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What's your worst interview experience/ meltdown?

JasonStatham

No meltdowns for me, but I interviewed for a tech role once (was totally unsuitable for it). The guy kept grilling me, on a specific technology i had worked with, to the point of absurdity. A damm tough interview. Haha.

So what's your worst interview, or do you know anyone who had a meltdown during one?

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[Deleted User]

Getting an early bus to an interview after a hard night on the sauce. By the time I reached my destination the cold sweats had set in. I sat down at the table with a three person panel. Perspiring and shaking, I realised the hopelessness of the situation: "Listen, I won't waste your time..." and exited stage left. One is only 19 once, adulthood was just around the corner.

markfinn

Oh Gods...
Software developer (supposedly a pretty basic database dev role) for Honeywell, about 10 years ago, a 4 on one phone interview.

I'd taken an 8 year career break to travel and had been earning my daily crust teaching English. Prior to that I'd been a pretty solid Java and SQL dev, but obviously 8 years out of practise and completely out of touch with all the new frameworks.

I'd been absolutely clear on my CV, and with both the recruiter and HR about this. That my Java basics were rock-solid but I knew absolutely nothing of Spring, Hibernate etc.

20 minutes into the phone call, 3 of which had been conversational niceties and the rest a list of intensely detailed and complex Hibernate questions and ever more scathing comments (which they continued after I'd pointed out that I had no knowledge of Hibernate) I just hung up and shut down skype. I then went back to teaching for another two years before talking to any other Irish based jobs.

It was the 2nd time in my life that I'd ever had an interview and not been offered the job (the other being for Google, but I'd known what I was putting myself in for that time). There's been a few more since, mind you. But never anything like the sheer vicious meanness of that one.

IAMAMORON

I told the Secretary General of P+T that I liked to use my initiative and that I had a proactive attitude to problem solving.

True Story

Gregor Samsa

Had an interview for a graphic designer job in a multimedia company many years ago. It was my very first interview. I had just graduated with a degree in Fine Art, but had no industry experience. 2 days before the interview I had eaten a battered sausage that someone threw at me on the street outside Fibbers. It fell into a puddle, and I picked it up and ate it in defiance. Bad move, I was shíteing out my mouth and puking out my arse all weekend.

Anyway, I had this interview at 10 am on Monday morning, I hadn't eaten in two days, was pale as a ghost and pumping sweat from the illness, but the worst had passed on the gastro front, so I decided to go ahead. I had long, crusty dreadlocks at the time, and I think I had to borrow a suit that was too big for me, so even on a good day I would have looked an absolute state.

I had a portfolio lashed together of various art and design stuff I'd done. One thing I'd been doing in college was that I'd started my own country in my living room - so a lot of the stuff in my portfolio was to do with that (flags, posters, manifestos, etc). The two women interviewing me asked me to explain what it was all about, and I did, in probably too much detail. We ended up in an argument, with the final question being "How the hell do you expect to make money out of this?" My answer "I don't!" signaled the abrupt and early end of the interview. You may be surprised to hear that I did not get the job (only interview so far where I wasn't offered the job, so I think I learned something from it).

On the other side of the coin, I interviewed a guy a few years ago for a Web Developer job. In the middle of the interview, he somehow worked in to the conversation that he did Taekwondo, and stood up and started demonstrating some moves. Then he started telling us randomly about some tag rugby match he played, and again stood up and started re-enacting the game. Weird thing was, he wasn't even a Web Developer and couldn't answer any questions on the subject. That interview should have been cut short, but it was too entertaining.

Samuel T. Cogley

Went through an entire interview and it was only asked as an after thought what my current salary was. It was about double what they were willing to offer. Include at least some indication of the salary on the fecking job advert! It was quite funny watching the reaction of the Ops Manager who was quite clearly on less than me.

hayoc

Was interviewing a guy for a relatively junior support role.

He showed up chewing gum and liberally peppered his replies with bad language (not in a confrontational way, simply conversational - like "do you have any experience with X", "Oh f*ck yeah, worked on that for a year").

Part of the interview process back in the day was we would do the interview and then walk the person round the building and plant and show them the place.

During the walkabout, we passed the staff smoking room which had pool tables etc.. Another staff member stopped me to ask me something and in the time it took me to say "Im just doing a walkabout with an interviewee, Ill get back to you shortly", yer man had disappeared.

I looked in the smoking room and not only had he taken the opportunity to light up, but was in fact setting a pool table up and looking around to see if someone wanted to play.

Needless to say, we thanked him for his time and never saw him again.

enricoh

Was asked a load of technical questions in an interview, most of them I was unsure it was English he was speaking!
After a few minutes of ' I don't knows' I just started laughing nervously for some reason -Interview wrapped up soon after n I went for a couple of nice pints n said sod it!

