Anyone had a bad interview?

I recently had a bad interview where the interviewer stated that my past experience varied and he was looking for someone who would go for the long haul. I felt that he already knew that he wasn't going to choose me. He could of read my resume days before and not call me. Instead, I had to do the interview which would of lead to the same result of not being picked to continue on interview process. Anyone had similar experience that would like to share?

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sj4088

dustervoice wrote: »

You should have responded..." Thats what you would pay me to come to work 9-5 to figure out the answers to these questions" I really don't get the point of people asking difficult techie questions in interviews... once some dude ask me some difficult questions then he said to me do you have any questions you would like to ask...i said yes "what is the square root of 3?" he responded i cant answer that .. i said exactly but i bet if you went back to your desk and google it you could provide an answer. thats when the interview ended.

Brilliant. Expecting someone to memorize a million commands is silly. When I'm interviewing people I usually ask what they have done, what are their daily duties. How their company environment is setup, etc. And if I do ask some commands that they don't know it doesn't automatically disqualify them.

As long as the person has enough experience that I don't think everything will be brand new to them then that's ok. But demanding someone remember the specifics to everything is crazy.

I had this one guy interview me, he had worked at the same place I had worked. Now mind you I hadn't worked at this place in 12 years and he knew that. This fool asked me what doors I used to enter the building. This was after asking a bunch of technical questions that I nailed by the way. I was like sir you are an idiot. Do you really expect me to remember that level of detail from over a decade ago?? And walked out. You should of seen the look on the people face as I was walking out. lol

I mean come on. Why would something like that even be important unless he that I was lying about working there. Goodness what an idiot.

dustervoice

sj4088 wrote: »

I had this one guy interview me, he had worked at the same place I had worked. Now mind you I hadn't worked at this place in 12 years and he knew that. This fool asked me what doors I used to enter the building.

.

Answer (1): To enter the building, I used the front door
Answer (2): To go for a smoke break, I used the side door
Answer (3): To steal something , the back door

si20

I've shared 2 of my interviews already... Let me share my 3rd. A company in Leeds (UK) was recruiting for a Junior Penetration Tester. I was in the middle of my OSCP at the time and i'd just got a first class university degree involving the subject - so I definitely knew enough to get a junior position... Anyway.

I walked in and the interviewer turned up about 5-10 minutes later than we'd arranged. I shrugged it off and followed him into a room. He asked me the following:

"Do you know what hping is?" I said: "I've never used it personally, but I know you can spoof source addresses using it. I'd be more than willing to learn any tools I don't already know for the job." He seemed genuinely happy that i'd be willing to learn. Then he asked: "How many machines have you hacked into on the OSCP?". I replied: "About 20/50, i'm only 30 days into the 90 day course". He said: "That's really good. I did the OSCP, the final exam is hard. Revise buffer overflows!".

He asked another few questions about what I do at my current role and I told him. He was blown away - or at least - his face showed he was. He said: "Right! That's it." smiled then concluded the interview and walked me out.

The recruiter called me up and said: "Unfortunately you didn't get the job. I can send you the email from the guy who interviewed you?" I said, sure, i'd be interested to see what tips he has to give me.

So I opened the email and it said: "The candidate did not know anything about penetration testing even at a junior level." or words to that effect. I couldn't believe it. I answered every question I knew the answer to, and was 100% honest when I didn't know something (which was only 1-2 questions).

That night, I looked on his linkedin profile - and it turns out he'd worked as a supermarket assistant (or something completely un-related to IT), had no degree then became a penetration tester...To put it politely: I genuinely think he was afraid that i'd end up taking his position because I had several years of IT experience, plus certs. Ridiculous - plus the money wasn't great either.

joshmadakor

devils_haircut wrote: »

It felt like a bunch of people scamming money from the state government and not actually doing any work.

Having worked in state govt IT for the last 7ish years, this comment totally slayed me. Hah!

sj4088

dustervoice wrote: »

Answer (1): To enter the building, I used the front door
Answer (2): To go for a smoke break, I used the side door
Answer (3): To steal something , the back door

Lol. Great response.

Legacy User

dustervoice wrote: »

Answer (1): To enter the building, I used the front door
Answer (2): To go for a smoke break, I used the side door
Answer (3): To steal something , the back door

HA! Thats great

ThomasITguy

I had 3 bad interviews with the same company....

