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34 High-Level Job Candidates Who Failed At Interviews So Badly Hiring People Can’t Forget Them
Interview With Expert
Many people are afraid of failure, even though it's an inevitable part of life. Job interviews aren't an exception. Due to this fear, many people stress about them, sometimes so much that it ironically makes them botch them.
Witnessing someone fail can be as awkward as failing yourself, especially if there were high hopes for that person. For instance, if they were a candidate for a high-level job, but bungled the interview miserably. Today’s list is made up of such incidents — recruiters recalling interviews that went so badly that they remained memorable for a long time.
More info: Reddit
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#1
We were interviewing for a chemical engineer position. Specifically, process engineer over a train with 3 reactors. The areas had some pretty bad chemicals, and as such, there was a tour as part of the interview. We asked all candidates to wear appropriate clothing. The candidate came in with open toe shoes, which were specified as a no-go in the communication. I asked if she had been aware of the tour and dress code, and she said, "Yes, but you can't wear closed toe shoes with this outfit!". I immediately dropped her off in the HR department and told them, "If she can't follow those basic instructions, there is no way I was going to hire her to deal with the chemicals we dealt with.".
Display_Name 3 months ago
I went to an interview in slacks, blouse, nice shoes, hair fixed, nails nice short manicure. It took place in a career center. The interviewer started picking apart my appearance. I explained I have enough sense to not dress like this at a factory. I will change my nails and hair after I get the job...not before.
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#2
I interviewed a guy for a higher level management position for the company I worked for. Attire was supposed to be business professional.
He showed up in a Hawaiian shirt, jeans, and flip flops because he thought this interview was “just a formality” and he believed his supposed reputation in the industry just preceded him. I had no idea who he was.
When he realized we were actually asking questions he just said “trust me, I’m the guy for the job” over and over and over again. It became a running joke for all of us when we’d get a new assignment.
#3
She only spoke in high end corporate speak and non answers. I didn’t have any clue about her as a person leaving that interview but could tell she was the absolute wrong fit.
Of course she was hired and has tanked that program. I swear she has dirt on someone high up otherwise she would have been removed.
WindySwede 3 months ago
"If I get this job, the photos will disappear along with the recordings...."
If you've ever had to apply for a job, you likely are aware of what kinds of steps it requires. First comes resume and cover letter crafting. With these, basically, you have to convince the employer to interview you. This means you have to present what kind of skills, experience, and other qualities you have that would fit the job.
Then, with any luck, you get the interview. For many, that’s the scariest part. They fear that their qualifications and skills aren’t enough or that they won’t be able to prove them during the interview. Some are afraid because they don’t know what the potential employer might ask and whether they’ll have something to say. Others simply fear rejection.
#4
I asked an engineer "what do you love about engineering?" And they paused for a long moment and then told me they didn't love anything about it. I panicked and tried to save it for them and said "oh what about the team you're on right now?" And they said "oh my team is great! But I don't think I want to be a software engineer anymore, I don't think I like it at all". At this point the interview was dead, and we had a policy not to end early. So I asked them "what's something you do love?" And we talked about knitting for 45 minutes. It was really fun! They didn't get the job.
#5
I interviewed a guy for a Head of Marketing position many years ago.
This guy shows up to the interview and is immediately smug as hell; we haven’t even started yet. He refuses to turn on his camera, instantly remarks how he worked for Facebook, and let it be KNOWN that he’s the real deal.
I ask him “What are the channels for video game marketing?” And he responded with “I don’t know, does it matter?”. Astonished, we asked him how he would approach marketing different platforms, and he responded “With lots of money.” I asked him if he realized we were an indie company, and he was like “That doesn’t matter.”
Halfway through the interview, the CEO himself finally begged me to stop the interview. We contacted our recruiting firm and told them he was the single worst candidate we had ever encountered. They dropped him as a client because apparently this wasn’t even the first time he was a terrible interview.
I still remember his name. He ended up going back to Facebook. Seemed like he tested the market, realized he wasn’t s**t, and then went back home where he could blend in as a useless nepobaby.
#6
Not a high level position, but two of us were interviewing a candidate for a job. He was perfect! Fully qualified, mature, exactly what we were looking for. He was a shoo-in for the job. At the end, I asked him if he had any questions or comments for us. He said he wanted to be honest with us. He was angry at his previous employer and was suing them over a faked injury. The candidate wanted us to know he was perfectly healthy and nothing was actually wrong with him. He felt like it was the right thing to do to tell us.
