Interviewing for a new job is very nerve-wracking by nature, but what people often forget is that interviews go both ways! They’re a great way to see into the culture of a company and what working there may be like. Some people may even decline a job offer because they didn’t like what they saw from the company in the interview process. These folks share crazy stories about the worst interviews imaginable. This content has been edited for clarity.
Run Away
“It was a small, yet rapidly growing and technically advanced software company in the midwest. They seemed to have a good reputation and were growing rapidly. They asked me to allocate four hours for a series of meetings with the CEO and five of their top executives to discuss a new role. The first meeting of the morning was with HR who stepped me through the agenda for the day. Next, I met with the CEO and his wife (red flag number one). I thought that was unusual but I went with it.
It went from unusual to unbelievable.
My next meeting was with the executive vice president. He was a nice guy and really sharp. We had a 10-minute open-door conversation in his office. Then he got up and closed his door, and looked me square in the eyes.
‘You seem completely qualified, and exactly what we need here,’ he said, ‘And, you seem like a really nice guy. So, are you considering other opportunities?’
‘Yes,’ I replied. I was fortunate to be looking at several other good options.
‘Take one of them. You don’t want to work here,’ he said without a lot of emotion, but with complete sincerity.
I took a few seconds to try to read his expressions, gestures, and body language to determine if this was a technique to test and evaluate my response. It wasn’t. He went on to explain how he was leaving within the next three weeks. He then told me that the next person I was scheduled to meet would be tendering their resignation later that day. The person after that was actively interviewing and planning to leave within four weeks.
Every person I was to meet with that morning with the exception of the CEO, his wife, and one other executive was exiting the company as quickly as they could.
‘Run, don’t walk, away from this place,’ he said.
I took his advice. It was well founded as I came to learn. I accepted a role in a new company and had to rebuild part of their engineering team. As it turned out, I hired several former employees from the ‘run don’t walk’ company. They were great hires, and later related stories about how completely dysfunctional ‘run don’t walk’ was. Thanks to the radical candor of my interviewer, I avoided a huge career mistake.”
Desperate
“I was out of work for five months and was desperately looking for opportunities. One such opportunity was for one of the major multinational corporations. When the first three rounds of the interview were over, I was asked to wait. After a good 20–30 minutes, I was asked to enter a relatively small room at the very end of the gallery. I was confident that I would be able to get through this interview session and bag the job.
As I pushed open the door to the room, I saw a lady dressed neatly in corporate attire seated across the table. She was a beautiful, middle-aged woman. She seemed authoritative and dignified. I was asked to take the seat opposite, and I did. A few minutes into the interview, she placed her hands on mine that were resting on the table, as if cupping them. She held it firm for a few seconds. There was a weird tension growing, and she kept questioning me on totally random subjects for the next five minutes or so.
Next, she stood up from her chair, walked across the room once, and stopped right next to me, resting her arm on my shoulder. She glided her fingers on the nape of my neck, making me all tingly. I was not ready for that at all. I anxiously turned to look at her. Her face was less than a foot away. She tousled my hair, ran her perfectly manicured nails from my cheek to my jaw, and pinched me playfully. She kept moving her hands further down, almost halfway down my chest.
I was more than just uncomfortable at that point. I was there for an interview. However, she did all that while never faltering from her questions which were anything but related to the job. She asked me all my personal details and finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she took her seat and said,
‘I see you are burdened with responsibilities and why this job is important for you. I will give you the job and a better package. Come and meet me at my place tonight. Trust me, you will not regret this.’
She asked me for my number, slipped me hers on a piece of paper, and asked me to leave for the day. And that was the interview. My worst ever!”
Sketchy Dude
“I was one of three people interviewing candidates for a software developer position. A loud-mouth, boisterous fellow came in and we were asking him about past jobs, tasks, and accomplishments. He blurted out to us that he once owned the domain name ‘muppetcrotch.com.’ Now, just blurting out a domain name like that in an interview is sketchy, but it continued.
