30 Job Interviewers Share The Worst "This Person Isn’t Getting The Job" Moments And Give Advice On What Not To Do

So many weird people out there...

Damjan

• Published in Interesting
• February 10, 2022

One of the most stressful aspects of your professional life is going to a job interview. There's a lot of pressure to perform well and show your qualities in the best light.

At the end of the day, that brief talk has a lot riding on it: your future professional path, your self-confidence, and your capacity to pay the rent. It's completely normal to be stressed out and think about how everything will work out.

It turns out that job applicants are not the only people in the room that are stressed out. You see, it is not easy for HR people.

The stuff they have to do and people they have to interview... You wouldn't wish that to your worst enemy.

And they share their most bizarre experiences on Reddit. That's why, based on feedback from HR professionals and recruiters, we've compiled a list of red signs to look out for the next time you're in an interview.

They went on r/AskReddit and revealed all the occasions they sensed someone wasn't going to get the job. It is instructive.

It's entertaining. and above all, it is simply unbelievable that people like these exist, and are in the job market.

1. It's his duty...

His personal signature included a crucifix. When asked, he said it was his responsibility before God to share the good news of Christ with every person he met. I did not want to find out how far he was willing to take that responsibility while working with the mentally ill.

Poppy9683

2. No, not a problem at all. We even encourage it...

This guy was an absolute rock star applicant, applying to be a teacher. He was super nice, young, dynamic, and had won awards. He also had great references. Then, when asked 'Any questions?' he replied 'Could you tell me if you'd have a problem with a teacher dating a student?'

3. Setting people on fire is a big no-no

A woman casually mentioning that she wanted to set her ex on fire. Totally unprompted and unrelated to anything that had been asked. Later, when asked how to handle difficult customers she said she would set them on fire as well.

4. Good call

When I worked in a bank as a manager, one internal candidate I interviewed put her finger in front of my face while I was talking and said” I’m gonna stop you right there” . I went with the other person who didn’t put their finger to my face

5. How can you not like glitter?

During my first management gig I was sifting through resumes for an internship program we had and one of the candidates printed her resume on glittery paper and sprayed it with perfume. I didn’t even look at her resume. To this day they probably still find glitter on that desk.

6. Maybe some other time...

Had a guy who was a little rough but was looking quite promising for a design role. He blew it with me by saying “I’ll turn this company around in 6 weeks” and a few more comments along those lines with a theme of “you are currently messing it up”.

This is a small successful company. I wanted him to fit in, not “turn us round”.

7. Unbelievable...

An individual I was about to interview had strapped a bag of urine to themselves in preps for a drug test and accidentally sat down on it. The bag popped and pee went all over the person and the floor. My office smelled like urine for a month...

McMurphyo

8. Korea is a city in China?

Interviewed someone for a teaching position in China.

Me: Do you have any preference in regards to which city in China you would like to live in?

Candidate: Hmmm, I'm very interested in either Shanghai or Korea.

Nope.

9. Why bother when there are some great resumes to be found online...

My most recent standout was when I found my own resume with someone else's name on it. Someone had come across my resume at some point and copied-pasted it into their own, with no changes except for the name/contact information.

Aggravating_Squirrel

10. People...

Currently doing all video interviews (cause well Covid) and I recruit for a healthcare company. many, many, many times people answer the video call either naked, partially naked, on the toilet, etc. yeah you’re not getting the job bud.

11. And they had probably watched all episodes of Dr. House and Grey's Anatomy

My wife got someone who applied as an emergency room physician who didn’t have a medical degree or go to medical school but they were a “hard worker” and a “quick learner.” Yeah, you can’t legally practice medicine without a license. That’s gonna be a no.

the7thfollower

12. Covid Cafe

I recently interviewed a Chef. I hadn't even gotten to the point of telling him what our menu theme was and he took off his mask and said he won't wear one if I told him to. Then he starts telling me how my restaurant was going to run, and a bunch of menu items that aren't even close to our theme.

I told him he should go start his own restaurant, call it the Covid Cafe.

mauinion

13. F-bombs

Interviewee dropped multiple F-bombs. Job interviews are one of the most formal things a person will go through. Now, I’m not shy for swearing language, but they didn’t know that. It just showed I couldn’t trust her in any formal situation or important business meeting. It wasn’t the swearing, it was the lack of judgement.

14. Just call in sick...

I worked for a big, well known company and we were recruiting interns straight out of college. The questions are more of a get to know you questions, rather than actual knowledge of the work or experience. The company actually gave us a paper with some example questions, like the one below, that we could ask if we ran out of ideas.

So it's going pretty well, very bubbly, chatty girl and I have impression she would fit the team. Until:

Me: how do you handle multiple deadlines in a short time period? E.g. if you have 2-3 exams close to each other or an exam and a big class project?

Interviewee: well, you try to do your best, but if I realise I cannot meet both deadlines, I just call in sick

15. Yeah, you don't need to know that....

My manager once told me a guy came in to interview and didn't know about Ohm's law. The position was for electrical engineering.

16. We all have our hobbies...

Not a HR but I'm currently conducting interviews to recruit a new team member. We saw a guy who was great on the paper but when asked about hobbies he said "seduce and bang women". He was done at this very moment as I yeeted myself out of the place.

