What is your most embarrassing job interview experience? (paid, money, hired)

[tudorjason]

I said in an interview a few months ago, "Us guys have got to stick together and make the ratio of women to men more equal." It was for an HR job and I really wanted it. I guess I was just nervous and wanted to impress my male interviewer because I wanted to agree with him that it seems like more women are in HR roles than men.

It was the most stupidest thing I have ever said in an interview and I immediately regretted saying it. The duration of the interview was uncomfortable and I wouldn't doubt he either sighed relief or rolled his eyes when I left.

[latikeriii]

I had 2 experiences tied for most embarrassing.

The first is when I applied for a bilingual Mortgage Broker position. I'm pretty fluent in Spanish but right off the bat, I was interviewed in Spanish and in Spanish Mortgage Technical lingo. I was stumped and dumbfounded. I stuttered and just gave up, it appeared that he tried to embarrass me or just really make sure I was fully bilingual.

The 2nd was a group interview with about 10 other candidates. I instantly felt nervous when I had to compete with guys with 30 years experience(in NYC which intensifies competition) and I only had 4 years experience. One of the old-timers did worse than me but I was stumped and obviously overwhelmed and didn't do a good job improvising on the difficult situational questions. I felt like an idiot. I felt that they threw me in to "satisfy their diversity requirement" during interviews. I was in no way qualified.

[zitsky]

This wasn't so much embarrassing to me as to the company who interviewed me. There was an interesting software company looking for an implementation consultant. They contacted me late last year "just to talk", which was OK because I really liked the position and had been trying to find a similar job for a while. We exchanged a few emails back and forth. Then I stopped by their office in person to say hello.

Quite a few months later I get a call from my contact saying "Would you like to come in for a chat?". Of course I said yes. Well, when I got there, it turned out that it wasn't just for a chat or a cup of coffee. I was actually supposed to interview with about 7 of their employees, including one of the founders, and the current CEO. I was trying not to be too aggressive with my questions, so it was more like the typical interview. What I should have been doing is asking them a lot of questions. Why are your customers saying they're unhappy, Here's how I think I can help you, etc.

After about 3 1/2 straight hours of interviews I was exhausted. I hadn't heard from them in about 1-2 weeks, so I emailed just to ask if they had made a decision. I get something back saying they had "decided to go in a different direction".

[wilmingtonangel]

Originally Posted by Praline

(1) I was interviewing with a judge for a summer law clerk position - I leaned forward in the chair to hand him a list of references and leaned over too far - I slid to my knees in front of his desk, cracked my forehead on the front of the desk, and the list blew underneath it. I was scrambling around under the desk trying to retrieve the paper (which stubbornly remained out of reach). He was watching me fascinated the whole time. I got up off the floor, sat back in the seat and tried to pretend like nothing had happened.

(2) I was sprinting to catch a taxi because I was running late for a job interview, my hair was already ruined because it was a hot and humid day and my hair style was already wilting - I bee flew up my nose, I fell and cut my thumb on a piece of glass, and lay there screaming and trying to dislodge the bee.

(3) I was rushing to get on an elevator before it closed on the way to yet another interview, and the woman that was already in the car, glared at me and pushed the close-door button. I yelled, "Thanks a lot you selfish cow!" When I finally got to the floor I wanted and hurried out of the elevator, I saw the woman talking to the receptionist and looking in my direction. You got it - she was the person I was supposed to see. We just stared at each other and I turned around and got back on the elevator and left.

OMG #3 was priceless!!! lol

[wilmingtonangel]

Originally Posted by NSX

From reading this thread, it seems like some interviewers forget that everyone is human and makes mistakes. It's one thing if you act like you don't care about the job, know nothing about the company, the job etc. But for an honest mistake like spilling a drink, stuttering on a word or popping a suit button people need to just relax. Employers should be looking for good hard working employees, not perfect robots.

agreed!

[recycled]

Like Zitsky said above, I went to an interview about 15 years ago that turned out to be an embarrassment to the company, not me. The interview was at the headquarters building of a major power company in the mid Atlantic states. Just after I arrived at the building and was called into the room for an interview, the building power cut out. Not just a few seconds or a few minutes - power was dead and not coming back on.

