Worst Interview Experinces

mgeorge

Well I figured I would start a new cool threat where people could share their worst job interview experinces.
I guess I can start with one of my worst.

I go in for an interview for a local large medical clinic and the position was a Support Specialist position, I was informed by the staffing agency that there would be a group interviewing me of 2-3 people. So I agree that it's fine.

I go in that day and go to the lobby and I'm perfectly on time wearing my favorite tie, got to add in the tie part, that’s critical!! Then inform the receptionist that I'm here for an interview with such and such. She calls up the guy and informs me to sit in the waiting lobby.

Yep, I go sit down and waited 3-4 minutes so I figured I’d get out my laptop and browse the web. 30 Minutes later I go back up to the receptionist and ask her to page such and such again, and she tells me he’s on his way down, so I sit back down and wait another 5 minutes till he finally comes to gets me.

We go up to the top floor of the building where they are still doing construction, dry wall dust everywhere from dry walls being tore down, poor lighting and the carpet looks like it’s never been vacuumed. I had to get my suit dry cleaned after that interview.

He takes me into a large meeting room with a table about 12 feet long with like 14 chairs at it. So I sit down and I realize that it’s about 104 degrees in the room, within minutes I'm sweating like a pig. After I start sweating he informs me "oh we have an air conditioning problem" go figure!!

He tells me to wait a few minutes for the rest of the group to come in, after waiting 5 minutes about 6 people crowded in so 7 people were at the table plus me. Right when we are about to start one of the guys wife calls and they are on the telephone for over 10 minutes talking about their son having the flu. So we finally start after an hour waiting and they apologize for the wait.
After talking for awhile discussing my resume and my previous experience in hospital information services they start asking me questions on how I would do stuff. Every answer I provided them apparently violates their IT policy as well as the position I was interviewing would not give me the resources to do the required work in the quickest, most efficient way.

At one point in the interview I go to answer a guys question and right when I start to answer another guy adds to the question then just starts to yell at me for interrupting him while trying to answer the initial question.

Right after that I got up, grabbed my laptop bag, threw it on my shoulder and looked at the guys and said something along the lines of;

"I come in here expecting 2-3 people and the whole IT department shows up. This interview was supposed to start at 10:00 and it’s almost lunch time. It is way too hot in this room and I now have to get my suit dry cleaned because this place is a nasty mess. I will NOT be yelled at by anyone whatsoever with that being said, please do not bother contacting me. I will be informing the staffing agency about this interview. I appreciate your time gentlemen, have a nice day”

SCORE!! Walked out while they were still stunned.

Needless to say they didn't call me and later heard that the staffing agency cut off all ties with the company.
The staffing agency reimbursed me for dry cleaning expenses.

sprkymrk

You made the right move, and had about 45 minutes more patience than I would have had.

After the 30 minute wait I would have told the receptionist to reschedule the interview. It's never wise to look like you are desperate for a job, even if you are.

mgeorge

That was about 2 1/2 years ago

I'm sure some people here have some dooseys to top mine though.

blargoe

I walked out of an interview one time.

I was interviewing for a job with a local government IT department. I didn't really get much of an "interview" as far as sizing me up as a person, as a team member, etc. I started out with a quick introduction with the manager and director, a "why are you looking for a job", and then proceeded to take a written test on some of the job requirements for the position - basic Exchange stuff, AD, etc - which was fine by me. I figured I'd get to the real interview afterwards. But when that was finished some of the staff came in and started grilling me with more questions, and some of them were just retarded, and all of the questions were obviously out of a book and had nothing to do with anything real world at all. Finally, I got a really egregious question on Exchange (I wish I remembered the details! It would paint the picture of this story much better, but it was both very wordy and vague at the same time). The guy was just a kid my age or younger. I addressed the whole room and basically asked them which book at Barnes and Noble did they get their list of questions from and asked if they had any questions based on something that might actually happen in the real world. I gave them a generically correct answer to the question and asked the kid if he could answer the question. Of course, he couldn't, and I stood up and thanked THEM for THEIR time, turned around, and walked out.