Boy, we dodged a bullet.
Mike F 3 months ago
I worked with a guy who had that kind of thing in his head. He got a hernia and after his surgery said he was going to sue the company, "I have a company buster for a lawyer. You better get your resume out there". I asked him if he told this high priced lawyer that he also was a personal trainer on the side? Guess what, no lawsuit. Our work could be heavy at times, but lifting weights was heavier yet, lol.
Researching the company you’re interviewing with, preparing what you can say, and even visualizing success are great ways to manage the stress before the interview. After all, anxiety is definitely not going to help to ace the interview.
Despite its scariness, the interview is a crucial recruitment step. It’s because during it, the potential employee can be analyzed in ways that a CV or cover letter cannot provide, for instance, based on their communication skills, confidence level, and social behavior, among many other things.
#7
I once interviewed a woman who was a Dolly Parton impersonator in her spare time.
No word of a lie, she asked what the hours were - I told her they weren't set as such, reasonably flexible, and that I was more interested into what she put into those hours, than the hours she did.
She replied "Not 9 to 5, then"? And proceeded to start singing that f*****g song.
I swear she was f*****g crackers to be honest.
WindySwede 3 months ago
That was "Something Fishy", or "You're Gonna Be Sorry", but after a while someone will be thinking "Because One Of Us Was Wrong". There is also "Two Sides To Every Story". But in the end it's just "Games People Play". 🎵
#8
Not me but my mom was part of the interview of some high up position in the company she worked for. She said this one woman came in and didn't seem nervous or anything and did fine in the interview, not particularly good but fine then when they walked her out and came back to discuss their notes of her someone noticed a weird smell. Turns out her chair was soaked with pee. She just pissed all over the chair onto the carpet below but because of the layout of the room no one noticed. She was wearing a black dress so no one noticed when she walked out by looking at her.
She could have easily asked to use the bathroom but didn't. They had to throw out the chair and get the carpet professionally cleaned.
She did not get the job.
UncleJohn3000 3 months ago (edited)
Upvote for good story or down vote for yuck? Sometimes I just can't decide.
#9
Interviewed a woman for a Chief Product Officer role (probably in her mid 40s, for a large enterprise company, I was 34M). She was so nervous that she was shaking badly, and part-way through the interview asked if she could hold my hand to calm herself. I let her and it worked and she calmed down, but given our CEO was a straight-up psychopath, I decided she would probably not be able to handle him well.
Jess Smith 3 months ago
Well it doesn't seem like it was HER fault, seems like it was the CEO's fault.
To talk about job interviews, Bored Panda reached out to recruiter Mike Peditto. He revealed several things a candidate can do to make an impression during the job interview.
One of them is looking up company values, the interviewers and teams and making sure to work them into a conversation to show that you know what you're signing up to. Of course, knowing how to present the highs and lows of your career should be on your preparation list as well.
Preparing a 2 minute elevator pitch to the question "Tell us about yourself", plus the answers to the common questions like "What is your greatest weakness?", "Why do you want to work here?" is useful too.
#10
Not me but my mother. Interviewed a guy for their chief safety and security position. They asked why he was leaving his last job after 15+ years. He responds completely seriously that he was actually forced to resign shortly after he sent in his resume because he neglected a final security check at his facility which resulted in a fire. They asked for more details and learned that his negligence led to a loss of over $2mil for his former employer and because no one was hurt they made a deal that he would resign and forfeit his severance package to boot. When they asked why they should hire him, considering that information, he replied that it was just one mistake so they shouldn't take it so seriously.
#11
Some guy came in and he was the spitting image of Mr Bean. He had a briefcase/ suitcase and was dressed in tweed. It wasn't a joke he was just that way. But me and HR just couldn't keep it professional. He said things like 'oh I'm never sick except at Christmas when my mum said I was talking to the curtains!' HR woman had to leave after that one and get herself together.
Did I say that out loud? (he/him)cis/het 3 months ago
C'mon, don't leave us hanging. Did he get the job?
#12
Senior engineer role, in person (right before the pandemic). Guy kept steering all his answers to technical questions back to the time he’d spent with peace corps. After the third time, I just let him ramble. When we were done, I offered to toss his empty cup and he was weirdly protective of it, like insisted it was too much trouble and I could just show him the kitchen on the way out. Sure, whatever. Guy washes his paper cup before throwing it out and leaves.
