Reasons why you didn't get a job?

gingernut79

I may be cynical and biased but for many jobs I went for, the job eventually went to a man who graduated from a specific course in UCD, of which I am neither.

Chaos Tourist

Asperger syndrome. Ah yeah, the good old job interviews - kryptonite to AS folk.

A Pint of Goo

Prisoner 6753 wrote: »

Unsatisfactory references. The job I’m in now though didn’t interview me, just a “when can you start”

Same problem. I eventually started making up references.

DEFTLEFTHAND

I went for a summer job with Paddy Powers years ago and failed some basic maths test they gave me. Lol

sunbeam

Way back in the early 90s I applied for a library assistant job with a certain county council. Selection for interview was based not only on leaving cert results, but on having taken subjects from specific groups of leaving cert subjects.

My application was refused as I lacked a social studies subject. Apparently Home Economics (Social & Scientific) which had a social studies component did not count. Home Economics (General), where you studied dressmaking instead did. :rolleyes:

Gravelly

A good few years ago, in the early days of the boom when I was still working as an engineer, I was approached by a director of a well-known Irish engineering/consulting company. I was happy where I was, and I knew they were **** to work for, but the money on offer was extremely good, and I was newly married with a mortgage, a toddler, and another baby on the way. There was also a promise that I would make associate in a short time.
I went into the interview, and within minutes, realised they really were ****, and I didn't want to work for them. After the 10th or 11th stupid, aggressive, patronising question (and remember they'd approached me!) I just stood up and said "sorry, I don't think I'd be a good match for this company" and walked out.
To this day, the director that tried to hire me blanks me any time I meet him!

kweeveen86

Went camping on Aran a few days before an interview for the Radisson. Got exceptionally sunburnt and went to the interview looking like that photo of Dougal in the Hawaiian shirt that Ted had on the mantlepiece in one Fr Ted episode - skin peeling, still delirious from dehydration, as red as a Liverpool jersey.

Didn't get that job

Necro

Have a couple from the recession just past actually.

First was a supermarket supervisor. Firstly they call me up at 10am for an interview at 10.30am (15 min drive).

Grand says I, show some initiative. Land into the shop at 10.20 and proceed to have to wait another 40 mins as the manager is waiting for the owner to get out of bed :pac:

I've done a lot of work in retail, and had left my previous job to travel for the year. I worked in a couple of places in Oz, one as assistant manager of a 40 room motel for about 6 months, naturally I put this down on my CV. References on request of course and have a personal contact number still to this day for my boss there.

The owner basically laughs at me and says anyone can make up a few jobs in Australia and have their mates answer their phones. The manager to their credit looked like they had read my CV, and tried to defend me but was asked to leave :eek:

The job in Ireland was in another supermarket and the owner... let's just say he politically doesn't agree with the guy who runs it. (staunch FFer, my previous employer was at that time a FG TD)
Cue a 10 minute rant about the FG TD's political career and the fact that his shop is a mickey mouse one.
At this point I got annoyed and asked the owner what was the point of inviting me in to run down my experience, and got up and left.

Still boils my blood to this day tbh.

Second one was for a family run hotel down in Mayo. Had no ties to the hometown at this point so bundle the wifey in the car and we head down for a day out, have a look round the area and even have lunch in the hotel before my interview.
Time comes anyways and I get roughly handed a handwritten photo copy of an application form (you know the type, strengths, flaws etc) and told to fill it out.

In comes the owner again and bustles in again clearly having not read my CV and relying on the application form for guidance, calling me by the wrong name.

Mid way through me running down my various experience he gets a phone call and proceeds to take it without a second glance.
Caught a bit of it as he's sitting there right in front of me and the gist is him and his wife arguing over who will collect the kids from school.
So I wait for him to finish, now getting annoyed again.
He turns back to me and asks me to repeat my entire career history, he clearly hadn't listened.

So I stand up and excuse myself, saying thanks for your time but I don't think this position is for me.
Why not? Says he.
Unprofessional owners says I and walks out.
Pretty sure he called me a cnut as I was leaving.


The third and final story involves another filling station nearby to where I live. Interview went great this time, the manager getting very excited about me working there even to the point of discussing salary and bonuses depending on performance.

