Worst interview experiences

[Cardinal Richelieu]

8 minutes ago, Ross. said:

I agree to an extent, but a lot of places also want to see how well you can bullshit your way through a pressurised situation as you work towards the desired outcome.

I'm conducting an interview this afternoon. The chap who is coming in did well at the 1st interview and gave all the right answers to the questions about the job that I put to him. 

The 2nd part of the interview is a test that I have set for him, which is directly related to the role. However, HR are involved and they are insisting that I asked at least 4-5 "competency-based" questions, along the lines of "Where do you see yourself in 5 years", or "Name a time when you've battled adversity". I feel sorry for the poor sod coming in and hope it doesn't put him off getting a job if I offer him it. 

[Shandon Par]

2 hours ago, NewBornBairn said:

Used to manage a theatre and we hired schoolgirls as usherettes. One lassie came in for interview - 15 and dressed like a $5 hooker. Short skirt, low cut top, caked-on makeup etc etc. She sat down and immediately crossed her legs and tugged her top down a bit more at which point I stopped her and told her to go home and get changed into something more suitable.  When she came back dressed more appropriately she came across well and was hired but she later told me that she thought dressing like that was what was expected for a girl going for a job - something I found quite depressing. 

Young lady, would you pull down your dress....

 

 

Up! I Mean up!

[sjc]

22 minutes ago, Tynierose said:

I had to do a lot of interviewing in my last couple of jobs and always try to be as kind as possible.  Some people are just absolute idiots though and make no effort to prepare.

I mind one question, a nice simple ice breaker, what did you do to prepare for the interview today, now I work in healthcare so it's a freebie.   The applicants reply was nothing its destiny, it went downhill from there tbh.   She even had the temerity to moan about not getting the post when demanding feedback.

Another issue is when you're desperate to recruit but alas the candidates are terrible, its a real dilemma but I reckon its always best to take the hit and re advertise as opposed to being opposed to being landed with a balloon long term.

It can be very frustrating at times but not as awful as when you have someone with a great CV, who then does an excellent interview but within a few months in post you realise you've hired a dud.

Meh you should just be allowed to ask about whether you like fitba, do you post on a scottish football webiste etc.

You're more likely to find patients on here than any potential employees!

[Mark Connolly]

2 hours ago, NewBornBairn said:

Used to manage a theatre and we hired schoolgirls as usherettes. One lassie came in for interview - 15 and dressed like a $5 hooker. Short skirt, low cut top, caked-on makeup etc etc. She sat down and immediately crossed her legs and tugged her top down a bit more at which point I stopped her and told her to go home and get changed into something more suitable.  When she came back dressed more appropriately she came across well and was hired but she later told me that she thought dressing like that was what was expected for a girl going for a job - something I found quite depressing. 

Big Gus would have hired her on the spot

[Newbornbairn]

51 minutes ago, Shandon Par said:

Young lady, would you pull down your dress....

 

 

Up! I Mean up!

Can't remember if this happened to my brother in law or if he told me the story but, towards the end of his teacher training he went on placement to a secondary in Dundee. First day solo with his new class and they trooped in - all these young teenage girls in short skirts sitting down at desks too small for them and him getting a real eyefull.

 

"Umm... err.. right girls... umm... if you could take your textbooks and open your legs at page 22...."

[nsr]

My first ever job was stacking shelves in the meat aisle at Sainsbury's in Edinburgh. The only other applicant that day was a vegetarian who walked out the moment she found out what she'd be doing. I, apparently by virtue of being (a) present and (b) alive, was then "guided" through my interview by the helpful HR lady who happily wrote down nonsense answers for all of the "give me a time when you..." questions. 

[Gaz]

16 minutes ago, nsr said:

My first ever job was stacking shelves in the meat aisle at Sainsbury's in Edinburgh. The only other applicant that day was a vegetarian who walked out the moment she found out what she'd be doing. I, apparently by virtue of being (a) present and (b) alive, was then "guided" through my interview by the helpful HR lady who happily wrote down nonsense answers for all of the "give me a time when you..." questions. 

