The 10 Wildest Job Interview Stories EVER!
The Guardian newspaper asked their readers for their most awkward and/or mortifying job interview stories. Not something you’d share easily you’d think, but over 150 stories were traded with ease! And you won’t believe some of the things you’re about to read! Happy Friday Recruiters!
- “My worst job interview was my first-ever to work at an architectural firm. I carefully laid out all the drawings on my bedroom floor, put them into plastic sleeves in a portfolio, then set off.
Halfway through the interview I flipped a page to reveal a curly pubic hair stuck right in the middle of a key drawing.
Nobody mentioned it, but I wasn’t offered a job.”
- “Halfway through, I managed to get my thumb ring stuck in my necklace and had to sit through the rest of the interview with my hand stuck to my neck. It wasn’t too bad until one of the interviewers tried to shake my hand at the end.“
- “Ten years ago, I was interviewing a potential employee. His CV was perfect, education spot-on. Where he failed was attaching a full-frontal naked picture on the CV. I still hired him, but it took all my will power to only ever look him straight in the face.”
- “I once had an interview at a restaurant named Big Barry’s. As I was about to go into the interview room to meet with Barry, a current employee whispered furtively to me, He is really small.’”
- “My interview was going too well. Far too well. I had sat there for 55 minutes with them firing questions at me, and me firing answers right back. Their nods confirmed it: I was doing really well. I was pretty certain I had the job. They wrapped it up and stood to shake my hand. As I went to stand up myself, I realised that for 55 minutes solid I had sat with my legs crossed, unmoved. Needless to say, I didn’t even make it into a standing position. I crashed head-first into a filing cabinet, my legs still locked in a crossed position.
I didn’t get the job.“
- “I interviewed a very nervous chap who had a terrible interview. It was embarrassing for all concerned, really. He got up to leave the room and by accident opened the wrong door and walked right in to the stationary cupboard. The panel sat waiting for him to emerge, and when he didn’t, my colleague went to investigate. The poor man was so mortified by what had happened, he was trying to climb out the window rather than go back in.”
- “I had been testing’ the bouncy castle at my daughter’s birthday party when it all went horribly wrong. So I was still suffering from a hefty concussion the next day at my job interview, of which I have no memory whatsoever. But I was offered the job and did accept.
A couple of months in, I was talking to one of the managers from the interview. Apparently, it had been deliberately confrontational to see how I handled disputes and defend myself under pressure. He said they were amazed that my demeanor did not change at all, no matter how aggressively I was challenged. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I was too concussed to realise I was under any pressure at all.“
- “I left really early for an interview and got dressed in half-light. When I entered the room, I sat down and crossed my legs, only to find that I had one black and one blue stocking. I was mortified but thought I’d styled it out. After the interview, I went into bathroom and had a large black handprint on my face, courtesy of good old-fashioned Guardian newsprint.”