I got a letter in the mail a month later thanking me for my time, stating that the position was still open, that none of the applicants met their criteria for the position.

mgeorge

Did they ever offer you the position?

blargoe

Nope. Fortunately I was able to stick it out at the existing job I was working for another couple years.

seuss_ssues

In an interview once when i was much younger for a sales position in a bestbuy/compusa/office max kinda store. They went through some general job interview stuff and then started to ask me technical questions.

They asked me 3 or 4 questions that were just very poorly asked and then this came out. "If a computer has a 1 ghz processor how much RAM does it have?"

I just looked at them and started laughing. I stopped laughing long enough to tell them how horrible of a question it was and started laughing again.

Daniel333

Actual interview question I had at an interview to get my current job,

"if you are as good as your resume says, then why havn't you been promoted already?"

ITNYC

seuss_ssues wrote:

In an interview once when i was much younger for a sales position in a bestbuy/compusa/office max kinda store. They went through some general job interview stuff and then started to ask me technical questions.

They asked me 3 or 4 questions that were just very poorly asked and then this came out. "If a computer has a 1 ghz processor how much RAM does it have?"

I just looked at them and started laughing. I stopped laughing long enough to tell them how horrible of a question it was and started laughing again.

If a computer has a 1 ghz processor how much RAM does it have?"

LOL! you should of played along and said " A PC with a 1Ghz CPU would probably have a TB of RAM"

bertieb

About three years ago I had an interview at a local council office for an 'IT Support Officer' position.

I turned up suited and booted, about 10 minutes early and informed the receptionist who told me the interviewers would be down in a short while. I sat patiently trying to gather my thoughts and relax. Thirty minutes later, sit sat on my own in a sparse reception, I went back to the receptionist trying to find out what was going on. I ended up waiting another ten minutes and was eventually taken (by the receptionist) to the managers office.

Similar to mgeorge27s' scenario, it was boiling hot and I was sweating lots. I was offered a drink (which I took, politely) when the manager informed me he 'wouldn't be a minute' and left the office. Another ten minutes later I was still sat there and on the brink of walking out when he came back in with the 'Senior Support Officer'.

After a brief run through of my cv, then came the worst series of interview questions ever. Two still stick firmly in my mind - and I'm 100% serious here:
'Who manufacturers Pentium processors?', 'Do you know how to reset a DEC-Alpha mainframe?'

Hmmmm, somehow this didn't tie in at all with the job spec, I knew they were fairly clueless for the most part and this wasn't the place for me.

The final straw came when another IT guy came charging into the office and shouted "John, that ******** mail server has gone down again for the third time today!", then glanced at me, paused for a moment and said "You don't want to work here mate" then walked out of the office to join who I presumed to be the other IT guys, who were all running about like headless chickens and shouting at each other.

At the end of the interview, I was totally honest and said that this wasn't the job for me. I went home and called their HR department because the job spec was about 15 miles wide of the mark and I didn't really appreciate the long wait. At least they refunded my travel expenses as a jesture of goodwill.

I now interview lots of people in my current role, and I always have the above interview in my mind as a 'what not to do' guide lol.

sprkymrk

ITNYC wrote:

seuss_ssues wrote:

In an interview once when i was much younger for a sales position in a bestbuy/compusa/office max kinda store. They went through some general job interview stuff and then started to ask me technical questions.

They asked me 3 or 4 questions that were just very poorly asked and then this came out. "If a computer has a 1 ghz processor how much RAM does it have?"

I just looked at them and started laughing. I stopped laughing long enough to tell them how horrible of a question it was and started laughing again.

If a computer has a 1 ghz processor how much RAM does it have?"

LOL! you should of played along and said " A PC with a 1Ghz CPU would probably have a TB of RAM"

Should of said, "Well that depends. How big is the hard drive?".

SRTMCSE

I had a horrible experience w/ the interview for my current job. Not the place's fault but my own, in hindsight it's pretty funny.