Interview 1: asked me basic network questions, the diff between DHCP and static, how to find internal and external IP, the different ports of FTP, HTTP, and HTTPS, what is active directory used for, how is my home network set up, and how would I troubleshoot internet explorer issues

Interview 2: Exactly the same as Interview 1

Interview 3: Exactly the same as interview 1 and 2. But there was 2 different questions.
1. If you found a phone in a airport, how would you find out who the owner was?
2. If you had the fire plan to a building and knew where everyones desk was... how would you map the network?

Then after the interview was over, someone called to check to see if I did the interview and when I said "yes" they hung up on me...
and I never heard back from that job at all... I emailed them and they said "they chose a different applicant"

ThomasITguy

This was a really bad interview...

There was a job in TX that liked my skills and I did a technical interview with a company rep... She really liked me, and my southern accent

So she put me through to her boss who was going to do a tech interview with me more in depth. So I was flexible and said I was avail the next day or the day after. So the day of the interview comes and I wait and wait... the interview was supposed to be a 2pm and I waited till 220pm to call the company rep. She apologized and got in touch with her manager and we rescheduled for the next day at the same time...
The next day came and here I was waiting again... only this time 30min went by without a call... So I decided to email the rep again. So she told me the interview was for 2:30 (I know she said 2 and put it in my phone as 2pm). So the manager finally calls me at 2:50pm and not only was late but only asks me 3 questions and none were technical then said "thank you for your time"

What a waste of 2 days.....

ThomasITguy

cshkuru wrote: »

I once had an interview at Microsoft that was going so badly I stood up in the middle of it, said "Don't know, Don't care" and walked out of the guys office. Needless to say I didn't get the position but I got a call from a friend who told everyone was talking about it all day.

LMFAO!!!! Im sitting here cracking up at this at work and people are looking at me funny...... But if I EVER go to a job interview that is a waste im going to do the same thing you did.... LMAO!!!

thenjduke

Wow these have been some really fantastic stories

the_Grinch

When I interviewed at Google the last interview told me I didn't get the job. I had two hour long phone interviews before being invited to one of their offices for in person interviews. The in person interviews were to last all day and lunch would be provided. I thought there is no way they could ask me anymore technical questions, but boy was I wrong. First interview was via video with another engineer in a different office and it went really well. Second interview was in person and went pretty well. Third interview was a crash and burn if ever there were one. The guy walked in, was cocky and hostile with all his replies being "no" or "you have no one to turn to". Suddenly there was a knock at the door and he stepped out. His manager stepped in and said there was an emergency and he was needed (in actuality he told him to come after 15 minutes to see how it was going). I was escorted out and that was the end of that.

We all have bad interviews use it as a learning experience and be on your way. I once drove over two hours for a 5 minute interview. They called, asked where I lived, if it was far and told me to come in. I get there, step into the office, person says hello and ask did I drive far to get there. I said "yes over two hours". The reply? "Ok we'll call you if you make it to the second round."

si20

the_Grinch wrote: »

We all have bad interviews use it as a learning experience and be on your way. I once drove over two hours for a 5 minute interview. They called, asked where I lived, if it was far and told me to come in. I get there, step into the office, person says hello and ask did I drive far to get there. I said "yes over two hours". The reply? "Ok we'll call you if you make it to the second round."

That happened to me about 6 months ago, only it was a 3 hour drive each way. Interview lasted less than 10 mins. Conversation was: "Tell us why you'd like to work here? (I explained why in about 2 mins). "Excellent, do you know about encryption?" (I explained what encryption was and gave examples. Approx 2-3 mins). "Final question, will you be able to cope?" (I said yes and spent 30 secs explaining how i'd cope). And that was it. The next thing they said was: "Thanks, we'll let you know if you get the job by this evening". So I got home and within 5 mins of getting home, they called and said I hadn't got the job. Very, very weird scenario!

ThomasITguy

I had a interview where the last question they asked me was "what makes you cry" I was about to say "well this interview" but I didn't.... lol

si20

ThomasITguy wrote: »

I had a interview where the last question they asked me was "what makes you cry" I was about to say "well this interview" but I didn't.... lol

haha!! were they being serious?! Did they offer you the job?