My interview for Burger King consisted of going in and asking the manageress if I could apply for a job, as a mate of mine worked there and said they were hiring. She gave me an interview right there and then and essentially asked me if I could do weekends and the odd evening shift during the week around college. It lasted about ten seconds and then I had my first shift three days later

She was a great boss. I met most of the folk that I now consider my close friends (and my wife) through working there.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

When I was 18 or so I was at m GF's in Glesga staying midweek when I was unemployed and I got a call from the buroo asking if I could make it to Hampden for an interview in an hour's time with British Gas (or maybe it was Scottish Power). Anyway it was going door to door selling gas/leccie deals. At ma GF's I only had what I was wearing, shorts, t-shirt, trainers and a change of another pair of shorts, t-shirt and trainers. The buroo made it quite clear failure to attend would look bad and I could lose my jobseekers (or so it felt to me at the time) I figured I would suck it up, explain the situation on arrival, and hope they'd see past it.

Got there and I was a group interview. About 30 people all suited and booted and I turnt up wearing a Less than Jake t-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts. I remember they handed out those wee personality tests where you strongly agree to strongly disagree and me and three or four south Asian fellas with English as a second language were informed we never passed it so we were out. Ever since I've always assumed no one checks the results of those tests and they're just for employers to get rid of folk without having to explain their decision.

Edited January 14, 2020 by AsimButtHitsASix

[bobbykdy]

Not me personally but I remember my old man applied to Amazon for a job as something to get him by until he was due to retire. They had to do some sort of aptitude test then an interview, followed finally by a drug and alcohol screening test. He said it was the funniest thing ever when the group were told the guy would arrive shortly to carry out the last test, at this point more than half of the candidates made their excuses and left. This was despite it being clearly stated on the inital advert that it was part of the process.

[Northboy]

2 hours ago, Cardinal Richelieu said:

The 2nd part of the interview is a test that I have set for him, which is directly related to the role. However, HR are involved and they are insisting that I asked at least 4-5 "competency-based" questions, along the lines of "Where do you see yourself in 5 years", or "Name a time when you've battled adversity". I feel sorry for the poor sod coming in and hope it doesn't put him off getting a job if I offer him it. 

Asking "Where do you see yourself in 5 years"  in an interview should be a sackable offence.

[Ross.]

6 minutes ago, bobbykdy said:

Not me personally but I remember my old man applied to Amazon for a job as something to get him by until he was due to retire. They had to do some sort of aptitude test then an interview, followed finally by a drug and alcohol screening test. He said it was the funniest thing ever when the group were told the guy would arrive shortly to carry out the last test, at this point more than half of the candidates made their excuses and left. This was despite it being clearly stated on the inital advert that it was part of the process.

Done quite a few stints temping on the production lines at IBM in Greenock when I was living there and at college. Wasn't much in the way of an interview but there was always a drugs/alcohol test at the end and I think that was the only real decider in whether or not they took you on. Was generally the same there though, a fairly high % of the folk who turned up would simply head straight for the exit after being given their wee pot to piss in.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

6 minutes ago, Ross. said:

Done quite a few stints temping on the production lines at IBM in Greenock when I was living there and at college. Wasn't much in the way of an interview but there was always a drugs/alcohol test at the end and I think that was the only real decider in whether or not they took you on. Was generally the same there though, a fairly high % of the folk who turned up would simply head straight for the exit after being given their wee pot to piss in.

One of the agencies that hired folk for IBM was located across from my flat in Greenock when I was 18/19 and, back then, I was drug free but most of my mates loved a toke. They would give ye a cup to piss in and tell ye where the toilet was. Had a few pals sprinting up to my flat to get me to piss in their cup for them before running back across the road with a cup of my piss.

[Ross.]

14 minutes ago, AsimButtHitsASix said:

One of the agencies that hired folk for IBM was located across from my flat in Greenock when I was 18/19 and, back then, I was drug free but most of my mates loved a toke. They would give ye a cup to piss in and tell ye where the toilet was. Had a few pals sprinting up to my flat to get me to piss in their cup for them before running back across the road with a cup of my piss.

When I was there it was getting towards the arse end of them running production there, didn't even bother hiring offices for it. On a few occasions they used some warehouse in Gourock that was also a small production unit for them(Can't remember the name of that company anymore but was well known in the area) and they also just had folk turn up at the main IBM factory and diverted them to some of the unused offices while they waited their turn in the toilets. Fairly surreal set up, and all for a 3/4 week run of 12 hour night shifts. Felt horrendous by the end but the money was more than decent when compared to anything part time you could get in the town. My only problem was making it last more than a couple of weeks after I had finished up!