I scored this interview that was my dream job, supporting a midsize nonprofit that would give me great experience and decent $$$. On the day of the interview I get all suited up, new suit, new shoes and my favorite tie. I head out, the place was about an hour from where I was living at the time, before leaving I felt a bit nauseas, but I figure it was just something I ate that morning and it would pass, b/c I didn't feel nervous but my g/f seemed to think I was.

I get about 10 minutes out and have to pull over b/c I felt like I was going to puke, I end up composing myself and head to the interview, feeling physically ill the whole time. I get to the interview, do the prescreen w/ HR and head up to meet w/ the IT Director and Net. Manager. About 5 minutes into the interview the nausea must have been visible on my face b/c while I was thinking about asking for a moment to use the restroom the IT Director looks and me and says "Are you okay?" and I said something about having a bad migraine and needing to take my medicine, so I excuse myself and go to the bathroom praying that I wouldn't puke at a job interview and nearly ran out in embarassment.

Wrapping this up, I pushed through the nausea and ended the interview, my g/f must've been right b/c after I left the nausea was GONE almost instantly. Long story short, 3 more interviews and I landed the job. They must've really seen something in me b/c it was by far the WORSE interview I've ever had for the most technically demanding places I've ever worked at.

sir_creamy_

Daniel333 wrote:

Actual interview question I had at an interview to get my current job,

"if you are as good as your resume says, then why havn't you been promoted already?"

Ouch!! Hahah, yeah I've been there too. I've since learned that inflating your resume only ends up hurting yourself.

Kaminsky

Network Manager interview. It goes past the pleasentaries and eventually gets to the technical section of the interview. I'm nervous as hell. Been studying lots for this bit...

"So... erm.. You know IP and stuff....... right ?"


That was the only question they had. I was completely dumbfounded !


Walked away completely dazed ! Never got the job ! <blessing in my book>

Cherper

I had three interviews with a company for a network engineer position. The first two were fine, but after a week I kept getting the run around from them. They would say things like, "you are our top candidate, but we want to be sure about the hiring decision." They came back to me with a job offer about 6 weeks later, I had already blown the job off, and turned it down.

They called 3 weeks later to see if I would reconsider, and would come in for a meeting. I get there, and the three guys I had interviewed with were busy, and I get walked by the receptionist down to a conference room.

Inside are these 2 guys that are there to give me a technical interview! I started listening to them, and it turned out that they were the contractors that were going to be out when the position was filled.

I answered a couple of questions, and finally got fed up, as they wanted my to explain how I would debug this cobbled together application that they wrote. I said I wouldn't bother, I would find some software that would actually work. Grabbed my coat and walked out.

I got home and the HR manager called to see if I would take the job. I laughed and said not a chance. He then asked me if I knew anyone in the area that would be interested. I told him, I couldn't think of anyone I hated enough to recommend for the job.

Mishra

I went on a 4 hour interview which about 8 different people from all department. Each interview was 30-60 minutes (not enough to sell yourself to someone) and I ended up leaving.

They called me back wanting a technical interview (all of them on the phone), so I did it and got about 75% of their questions right (I'm not much on Netbackup). They wanted ANOTHER technical interview with me so I did it and scored on their questions. Then I had to do ANOTHER tech interview about Linux and I impressed the guy so much that he was asking if he could have me in his department because he had an opening...

This was a 3 month process and they STILL didn't give me any word until about 4 months into the whole thing when I got another job.... Makes NO sense at all.





Another interview I did very well on and they said I basically had it. I told them I was going on vacation next week so I would not be able to be contacted. They called me back the next week, didn't find me, and hired the other guy... Tough luck.

ITNYC

sprkymrk wrote:

ITNYC wrote:

seuss_ssues wrote:

In an interview once when i was much younger for a sales position in a bestbuy/compusa/office max kinda store. They went through some general job interview stuff and then started to ask me technical questions.

They asked me 3 or 4 questions that were just very poorly asked and then this came out. "If a computer has a 1 ghz processor how much RAM does it have?"