He started explaining that a person with a muppet crotch is one who dyes their hair and also their pubic hair so they match. It was a very borderline topic for an interview about software development. He further explained that he used the site to forge himself media credentials. He claimed it was a blog about music and concerts and set himself up on it with fake press IDs to get backstage. It was still sort of relevant because he was explaining the tech he set up on the site.
Oddly enough, that wasn’t what cost him anything because he was tying it back to a tech project. It was a moral gray area at best, but he kept it just appropriate enough that we didn’t walk out. Clearly, he must’ve started feeling comfortable with us because out of the blue he blurted out,
‘Hey, you’ve heard of that game Super Monkey Ball? My friends and I thought it’d be funny if they made Super Donkey Punch!’
I shall spare you, gentle readers, from what exactly a donkey punch is. But you can google it and find it quickly— it is not exactly an appropriate sexual act. It is definitely not something you blurt out randomly in an interview. Of the three interviewers, I was the only one that was familiar with the term, which I suppose says something about me. To the other two, he was merely blurting out funny random words.
Now, his earlier story did (barely) tie back to technology, but the second was just blurting out a lewd sex act for the sake of saying it. The story got less funny as I re-told it around the office. It was a small one, and everyone talked fairly openly and was curious about how the interview went. When I told them that detail with increasing levels of disgust, I got one of two reactions:
‘He said WHAT?!’
‘What’s a donkey punch?’ and after I explained, ‘HE SAID THAT?!’
We quickly decided if he was the sort of person who would blurt out a fairly vulgar sex act in his interview that he was also the sort of person we did not wish to hire. That was over 15 years ago, so hopefully, he’s cleaned up his act a bit since then.”
Too Honest
“This happened to a friend of mine. He is quite innocent and straightforward and doesn’t know how to speak diplomatically to tackle certain situations. He speaks whatever comes to his mind. His interview was scheduled with an IT multinational corporation. It went like this:
Interviewer: ‘Introduce yourself.’
My friend introduced himself, blah blah blah.
Interviewer: ‘Draw the pin diagram of the microprocessor Intel 8085.’
Him: ‘I can’t recall the exact diagram but will try my level best.’
A few more technical questions were asked and answered.
Interviewer: ‘Technically, you are a fine fit. Do you want to ask us any questions?’
Him: ‘Sir, I have heard that the attrition rate is quite high in your company. If your company is so good then why do your employees leave after a year or so? If that’s the situation, why should I join your company? How can I trust you’re not going to fire me?’
Needless to say, this infuriated the interviewer. He didn’t see it coming. His face turned red but he remained silent for a second and then spoke.
Interviewer: ‘You asshole. You are an unemployed guy who has no future. How dare you raise questions about our MNC! Just get lost.’
Him: ‘Excuse me, Sir, but I will never choose to work in a company where people are so abusive. Please mind your language. That isn’t the way professionals talk.’
Interviewer: ‘Hey, you asshole! You are rejected! Now get out. Or else I will throw you out. Idiot!’
Him: ‘What the hell! This isn’t the way HR talks.’
Although hearing that gave me a good laugh, I simultaneously I felt bad for my friend. He is a righteous man who always speaks the truth. He doesn’t know boot-licking and talking diplomatically. Unfortunately, this world isn’t cut out for such a good and honest person.”
Nightmare On Interview Street
“The recruiter for a major pharma company said she had a job interview for me in Switzerland. They were not flexible so the interview had to be on one specific date and they were going to pay for my flight. The interview was scheduled to start at 11:00 but the ticket they sent was for an 11:15 arrival and then a one-hour train ride. I called HR to see what happened.
They seemed to be very annoyed I pointed out a mistake they made and refused to acknowledge it at first. Then they told me to book a flight myself. Getting a morning flight with less than 24 hours’ notice was not easy. I ended up taking a bus at 11:00 pm the night before, arriving at the airport at 4:00 am and then flying at t 6:15 am. At that point, I should have obviously called it off.