In our follow up meeting to discuss the candidate, our director was pissed because the guy wouldn’t stay on topic and if he didn’t know any better, he’d think the candidate was drunk. And then it clicked as to why he’d been so odd with the cup. We did not make an offer.
Mike also highlighted the importance of being on time. He said that while himself he is quite forgiving, he knows that many other recruiters are vexed by candidates, who are late. "Personally I'll wait 5 minutes before contacting you to see if the time still works because life can happen, but if you are late, you should apologize (and so should the company if they are late), everyone's times should be respected."
Besides, it might not only show that you're not respectful for the company's time, it can also signal you’re not responsible enough to show up to work on time.
Basically, there are plenty of tips on what you should do that you can listen to. A quick Google search proves that. With it, you’ll find articles like this, with 19 tips to ace the interview. Your only responsibility will be to choose which ones you like and successfully apply them.
#13
Interviewed a lady for a Sr. Data Science position who continually said things like: "I am a perfectionist", "if there is something I don't like I will do it myself", "I have re-wrote almost all my old companies policies".
The interview went from "ooh this lady really likes do get s**t done", to "ooh this lady is going to be in everyone's s**t".
#14
I was hiring for a role, and someone reached out to me via LinkedIn to let me know they'd applied. Totally fine. It turns out he was the son of a former coworker, which was interesting to know, but not really relevant to the hiring process.
I reviewed his resume, but unfortunately, he didn’t have the experience needed for the role—his background was in completely different industries. Since I used to work with his mom, I gave him that feedback, and he was totally understanding.
His mother, my former coworker, then reached out to me, pleading her son’s case. She even said she'd personally fill in any gaps in his knowledge and coach him through the role, insisting that I "give him a chance."
Two big problems with this:
Having your mom reach out like this makes it seem like you can’t stand on your own in the workplace.
His mom and I now work for direct competitors. There’s proprietary information involved, and she would potentially have access to it. That’s a major conflict.
Bottom line: Don’t have your mom reach out for you in a job application. And definitely don’t bring her with you.
Steve Hall 3 months ago
Don't do this even if it's a part time job for a high school student. Leave mom and dad at home and get the job on your own.
#15
I'm a senior engineer at our firm and often sit in on interviews to gauge technical prowess.
We had some kid come in fresh out of college, and it was evident he read or was given some advice to come off demanding- the "if you know exactly what you want people will respect you" type of thing.
It was almost comical: he came in and said things like "Look, we all know the back and forth...the bottom line is I'll help progress this business and take you in new directions." He was also saying things like "I'll need you to stock Peet's Dark Roast coffee in the kitchen, I like my lunch time around 2pm, I need vacation time available immediately..."
Mr. Confidence turned into Mr. Confidently Rejected...on the spot. At one point my boss even asked "are you always like this or are you just nervous?" LOL I never saw a face sink like that so fast. We even gave him pointers to tone it down or he's going to have a really hard time out there.
Stephanie Did It 3 months ago
One good thing came of this, at least the interview team made the candidate aware of his mistakes and advised him. I wish more feedback like this was given to job seekers, if time and circumstances allow for it.
Yet, sometimes, no matter how well prepared you thought you were, you might botch a job interview. Every so often, all it takes for it to fail is an unexpected question, off vibes, or anything insignificant. It also can be not even the candidate’s fault. The recruiter themselves might not be able to conduct proper interviews, which throws even the best candidate off.
Mike Peditto shared that he saw his share of bad interviews: "Inebriated candidates who could barely string a sentence together but were fine on previous interviews, people doing lip synced interviews with somebody clearly feeding them things to say from off screen, incredibly contentious interviews with people who just seemed to want to get on the call and take their job search frustrations out on me."
He added that he can he can overlook nerves, forgetting things and other human error, but there's a still a line of decency he expects.
#16
A friend of mine was interviewing a candidate for a customer-facing managerial position (public university, think head-of-department kind of role). This woman was adamant about being the opposite of a people person, said she prefers to work alone (the position is basically half delegation and the other half is collaboration), and said her biggest weakness was trying to relate to those who reported to her. She didn’t elaborate, and didn’t seem to understand that she was giving the literal worst answers possible at every point.