Thinking I have the job, I get a flustered call from the same man 3 days later profusely apologising and saying he was annoyed with the decision but they had promoted internally, meaning there was no job at all.
He went on a bit of a tirade saying he was disappointed we wouldn't be working together and he wishes they (the owners) had told him the position was internal before he advertised it.

Kinda glad I missed out there too tbh, if the owners aren't gonna let the manager manage then what's the point.

erica74

I applied for a job, which I had the right experience for and the unusual hours (working in an office but not 9 to 5) actually suited me perfectly so I thought I had the edge on other candidates. When I got there, the guy interviewing me handed me a job spec for a totally different job, which I was only about 50% experienced enough for. When I went in, I explained to him that I had applied for X job and felt I wasn't experienced enough for this other job. He said to me oh the position for X job has been filled but we think you're a very strong candidate so this is really just a formality. Grand says I and we had, what I thought was, a great interview.
Later that day, I got an email from the guy telling me they really liked me but I wasn't experienced enough for the job

Sile Na Gig

I didn’t get a job because I have kids. Job was advertised for mornings during school hours. I had a ridiculously intense Skype interview with the owner and worked for a couple of hours for free. It was all going grand until the interview dragged on past when they said it would and I had to ask to leave so I could pick my kids up from school. There was a ‘look’ and they let me go. When I didn’t get the job I asked them why and they said I wasn’t ‘flexible’ enough. Still can’t work out if that’s legal or not, but I got a better job with more prospects for advancement and flexible hours so I forgot about it (apart from when I walk past and give the place the stink eye).

sbsquarepants

fxotoole wrote: »

Pretty much guaranteed this never happened

Someone didn't get the joke!

razorblunt

fxotoole wrote: »

Pretty much guaranteed this never happened

Of course it didn't it's a bloody joke!

worded

Gravelly wrote: »

A good few years ago, in the early days of the boom when I was still working as an engineer, I was approached by a director of a well-known Irish engineering/consulting company. I was happy where I was, and I knew they were **** to work for, but the money on offer was extremely good, and I was newly married with a mortgage, a toddler, and another baby on the way. There was also a promise that I would make associate in a short time.
I went into the interview, and within minutes, realised they really were ****, and I didn't want to work for them. After the 10th or 11th stupid, aggressive, patronising question (and remember they'd approached me!) I just stood up and said "sorry, I don't think I'd be a good match for this company" and walked out.
To this day, the director that tried to hire me blanks me any time I meet him!

Better that than working in the place

I was being interviewed for a job I didn’t want and was asked what would I think of working for Stressed looking Staff Inc and I looked around the board room and said ... “ I could get used to an office like this “ LOL

marvin80

What's your notice period?

I notice things straight-away.

Jimmy Carr

Keyzer

I went for an interview many moons ago for a general IT person in a small software company - job spec matched for me and off I went.

Two minutes in and I'm being asked all sorts of coding and application development questions to which I know nothing about. The guy is just looking at me and I tell him none of this was on the job spec. Yeah he says, I know, but we need you to do it anyway. Then he gets up and ends the interview.

This is the one and only time in my life when I came dangerously close to literally putting someones head through a wall.

Owner of the place rang me two hours later apologising which softened the blow.

tara73

when in the interview, mobile started ringing... bad enough in itself, I said my sorrys and it was supposed to stop very quickly as it goes to voicemail very quickly...
Didn't stop... Rang on and on... I realised it's my alarmclock I set on the mobile. started frantically searching for it, it was in my coat..so my lovely coat was a bit old, means the lining was ripped and when putting something in the pockets it would fall somewhere into the coat between the lining and the outer coat material...:o so it wasn't easy to find it in my coat...and all the while it was ringing and ringing...had to go outside the room to search for it, leaving the interview guys behind.

coming back in the room there were two or three minor questions from the guys, then the head guy abruptly jumped to his feet, shoved his arm in my direction and said: ok, we will let you know about the decision we made...

never had such an embarrassing interview before..:o

fxotoole

razorblunt wrote: »

Of course it didn't it's a bloody joke!

