Have you ever found yourself in the midst of an interview and wondered if you're completely blowing it right now? Maybe you stumbled on a few questions, or your nerves got the best of you at times? You're not alone! Public speaking, as well as, speaking to strangers can be quite intimidating for a lot of people, especially when something as major as a new career is on the line.
Don't believe us, then take these stories from hiring managers who found themselves in the middle of some of the worst interviews they have ever conducted. These interviews are so bad, the interviewer decided to share it with the whole world via Reddit.
Content has been edited for clarity.
She Exceeded Expectations, But Not In A Good Way
“I was a recruiter a few years ago (never again). I was doing a pre-interview with a 45-50-year-old woman at my office for a position with a client, and she had a gap in her resume a couple years prior. I asked about it thinking she was either unemployed at the time or that maybe she was omitting something, not at all expecting her to be honest if the latter were true.
But no, she exceeded expectations.
Told me she used to work at the company I was interviewing her for, and that she was kicked out by security for punching one of her coworkers in the face. So she thought it’d look bad to leave that on her resume and preferred I’d leave it off upon submittal. I remember not knowing if I should laugh at her joke or end the interview, but when she never said, ‘lol just kidding me,’ I wrapped things up real quick.
She called me a week later asking if there was any feedback, and if the client would like to schedule a phone call. I politely told her that they weren’t interested and that we’d keep looking for a position that fit her search.”
She Had A “Number One” Weakness And Then Many, Many More
“I was interviewing this lady and asked the basic strengths/weaknesses question. She told me her number one weakness was that she was ugly. She said her father told her she forgot to take her Halloween mask off. She then told me she was fired from her last job for supposedly stealing morphine (this was a nursing position), so I shouldn’t listen to her references if they mentioned that.
Then I asked her how she dealt with stressful situations and she said she used to work for a Jewish hospital and she went on and on about how weird Jewish people are… I told her I am Jewish (which is true) and watched her squirm.”
“Still Makes Me Cringe Thinking About It”
“I used to be a hiring manager at McDonald’s in a not so nice part of a large city. The most notable interview I came across was this 17-year-old guy who came in to the interview, ‘swagged out’ as he put it… You know the type, low hanging jeans showing rear end (which led to another surprise later), obviously fake golden chain and watch, sideways hat and red bandana tied around his head, with an attitude to boot.
Desperately needing the extra man power, I tried to go through the interview anyhow.
I went through the usual questions, ‘Why do you want to work here? What are your motivations?’ You know, the normal stuff. Then I asked if anything had never gone his way and how did he deal with it?
He explained a story about how his friend jacked a car and wouldn’t share it with him… Then, to resolve the situation, he shot him. I stared blankly at him for about 30-40 seconds with my mouth open…
I kindly told him, ‘Thats all for now… I’ll call you if you are chosen for the position,’ and as he turned to leave I saw a rather prominent skid mark on the back of his underwear. It still makes me cringe thinking about it….”
And They Thought The Answers About His Work History Were The Worst Part
“I was interviewing a guy for a software engineer position. We were looking for entry-level developers, so I wasn’t expecting rock stars, but this was something else entirely.
We sat the guy down and asked him a few basic questions about programming. He hemmed and hawed, gave some noncommittal answers. He had almost no work experience, so we asked him about personal projects. He pulled up his personal web site, which was mostly about him being a voiceover artist.
It was awful. GeoCities circa 1998 awful. He played some voiceover samples of himself doing a Cowardly Lion voice, and showed us a contact form. We asked him a few more basic questions about form validation and database programming. He didn’t know what we were talking about.
I asked what it was programmed in. He said, ‘HTML.’
I said, no, I mean the email form. He said something like, ‘Oh, uhh… PHP?’
I asked him if there was a CMS or anything, thinking maybe at least he was good with WordPress.
Him: ‘Uhh… I just upload the files.’
Me: ‘Using FTP?’
Him: ‘Uhh… I guess so?’
And that was it. He had nothing else to show us.
We sat there making awkward smalltalk for a couple of minutes, and then asked, ‘Is there anything else you want us to know about you?’
He looked kind of confused, and then said, ‘I can’t raise my arms above my shoulders.’
We thanked him, and kindly showed him the way out, barely made it into an office before we died laughing.”
“You’re The One They Hired Instead Of Me In 2008”
“In my line of work, interviewees meet with everyone in the department for 30-minute sessions during their day-long interview.
A guy came in who had apparently applied to every position he remotely qualified for in my department over the course of several years. He finally made it to the interview round. Here are a few things he asked my boss…
Him: ‘I noticed many of you went to ‘X’ for college. Hopefully you won’t hold it against me that I went to ‘Y.’ (Imagine this with a weird smirk on the guy’s face).
