[JERBS] What is your weirdest interview experience?

It's you.... Dude....you are sketchy.....just sayin

Seriously, we do the same where I work even for entry level jobs where they talk to as many as 10 people before they get hired. Still doesn't stop you from a bad hire.

 

Agreed, I have done the drawn out process (not close to the degree that B-Bob is going through) and I have also hired on the spot when I went with my gut.........still doesn't weed out the folks who interview well but don`t make it in the real environment. And don`t get me started on those dam HR behavioral assessment tests

 

The 3 jobs I've landed since college only required 2 interviews.

Koch Supply & Trading had me meet with like 4 people for hours. That was annoying.

A group interview was the most awkward for me. I had like 4 people sit in on an interview with Ensco. The manager even brought in someone I would work with on the same level. Smh

 

Tell them they need to start paying you for the interviews.

Your time is valuable.

Never retreat, never surrender.

 

I interviewed at a family law firm a couple years ago. The guy interviewing me never read my writing sample before the interview. He also didn’t want an excerpt, he wanted the whole thing which is pretty unusual. He proceeded to pull out a 65 page document I sent him and read it in complete silence in front of me for an hour. Incredibly awkward and weird experience. He asked me 2 really condescending questions, I blew him off and agreed that the interview was over. He called me an hour later offering me the job. I said I’m no longer interested

 

Interviews for attorney jobs can be some of the weirdest, time consuming, frustrating processes. Early in my career I had an attorney ask me how many words I type per minute and what my IQ score was - I don't think those questions have been asked for any type of job since the 60s. Another I appeared for a 10am interview and the attorney interviewing me did not show up until almost 12 - it's not like he was in court either, he arrived in a tshirt and jeans. He just did not value anybody's time but his own and was completely unprepared. He then proceeded to tell me that my credentials were "very ordinary" and unimpressive. Bro, you didn't have to schedule an interview if you weren't impressed by my resume. Funny enough, he offered me a job but I turned it down.

Attorneys, in general, can be pompous, disrespectful, condescending people. I know many who aren't, I try not to be that way, but geez, some of these examples borderline on hazing, it only hurts them in the end.

 

Or the standard canned HR interview questions.

Them: What would you say is your biggest weakness?

Me: Oh, I'm very much a perfectionist.

Sorry, if you're going to ask me cheesy canned HR questions, I'm going to give you cheesy canned HR answers.

 

I'll share one of my many weird ones....

I was applying to work at a company in Austin and I impressed the immiediate manager and got a meeting with the boss. All was going well. Then I got into the meeting and the boss was one of those tech bros in his early middle ages who was pretending he was 20 and he had his only mildly attractice assistant next to him and it became clear from their interaction that they were romantic, he was cheating with her, and they gave two ****s about hiding their feelings and kept eyeing each other like they'd just done it on the table. Then I asked about the company's policy for a few minor things and he flipped out and said they didn't give bean bag chairs to their employees if that's what I was asking about and they didn't cater to millennials and the interview was over. I drove three hours from Houston for that experience.


Oh, I've also been asked what kind of animal I'd be. Just so you know, if someone asks you this in an interview, you should just leave.

I notice a lot of people are extremely uninterested in the candidates they bring in, and I've heard others' stories to confirm this. Very unprofessional people interviewing people for work who don't know the first thing about proper interviewing.

 

They wanted to get the last word on you. Well played.

 

I dreamt I was interviewing someone last night. What a nightmare.

I get to work.
The power is out.
I go to my mailbox and discover the candidate has been hiding in my mailbox for 2 days getting ready
I start asking her questions but she doesn't answer.
I realize I can't hear her because I have my ear buds in.
I take them out.
She says she has her resume in excel but needs a computer.
Mu computer has been taken by Orlando Mercado.
An opera starts up so we are forced to listen.
The other candidates start showing up.
I wake up with a pounding headache.

She was cute though.

 

I betcha it doesn’t have anything to do with you ... they probably just hate Max Planck, so blackballed you.

 

I was interviewing for a teaching job when the fire alarm went off. It was hot outside and I was in a full, black suit so we finished the interview in the principals SUV.

 

I just turned down an offer for company A that I had only 1 interview with. They called me back a few hours after the interview and said they were going to make an offer. Just seemed to smell of desperation to want to move so fast. They're large and established but have a history of turnover and terrible company culture. When I started my current job at company B several years back, I met almost a hundred folks during onboarding who used to work at company A.

I feel a pit in my stomach right now turning down a guaranteed opportunity since the work was potentially very interesting. Never been in this position before.

 

Your intuition is probably serving you well.

Churn and burn companies are a dime a dozen.

It's practically unheard of for an instant-offer after one interview, too.

The labor shortage is very real. Companies are desperate. It's a good time to hit the market.

 

I was looking for jobs during summer break in college and I interviewed for call support at AAA. They run you through a 2-4 hr battery of tests you take on their computer. First half was personality, which they ask you the same question 5-10 mins later, I guess to see if your responses are consistent.

There was a portion where they simulate calls and you route people to the correct department with a simple McDonalds cashier like UI. After a few cases, I started cutting "people" off halfway through the audio recording and routed them to the department I thought they were supposed to go to.

A few mins later, the computer prompt said I was finished testing, and I was later escorted out without a response telling me whether I made it or not. At first, I thought I was a badass for finishing the test in half the time.

I guess we both saved each other time and headaches?

I also had one case later in my career where the lead accused me of cheating in my code submission because I couldn't answer his curveball questions. It got pretty heated because I spent hours on it and I was glad I didn't get past their hazing. They later went broke.