would have been funnier if ye were different sex twins.

Or if the sister got the job and she didn't

Dan Chipowski

coopdog85 wrote: »

Had an interview for near enough my dream job. Arrived a good 25 minutes early, signed in with the secretary & was told to take a seat in the lobby area of the building by her. I sat there nervous as hell & just stared out the window psyching myself up for the interview I was about to nail. Next thing I hear a fella call my name & say "oh you decided to come in & see us did you? You're only 15 minutes late. C'mon while we still have time". The stupid cow of a secretary never scanned through my name & it was as if I had just got there 5 seconds before the guy came looking for me. I tried to explain myself on the way up to the interview but the guy was having none of it. I knew before I even set foot in the room I didn't get the job. Worse was yet to come...

I was basically getting the piss taken out of me in the interview. There was a girl probably my age on the panel & she had a really bad fake D4 accent, I must have had some look on my face because halfway through one of her questions she asked "sorry, am I boring you? Would you like me to stop". I didn't know what to say so after a good 10 seconds of stumbling I announced "well maybe yeah because I'm not getting this job am I?" Before I even finished the guy stood up & extended his hand for me to shake it. I just stood up & walked out I didn't even say anything.

Possibly the worst day of my life let alone the worst interview. Haven't got any confidence in interview situations since.

Wouldn't let that bother you, they sound like a pair of clowns.

percy212

Yeah but why else would you want to work in dunnes. For the high quality uniforms?

kylith wrote: »

At about the same age I went for an interview with Dunnes. That's where I learned that "Because I need money" is not the correct answer to "Why do you want to work here". You'd think that honesty would count for something.

thrashmetalfan

Applied for a job with a well known credit card company in county Leitrim a good few years ago. A few days later I had a telephone interview that evening with a lady who had absolutely no interest in me or the interview she was conducting, I had done all my research and answered everything as best I could. About 20 minutes later got another phone interview with a different girl who managed to do her job properly. the same questions were asked and I was able to answer them a bit better the second time round. Needless to say I was contacted the next day about coming in Monday morning for an interview.

I came in Monday morning and I went in for the interview. I answered my questions as best I could, I had researched the company online, I was presented well, properly suited and booted and I did not show any signs of nervousness. Unfortunately at the end of the interview the lady who was interviewing me got very very snidey towards me and said "Sure that was a load of big words you were using there" as the interview was being wrapped up. I just said I answered her questions as best I could and I left the building and went home, with what she had said on my mind all the way home. Needless to say, two days later, the rejection letter landed on the door mat and the date it was typed up was the day before, Tuesday.

After buying a computer, paying for a computer course to learn how to use it (this was all just so I could be eligible for the vacancy I had applied for) and applying for the job I was interviewed for, I get turned down by a someone who had no intention of letting me pass the interview from the moment I walked into the room, all this based on her own prejudice rather than on the way I conducted myself during said interview.

I am not saying that I without fault or infallible but I do know when I mess things up, and I take the blame for it and I know when I have done something right such as that interview on that day. Just thinking about it now makes me mad.

SimonTemplar

I applied for an internal position once, and I was randomly called to the HR department one day for the interview. I had no time to prepare and it completely took me off guard so I was a nervous wreck and I'm usually OK at interviews.

In retrospect, I should have said diplomatically that it was unscheduled and could we do it at another time but I couldn't think straight.

Didn't get the position and it wasn't surprising based on my interview even though I still thought I was the better candidate.

Going Strong

coopdog85 wrote: »

Possibly the worst day of my life let alone the worst interview. Haven't got any confidence in interview situations since.

Ah don't worry, you're not alone.

My worst interview was also my shortest.

I went for a position where a good friend of mine already worked so I was well up on the role and already knew most of the staff socially. I went in to see my mate before the interview and was told he was in the main office doing filing. So, in I went, past the secretaries, like I owned the place, sat in the big chair, like I owned it, played with the computer, like it was my own and had a go on this new-fangled internet doodad they'd just got in (it was 1996). "It'll never take off." says I confidently.

Just as we were about to go out for lunch, in walked the boss, who was supposed to be at a meeting across town only it got cancelled. He glared at me swinging about in his big leather chair and said something like "Haven't ye got anything else to be doing?" so we legged it.

I cam back for my interview, met the personnel manager and we did the usual pleasantries. Just then there was a knock on the door. It was the boss, who called the manager outside. About a minute later she came back in looking very red in the face and said "I'm afraid this interview is over." I just said "It was the office thing wasn't it?" She nodded and I left.

johnnyskeleton

I once went for an interview in a bank and the HR person, full of undergraduate buzzwords, asked me to "sell myself". I said "man, I suck your dick for $5".

The interviewer said "excuse me?" and I said "i'll suck your dick for $10".

"Thats more like it" he said.