The most awkward part was the fact that when no one was hired for the role, they reposted the job listing and that woman applied again, and they were required by law to interview her again. The candidate was made aware that no one interviewed was deemed a good fit. Her answers did not change.
#17
I was chair of a committee to screen a new library director. The candidate came in and was dismissive of me from the beginning. It was if she was insulted that a lowly librarian was interviewing her instead of a dean or provost. Then during the interview she asked a question which I was answering, she interrupted me, told me I wasn't answering her question correctly and then proceeded to explain my library to me.
The faces of the rest of the committee were hilarious to watch. They gave up on poker faces and just let their true opinions show. Several just put their pens down and just went through the motions with the rest of the interview. I'm not sure she was savvy enough to notice.
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 3 months ago
While I was in prison, I made up a solitaire game that was based on Skip-Bo, but used three decks of regular cards. It was a long game, and killed a lot of time. One of my roommates was fascinated by it, and begged me to teach her. I did, and she began playing it herself. A week later, I was playing it, and she started correcting my play!
#18
Not super high level but I conducted many interviews for senior SA positions. I had thought a good strategy would be to ask about the the things they list on their resume to give them a chance to 'show off' their skills and impress me. Turns out this is more of a land mine than a chance to show off. I had one guy tell me he had never used linux despite putting linux admin experience on his resume. His logic was that he knows windows so how much different can it be.
This happened many times and it's why I insisted competent technical staff be present at interviews and allowed to question candidates instead of just HR.
Edit: SA in this case is System Admin.
Unfortunately, the human brain is wired to remember failures, which means that forgetting a bad interview might not be as easy. That’s what today’s list is – people recalling the failed job interviews they experienced. Granted, they’re from the recruiters’ side, but that doesn’t diminish the extent of the shortcomings some candidates had.
On the other hand, maybe remembering one's failures isn’t the worst thing. Hear me out: without them, we wouldn’t be able to tell how success feels, or at least it wouldn’t feel as sweet. So, while it’s uncomfortable, it has some worth.
Let’s remember this fact while going through this list – failure is natural and something that happens to everyone. At the same time, the human brain is also wired to be amused at failure, especially if it comes from others. So, let’s have fun with this list, just don’t forget to not be too mean.
#19
I interviewed this candidate for a startup - every time he didn’t know how to answer a question about his previous experience, he’d claim he couldn’t because of an NDA. I gave him the benefit of the doubt until he finally admitted that he had put something on his resumé just so that he gets calls from recruiters. But this wasn’t even the worst part! At the very end, he thanked me for my time and then said, “I hope to work here at X”. X was not my company’s name… it’s not like he mixed us up with some other company, he got it wrong. And I corrected him, and he just casually said, “oh that’s what you’re called?” So it wasn’t a genuine slip of the tongue either. We didn’t really have a policy for ending an interview early when there’s no hope at all so that was a colossal waste of my precious time.
#20
I actually had my stalker come in to my office responding to a hiring notice I'd posted on LinkedIn, *after* the position was already filled. He was just trying to get access to me.
Security escorted him out. He ended up getting deported after police paid a visit to his *actual* workplace.
#21
In the middle of an interview I had a few years ago, my soon-to-be manager thanked me for dressing up and explained to me the guy he interviewed the day before showed up in a mesh t-shirt lol.
#22
One candidate showed up in pajamas and tried to pitch their startup idea while yawning through the whole interview.
#23
I was interviewing a candidate for a senior role at a tech company. At first, no immediate red flags when he came in. He was decently dressed, looked clean and professional. When we sat down to start the conversation, he handed me a pamphlet — ya know, like the kind you get at doctor’s offices for different disease or medication information. Except this pamphlet had a big picture of his headshot on the front, and he proceeded to walk me through the pamphlet about himself. This includes details of his personal interests as well as his resume details. I couldn’t take him seriously after that and was trying not to burst into laughter for the entire 45m interview.
#24
Interview for staff software engineer. Remote interview and she is really bombing at some point she says “sorry” stands up grabs her cat and cuddles it for like 15 minutes then leaves the interview.
#25
Boss lets me know they found a perfect fit, great recommendations and are extending the offer. I asked who interviewed him, “we aren’t, he’s perfect fit and have multiple personal recommendations”. I pushed back, you NEVER hire someone without an interview.