He had gone to a fairly well-known university in the region that was a rival of many of my colleagues’ alma mater and was trying to show off going to a minutely more prestigious school. Then he got to my office.
Him: ‘So… You’re the one they hired instead of me in 2008?’
Me: ‘Sorry… I don’t know who all they interviewed for my position when I was a candidate.’ (Awkward question if you’d even call it a question)
Him: ‘Did you ALSO go to ‘X’ like everyone else?’ (Smirk returns)
I had heard what he asked my boss a few hours before. This guy is a name-thrower if there ever was one. That mess annoys the heck out of me. I pulled out my trump card.
‘No, actually (pointing to my diploma on the wall), I went to [insert a school that is top 10 in the country for our discipline].’
Him: ‘Oh… I guess I can see why they hired you over me then…’
He didn’t get the job that round either.”
“Did You Even Bring A Resume”
“I used to have a business-to-business sales position when I was interim sales manager for a local company, and would occasionally interview potential hires. One day this guy comes in with colored spiked hair, wearing ripped jeans with his Baby Mama and his crying baby… Yes, you read that correctly… But wait, its gets better.
So first off, this guy arrives 30 minutes late to his interview! I was on the call with a customer, so I was busy and wasn’t that inclined to interview someone who was late and showed up dressing unprofessional.
As the guy is waiting for me he tells the secretary he has to go cash a check and get his baby some milk…
I finally come out and ask the secretary where he is, and she informs me he left to go cash his check and buy his baby some milk… So I’m just standing there thinking, wow, this is really happening.
I go back into my office and about an hour and half later he comes back. I was in a meeting with the GM at the time, so he was told to wait. Keep in mind by this point he’d already done the following;
But it gets better…
I come out and greet him and the first thing he says to me is, ‘My time is valuable, I don’t like waiting for you,’ which left me in complete shock…
After just staring at him in disbelief I say, ‘excuse me?’
He says, ‘I’m here for the interview, and my time is valuable and your constantly too busy to talk to me… Let’s get this interview over with so I can start.’
So I smile and say, ‘Well I got great news, the interview is over we won’t be moving forward with your application.’
He protests, I ask, ‘Did you even bring a resume?’
He says, ‘No,’ and I’m like, ‘Alright our interview is over. Good bye.’
I was amazed. My secretary said he stood there for like 5 minutes just staring into space wondering what the heck just happened to him.
Then his girlfriend stood up and asked, ‘Does that mean you guys aren’t going hire him?’ The sectary said, ‘I believe so.’
He left after that.”
“I’ll Google It”
“Interviewing for a physics lecturer in a further education college. The candidate apparently had a masters degree in physics and several years experience teaching in a similar college. He was asked to prepare an introductory lesson on how ultrasound is used in medicine. He had about a week’s notice to do this. Normally we’d actually have a class of students he’d teach this to, but it was during the holidays so no students were in, so he’d been told he could just show us the lesson plan and resources and talk through how he’d teach it.
My fellow interviewer: ‘Please talk us through how you’d teach the lesson on ultrasound.’
Candidate: ‘I’d tell the class that today we were learning about ultrasound, and then tell them to get their phones and look on the internet for what is ultrasound and what is it used for.’
Me: ‘Ummm… And how long would you give them to do this?’
Candidate: ‘The whole lesson.’
Me: ‘And that’s the only instruction you’d give them?’
Candidate: ‘Yes’
Me: ‘Are there any particular websites you’d suggest they should use?’
Candidate: ‘Google’
Me: ‘Google?’
Candidate: ‘Yes they can google it. You just go on google and type in ultrasound and they can find the information that way.’
Fellow Interviewer: ‘How will you know if they’ve got all the information you’re expecting them to find?’
Candidate: ‘I’ll tell them to make notes.’
Me: ‘Ok, so how would you check their notes?’
Candidate: ‘I’ll ask them at the end what they found out.’
Me: ‘What would you expect them to have found out?’
Candidate: ‘About ultrasound’
Me: ‘Is there anything specific about ultrasound they should have found out? Like the frequency range of ultrasound for example?’
Candidate: ‘Yes, the frequency of ultrasound.’
Fellow interviewer: ‘What is the frequency range of ultrasound?’
Candidate: ‘I don’t know’
Fellow interviewer: ‘So if you don’t know, how will you know if they’ve got it right?’
Candidate: ‘I’ll google it.’
Later on in the interview he also stated that the nucleus of an atom contains electrons. I assumed this was a slip of the tongue and said ‘you mean around the nucleus, not in the the nucleus yes’. He said no he definitely meant in the nucleus, and that the nucleus definitely contains electrons. Needless to say he didn’t get the job.”