ThomasITguy

I thought the interview went great and I answered all their questions very well... but I did not ever hear back from them after the interview....

markulous

I've had similar interviews. It's like I'm walking into it and they're grilling me on why I don't have more experience with ASA's, Bit9, IDS, etc. And I get the cold shoulder from one of the people also. I didn't lie on my resume and said I had experience with that stuff. If you thought I was underqualified then why even bring me in?

Mishra

Interview with 4 total people, one was the manager. I was looking to be a systems engineer per the job description. VMware ESX work, Microsoft break/fix, and implementing new projects/features.

Manager explains to me that I'll be taking over the lady's role who is moving on to be a level 2 engineer. Then he describes how she has been given all the horrible work in the past 2 years. She explains "Yeah, I've had to be the only dealing with angry customers, fixing printers, dealing with file permissions, and other desktop issues. It hasn't been the best work." (LOL??)

Then the manager explains, "You understand, since you will be new, you inherit all the tickets that no one else wants to do."

They finish their technical questions which were trapping questions. I promptly end the meeting by saying "Okay, thanks for the questions. I have none. I appreciate everyone's time."

Lesson learned here is don't settle for the 'crap work'.

TechGromit

LeisureSuitLarry wrote: »

But at the interview, they didn't ask me a single tech question. They threw me questions like "Where do you see yourself in five years?" and "Give us an example of one time where you provided exceptional customer service". Around the third or forth question, I just said, "I think this interview was a mistake. Thanks for your time", and I left.

This is how the interviews are were I work, these are Behavioral interviews. They want to see how you think on your feet. After the interview (and you leave) they score you on how well you answered each question and total up the score. When I interviewed at Verizon, there interviews are exactly the same way. They can look at your resume for what skills you have, they don't need you to explain your resume, they know how to read.

Nafe92014 wrote: »

So I arrive at their Head Office 15 minutes early. When I got there, they asked me to fill out an application form (name, skills, etc). I'm looking at it thinking: "Did you guys not read my damn resume and cover letter?" I filled it out anyway ...

The reason they ask you to fill out an application is because there's a statement that the information your providing is complete and accurate. It protects them in the future if you lie on your application. They may still be able to fire you if you lie on your resume, but it's not as clear cut, as a official statement you sign on the application.

renacido

I recently had a phone interview where the hiring manager did everything he could to stump me, frustrate me, interrupt me, agitate me. He was condescending, confrontational, borderline disrespectful. I ended the call politely and thought I'd never speak to him again.

It's an interview technique known as a "stress interview". Google it.

2 weeks and 2 more interviews later, I was offered the job.

TechxWizard

My last interview wasn't terrible. It was for a government agency. Some advise i can offer for people with their resume and interviews. Once you resume is complete, take some time to review it and be able to explain and elaborate on ALL the context. this paper represents you. I had 4 people literally dissect my resume. asking me tons of questions i did the best i could to answer everything they through at me. let me tell you, it was hotter than hells kitchen in that conference rooom. I did well i feel because they reached out to me on several occasions but i found a better offer.

Benj94

renacido wrote: »

I recently had a phone interview where the hiring manager did everything he could to stump me, frustrate me, interrupt me, agitate me. He was condescending, confrontational, borderline disrespectful. I ended the call politely and thought I'd never speak to him again.

It's an interview technique known as a "stress interview". Google it.

2 weeks and 2 more interviews later, I was offered the job.

Can I ask how you managed to politely end that call?
Did you allow the telephone interview to run it's course?

ThomasITguy

Danielm7 wrote: »

I work at a very large company with a pretty big IT team. I still think our HR dept and Operations manager would be confused if you just whipped out an A+ card to show them.

On my first IT job interview way back I was sent by a recruiter to a company looking for IT/desktop support. The description was vague, all things I knew already. I sat down with the interviewer, his first question was on my experience with some imaging tool, must have been a late 90s thing because I had never heard of it and haven't since. I told him I don't have any experience with that, but I've used Ghost and was familiar with the concepts of imaging and could learn. He was understanding enough but explained that the entire position involved dealing with that software and he only wanted people who were really well versed in it.

If your whole job role is dealing with X software, maybe consider actually listing it in the job requirements?

A similar situation happened to me....