ShatterAlan

I was very happy on the dole with a healthy heroin habit.
Unfortunately the DHSS put me forward for a job in the leisure industry and I had to attend the interview. This is where things get dicey. Do a good interview and you might actually GET the job...fuckin' nightmare, don't do a good interview and they say "this cunt isnae tryin'" and they cut off your gyro.

So my friend Mark gave me some speed and off to the interview I went totally zooted out of my head.

I told them "Your leisure is mah pleasure" and that I had no weaknesses but then changed that to the fact that I'm a perfectionist and it "had to be the best".

Prattled on at 100mph talking drivel for another 10 minutes. They thanked me and said they'd be in touch. I jumped up and thanked them and shook their hands and kissed the lady on the panel and skipped out.

Disastrous interview but the outcome was perfect.

fatbhoy

hayoc wrote: »

Was interviewing a guy for a relatively junior support role.

He showed up chewing gum and liberally peppered his replies with bad language (not in a confrontational way, simply conversational - like "do you have any experience with X", "Oh f*ck yeah, worked on that for a year").

Part of the interview process back in the day was we would do the interview and then walk the person round the building and plant and show them the place.

During the walkabout, we passed the staff smoking room which had pool tables etc.. Another staff member stopped me to ask me something and in the time it took me to say "Im just doing a walkabout with an interviewee, Ill get back to you shortly", yer man had disappeared.

I looked in the smoking room and not only had he taken the opportunity to light up, but was in fact setting a pool table up and looking around to see if someone wanted to play.

Needless to say, we thanked him for his time and never saw him again.

Absolute legend. Why didn't you hire him?

hayoc

fatbhoy wrote: »

Absolute legend. Why didn't you hire him?

He actually seemed like a nice bloke to be fair.

Just a bit, unpolished.

freshpopcorn

I once went for a interview that turned into a trial on a Saturday
I had to scrub skirting boards around loads of people in a busy hotel.
I got forgotten about and they eventually remembered me.
I then went home and on Monday morning I was at college I had missed calls from my college apartment complex. Apparently somebody was throwing stuff at cars on the Saturday evening and I was seeing doing it and running back to my apartment. The Gardaí were involved. I had to use the hotel as an alibi.
Needless to say I didn’t get the job.

Strumms

Airfreight company red and yellow...

I was interviewed by a manager on his own, I’m 20, he’s only about 30.

He’s about 5’1” pudgy, receding hairline but what’s left of it dyed the most ridiculous shade of peroxide blond and a bright purple and green tie with waistcoat , I nicknamed him Darby O’Nil. I spent half the interview wishing I was colorblind.

3 minutes in I’m nailing every question with ease, I’ve always been decent in interviews. Confident, articulate but this is irking him... he asks me towards the end of the interview “how did you arrive here today ?” I replied that I used public transportation which was almost door to door as I didn’t drive as yet.

He started grinning, “well Strumms, that might go against you if another candidate has a license.”

I replied “well if either yourself or your employer feel that way you should include it as a prerequisite in the job advertisement. I took a taxi here, I will take a taxi home, I did so under the impression that i met the advertised criteria therefore I spent time preparing, and getting here.”

He gets all embarrassed, ensuring I’ve done a very good interview and would be in the shakeup..

Considering the manner of how things ended I was surprised to find that the following day I received a job offer over the phone from his boss which I confidently declined... when asked why I told her.. she laughed, apologized saying “well Raymond is only a new manager and perhaps got a little over enthusiastic”. Me...”that’s ok I don’t blame him, but rather I blame the cûnt of a manager who hired him and the one also whom on being told about it just seems to think it’s funny”.

Church on Tuesday

None, if an interviewer is that sad to try get a reaction I'd just calmly up and leave; it's their loss.

macpaccrack

fatbhoy wrote: »

Absolute legend. Why didn't you hire him?

I would have hired him for the entertainment alone.

I think every work place needs one of those characters to keep morale up.

ShatterAlan

fatbhoy wrote: »

Absolute legend. Why didn't you hire him?

I would have hired the bollocks on a 6 monther.

Told him the whatnots and then observed. Sounds like a can-do kinda guy.

He probably would have shagged the owner's daughter but sure what can you do?

the-island-man

Once done a 4 hour interview punctuated by a 1 hour lunch in London for a Software Engineer role in a trading company.

Was exhausting but went very well until the last half an hour, I completely blew it.

pinkbear

True story, and awful memory: I went for an interview very shortly after having a baby. It was in a very male dominated area, and I had applied for the job many months previously, and didn't want to tell them about the baby. I breastfed the baby in the car, and my husband took her for a short walk while I went into the interview.