At the interview, I wasn’t even offered a glass of water. It was six hours of interviews without any break. Most of the interviewers were quite hostile and one basically told me my job would be to fake statistics to fool the authorities into approving their useless and/or dangerous drugs. I think he was exaggerating, not taking the interview seriously, or trying to encourage me to withdraw.
On the way home, it turned out the ticket they sent me wasn’t a ticket but just a request for reservation, so I was stranded at the gate and had to stay in the airport until the next morning. I spent 40 hours without sleep, without access to a shower, and without anything to eat or drink other than the snacks I bought at the airport.
On the way home from the airport, the recruiter called me and I told her how it went. Then she asked if I would still be interested if they offered me the job. My response was, ‘Are you joking? Didn’t you hear what I just told you?’ I’ve had a lot of bad interviews but that one took the cake.”
Onsite Interview
“This was for an onsite interview during my sophomore year. The process was from 9:00 am to almost 5:00 pm and consisted of breakfast, two technical interviews in the morning, lunch, then three HR behavioral interviews in the afternoon.
Some factors that didn’t help me: I had flown in the night before and set my alarm for the wrong time, so I had two minutes to pack my clothes. I made it to the San Diego Airport and boarded the plane with three minutes left to spare. There was also a thunderstorm in New York when I arrived, so I didn’t reach my hotel until 9:00 pm, and thus didn’t sleep until 2:00 am EST. It was a stressful and long travel to New York.
The first two technical rounds went smoothly, and by some miracle, I was able to make it to the HR rounds after lunch. I was constantly grilled on conceptual concepts of computer science as well as past internships, projects, and experiences. The first HR round went well, but it was the second HR round when I started to feel a bit tired. At that time, it was about 3:00 pm and the afternoon. The food coma started to hit as well as lack of coffee, lack of sleep, and time zone changes and I realized my eyes were drooping.
I tried to fidget as much as possible, pinch myself, and shake myself out of the coma. I slowly managed to make it through the questions about inheritance in Python and what an abstract class is and made it to the final part of this interview, asking the interviewer questions.
That’s where everything went downhill. I asked my interviewer about ‘some of the achievements/accomplishments that he had done while at the company’ and he proceeded to give me a 5-10 minute speech about everything he had worked on. The passivity of hearing him drone on and on eventually led me to nod off.
My interviewer woke me up and said, ‘Are you sleeping? Get some coffee,’ before shaking my hand and leaving the interview room.
Although the last HR round went well, I was fidgeting yet again to try and make sure I wouldn’t fall asleep and had no idea what that interviewer thought of me considering I was constantly moving in my effort to stay awake.
Once we heard back about the interview results, I learned that I was the only intern candidate who made it to the HR round of interviews and yet was waitlisted.
The main takeaway for me: it’s important to be prepared for interviews not just on the interview preparation side, but also on the physical side. Having a healthy sleep schedule and balanced diet would have definitely helped my physical stamina and would’ve helped me stay awake and avoid possible food comas.”
Ten Seconds
“I applied for a job at a restaurant as a server and received an email to come in between 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm for an interview.
I thought to myself, ‘Great, I’ll have to find someone to cover my shift at [current job] until I get out of here.’
I figured interviews don’t take that long, but I wanted to beat traffic, as the restaurant was downtown. I got to the location at 1:45ish. As I was waiting, I went up to the hostess and she had me fill out an application and instructed me to wait on the side. I saw one man around my age walking out and another man who was there before me waiting to go next. He eventually got called up and was already 2ish. I waited patiently.
3:00 pm rolled by and another female came in to wait. I was wondering what was taking so long because I could have been working and felt bad having someone cover my shift until I got back. The girl asked me what time I came to the restaurant after 30 minutes passed and she agreed the wait was ridiculous.
Finally, around 4:00 pm, the interviewer summoned me. We walked to a booth where she proceeded to ask me questions.
Her: ‘So, there are three rounds of interviews and we decide at the end who we want.’
Me: ‘Okay, that’s fine.’
Her: ‘So, why do you want to work here?’
Me: ‘I want a chance to broaden my horizons and try new things.’
Her: ‘Have you had any experience in hospitality?’