I had a phone interview with a guy that liked my background but wanted to know if I used 2 remote tools that I had never heard of. I told him "I use remote tools on a daily basis, the ones I use are teamviewer, MS remote assistance, Remote desktop connection etc... but I would have no problems learning a different tool"

He replied "Well the job is based on knowing these two remote tools... I dont think this will be a good match"

Me: I dont think so either. Next time make a better job description "click:

Never heard from him or the company again.......

updatepedia

yes that unlucky was mee, i had a cross answering with the company owner. lol

ITSpectre

cshkuru wrote: »

I once had an interview at Microsoft that was going so badly I stood up in the middle of it, said "Don't know, Don't care" and walked out of the guys office. Needless to say I didn't get the position but I got a call from a friend who told everyone was talking about it all day.

LOL thats hilarious...

Mow

Early in my career I had an interview for a Network Administrator position. I met with the current person handling the job. She was a data entry tech. Met with the manager, who asked me if I was interested in learning programming, as well. I told him that I absolutely was interested. He told me that in his experience, network people don't like to program. He spent the next 5 minutes checking email and then told me to have a nice day.

My interview for my current job was equally weird. Met with Network Services Manager and the COO. COO would ask me questions and then fall asleep during my answer, as if he had narcolepsy. I would talk, his eyes would roll into the back of his head, and he would literally nod off. I found out later, after getting the job, that he falls asleep during nearly every meeting and interview like that, because he apparently gets up at 4 AM to run 5 miles every day...

michael172

I had some dreadful ones as a graduate. I've never been very confident with interviews and it took me 9 months and 10 interviews to get a job.

I remember one when I hadn't interviewed for 2 months and had not kept up with my technical knowledge (take note people). Got to London on less than a days notice, sat down and had a standard CCNA level tecnical test and failed miserably (all high level protocol questions). Christ! Taught me a lesson for sure and re did my CCNA, re labbed it all and re understood it and made 'flash card' style notes which took me no more than 4 hours to refresh my memory. That interview cropped up with different recruiters further down the line but I was honest with them. Did well in interviews after that and had 3 offers.

2nd job took me about 4 interviews IIRC. 2 went bad, one of which was because the guys there were just obnoxious pricks.

Currently looking for my 3rd job..... which brings me into the 'CCNP' £40-50k bracket and the interviews ive had so far (3), ones a no, one was between me and someone else and I assume is a no, the other is now into final stage. Ive got 2 coming up, one for a place I dont like the look of.

At this level it all seems to be some high level, delving into more low level stuff occasionally with some questions and really looking for cracks and some situational stuff which has been pretty good.

From time to time youll get some obnoxious twunt who wants to ask you about LSA timers and random stuff but its perishable knowledge (some of it irrelevant) and wouldnt make you a good engineer.

tmtex

I could probably write a book on bad interviews. Back in mid 2K's I had a IT Admin interview during my lunch hr. It was great, guys were cool, gave me a tour, showed me my desk, joked around. The hiring manager was a roider meaning steroids. He was huge. We are going on 1.5 hrs now and then asks if I could go to lunch. I politely said I cant and explained I was on my lunch break and will need to get back to work. He blew up saying stuff like oh so you cant go to lunch with possible co workers....bla bla bla. Well we are looking for a team player and you will not fit in and escorted me out, didn't even shake my hand.

ITSpectre

I had a couple of bad phone interviews.... one example

I got a call from a manager at a IT firm that was looking to hire a desktop support tech. He asked me the usual stuff ex: what did you do, what certs did you have, etc.... then he started asking about networking. I had no clue.... some questions I answered great, others I just said "i dont know". What is funny about it.... during the interview he said that even though I had the skills for the job he thought I needed a CCNA or a CASP to do this job and told me "when you get one of them call me back and I may have a position for you" LOL

Another time I had a interview at a place in Arlington VA. This was a bait and switch job. This company lied about needing a IT tech onsite full time. I went to the first interview and it seemed legit. The interview lasted 20-25 mins, they asked me questions, asked about my experience. Then the Manager said "stay by your phone because im interviewing 10 people and only bringing 5 back in for final interviews". They called me back as soon as I had gotten home. I went to the second interview and I met with a woman this time... She said "lets take a walk" So we went outside the building and she asked "In this job we need people to work the field and go where people don't want to go. Are you willing to do that" I said "of course" then she replied....

"This is a door to door sales job selling Verizon internet, please come out in the field with us today and we will do paperwork and get you started in your new IT career are you ready to do this?"

I replied with "you can scam other people but your not going to scam me" and left....

