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What's the strangest thing that ever happened to you on a job interview?
Mine is a tie:
1. Interviewer kept showing me pics on of her dogs. ( this ad zero relevancy to the job, I wasn't interviewing at a vets office or a dog groomer). Her dogs apparently had a bigger wardrobe than I did!
2. Someone on the interview panel turned out to be a guy I'd gone n a very disastrous date with. It was very uncomfortable.
Even more strangely, I got a job offer from #2 but didn't accept it for a variety of reasons.
Had one guy show up to interview me that was a little tipsy. He was the national VP of sales and flew all over the country interviewing job candidates. The guy would spend all day at the hotel bar or up in his room drinking, then go over to the hotel lobby as needed to conduct a job interview.
Found this out later when the company called me to offer me a position. Wanted to know if anything odd had happened at the interview. This company had just fired this guy and wanted to confirm reports from other job candidates. Because he was on the road all the time, nobody at the corporate office had a clue that his drinking had gotten out of hand.
I had a couple of dates with a cute girl that had just recently broken up with her boyfriend, and I knew the guy casually from my bowling league. They ended up back together, (they were on a break ) and he found out that we had dated. No big deal to me but I could smell the animosity.
Third round of interviews with a good company a few years later.....
I had an interview where the RN interviewer never showed up! I waited, asked what was going on and they said something stupid like she didn't have any interviews or appts. that day. I never followed up figuring what would the job be like working for a place like that?
I had an interview where the RN interviewer never showed up! I waited, asked what was going on and they said something stupid like she didn't have any interviews or appts. that day. I never followed up figuring what would the job be like working for a place like that?
That's happened to me a few times.
Now, I call a few hours before the interview just to make sure everything's still on.
fire drill in the middle of the interview. We still sat in the room though I'm pretty sure NYC doesn't like it when that happens. Didn't hurt my chances getting the job though lol
I once got a manager fired for under performance and mistreating his staff, long story but his whole team including me threatened to walk out if he was not let go with me being the most vocal and the most known by upper management due to my work.
Several years later I was interviewing at a job for a management position, things went very well with the owner and General Manager, they asked me to speak to the other manager before I left, as they wanted to make sure we would be able to work together. Out walked the General manager, only to return a couple of minutes later with my former manager. The weirdest part is that he totally acted cool about the whole thing throughout the rest of the interview, only to walk me to the door and tell me there was not a chance in hell that he would ever work with me.
I was ''prepped'' for an hour on the phone by a nurse manager who ''really wanted to hire me'' at her dialysis unit as a biller. I had already done a face to face with her previously.
She was prepping me to interview with the owner of the unit who she said was ''very particular''. Got there the next day and the owner never showed up. But she did call in while I sat there to ask the nurse directions to a local flea market.
Another time I arrived at an interview destination to round the corner to the property and see a building surrounded by razor wire and guard shacks! No thanks!
I had one last year where the unprofessional recruiter gave me wrong information about the company and job description, then I showed up 15 min late, and then when I tell them what I think the job is about they look at me strange. I could tell the recruiter screwed me. So finally I said let's get this out of the way is this job commission only because if it is we are done. They interviewed me for another 20 minutes, almost 90 in all. Just strange all the way around.
Fresh out of undergrad and in job searching mode, I responded to a newspaper ad for Sales rep. It didn't say what you were selling but had the usual overhyped verbiage of unlimited potential earnings, extensive training, etc...
I get called to come in and the day I do, I find what were five other candidates waiting in lobby. Instead of being called in one at time, we are asked to all come in at once to hear about the job.
One guy immediately gets up turns and leaves.
And then there were five.
The five of us follow the man into a conference type room. We sit down and then the Sales Manager goes into a bad version of Alec Baldwin's character in Glengarry Glen Ross challenging us and testing us for our "hunger to succeed". At this point another older and wiser man gets up asks if it is commission only and then walks out.
And then there were four.
The product we are told is fish. Being the greenest, I'm just biding my time figuring, at least I'm learning about the interview process and getting practice. When the sales manager finishes his schpiel, rather than asking us anything directly, he asks if we have any questions, another guy gets up and leaves throwing out the interview form as he walks out. Priceless!
And then there were three!
Sales manager makes some nasty comment besmirching those who have left and then collects our interview form we were told to fill out and then wraps it up saying he'll call us if they are interested. At this point all that are left is an older man who looked very desperate, another disheveled looking guy who didn't even look like he was going on an interview (I surmise in retrospect he was fulfilling an unemployment obligation to be on the requisite number of interviews).
Total cattle call and churn. I never bothered to follow up - the place had all the markings of poor organization and people skills. I kept thinking even if I got a job I'd be taking steps backward learning poor techniques from the d-bag who gave us our 'orientation / getting to know what the job is like speech'. Fortunately, all my other interview experiences were professional.
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) and he found out that we had dated. No big deal to me but I could smell the animosity. 