I just looked at them and started laughing. I stopped laughing long enough to tell them how horrible of a question it was and started laughing again.

If a computer has a 1 ghz processor how much RAM does it have?"

LOL! you should of played along and said " A PC with a 1Ghz CPU would probably have a TB of RAM"

Should of said, "Well that depends. How big is the hard drive?".

Hahaha, good one sprky.

mrkorean

Our Network manager wanted to hire a CCIE for a senior position. We had some good ones and some very very bad ones. One couldnt even do basic subnetting! We asked whats the subnet mask for /27 for a class c address and how many usable hosts and he couldnt reply. He got a few questions about redistrution/basic switch questions WRONG and my manager got really annoyed cos he wasted everybody's time. Clearly this guy got his CCIE by braindumping.

Slowhand

mrkorean wrote:

Our Network manager wanted to hire a CCIE for a senior position. We had some good ones and some very very bad ones. One couldnt even do basic subnetting! We asked whats the subnet mask for /27 for a class c address and how many usable hosts and he couldnt reply. He got a few questions about redistrution/basic switch questions WRONG and my manager got really annoyed cos he wasted everybody's time. Clearly this guy got his CCIE by braindumping.

Heh. He was probably lying about having his CCIE, or he'd only done the written exam (and probably dumped it). That's why more and more companies are asking for verification of certs when you start with them, or will even ask for some type of proof after the first or second interview.

Daniel333 wrote:

Actual interview question I had at an interview to get my current job,

"if you are as good as your resume says, then why havn't you been promoted already?"

There's only one answer you can give to that, and it comes in the form of a question: "Why do you think I'm looking for a new job?"

sprkymrk

Slowhand wrote:

Daniel333 wrote:

Actual interview question I had at an interview to get my current job,

"if you are as good as your resume says, then why havn't you been promoted already?"

There's only one answer you can give to that, and it comes in the form of a question: "Why do you think I'm looking for a new job?"

Good one!!

mgeorge

Well I've actually helped with doing a few interviews and I love throwing in random stuff... I'll ask some pretty tough questions but then agian... Dont be surprised if I ask you;

How much wood can a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

I asked this one guy, he must have been in his 40's, he ended up being the guy we hired, but man when I asked that question he looked really seriously and shocked and then he just busted out laughing

Funny thing about that interview was he came in with this standard size coffee mug and here I come with this with a big half gallon of coffee mug, a mug my ex got me that says "I've cut back to just one cup a day" The look on this guys face was priceless.

Reminds people of those big german beer mugs.

If any one wants one;

http://www.greatbigstuff.com/mug.html

mgeorge

Come on folks i know you have some crazy experinces.... contribute to the laughter!!!

neo468

My experience: Working with a recruiter, inform me of a perfect job they found for me, $10k higher then I was looking for a great company with lots of room for growth. The recruiter tells me that he told the company of my great skill set and the amount I should ask for. They get the interview lined up, I put on my suite and tie head on in. I meet with the HR lady first. She asks me a few questions, and then asks me what I would like to make. I give her the number I had discussed with recruiter, and she has this look of shock on her face. She then proceeds to tell me that I am asking $15k over there highest amount they would give for the position. I didn't even know what to say except that the recruiter had given me a salary range for this position, and she tells me that is incorrect it is $15k less then there range! I was shocked and upset at the same time. I then meet with the IT manager and he gives me the overview of the job, which was not anywhere close to what I was told by the recruiter. I then left and called the recruiter to tell them I would not be working with them ever again and make sure no one else does that I know...for flat out lying to me and the company. I'm now very hesitant to go that route for a job.

mgeorge

Yep, I agree, ya have to keep ya eye out on staffing firms because they really do not disclose all the information. The staffing firms are only in it for the money. They make money off of you working for some one else.

jad75

It was the middle of the summer in Arizona, 120+ degrees outside and my cars air conditioning was broken. I drove to the general part of town where the interview was supposed to take place but there was massive amounts of construction going on, traffic was barely moving and I was forced to take detours and was getting lost.