“My Weakness Is Customer Service”
“Had a young woman interview to be a cashier.
She was chewing gum, which was already not great to me.
She then proceeded to give me her work history. She was currently working her first job of three weeks, but couldn’t get good transportation to the town over. Before that, she volunteered some place for a week before she quit because she couldn’t get rides. She claimed this job was closer, and that she could quit tomorrow and come here. Red flag for questionable dependability, but I could look past it since I’m a softie.
But the final nail in the coffin was when I asked, ‘What is your weakness?’
I always try to make it a joke about, ‘Oh you always get this one in an interview,’ to kind of ease the tension.
This chick says, and I quote, ‘My weakness is customer service.’
Honey, you’re interviewing for the CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT.
I have hired about 80% of people I interview, but I can’t look past, ‘My weakness is the only qualification I need to get this job.'”
“Sure Hope He Figured Things Out”
“Interviewed a candidate (C) for Research and Development hardware technician position, which requires an associates in electronics. C was set to graduate in just a few weeks. Interview questions cover things like Ohm’s Law, resistor color codes; stuff he was taught over the last two years. We also gave an electronics test, which I would ask them about the questions they got wrong to see how their thought process and problem solving went. Testing and interview was onsite at the technical school. (NOTE: The company I worked for had actual technicians and engineers interview, HR was only paperwork, so candidates were interviewing with people who know what the heck they were doing.)
Me: looking at the test results, ‘Okay, this is a question on Ohm’s law, how did you get this answer?’
C: ‘Oh, I can tell you how I got that answer…’
Me: ‘Great, how did you arrive at this number?’
C: ‘Yea, I can tell you that.’
Me: ‘Fine, tell me.’
C: ‘Yea, I can tell you.’
Me, trying to get some answer out of him, ‘Did you use Ohm’s Law?’
C: ‘Yea, I used Ohm’s law.’
Me: ‘Okay, show me the math and how you used it.’
C: ‘Yea, I can show that, if you want to see it.’
I got tired of this and told him that he didn’t need to, we were done.
Great part is a few days later when I got back to work, I got a call from out recruiting team lead. He had someone calling him asking how to get around the system and get a job with the company. It was ‘C’ and he wanted to circumvent the hiring process and get a job with us. I told the team lead how bad he did and that we didn’t want someone like that here.
Next day C calls me (How did he get MY number, I still don’t know) and is wanting me to get him a job here without having to go through our hiring process. I told him point-blank that he was under qualified for the level of work we did. Furthermore, if someone asks him a straightforward electronics question, he needs to be able to answer the question. NOT say that he can, then proceed to not do it. I added that I was the decision-maker on this and I had marked his application as not qualified. You are not getting any further interviewing or career opportunities with this company.
Sure hope he figured things out.”
The Magician
“Working at Hot Topic there are really too many to list. One guy hit me up for a weed contact during the interview. He asked me right there how he could score when we were done. I had people tell me openly that they stole from their previous jobs, or allowed their friends to. I had a management applicant tell me how she won over new customers by giving them her employee discount.
But the best one by far was the magician.
I’ll never forget him.
In retail, especially teen mall retail, you want ‘people’ person applicants. People who can win over a customer, talk to them with ease, etc. You’ll pick a smooth talker over a hard worker 85% of the time because that person will make you more money. Hard truth, but it’s there.
So I got an applicant that listed as their previous job history ‘magician.’ Details were: ‘Works kids’ parties, office functions, and various other gigs as a real magician.’
Holy cow, I think I’ve hit the lottery, right? I immediately set up an interview. The guy sounds a little weird on the phone, but I’m sure he’ll be great in person, he’s probably just nervous.
The day arrives, and this tall, rotund, awkward man-boy lumbers into my office. Eyes downcast, hair barely combed, clothing askew, I mean he was a complete mess. I ask him how I can help him and he mumbles something. I ask again and he says that he’s here for an interview.
This can’t be right.
So I start out gently (just the tip) as I do with all interviews, and he’s not budging. He sits in the chair, staring at his hamfists clasped sweatily together, and barely mumbles out answers. The guy is huge and I’m barely 5’1, so I’m trying to keep it low pressure and lighthearted, as we’re alone in a small room together. I end it as soon as I can and thank him for his time. He engulfs my hand in his massive sweat factory and leaves.
Two days later I get a call from my district manager about a complaint that had come in from a customer. Apparently, I had ‘insulted him’ for being a magician. I ‘openly mocked’ his choice of profession and directly called him several derogatory names before gleefully telling him to bug off.
