Top 10 job interview gaffes: Hair brushing, cell phone answering, armpit checking and the rest of the list
April 1, 2008 by Fred HosierPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Oh no they didn't
No doubt you’ve encountered some strange circumstances in years of performing job interviews – things like applicants who are dressed inappropriately. One job-search Web site has gathered ten extreme examples.
No one would fault a person for asking for some privacy to take a phone call – except when the person is a job applicant who answers her cell phone during the interview and then asks the interviewer to leave her own office because “it’s a private conversation.”
That’s just one of the top-10 interview gaffes gathered by CareerBuilder.com.
The Web site surveyed more than 3,000 hiring managers and HR pros.
The rest of the top interview gaffes:
• Candidate told interviewer he wouldn’t be able to keep the job long because he was expecting an inheritance from his uncle – and his uncle wasn’t looking too good (at that moment, the applicant wasn’t looking too good to the interviewer, either)
• Applicant asked the interviewer for a ride home after the interview (and the interviewer was more than happy to oblige, and as quickly as possible)
• Candidate smelled his armpits on the way to the interview room (Hey, I thought no one was looking)
• Applicant said she couldn’t provide a writing sample because all her writing had been for the CIA and it was “classified” (yeah, we’ve got a classification for that excuse)
• Candidate told the interviewer he was fired for beating up his last boss (Oh, security!)
• When an applicant was offered food before the interview, he declined, saying he didn’t want to line his stomach with grease before going out drinking (well, at least he showed the ability to plan ahead)
• Candidate for accounting position said she was a “people person” not a “numbers person” (did she think she’d be counting people?)
• Applicant flushed the toilet while talking to interviewer during phone interview (when you gotta go, you gotta go)
• Candidate took out hair brush and brushed her hair (shows ability to multitask).
And from the home office of HR Blunders, we contribute this true story: After hearing about the company’s core values and the group meetings to reinforce them, an applicant asked the HR Manager, “Are you some sort of cult?”
Can you top these? Send us your top interview blunders.
Tags: cell phone, interviews, job applicants
April 4th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Candidate arrived for his interview in a shiny purple suit with a very loud tie and his personality matched. I actually liked him but couldn’t get past the suit. I was thinking to myself during the entire interview….how am I going pass him on to the next level of interviews.
April 4th, 2008 at 11:49 am
This was back in the mid 1980s. I worked for an insurance company and was interviewing for a claims associate. A young woman came in and when I asked her what her career goals were, she stated that she really wanted to be a professional dancer. I don’t know how it happened, but before I knew it she had stood up and was dancing. When she said professional dancer, she obviously didn’t mean ballet! Needless to say I was shocked and couldn’t get her out of my office fast enough. I did find the humor in the situation when I tried to explain what happened to my boss.
April 4th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
When I asked an appilicant what else we should know about her in order to make the best decision regarding her application she replied…”Well you know every woman has that time of the month where she gets a little umm moody.” I thanked her for the information and moved on.
April 4th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Human Resource Specialist
After the pre-interview applicant looked me square in the eye and asked for $50.00 to gamble with being as we were in the gaming business and figured he should be paid for the pre-interview. When he was refused he asked for money to purchase cigarettes and gas to get home on. Guess he figured if he couldn’t get the job we would just support his bad habits.
April 4th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
I had a lady when I asked her what her future goals were ? She advised to have gold on her teeth in the next 5 years.
April 4th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
While an interview was being conducted for “production labor” I actually had a applicant ask for my trash can at which I handed it too him and he promptly “spit” his “wad” of tobacco and juice into it…………needless to say the interview was ended immediately!
April 4th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
A college senior interviewing for the full-time position of marketing director for my radio station went through her list of ways to improve the station (without being asked) which included changing the format to something catchier. She also told us the we should look at our management practices to determine why we didn’t have any other applicants for the position. Needless to say, we hired one of the nonexistent “other” applicants.
April 7th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
While conducting an open interview, I had someone who left his address, prior employment history, and personal references blank. When I asked about this, his response was that he couldn’t provide that information as he was part of the “Witness Protection Program”
April 9th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Our interview committee was waiting for the next candidate. Then one of them showed up 20 minutes late, we thought she was on her way in to the interview when we seen her heading the other direction. She stated that she was going to get a coffee. When she returned, she asked our office assistant for the newspaper, THEN came in for the interview.
April 16th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
I was interviewing a man for our front desk position and asked him, as we had asked all of our other applicants, how he would handle the situation if an irate employee or customer came in. He responded, “Well, I would just tell them to f*** off!”
Tempting as this was, I selected another applicant for the position.
April 18th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Our company was interviewing for a receptionist position. An “older” lady applied and made it through the telephone interviews. When she showed up for her personal interview, she had her granddaughter in tow. It was summer and she was dressed accordingly, complete with rubber flip-flops that she had obviously worn for years and she hadn’t even bothered to wash her feet!
