I had a conversation today with some friends that reminded me of some job interview screw-ups from my past. Looking back I cannot believe that I really said some of these things. Keep in mind that this is really the truth and not fiction.
A Very long time ago I had a interview while I lived in Toledo. This was at the time of my life where I was trying to transition from working in hotels to having a day job somehow related to accounting. Also, this was the first "professional" type position that I had ever interviewed for.
I was interviewing for one of many open accounting positions at this company and I was extremely nervous. They asked me which of two types of jobs that I would prefer. I refused to give them an answer. I just kept saying that I would be happy doing either job. I was so anxious to get a job I was willing to do anything. Looking back I realize that giving them an answer would have been much better.
Next, they asked me to give them three adjectives to describe myself. At that moment I didn't know what an adjective was. Seriously! I couldn't think of anything. I sat there in the quite for about two minutes trying to think of some words. I don't remember what I said, but the whole situation was awkward. I believe I came up with two answers but I couldn't think of a third.
Unfortunately, for me this wasn't the worst thing that happened during the interview. A bit later they asked me a very STUPID question and I gave an equally stupid answer.
Q: If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?
Silence for thirty seconds while I thought of an answer....
A: I would choose a cat. (I immediately thought of this answer because I love little Mickey) I would want to be a cat so I could be lazy and lay around all day.
I SERIOUSLY SAID THAT! Can you imagine your horror as an interviewer and a candidate says something so very ignorant. There was no way to recover from that. I am pretty sure I wasn't going to get the job anyway but that really sealed the deal. The thing is I wasn't lazy and I didn't want to lay around. I just couldn't think of anything better to say. There are tons of positive qualities attributed to cats and I didn't say a single one.
The next story occurred when I lived in Indianapolis. I had a second interview for an accounting position in a hotel chain. They decided to take me to lunch with the department to see if I would be a good personality fit. Things were going well until someone asked me about the weather. I responded that it was a bit "Nipply" outside. I meant to say nippy but it came out wrong.
I sat at the table mortified that I had just said something so inappropriate. I ignored that had occurred and continued on with the conversation. If it had happened now I would have made a joke out of it and laughed it off. I didn't get this job either.
I am sure there are more as I was a professional interviewer the first several years that I lived in Indianapolis but I cannot remember them now. Do you have any fun interview stories? I would love to hear them.
4 comments:
If I were an interviewer, my reaction wouldn't be horror. It would be relief, because I wouldn't have to worry about following up with you ... well, that's not necessarily true. If you were otherwise a good candidate, I might ask you what you meant by that, and maybe that might put us on the right track.
I don't have any terrible-interview stories. I can count on one hand the number of interviews I've had in my life.
Terrible recruiters, now ... well, some of them were just honest mistakes, like the guy who asked me if I'd be interested in a position at a previous employer after said employer had terminated me ... that was kind of awkward. The really bad ones were the ones who read monster.com jobs to me and asked if I'd be interested. (How did I know? Because I'd already seen the exact job on monster.com myself.)
There were others who really didn't understand what I do and could only try to match me with jobs they had in front of them. (A couple of those were referrals from the aforementioned previous employer.) It took some time for me to realize that they are applying for a "job" with me just like I'd be looking for jobs. If they aren't qualified to help me, I don't have to work with them.
FWIW, the "how you think" questions are pretty dumb. There's no good reason for them. If you want to find out about a person, find out about them. I'm sure people with HR backgrounds would disagree, though ...
I am shocked that you have been to 5 or less job interviews. I think I have been to at least 50 (not an exaggeration). Wow!
I have never had any luck with recruiters. I have worked with them several times and they have never landed me a job. I think there has only been one that was really good out the bunch that I worked with. He sent me on at least three promising interviews, but I just wasn’t able to seal the deal.
Well, at the risk of inflating my ego, I'm a great interview. I just need to get in the door.
Part of it is that I tend to look for jobs only during recessions, so there aren't that many opportunities ... and when you don't already have a job, it's easier to convince yourself that you need the position for which you're interviewing.
In my experience, the good recruiters are the ones that find out what you want and keep an eye out for things that fit you. That's how I got my last full-time job and two of my recent contracts ... well, the contracts weren't always a great fit, but they were stuff I could do.
I haven't had many poor interviews but in my role, I've interviewed many people for assistant positions who have. Once I was interviewing candidates at a job fair and this woman actually brought her child into the office....seriously. Someone said to me "Well, maybe she couldn't find child care." All I could wonder was in what universe would that be my problem.
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