I told my side of the story, which my district manager readily believed, and I didn’t hear another word about it.
Strangest. Interview. Ever. And I had a guy show up wearing a samurai sword once.”
The Weekday Only Girl
“So a couple of years ago when I was managing a pub, I interviewed a lovely girl and it was all going great. She had loads of experience, seemed smiley and chipper in general, just what we needed. Well, until we got to discussing shift patterns and hours requirements.
This girl was a student so she just wanted part time hours. Great, she could fill in our busy periods at the weekends, I thought, but she actually wanted Monday to Wednesday shifts preferably in the daytime.
What the heck!?
I closed my diary and said unless she can give us one weekend night and one weekend day shift then we can’t proceed as this is a city center pub and those are our busy periods.
Out of the blue, her personality completely changed and she flipped her lid, saying I was exploiting students and that a large part of going to college was having a social life, which I wouldn’t understand. She said that I was just another corrupt manager taking advantage of young people, and the reason I worked in a pub was because no one would hire me because I was too stupid and didn’t have an education like her.
Now I’m used to dealing with wasted, angry people so a whiny 20-year-old wouldn’t normally touch the sides, but she’d touched a nerve and I was fuming.
I stood up and roared, ‘How dare you? I have a Russell Group education which I notice you do not, and I choose to work here because I normally enjoy it. Now GET THE HECK OUT!’
Off she went, tail between her legs.
This wasn’t the end of it though, oh no.
A couple of weeks later, we’d had a really busy Saturday night so I decided to take my guys out for a post-work pint. They had worked hard that day, so they deserved it. Who should be working in the bar we went to but, Weekday Only girl (WDO Girl), on a Saturday night at 1:30 am no less. She saw me and was clearly uncomfortable with my presence but she avoided me so all cool. A couple of rounds in though, I was at the bar and I saw WDO girl turn to the manager, talking frantically and pointing in my direction. She was really worked up about something.
It’s a good time to point out that on our little strip of pubs, bars and restaurants, all the managers know each other, talk to each other and are very supportive in general. It’s a lovely community.
So the manager finished what he was doing and went back of house with the girl. Not long after, she emerged, in tears, with her coat and bag in hand and was walked out of the bar. As she walked past me she picked up a full pint and chucked it at my face and screamed that I was a bully. I was stunned but she left and I attempted to dry myself off. As I was doing so, the manager explained to me that she had gone to him saying that she’d seen me selling dope in the toilets and that I’d threatened her with a beating if she told the doormen or manager, and that I should be removed and barred. He’d taken her off the bar, tore her a new one and sacked her on the spot.
Needless to say we both spent the next couple of week’s making sure no one in the area hired this girl. Interestingly two of those places had already trialed her and thought she was lovely like I did.
What a psycho!”
That Didn’t End Well For Him…
“I was divisional field director at an energy company. My division was made up with about a hundred staff.
There was a round of interviews for engineer/project manager roles. These were really general roles with no real technical knowledge requirements, but you’d be dealing with engineers and construction people.
I got called into the process by the director of that division just to make up the numbers. Our company policy stated that there needed to be one person from human resources, and two directors per interview. It made sense, but it was also a massive waste of time.
The construction director was throwing a bunch of nonsense questions at the candidates that they’d never have to actually deal with. The job was super easy, no surprises in it, and I got to ask all the soft, ‘Give me an example of a time when you demonstrated X,’ questions.
For context I was approximately 30 at the time, and all the panel were much older than me and I was being VERY low key in the interviews. That way I could allow the director they’d be working for to ask what he wanted.
There was a dude in his mid to late forties and I gave him my leadership and problem solving questions, which he answered like a prick.
Then I led into my standard, ‘What if someone internally wasn’t providing you with information or support required to do your job?’ He gave an incredibly aggressive answer about demanding it and standing at someone’s desk until they provided it and not letting them leave until they gave it to him.
The answer really annoyed me and visibly shocked the other two interviewers, so I asked, ‘What if it was me who wasn’t providing you with this resource that you needed?’ Which was half giving him a chance to pull back and the other half was clearly a trap.
He stood up so fast that his chair almost fell over, pointed his finger at my face and shouted, ‘I’d explain to you how business works you little scumbag!’ and then stormed out, forgetting his jacket in the room.
He never came back that day so we sent the jacket to the recruitment agency he came from by courier. The next morning I came in late and was told that he was kicked off the premises by our security guard because he had come in early and started shouting at the receptionist over his jacket.
If he hadn’t have come in the next day and revealed that he was mental I’m sure there would have been blowback from my unprofessional interview style. As it was I got away scott-free. HAHA.”