April 23rd, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I was interviewing for a payroll specialist position in our fast-paced HR office in support of a distribution warehouse with more than 400 employees. One candidate arrived 10 minutes late, but promptly apologized for her less than stellar interview beginning. It seemed as though she’d forgotten where she’d parked her car the night before. She evidently spent 20 minutes looking for her car before she realized that it was still “at the club” since she’d taken a cab home. Then she had to call a cab to get her to the interview. But the cab never showed up, so she had to call her sister who “blessed her out” for bothering her, but at least she still made it to the interview, right?
May 21st, 2008 at 4:48 pm
After an interview ended for a professional position at our agency the interviewee took my card and was instructed to call in the next week. My phone rang within 5 minutes and it was the interviewee calling to ask if I had any single friends that would consider going on a date with him. Not only did he not get a date, he also did not get a job!
May 29th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
I was interviewing a candidate for audit clerk. While it was an entry level job, I do expect some basic accounting skills, so I made up a short test (add a column of numbers using a calculator, figure 6% tax on an item, etc.) to give each candidate. I gave this test to the candidate who said: “I’m not in school any more, I shouldn’t take this.” I explained that I gave the test to everyone. He then told me that he’d take my test but I’d have to take his. I asked what his test consisted of and he said: “First, name the three top drivers in the present NASCAR ratings.” I asked what that had to do with accounting and he said: “Makes as much sense as your silly test does.” I then ended the interview with: “Thank you. Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
June 6th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Several years ago, I was interviewing a lady for a production position. It was apparent she was expecting soon. I asked her what her future plans were and she replied to get a new diamond in her front tooth (which was missing), and was shaped like the star of the Dallas Cowboys. Then during the interview she went into labor and I immediately ended the interview and suggested she contact her physician or go to the hospital.
June 27th, 2008 at 11:14 am
While working at a staffing firm I had a guy come in for an interview with his girlfriend and request that she be in the room with us while I was interviewing him. I thought that it was weird but agreed thinking that maybe he had a disability that I didn’t know about. Then, as he was describing his qualifications to me, she laughed and made fun of him. She also interrupted him and corrected his grammar while he was trying to talk. Awkward! Needless to say, I didn’t send him to any clients because I didn’t want her there ruining his chances of getting a job.
October 14th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
I once had an applicant with some very interesting answers to the whole Stress and Conflict questions:
After asking her how she handles stress, she told me “I handle stress by going to my stress management class.” Wait it gets better…she goes on to tell me that she’s never had a conflict or disagreement with anyone in her entire life….EVER! AND that she goes on to tell me she’s a recovering alcoholic (I didn’t even bring this up, she disclosed this with no prompting from me!)…so as much as I feel for the lady, I couldn’t hire her…I don’t know any recovering alcohlics that haven’t had at least one or two conflicts in their lifetime!
October 26th, 2008 at 9:24 am
I have interviewed hundreds of people over the years and never came across anything even close to what has been described here.
I’ve had people who’s cell phones have rang during the interview and they apologized and said they thought they turned their phone off. I always tell them to leave it on vibrate in case there is an emergency and they need to leave. You have to have some human compassion for people and realize they may have children or elderly paents and may have to reschedule the interview. It’s one thing if they have a conversation, but if it’s just human error, move past it. Why lose a good candidate over a forgetful moment. If you can’t consider them for the job because of that, then I would not suggest they work for you at all as it will only be the same for your career; constantly pointing out mistakes.
Also remember, not everyone has a lot of money to spend on clothes. If they have on a suit or dress that looks a little dated, consider they may have bought it at the thrift store. I interview people based on skills not the latest fashion (unless they are working in the fashion industry, different rules unfortunately). Maybe I haven’t interviewed blue collar workers or light labor industry candidates recently enough to know how they dress, however, don’t judge a book by its cover. You can’t see them when you interview them on the phone, they could be naked for all you know. I would think a recruiter interviewing entry level and/or blue collar people would give them adivice on how to dress for a face to face interview. Never assume people know these things, especially teens who are entering the workforce for the first time.
People also need to leave behind how interviewing was done in the 20th century. The worst question lingering is “what are you weaknesses?” Who ever came up with that question should be shot. Yes, let’s focus on why you are weak and give me a reason not to hire you. Move past this one, focus on strengths and what can the person bring to the company.
So put down those 20th century books join the 21st century and bring in people based on skills, not clothing, sex, ethnicity, etc.
February 20th, 2009 at 11:18 am
During a recent interview I asked the candidate why she had left her previous employment. Without hesitation she annouced that she had been having an affair with her last boss and had received an STD! Much too much information.