So I'm stuck in traffic, sweating like a pig, the construction crews are creating all kinds of dirt and dust that is blowing through my open car window and sticking to my sweaty skin and making me feel all grimy as I stress because it is minutes away from the interview and I can't find the company's offices.

I finally find the company and am a few minutes late so I don't have time to go into the bathroom and clean up. I am literally soaked in sweat and am already really stressed and flustered. So of course the interview room is really hot and I am dripping sweat on the table, my shirt sleeves are soaked and wrinkled from wiping sweat from my face.

In my frazzled state I royally screwed up the interview, getting basic questions wrong that I could have easily answered under better conditions. Needless to say, I didn't get the job.

A couple things that experience taught me.

1. A few days before the interview, drive to the interview location so that you know exactly where it is, what the parking situation is, how long it takes to get there, etc.
2. Dress lightly! I'd rather be freezing cold in an interview than dripping sweat, plus you can always bring a jacket if you think you might get cold.

jamesp1983

sir_creamy_ wrote:

Daniel333 wrote:

Actual interview question I had at an interview to get my current job,

"if you are as good as your resume says, then why havn't you been promoted already?"

Ouch!! Hahah, yeah I've been there too. I've since learned that inflating your resume only ends up hurting yourself.

x2 about the inflated resume. I had the career advisor at my school write mine and she put a bunch of programming languages on it that I didn't know. The interviewer started asking me a bunch of questions about the other languages and I was stuttering

KGhaleon

My current recruiting agency is great. This guy has been going all out, trying to find the best jobs for me and has called me everyday to give his progress. That's someone all recruiter's should model themselves after.

I had a really bad interview back in my college days when I went to Siemen's corporation(in Orlando) about a position that involved installing several hundred new XP machines. I had to go through a phone interview and then 2-3 interviews at their offices. The final interview was with some manager at the main building, this place with massive stairs leading in and big golden doors.

The lobby had giant paintings and pretty fountains, with statues and the hot secretary. It seemed like a dream. I had my resume and papers, black suit and nice haircuit. There was nothing stopping me from taking this job.
I waited about twenty minutes in the lobby for the interviewer, but he never showed. The girl at the front desk said he would come down shortly, so I looked around the area. The whole building was a work of art.

Finally while waiting in the lobby, I noted another person walk in also wearing a suit. He sat across from me. The interviewer finally showed up and revealed that he had accidently scheduled my interview at the same time as this other candidates.

At this point there was only room for one more person on this project, so it was going to be either me or him. This guy across from me was taller and older, looked more experienced...so the interviewer chose to interview him and had some other IT guy grab me. I was feeling helpless at this point and had no idea who I was interviewing with now.

He took me down to some lunch area and asked me a few basic questions about my experience and left. I didn't get the job and felt like a wreck for weeks.

There was another interview worse than that, though.

I once applied for a job at a major Sheriff's department. I went through all sorts of tests...lie-detector tests, drug tests, investigation...etc. It took about a year, but I finally got to the interview. I thought I did fairly well, but the interviewer said my lack of certifications(at the time) would probably hurt my chances of getting the job. I didn't get it...even after I had gotten a letter of recommendation from the Sheriff. This just upset the interviewers though, since it put them in a difficult position.

I wanted in no matter what, since it would look nice on my resume and I want to get a federal job one day. I applied for a volunteer position, which would get me into their IMS department.
I again went through a year or so of testing and waiting, before they finally called me to tell me that I was disqualified from working there. The lady originally working with me to get in, had quit her job and passed this decision before leaving. They told me to call someone else if I wanted details.

I couldn't get them and they never returned my calls. I later found out from someone I knew there that it was due to my relationship with the sheriff, and I figure it was likely political. There are alot of power struggles and I still hear about people within the sheriff's department trying to restrict or stop the sheriff from doing his job. The poor guy is always in the news.

I have other bad ones, but those were the worse.

KG