[D.A.F.C]

First place i worked people openly smoked joints outside the front door.
Nothing wrong with it but some worked on machinery.
[emoji38]

[welshbairn]

Went for a job as stage manager at the Hackney Empire in London without knowing anything about the politics of the place. When I got there I was given a tour and I discovered I knew and was friendly with their sound engineer and a couple of the stage crew. The one thing I did notice was every single member of staff was black. Got taken into a rehearsal room for an interview and was quite surprised to see 8 or 9 people sitting behind a row of desks at the far end of the tennis-court sized room with one single chair in the middle of the room. To be heard you had to really raise your voice and it meant the panel could talk quietly to each other without me being able to hear them. Did I mention they were all black too? Anyway, the interview started and I thought it was going well. Not only did I have the experience and skillset, I knew other people there and also some of the touring companies that were coming in - I really did feel this was going to be a good fit. Then the questions started to get strange. What political activism projects had I been involved in? How diverse were the companies I'd worked with and so on and so on. The clincher was when one quite aggressive woman said "Do you know what racial discrimination is and can you give us examples when you yourself have discriminated racially?"

 

Needless to say, I didn't get the job but I did learn what racial discrimination was. 

Tbf I worked in at least a dozen London theatres and can only remember working with one black guy backstage. Swings and roundabouts. Think you needed 3 generations of white eastender blood to get a shift at Covent Garden.

 

[Shotgun]

3 hours ago, OSP said:

I've interviewed lots of folk, and now as part of my job train others on how to do it.

It amazes me how many folk think that making an interview a horrible, stressful, difficult experience for all the candidates is the best way to find the ideal candidate for the role. Pure ego trip for the arseholes doing the recruitment, and nothing more.

As for my personal experiences, when I was just 17 went for a job where the Managing Director told me my first mistake at the interview was the crucifix I was wearing, as he gets most of his clients through the lodge. Cringe to think I just accepted that as honest feedback at the time, but I was just a young lad...

I'm impressed you train people how to interview. A huge number of companies just task some junior manager with the job, with no guidance or oversight. I've worked with people who've looked forward to it as an opportunity to make the candidates suffer. And I've been on the other side of the table when the interviewer is quite obviously on a wee power trip. No idea how to identify the best candidate, just asking ridiculously hard to answer questions with no relevance to the job. More than once I've sat there thinking "Aye, enjoy yourself son. The day may well come when you'll be desperate for a job and you won't find it anywhere near as funny then." 

[Shotgun]

3 hours ago, Tynierose said:

Meh you should just be allowed to ask about whether you like fitba, do you post on a scottish football webiste etc.

Followed by who's yer big team?

[Melanius Mullarkey]

1 hour ago, D.A.F.C said:

First place i worked people openly smoked joints outside the front door.
Nothing wrong with it but some worked on machinery.

Walkers shortbread was a bit like that.

I think they had alcohol/drugs tests to make sure you were off your tits before spending the next 10 hours fingering Prince Charles Duchy Originals (which had Made in England stamped on the bottom, despite being constructed in Aberlour).

Spoiler

 

[Jaggy Snake]

A few years back I had an interview for a Trainee Lab Tech post at a university. In the role you'd rotate around the science and medical departments for 2 years, then specialise with one department and a research group.

After a logic/IQ test, the Head Lab Tech took me into another room for the actual interview. There we joined four other people who were introduced as the heads of Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Medicine - not the lab heads, the actual heads of department. The Head Lab Tech explained that as there were so many of them they would only ask one question each.

I studied Physics (at a different uni) and the head of Physics was sat fourth in line to ask his question. I have no recollection what any of the first three questions were, and don't doubt my answers were awful, as by this stage I was shitting myself over whatever he was going to ask. Convinced he was going to ask a technical question and expose the fact I'd learned nothing at uni, when it eventually reached the head of Physics he asked "If I got the job, would I commute or relocate closer to the university?". Bearing in mind I lived 2 hours drive away, I said I would look to relocate.

I wasn't offered the job (nor did I want it in the end) but it just seemed a collosal waste of time for everyone involved, only cushioned by being able to claim over £70 expenses from them for £20 worth of petrol.

Edited January 14, 2020 by Jaggy Snake

[Poet of the Macabre]

On 12/01/2020 at 17:44, Nutz_the_Squirrel said:

I was met with a scabby room with about 6 haggard, crumbling and broken idiots who  sat at a desk with a landline phone, lost of numbers and a ghetto blaster playing a tape with ‘busy stock exchange noise’.

This is one of the finest sentences I've read on here in a while.