All fine, except it turned out to be the longest interview in interview history! I was interviewed by person after person after person. By the 4th (male) interviewer, and 2 and a half elapsed hours, my poor boobs were screaming for a baby to be attached! I sweated through another 15 mins, then I finally had to say "Listen, I'm really sorry but I have a tiny newborn baby in the car and I desperately need to breastfeed her, I'll be back as soon as I can". Luckily I remembered to add "She's with her dad" as I ran out the door.

I fed baby as fast as possible, and ran back into the interview, buttoning up. The interviews seemed quite awkward after that. Glancing down, I noticed two large damp stains around my boobs..... The interviews finished quite quickly then..... and I didn't get the job!

Sharing this has not been easy:(

ILoveYourVibes

No meltdown ...but i was going for an interview as a receptionist in quite a big barber shop....in the middle of the interview the guys seat adjusted and he feel of it ...I couldn't hold back my laughter .....needless to say i didn't get it. He was actually quite daft tho...his dad owned the business ...that was the only reason he was in charge ..very pretentious ..it was ****ing barbershop after all...'we want a better class of client' ..if i ever hear that i run in my head

Then i was going for a job in a call center .....but it was trying to get people to use loan consolidation services for a fee ..it was just cold calling ...the place looked a dump ....i was there five mins and i decided i didn't want to work there but i needed a job..the people taking the calls were like 16 yr olds and they had nothing on their desks except a switchboard and were reading a script from manuals. It was nuts ...16 yr olds selling loan consolidation packages.

He read my c.v and said ....why would you work here you are over qualified....I said 'Im desperate'. Those exact words.

I have no filter.

[Deleted User]

Had one at 10am one morning after finishing the last of 4 twelve hour nights that morning at 7:30. Barely knew my own name let alone how to troubleshoot a program. Ended up apologising for wasting their time after 10 minutes and walking out.

Kylta

I done an interview years ago for a job (won't divulge where). But during the interview I actually got cramp in my leg, leading me to utter those famous words at the top of my lungs (****ing cramp) also sending the table I was sitting at going sideways into the interview panel, and I then proceeded to start hobbling around the interview room(I reckon they thought I was nuts ) in pain trying to walk the cramp off which didn't really work. In fairness they offered to postpone the interview, but I carried on anyway hobbling around the room answering questions with a grimace.
Needless to say I didn't get the job. And that story is a 100% true

grayzer75

Went for an interview with a 'rival' company one time and the guy doing the interview spent 90% of the time just slagging off my current employer slaying how sh*te they were and fishing for information, a very unprofessional chap and the company folded about two years later. Lucky escape for me.....

Oranage2

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Had one at 10am one morning after finishing the last of 4 twelve hour nights that morning at 7:30. Barely knew my own name let alone how to troubleshoot a program. Ended up apologising for wasting their time after 10 minutes and walking out.

Exact same thing happened to me, was supposed to have a phone interview at 9am, after finishing my 4th 12 hour night shift, I tried to stay awake but couldn't, got a call at 12 o'clock and was like a zombie trying to answer technical questions. I hung up after 10 minutes and got an email a minute later saying I didn't get the job.

_Brian

A very much younger me got up, scrubbed and on way out the door lifted the appointment letter to realise I was 24hrs late

Stupid mistake but home was a mess because mam was in Lukes having surgery and treatment for cancer and had been in for months.

With nothing to loose I rang and explained my case, in a very unlike me moment I said they would regret not giving me a chance.

They had a second round of interviews the following week where it was 90 down to 5 and I was added in on the premise I wouldn’t say to other candidates that I hadn’t done first round.

I must have done good because they took me on and I worked there for years, the job was the making of me.

Donegalroyal

Many years ago, I went for my first ever formal interview for the role of junior manager with a grocery retail chain. Was called into a room for the interview and was greeted by an old man.

There was a large table in the room and there were CVs scattered all over it. He said he just had to find mine and started shuffling them about. I started scanning the table to see could I help him out, his hand stopped, I looked up and he was asleep.

He woke up after about 10 seconds and didn't acknowledge what had just happened and just started the interview. He continued to fall asleep throughout the interview for short periods including one time while he was in the middle of asking a question. Each time when he woke up, he just continued like nothing had happened.

It was the strangest experience, I thought I was on a hidden camera show. I got an email the following week to say I was unsuccessful, I emailed back informing them of what had happened. They apologised and gave me a €50 voucher for their stores.

hayoc

A difficult interview for me was an academic interview for a post grad.

It was a panel of 5 people in front of me. The most important person on the panel, the head of the dept, had a terrible stammer.

I was already nervous, and whenever he asked a question, it was excruciatingly difficult for me not to try and finish his sentence - through sheer nerves, just to get it over with. By the time he got to the end of each question I was sweating and trying to remember what he had asked.