I sat in a dark room for awhile and finally went out to the hall. I had an interview a bit later in a room that had some natural light from windows. I just had to ask during the interview if this power company had backup generators at the building to handle unexpected disasters or outages like what we were in at the time. The answer was no! I was a bit stunned that such a big, important company did not have an plan for a worst case emergency. Sort of sounds like BP making up a plan as they go along in the Gulf.

[wilmingtonangel]

In graduate school we did a lot of interviewing during the school year.

(1) I was interviewing in a city 4 hours away so I had to drive up the night before. I was with 2 other students interviewing with the same CPA firm. The night before we decided to go to the bar and get a few drinks. We stayed out pretty late, and because of my nerves I barely slept at all that night. I wear contact lenses and my eyes sometimes burn a little in the morning when I don't get enough sleep. So my eyes were burning a little at the 8:00am interview, and my first interview was in an office with the sun blaring right at me through a full wall window! I could barely keep my eyes open they were burning so bad. The interviewer even made a comment about the light, and said he almost felt sorry for me. I did not get that job.

(2) I was a single parent during college, and being in Accounting I picked the "tax" route as opposed to the "auditing" route since I knew traveling for a job would be immensely difficult with no family around to babysit. I was interviewing for a CPA firm and the interviewer asked if I could travel. And I said that I would prefer not to travel. She was very confused and asked why. Well because I was told not to discuss family in the first interview I said something about being more comfortable in my own surroundings each night. She finally asked me why I wanted to be in auditing since travel was expected of auditors. We figured out that I had been mistakenly set up to interview as an auditor, not tax accountant. Needless to say I did not get that job either as I appeared very inflexible!

In retrospect I'm glad I didn't get those jobs as I ended up in a completely different career path than the typical CPA. As a matter of fact, I didn't get any job directly out of college b/c I was horrible at interviewing (I later did buy an interviewing self-help book which helped me tremendously - I'm better at interviews now).

[LexWest]

Originally Posted by recycled

Like Zitsky said above, I went to an interview about 15 years ago that turned out to be an embarrassment to the company, not me. The interview was at the headquarters building of a major power company in the mid Atlantic states. Just after I arrived at the building and was called into the room for an interview, the building power cut out. Not just a few seconds or a few minutes - power was dead and not coming back on.

I sat in a dark room for awhile and finally went out to the hall. I had an interview a bit later in a room that had some natural light from windows. I just had to ask during the interview if this power company had backup generators at the building to handle unexpected disasters or outages like what we were in at the time. The answer was no! I was a bit stunned that such a big, important company did not have an plan for a worst case emergency. Sort of sounds like BP making up a plan as they go along in the Gulf.

A power company with no power...talk about poor planning....

[Thepreacherswife]

I left my first real job (which I got after interning at the place) without having a new one. The first place I had an interview (back when all you did was read the newspaper), I went in and the interviewer asked me for my resume and I was like, "Um, I don't have one..."

The interviewer was very nice; she basically got my job history and jotted it down on a legal pad and said, "Well, I think I have everything here that you would have had on a resume." But no surprise that I didn't hear back.

[NSX]

One interview I had for a medical device company in the midwest, strangest interview I ever had by far. I already had a great pending offer (which I ended up taking later) , so I wasn't too worried. Went through a few basic questions about my background and finance skills.

Then she started asking some strange questions and the interview instructed me to "answer each of these questions within ten seconds:

"Would you rather be the best on the team or the best you can be?"

"Which quality is most important, only pick one: Integrity, Diversity or Perseverance?"

and then "Are you a worker who sticks with the plan or goes with the flow?"

To which I answered: "Well actually, I like to go with the plan....but sometimes I stick with the flow."

Once I came to the conclusion that these questions were pointless and the company was playing games with the candidates, I figured I'd play a few games of my own. Her face was getting redder and redder as the interview progressed and she looked like she was about to explode.

A week later I get an email

"I enjoyed meeting you very much and am very impressed with your experience and qualifications, however we have decided to with a candidate who more closely matches our needs. Best of luck in your future endeavors."

I still laugh when I think about that experience.