17. Here is my mom. She will speak for me...

Bring your parent or spouse with you... if you need moral support leave them in the car, do not bring them with you to our office and definitely do NOT let them speak for you. Instant “no” from me.

DinosaurMelvin

18. Do people actually do that?

Very clearly googling the answers during a remote interview.

19. 100%

"Is that a photo of your wife? Wow, she's hot! Is she at home? What's your home phone number?"

Demonstrating self-confidence: 100%.

Demonstrating stupidity, and many other bad qualities: 100%

20. "Picking up chix"

When I was younger I worked in a bar and people would come in and give us (the bar staff) their resumes to give to management. One guy had "picking up chix" (His spelling not mine) listed under interests. After a good chuckle with my colleagues that resume got binned.

21. Gone in 5 seconds...

My dad is a QC/QA manager with an asphalt company (they build roads and stuff like that) and he said that once a guy with really good qualifications came in for an interview as a lab tech and said "you can go ahead and fire all your other techs because I'm the only one you're gonna need." The interview lasted 5 seconds before my dad told him to f**k off.

Chewhuahuas

22. Sexism at work...

Joint interviewed a candidate with a female colleague, and the guy addressed all his answers to me, even when my colleague was the one who asked

shepanator

23. You tell me...

I was interviewing someone who had previously worked at the American embassy in his home country. The language barrier was very difficult and he was having a tough time with the interview. Part way through, he showed me some certificates he received from the embassy job, as awards for good work. The conversation then went like this:

Me: Can you tell me the story about some of these awards?

Him: Huh?

Me: I'd like to know why you received these awards. Maybe you can pick one of them and tell me the story about how you got it.

Him: ...awards?

Me: Yes, these things you're showing me right now. Tell me about them.

Him: They are awards.

Me: Right. Tell me how you received them.

Him: How?

Me: Yes. What did you do to get them?

Him: ...I dunno. It's your embassy, you tell me.

That last bit was the longest sentence he spoke to me during the entire interview.

24. 40 pages. (front and back?)

When I worked in HR, one applicant, who was in her 40s submitted a 40-page list of achievements/certificates and “sorority girl achievements” from 20 years prior.

Needless to say she failed at even getting an interview.

25. So many...

So many:

1. making comments about getting into an employees skirt as they walked past (also how to get reported to HR before even getting the job).

2. explaining how they took copies of all the companies code home.

3. explaining how they used to work two jobs at once, pretending to work for one from home

4. explaining how they program games for their playstation with notepad... While being interviewed by programmers for a sales role

5. telling the interviewer that the problem they are trying to solve is impossible (even though it was literally 3 lines of code... It was a warm up question)

26. Every night?

I was once around when my old boss interviewd a potential bouncer candidate. This guy lived about 45min drive away from the location, had no licence to drive nor a car. And no, there were no busses or other method of transportation available around the time the club closed.

When asked if he had a friend or some other accommodation figured out, he simply told that he's going to pick up some girl every work night and spend the night at her place. Because hey, isn't there always a line of chicks just waiting to bang the bouncer, right?

Never saw him again.

TheHellbilly

27. Let me tell you...

She was throwing out questions out of the blue, then answering them herself without even waiting for a reaction from me, the interviewer.

"Sir, do you know why I welcome challenges other people would immediately avoid? Well, sir, let me tell you..."

28. I am better than you

Telling me you obviously know more than me and that's why I need to hire you for a position I am the direct supervisor for in the most condescending tone I've ever heard in my almost 15 years of my career.

Knowing more than me was required - I'm only in charge of this position because I know more than my bosses about it, but we were looking for someone who specialized in that role. The attitude of "I'm obviously better than you" was not required, and lost him the second interview. Until that point, I was loving his confidence and obvious knowledge, but he just took it too damn far.

29. Full time job...

I was interviewing an apparently well qualified Senior Project Manager for a major, full time project.

She hadn’t worked for six months and while that certainly wasn’t a deal breaker, I asked “How come you left your last job without another to go to?”

She said “Oh I had problems with my Manager...”

Tiny red flags waving - I asked her to explain...

She said, rolling her eyes, “Well he like wanted me to come to work like EVERY day...”

I must’ve looked shocked because she added “Would you want me to work like every day?”

I thought that maybe I was on camera and was being pranked - but retained my composure...

“Well this IS a full time job, running a major project...”

She cut me off and said “I don’t think I’ll like that...”

Let me clarify “everyday” - the job was a simple full time role - Monday to Friday 9 - 5.

30. Free samples?

Preface: I work in a medical cannabis dispensary.

Had a candidate drop off his resume. Seemed like a promising candidate, until I flipped over his resume and saw that he had a "wish list" of dispensaries he wanted to work at, and a reminder that he had an interview that same day, later that afternoon. My company wasn't on his wish list. He later called to ask if his resume had any writing on the back, and asked me what time his interview was. I wished him luck. I didn't hire him.

Have had countless candidates who only wanted to work at a medical (meaning you have to have a qualifying condition like cancer) dispensary because they "thought it would be chill af", "could be high all day", or "get free samples". None of them were called back.

One thing is sure – there are so many weirdos on the job market. And it does make you wonder about how you can’t find a job when your competition is like people featured in these stories.

They should be prosecuted for wasting recruiters’ time. Time lost on dealing with them could be used to get to know a “normal” candidate better.

Damjan