Interview disasters

Water Cooler
#1

Had an interview last week, and it didn’t exactly go to plan :sweat_smile:

In my mind, I was going to get the early train into the city and have a nice leisurely cycle into the office whilst doing some sightseeing.

This didn’t happen :grin:

The trains got cancelled, and I ended up cycle sprinting it to the office with only minutes to spare. It was also a hot day and for the life of me, I couldn’t cool down in time. For the first half of the interview I was flustered and sweating profusely and had to ask them for a cold drink, some napkins, to put the aircon on, and pretty much had to half strip!

Suffice to say I didn’t land that gig, but I can laugh at it now.

Takeaway tip: Don’t bike to your interview on a hot day unless you arrive ridiculously early, or have a better cooling system than me!

Anyone else want to share their own interview disasters? :grinning:

3 Likes
#2

Famous last words. I’m sorry you didn’t get the gig though.

I’ve had some spectacularly bad interviews, but I didn’t know it until I took a class on resume writing and interview techniques. You name it, I’ve likely done it. I was very lucky to land a government job early on - good interview skills not required.

4 Likes
#3

Not a disaster as such but I once helped interview an excellent candidate who accepted our offer of a job then pulled out (very) last minute. Think she was given a raise and promotion in her current company.

Roll on a few years and I went for an interview and the hiring manager’s name seemed familiar. Yes it was the previously mentioned candidate, who turns out wasn’t a great interviewer. After an awkward hours chat we politely parted ways. I still regret not asking if she had used us to further her career!

2 Likes
#4

I was interviewing with the Denver Broncos, our local NFL team, for an “New Media” internship in college. I grew up a huge Broncos fan, and it was a great opportunity, so I was very excited about the interview. If I landed the job, I’d be writing for the team’s site, helping with design, shooting sideline video on gameday (home and away), and getting to rub elbows with some of my heroes.

This particular interview was done panel-style. Three Broncos employees were questioning me about my portfolio and a Broncos website I ran, where I wrote articles about the team and players.

At the time I was young and dumb. In these articles I had taken quotes from different sources and not always attributed them. Young me didn’t see it as a big deal as I was writing the articles more or less as practice pieces, assuming that the quotes came from press conferences I couldn’t attend. As my website had a monthly viewership around 5, I wasn’t too concerned about any serious complaints despite knowing that this was a huge no-no in the journalistic world.

That wasn’t the case. Several of the quotes came from exclusive DenverBroncos.com pieces, although the pieces made no mention of the exclusivity of the interview. What was worse was that the person who had conducted the interview and wrote the pieces was one of my interviewers.

Of course I was called out on it - rightfully so. I explained my reasoning and apologized profusely, making sure to state that it would never happen again.

I thought that was the end of my chances. I went home rather depressed about it, but telling myself that I had learned a hard lesson that would serve me well in the future.

A couple of months later, I got a call from the team offering me the job. It was absolutely amazing, and still one of my favorite times in my life. It lead to so many great memories, like getting run over by a Carolina Panther in the end zone at Mile High.

57%20AM
57%20AM753×676 375 KB

5 Likes
#5

it was all good character building! :grinning:

Not unheard of in the business world! Some people are willing to do whatever it takes!

This sounds like the opposite to a disaster! What a great gig by the sounds of it :+1:

3 Likes
#6

Another interview i recall a while back… i asked for a glass of water and whilst i waited for the interviewer i somehow managed to spill the water all over the table, so had to rush back and forth to the toilet to grab tissue to clean u the mess.

Was quite funny looking back, especially as during one of the trips, with hands full of tissue, i sped past the interviewer who must have been wondering what the hell i was doing! I got the job in the end so can def laugh about it now :laughing:

4 Likes
#7

Haha Leo, you poor thing.

I am fortunate enough never to have had a job interview and after hearing these stories I’m very grateful for that.

3 Likes
#8

never had an interview? :open_mouth: How have you managed that? You have missed out on a world of pain lol

2 Likes
#9

just remembered another one… :grinning:

When i was still at school I interviewed for a part-time job at virgin music megastore, and one of the questions was ‘why should we employ you’.

My answer ‘I wont get bored cos there’s music playing’.

It was a group interview and the other candidates all burst into laughter whilst the interviewers gave a WTF look at each other. I also didn’t get that job :laughing: I still cringe even now lol

4 Likes
#10

A combination of luck and strategy. :wink:

2 Likes
#11

I used to sometimes get sugar rushes from some drinks. On my way to an interview I had glugged down a sugary fizzy drink. By the time I got into the room I was fidgety as hell - legs jiggling, struggling to keep my hands still… then without really thinking I picked up the interviewer’s spare pen and started fiddling with it. The more I tried not to fidget the more I did.

Luckily they thought it was nerves. I got the job.

4 Likes
#12

you’re very lucky that you only get the fidgets after downing a fizzy drink, it could have been a lot worse/gassier! :grinning:

2 Likes
Funny interviews and interview moments