True story

Mint Aero

THEZAPPA wrote: »

Needless to say it was awkward and they were laughing at me, didn't help they kept calling me the wrong name ( well my name with an a at the end)

but your name does have an a at the end?

ziedth

Have two:

Few years ago I had an interview for some night shift toll operator job. Didn't really want it but was out of work at the time and it was going to the stage that I was really getting fed up out of work so I was a mixed bag going in.

Anyway, not unusual for a big recruitment drive they ran quite a bit over and I was well over an hour waiting. I get talking to a guy in the waiting room having a drink of Water and tell him to make himself comfortable they are running late. He screams out a big "sorry we're delaying you Mr. Ziedth" and storms out. turns out to of course be the MD taking a quick break and he was on the panel quickest and longest interview of my life.

The second story I have told before but here we go, I had a second round interview with the bank. Nailed the aptitude test and interview. I was told this second meeting was more an informal chat with my future manager and not to worry. I turn up as a know it all 18 year old and the conversation goes like this:

"So Ziedth would you consider yourself to be conscientious"?

Me not having a clue what the word means panics and stares at him blankly while I try and work out from his tone anything what it could mean. Eventually I decide to keep it vague and middle ground and hope it makes sense. "Why yes I definitely used to be but I discovered that you can be too conscientious and it can negatively effect your work"

He looks bewildered "er, can you elaborate on that for me?"

Me defeated "No..... No I can't"

To this day I still cringe thinking about it.

The Adversary

ziedth wrote: »

Have two:

Few years ago I had an interview for some night shift toll operator job. Didn't really want it but was out of work at the time and it was going to the stage that I was really getting fed up out of work so I was a mixed bag going in.

Anyway, not unusual for a big recruitment drive they ran quite a bit over and I was well over an hour waiting. I get talking to a guy in the waiting room having a drink of Water and tell him to make himself comfortable they are running late. He screams out a big "sorry we're delaying you Mr. Ziedth" and storms out. turns out to of course be the MD taking a quick break and he was on the panel quickest and longest interview of my life.

The second story I have told before but here we go, I had a second round interview with the bank. Nailed the aptitude test and interview. I was told this second meeting was more an informal chat with my future manager and not to worry. I turn up as a know it all 18 year old and the conversation goes like this:

"So Ziedth would you consider yourself to be conscientious"?

Me not having a clue what the word means panics and stares at him blankly while I try and work out from his tone anything what it could mean. Eventually I decide to keep it vague and middle ground and hope it makes sense. "Why yes I definitely used to be but I discovered that you can be too conscientious and it can negatively effect your work"

He looks bewildered "er, can you elaborate on that for me?"

Me defeated "No..... No I can't"

To this day I still cringe thinking about it.

Well, atleast you learned a new word! Silver linings and all that.

kylith

percy212 wrote: »

Yeah but why else would you want to work in dunnes. For the high quality uniforms?

An overwhelming desire to stack shelves for 8 hours a day.

smcgiff

ziedth wrote: »

To this day I still cringe thinking about it.

Don't. The correct answer was 'Conscientious, me? no, not at all', considering how the banking sector was actually run.

Molester Stallone II

When the ESB were opening their white goods stores I decided to interview for a post.
It was a 3 person panel, a 60yo woman who had clearly been on the booze the night before. The store manager who introduced himself as the "head honcho" and the area head who's first question to me was "how much did I expect to get paid'.
I can't even remember if my arse actually touched the seat before I was standing up again and walked out the door
Never had an interview as bad as that before or since

Going Strong

kylith wrote: »

An overwhelming desire to stack shelves for 8 hours a day.

If you're lucky, that'll be the most dangerous thing you'd be doing.

A cousin of mine worked for Dunnes back in the 1980's. He was sent outside to "sort out" the trash compactor. It was completely overloaded so he had to get up on top and start pulling out stuff by hand. As he did so the machine started up. He scrambled out to find the junior manager standing there. "What's the matter with you? Get back in there and free it up!" Apparently, being inside a trash compactor while it's actually working is part of the duties at Dunnes Stores. When he refused to get back in, he was sacked on the spot.

Jawgap

A tale from the other side of the table.......

Until recently I worked for a public sector agency and we had some real doozies during the boom.......including

.......the girl who laughed and told us we were being ridiculous when we told her the starting salary - that was clearly mentioned in the ad - turns out she only applied for the job because the office was in the city centre and close to some of her favourite shops.

......the guy who berated us for a full five minutes because we were 10 minutes late starting his interview and he had another interview for job he was really interested in later in the afternoon and we were going to make him late.

......a few people who've burst into tears

......the girl who, when asked why did she want the job, told a story about dating then breaking up with her boss and now need to move on (bonus points for honesty)

......and the guy we interviewed on Skype who was getting prompts from his Mam!! We told him he had to be on his own for the interview and he said in a tone of desperation "I know, but she won't leave!!" We employed him because he did a killer second interview in person.