Then it's 100% guaranteed it never happened

Your Face

I went for a Technician role years ago.
One of the interviewers kept talking about himself and what projects he was on. Really getting himself over.
The two other interviewers just sat there giving me knowing looks.
At the end of the interview I found out that yer man would be my supervisor.

No he won't, I thought to myself.

rekluse

Going for a bar job in some ****ty chain like revolution or something when I was about 18 in the uk. Inerviwer ‘Tell us a joke’. Me - ‘Errrrrmmmm - What goes clip clop, clip clop ,bang bang , clip clop, clip clop’. Ineterviewer - ‘I dunno’. Me - ‘An Amish drive by’. Interviewer - Dour stoney faced silence. On reflection , it was a great ****in joke and I should most certainly have been hired.

Chaos Tourist

Facebook interviewer: Are you on Facebook?

Me: No

Facebook interviewer: Interesting...

Me: ????

Sinister Kid

The reason why I didn't give a job...

I manage a shop, the owners sent a young guy around 19 into me for a trial day.

He must of asked me 10 times throughout the day how much commission he would get.
I said that the owners discussed the % with him during the interview, commission depends on sales & it can vary depending on time of year.
He kept asking over & over. If I sold X how much would I get? did not shut up.

I asked him to shadow me while I was dealing with a customer so he could learn about the product. After the sale was done & customer left he said I hope I'm getting half the commission on that sale.

I told him I would run through a few bits with him after I was finished dealing with a couple of urgent issues. He interrupted me three times "are you ready yet?"

When he returned from lunch he told me that I could go take my lunch - Oh can I now? how very kind of you!

He asked me repeatedly what his chances of getting the job? How many people were doing trials? Was he the best candidate?

We keep bottled water in the fridge, when leaving he took three bottles because he may as well get something if he doesn't get the job.

One of the owners dropped in at the end of the day to see how he was getting on.
Trial guy asked for cash in hand there & then for his days work (he would have been paid via bank transfer for the day if he didn't get the job or it would have been classed as his first day if he did) We do very little in cash sales so the owner had to go get cashback for him.

Specialun

had a software company in same city hounding me to interview. both their own recruiters and agencies for 18 months..yeah go on so I said

45 mins late

interview was 30 mins with HR manager followed by 30 with the VP. didnt even get to 15 minutes and i eventually said “ look this clearly isnt going well so lets not waste any more of our time”

simply because i was met with questions like..

prove your salary is xyz so give me a break down of your wage slip before and after tax”.. well its xyz after tax..but but i asked before tax..i dont know pal as i take little notice if my tax deductions..5 mins argueing over this

“ we really dont like hiring people from **insert current company** as we find ye have it easy and dont do things the way we like it to be done here” .. bit off to judge me on where my current employment is ..

“ you have declined to interview here in the past. whats different now” . “ have you realised this is the best gig in town” errr wtf

“ you have a masters in xyz. alot of people in the city have that. must be easy”

just a sample of the ****e i had..he even refused to shake my hand as i got up..to said “ wow your the vp of HR and this is your level of professinalism “ to which i was greeted by a bark of “ please leave the room”

Cina

I had one absolute w*nker before, I'd aced the tech test and the previous 2 interviews, then I met him, and didn't get the job. Some of the questions were like..

"what do you consider yourself an expert in?"
"hmm, not sure I'd call myself an expert in anything as I always feel I can improve, but maybe.. <x>"
"oh ok, I've actually done a lot of <x>, can you tell me... "
*proceeds to ask around 20 questions, I answer them all, and finally can't answer the last one (bear in mind this guy had 20+ years experience and I had 4/5 years at the time*
"sorry, don't know that one"

He proceeds to let out a big, jerk-off smirk and go
"Heh, maybe you'll think twice about claiming you're an expert in something again then."
"I did say I didn't consider myself an expert though"
"You still gave the answer, not sure we have room at this company for someone who makes excuses"

Turns out he would've been my manager, I'm glad I didn't get it.

razorblunt

Specialun wrote: »

had a software company in same city hounding me to interview. both their own recruiters and agencies for 18 months..yeah go on so I said

45 mins late

interview was 30 mins with HR manager followed by 30 with the VP. didnt even get to 15 minutes and i eventually said “ look this clearly isnt going well so lets not waste any more of our time”

simply because i was met with questions like..

prove your salary is xyz so give me a break down of your wage slip before and after tax”.. well its xyz after tax..but but i asked before tax..i dont know pal as i take little notice if my tax deductions..5 mins argueing over this

“ we really dont like hiring people from **insert current company** as we find ye have it easy and dont do things the way we like it to be done here” .. bit off to judge me on where my current employment is ..