I got the post grad, and he was the nicest guy ever to work with academically. And he wasnt nearly so much of a stammerer one on one - I guess the 5 panel interview set up got his nerves going a bit too.

moycullen14

markfinn wrote: »

Oh Gods...
Software developer (supposedly a pretty basic database dev role) for Honeywell, about 10 years ago, a 4 on one phone interview.

I'd taken an 8 year career break to travel and had been earning my daily crust teaching English. Prior to that I'd been a pretty solid Java and SQL dev, but obviously 8 years out of practise and completely out of touch with all the new frameworks.

I'd been absolutely clear on my CV, and with both the recruiter and HR about this. That my Java basics were rock-solid but I knew absolutely nothing of Spring, Hibernate etc.

20 minutes into the phone call, 3 of which had been conversational niceties and the rest a list of intensely detailed and complex Hibernate questions and ever more scathing comments (which they continued after I'd pointed out that I had no knowledge of Hibernate) I just hung up and shut down skype. I then went back to teaching for another two years before talking to any other Irish based jobs.

It was the 2nd time in my life that I'd ever had an interview and not been offered the job (the other being for Google, but I'd known what I was putting myself in for that time). There's been a few more since, mind you. But never anything like the sheer vicious meanness of that one.

You would wonder sometimes if the only point of tech interviews is to make the interviewer feel superior.

Had exactly the same experience trying to get back into tech after a disastrous start-up failed. No matter how many times I explained that my skills, whilst solid, were very rusty, the interviewer would keep battering on as if the goal was to make me cry 'I don't fu**king know anything, you ARE clearly my superior'

The crazy thing is that in 30+ years in IT, technical knowledge has never been the determinant of success. Drive, responsibility, the ability to get things done and to get others to do things are what make for success (same as most industries, really). But no, let's quiz them on the 46 options to ls(1).

It really is an industry full of to**ers.

moycullen14

hayoc wrote: »

Was interviewing a guy for a relatively junior support role.

He showed up chewing gum and liberally peppered his replies with bad language (not in a confrontational way, simply conversational - like "do you have any experience with X", "Oh f*ck yeah, worked on that for a year").

Part of the interview process back in the day was we would do the interview and then walk the person round the building and plant and show them the place.

During the walkabout, we passed the staff smoking room which had pool tables etc.. Another staff member stopped me to ask me something and in the time it took me to say "Im just doing a walkabout with an interviewee, Ill get back to you shortly", yer man had disappeared.

I looked in the smoking room and not only had he taken the opportunity to light up, but was in fact setting a pool table up and looking around to see if someone wanted to play.

Needless to say, we thanked him for his time and never saw him again.

You gotta employ people like this. Ligind! He'd probably be running the place in 6 months.

The Nal

Myself and a mate got offered a good job when I was a student in America. We were smoking weed for breakfast that summer and as we were just about to sign the contact the employer said "so we'll be drug testing you, costs $80 but you get it back if you pass".

Only had about $80 left at this stage so both of us chuckled and just got up and walked out.

Spent the $80 on weed.

Surreptitious

During the Summer as a student I needed a job. I got an interview with a store. Myself and my friend got another friend to drive us there but we smoked some really strong weed in the car.
I was wearing black clothes but it was a tight top and short skirt which were kind of fashionable at the time. They weren't over the top or anything but I suppose the skirt might have been a bit short.
I was in the interview with this guy, he was acting very bizarre but he was sitting back with his crotch not covered and he had a huge erection. He started off, I suppose you're a really laid back person are you like nothing bothers you. I was so stoned and paranoid I kept thinking this guy knows I'm wasted. The questions he asked had nothing to do with the job, they were all analysing my personality. It was torture.
When I got the fk out of there I went straight to the pub and needed a drink. It was humiliating. Needless to say I didn't get the job.

JasonStatham

pinkbear wrote: »

True story, and awful memory: I went for an interview very shortly after having a baby. It was in a very male dominated area, and I had applied for the job many months previously, and didn't want to tell them about the baby. I breastfed the baby in the car, and my husband took her for a short walk while I went into the interview.

All fine, except it turned out to be the longest interview in interview history! I was interviewed by person after person after person. By the 4th (male) interviewer, and 2 and a half elapsed hours, my poor boobs were screaming for a baby to be attached! I sweated through another 15 mins, then I finally had to say "Listen, I'm really sorry but I have a tiny newborn baby in the car and I desperately need to breastfeed her, I'll be back as soon as I can". Luckily I remembered to add "She's with her dad" as I ran out the door.

I fed baby as fast as possible, and ran back into the interview, buttoning up. The interviews seemed quite awkward after that. Glancing down, I noticed two large damp stains around my boobs..... The interviews finished quite quickly then..... and I didn't get the job!

Sharing this has not been easy:(

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