Chevel

I just had bad interview yesterday. The employer called me later in the evening around 8:00 or so. I had just finished feeding my small farm, started cooking dinner, pretty much walking around brain in the fog after a busy workday. I get a call BAM questions off the bat, I tried to answer as best I could and explain but I felt like I was babbling. Which I probably was lol. I don't know what will come of it, but the potential employer was interest in meeting me for an in person screening, next week.

cshkuru

Good to know I am not the only one this sort of stuff happens to. So I told you my best bad interview story let me tell you a couple good ones:

1. This is back in 1999, I had just moved back up to the Seattle area from L.A. (which is a whole other bad interview story) I'd been back in town about a weeks and I had hit the ground running. I was out everyday interviewing, dropping off resumes, hitting the staffing company offices etc. It's friday afternoon late August and it's like 99 degrees out so I decide to call it a week. I head home make a sandwich and drink a couple beers as I am not planning on going out again. I just finish lunch and the phone rings, it's a recruiter and they want me to meet with a guy down in Redmond in half an hour. I tell her look it's more than a half hour drive and I just had a couple beers can we wait until Monday. No, have to go now, she'll call and let the guy know I am on my way but i might be a little late.

Ok, I get in the car and head out. Fortunately traffic was light so it only took about 40 minute to get there. I go in and this incredibly attractive, but incredibly stupid receptionist greets me and has no idea whats going on (I was told to just tell the receptionist I was there to interview for the test job). I sit down and start trying to call the company that sent me and this guy walks out and asks if the person he is supposed to be interviewing has arrived yet. The receptionist looks right at me and with a blank dead-eyed stare says "No, I haven't seen anyone". I stand up and say excuse me is this for the test job?

Of course it is.

We go into the nearest conference room with no AC of course and by now between the heat, the drive, the beer and the long week, I am feeling a little drowsy and not on my best. The guy asked a bunch of questions which I have no real memory of except at one point he asked if I knew anything about NT 4.0 I said yeah I had my MCP in it and was working on my MCSE. A couple more questions and then he asks if I can start tonight. I tell him no, I'd love to but I have other commitments, but I can start tomorrow morning if they have a weekend shift. No they don't and he's sorry cuz they would have loved to have me.

I walk out of there thinking well I blew that, but in the state I was in there was no way I was going to try and work in an industrial environment. Go down to the AM PM and slam down two mountain dews and grab a cup of coffee to wake me up, say the alaphebet backwards and walk heel to toe on a crack in the parking lot to make sure I am not going to slam into a bus full of nuns on the drive home and start out. By now rush hour has started so it takes me about 2 hours to get home. Walk into the place and my grandmother is there. The staffing company has been calling about every 15 minutes. I call them and they tell me the guy loved me they want me to start Monday at 2 pm. Stayed there for 9 years. I asked the guy why he hired me after all that (2 years later when he was changing companies) and he said it was because despite it all I had shown up, didn't make a bunch of excuses, and didn't whine about it, and when he asked if I could start that evening I had the sense to say no, but offered an alternative.

2. The job before this one. Drove from Seattle to Portland went thru the whole rigamarole getting my pass to get on the compound (gov't facility) and so one, so about 4 hours invested so far. Walk into the interview in this decrepit building built in the 1930s as a warehouse and convert into office space sometime in the paste asbestos all over everything era. interview is going OK but i was told it was going to be for a windows admin position and they kept asking all these cisco questions. At that point I hadn't worked with anything remotely cisco related since 2002 or so (this was 2012) so I am digging deep into my memory. Some of the answers were adequate but some I just had to say I don't know for sure, I think it's this but I would google it finally the guy who would become my boss asks me to explain how a packet would get from computer a on network 1 to computer b on network 3. I draw it up on the white board and answer a couple questions and he is like really non-commital. Then they ask me if I knew what they do. I tell them yeah and that's it. They'll get back to me in a couple days.

45 minutes later I have a call with an offer. The two things that clinched it a) knowing how a packet routes. My bosses philosophy is if you know that the rest is gravy. b) actually knowing what they did. lots of people will tell you to look at the companies website , but I am going to go further and say understand it. I was lucky my grandmother had worked for this agency back before WWII and so I had some familiarity with it just from her and I looked up their mission statement.

Stayed there for 4 years, great people but I made the mistake of thinking I wanted to move into a security analyst role. Not such a sweet deal.