Me: ‘No, but I work at [current job] and I deal with customers. I take their orders, make them, and answer their questions. I also have other customer service experience from [previous job].’
Her: ‘Oh, nice! That’s the end of the interview. Do you have any questions for me?’
Me: ‘Nope, I’m good.’
In my head, I was thinking, ‘Oh, hell no. You did not just have me wait three hours for an interview that lasted ten seconds! How dare you make me waste my time, gas, and energy getting here through traffic!’
As I walked out, I said to the girl after me, ‘Shit’s not worth it. They had me wait three hours for an interview that lasted three seconds.’
I was pissed.”
Policy Compliance
“I went for an interview once in an IT company. After a couple of basic questions from a guy, I felt no one was paying any attention to me. Two out of the four panelists were actually talking with each other about a project. After a while, I asked them if everything was okay.
They said they had already decided on the candidate to hire but due to company policy, at least three people had to be interviewed. It took me a minute to swallow that. I was really pissed off because I took time off from my job, came all the way to their office, and waited for an hour just to be told that I was only there for their compliance with a policy. Needless to say, there wasn’t any monetary compensation for the candidates.
What did I do? I requested they give back my CV and dispose of the form in front of me and told them to at least have the courtesy to pretend to take an interview seriously instead of acting like non-professional asses. I forbid them to mention my name among the unsuccessful candidates. After getting home, I provided the feedback by replying to the HR email I had received from them. I also sent an email to the company’s director. Didn’t receive any email back from either, by the way.
I never bothered applying there or responding to their calls for other positions. It was by far the worst interview. I don’t mind rejections, it’s part of the game. However, calling someone for an interview and then acting like jerks was taking shit to a whole new level. It is still quite strange to me that they felt what they did was acceptable.”
Walk Out
“The worst interview I’ve had was for an uber competitor in India. They called me for an interview for an architect/senior developer role. They wanted to start at 10:00 am, so I arrived by 9:45 am and informed the receptionist about my interview schedule. I was asked to wait. After waiting for two hours, the contact person showed up and asked me to walk to a room where my first interview would take place.
An employee walked in, explained a problem, and then gave me a laptop to code a solution. She said she would be back in 15 minutes to discuss my progress. 45 minutes went by with no one showing up. I waited another half hour and still no one. I tried calling the contact person with no response, so I walked out and noticed two employees close by. After explaining my situation, they laughed and said they were not surprised.
The employees started discussing how horrible the company culture was and how they were sorry they ever joined. I wasn’t expecting that. I tried to find the interviewer again with no luck and most employees seemed to have gone for lunch. I decided to go out for food as I was really hungry.
As soon as I stepped out to look for a place to eat, I saw a cab and instantly decided to leave. The contact person called while I was in the cab, but I didn’t want to invest one more second in that company and ignored the call. That was it. I never heard back from her after that.”
Good Riddance
“One of my worst job interviews was when I had to go to this man who was looking for a secretary. I couldn’t park my car anywhere near because he didn’t have a parking space outside his office, so I had to walk 10 minutes to get to this office. It was also raining very badly so I could barely see where I was going. Finally, I knocked on the door and heard someone say, ‘Come in.’
As I was all wet and dirty from the rain, I entered and said, ‘Hello sir, I’m here for the interview.’
He looked at me without saying a word and then he looked at his watch. He turned to me and said, ‘You were supposed to be here at 3:00 pm.’
I looked down at my watch and told him, ‘It’s 3:02!’
‘Exactly. You are two minutes late which means you are a very irresponsible person. You didn’t make a very good first impression.’
The water from the rain was still dripping from my hair, my clothes were literally soaked in water, and all that was just to hear an old man treat me like rubbish. The conversation continued and I was still standing near the door. I wasn’t sure if I should stay or leave.
He then said, ‘Come on, let’s go on with this interview.’
That’s when I thought to myself, ‘I really need a job, but do I really want to have this person as my boss?’
I opened the door behind me and he said, ‘Where are you going?’
‘Far away from here,’ I replied as I closed the door and left. His company closed down two months later.”