We meet the guy, dressed well in a suit, nice leather attaché. He pulls out copies of resume on nice paper for us, along with some samples of his work. I puruse his work while boss asks normal stuff. I see something different and ask a curious question. He stumbles and can’t answer. No biggie, I didn’t recognize it so probably esoteric. I start asking easier question about work he brought. He can’t answer any of them. I finally ask him what his role was associated with what he provided. Did he write it, modify it, or just run it.
He completely changes his demeanor and says he just really needs a job. He’s better at *insert other dept here* and do we have any openings there.
#26
Not me but someone told me about a guy who applied at a Director position and brought his mom with him.
#27
Senior engineer position. She just straight up typed out questions in chat gpt and read them verbatim. She told us "I don't know what kql is, but then gave us a dictionary answer about 3 seconds later on log analytics workspaces, and the basis of kql as a language. She wasn't even good at cheating.
#28
I had someone admit to making up data.
Justin Tyme 3 months ago
Studies have found that 63% of job candidates have made up data, 26% told the complete truth, and the other 13% have made accidental data errors.
#29
We were interviewing for the Art Director position at a 50-person video game studio. A candidate had 27 mistakes on his resume - typos, formatting errors, and incomplete sentences. I brought this up to the studio general manager and he said “he’s dealing with art, how much is he going to have to write?”
They hired him, in part because he’d done one of the voices on the original Warcraft game.
Our studio closed five months later.
#30
I interviewed someone for a high value assets management position and, just starting the interview, my colleague and I noticed that they were not suitable for the role (a bit like that fella who was interviewed live by mistake on the BBC, but without the comedy element).
We cut the interview short so as to not waste anyone's time, thanked them for their time, and asked if they had any questions for us. With a straight face, they say "yes. What is high value assets?". Needles to say that they did not get hired (and we're still wondering how they passed the first round of interviews!!).
Joy Chapman 3 months ago
We were interviewing for a comptroller and a candidate said, "Wait! Does this involve math? I hate math!"
#31
9/10 years ago we were hiring for a CFO, the person came from the 3rd largest civil engineering contractor in the united states, total package was over 800k...
Our office is suit and tie, totally corporate, presidential and mayor candidates have been in our office (just to give an idea on the type of office it was)...guy walks in for the cfo interview in sandals/flip flops, shorts..fell asleep at the chair waiting for the interview.
Safe to say. He did not get the job.
The person was highly recommended, his name is well known in the industry. We couldn't believe it, i did meet him a few years back, and he fell asleep at a fundraiser.
#32
My boss and I interviewed a woman who spoke too long about her many cats, and when asked about her previous job began to cry. My instincts said "she might need some time to sort things out before diving into another job" and my boss hired her. I was flown up to train her for two weeks at great expense for the company and effort from me. She quit 6 months into the job.
#33
Interviewed someone for a security position - basically to handle cloud conversion stuff that I needed off my plate so I could focus on some higher level design. I asked him what his biggest screw-up was (while indicating that mine was once taking a datacenter offline and how I recovered). He said he once nuked a large production Oracle database. I asked him how he recovered from that and he responded, "Well I had root so nobody found out" with a smile. Why on Earth would you say something like that?
#34
Read their presentation off a word document on their laptop and kept losing their place.
What do you think ?
Captive 3 months ago
I interviewed a lady in her 40s. I asked questions regarding the position and her reaction was almost always exhaling heavily, looking up and turning silent, the admitting she doesn't know. Another candidate showed up during Corona with a white mask full of dark stains and he filled the room with an unpleasant smell. He wasn't shaved (beard also not taken care of) and was wearing a flannel shirt. Another candidate showed up like 30 mins too late because he was in town too early, decided to walk around and got lost (owning a smart phone)
Roxy222uk 3 months ago
The last one is something I fear I could manage to do, but as soon as I realised I would phone the company immediately.
Load More Replies... Captive 3 months ago
I interviewed a lady in her 40s. I asked questions regarding the position and her reaction was almost always exhaling heavily, looking up and turning silent, the admitting she doesn't know. Another candidate showed up during Corona with a white mask full of dark stains and he filled the room with an unpleasant smell. He wasn't shaved (beard also not taken care of) and was wearing a flannel shirt. Another candidate showed up like 30 mins too late because he was in town too early, decided to walk around and got lost (owning a smart phone)
Roxy222uk 3 months ago
The last one is something I fear I could manage to do, but as soon as I realised I would phone the company immediately.
Load More Replies...
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