“ you have declined to interview here in the past. whats different now” . “ have you realised this is the best gig in town” errr wtf

“ you have a masters in xyz. alot of people in the city have that. must be easy”

just a sample of the ****e i had..he even refused to shake my hand as i got up..to said “ wow your the vp of HR and this is your level of professinalism “ to which i was greeted by a bark of “ please leave the room”

Another example of HR messing things up. He was probably getting battered by the team looking for you as not being able to get you in for an interview.

kylith

Aged 17 applied for shelfstacking position in Dunnes.
"Why do you want to join the Dunnes family?"
".... to earn money..."
Apparently the wrong answer.

I once interviewed for a job convinced it was for another company with an almost identical name. I must have spoofed well when I realised cos I got the job

eldamo

Was really fed up in my job 5 years ago just before I got married. Applied for two jobs internally. One real prestige job, one less prestige but really maths intensive job for which I had studied 7 years prior.

Prestige job interview came up first. Zero technical questions, really surprised. Just a really nice chat with the boss of that area. Got a kind rejection a little while later.

Maths job was put on hold but eventually the interview came up on my last day in the office before my wedding, I had no time to prepare, but I thought they wouldn't wait 4 weeks for me to come back and sure the prestige job had no technical questions. I should be fine right....

It was a maths test. I managed to get the first one right having heard something similar before but after that it really went to hell. After a few blanks I should have realised that it wasn't going to get better and left, I didn't, it was horrific.

Five years later, working for a different company, doing the equivalent of the maths intensive job here. My boss signed a consultancy contract with my old employer, sent me out for it as I was familiar with their systems. Working now for the guy with whom I had the awful interview.

Fair play to him for not specifically requesting someone else (he would have been within his rights) all going well now but it was a nervous few weeks...

Later found out that there were no technical questions on the prestige interview as the job was basically promised to someone already, sigh.

forgottenhills

A few years ago a guy turned up to interview for an IT role in a company I used to work for. The interview went very well and the hiring manager and myself were considering an offer to the guy before we left the meeting room. We went outside to do something at reception where the receptionist there asked us what we thought of the candidate who had just left. She went on to add that he had asked her somewhat personal questions about a visible tattoo that she had.

The guy probably still doesn't understand why he wasn't offered the job!

the14thwarrior

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

Lazy I reserve judgement but stupid you're not.

ah don't be harsh. i wasn't lazy, i had to get off the bus three stops early to avoid paying the full fare because i had no money. unless you've been so broke as i was, don't judge! it worked out in the end as I got a job in a burger joint soon after, and could stay on the bus to my stop!!

then i got a job in Bank of Ireland and a whole new world of wealth opened up!

a few years later i ended up working two jobs and took a job typing at night to pay my way through college for four years. still think i made the right decision.

ArnoldJRimmer

Just out of college, a friend of mine set me up for an interview where she worked for a data entry job, cant even remember who the company were at this stage. I was obviously way more nervous than I thought because I just froze on the first question to the point where the three interviewers told me take a moment and start again. Restarted, and inexplicably, I again froze, at this stage visibly sweating. They continued to be extremely nice and made me feel at ease, and I just about recovered to do an adequate interview.

Feeling a lot calmer, all that was left was to do an excel test. I'd used it before, although sparingly, so had read up and practiced ahead of the interview. I was brought to the back of a quiet room, and put at a PC where one of the interviewers set me up and told me she would be back in 15 minutes. Anyway, my mind once again went completely blank, and I couldn't think of how to navigate a simple spreadsheet.

Extremely frustrated at myself, I said 'Ah for f**ks sake.'

At which point I heard a 'Are you ok there?' The interviewer was standing right behind me with a shocked look on her face. Even though it was still morning, I went for a pint after that experience