worst interview EVER
Jun. 3rd, 2010 10:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
So someone I know told me today they had a horrible job interview, and it got me to thinking, that's one thing I've never posted about here or solicted other people to - interviews.
The worst interview I ever had, I think, outstrips the usual "bad" interview. We've all forgotten things and rambled or "uh uh uh" - but how many of you have started crying at your interviewer, then flailed your arms around and semi-ranted how there are no jobs even if you know what you're doing? I interviewed with this sizable PR firm in the city where I was living in 2001, and it just went south pretty fast. I had been out of work for some time, was sick of applying and either being told I wasn't qualified enough, or overeducated for the jobs for which I applied. I knew I wasn't going to get this PR job - even though I was well qualified for the writing part of it - and just took my annoyance out on the woman. Fortunately, she was nicer than me and merely gave me some advice for future interviews, and then, mercifully, let me go.
What's your worst interview ever? Can you beat mine? ;-)
The worst interview I ever had, I think, outstrips the usual "bad" interview. We've all forgotten things and rambled or "uh uh uh" - but how many of you have started crying at your interviewer, then flailed your arms around and semi-ranted how there are no jobs even if you know what you're doing? I interviewed with this sizable PR firm in the city where I was living in 2001, and it just went south pretty fast. I had been out of work for some time, was sick of applying and either being told I wasn't qualified enough, or overeducated for the jobs for which I applied. I knew I wasn't going to get this PR job - even though I was well qualified for the writing part of it - and just took my annoyance out on the woman. Fortunately, she was nicer than me and merely gave me some advice for future interviews, and then, mercifully, let me go.
What's your worst interview ever? Can you beat mine? ;-)
no subject
Date: 2010-06-04 02:07 am (UTC)AND I HAD TO DO IT ANYWAY. AND OOOOOOH IT WAS PATHETIC. I was like, you can use it to staple things! All of these papers... you seem like a disorganized person!
I'm shocked I wasn't hired on the spot.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-04 03:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-04 03:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-06-04 02:32 pm (UTC)The HR-interviewer obviously didn't want to hire me - and she was the only one at that interview.
First HR-Cow insisted that my relevant experience *wasn't* relevant.
When I proved that it was, she insisted that the relevant experience didn't count *because I hadn't been paid for the job*. (At the time there was a big push to get young people to volunteer because volunteer experience was important in establishing job skills, which made it even odder that she would seize on this).
Of course, I had been paid, so the HR-Cunt announced that the experience didn't count because I hadn't been paid "very much"
This is why the place unionized a few years later. Not that it helped. They've got different HR-bastards now, and a couple are even worse. One "loses" resumes from qualified applicants, or post-dates them. (She usually resorts to "losing" them only if the applicant has had them time-stamped by someone else in the museum.)
The second-worst interview experience was a group interview - very popular nowadays since you judge people on first impressions and needn't bother with all that messiness of reading resumes individually. I went with a few friends to apply for a position doing something fairly menial at a big museum exhibition. My friends are post-doc or advanced doctoral students in the area of study of the exhibition and one had 10 years of experience working and volunteering in museums and art galleries.
The group "interview" involved role-playing, putting together puzzles as a group with one hand behind one's back and half the group's eyes closed, etc. And of course the ever popular "real example" question - which IME always tells you that whatever place X taught you was the way that they wanted things done, place Y will want the opposite.
Only one of us made it out of the group embarrassment: she was the youngest and least experienced. She turned them down because she thought the group thing was so stupid. However, she didn't even get to turn down the job, just a second interview in a smaller group. The message they gave us during the group interview was that "appearances are the most important thing" - literally just that. They chose us by some strange method that didn't involve looking at qualifications. Since one of us was coming down with the flu and one of the others had just had her mother die, apparently we might not have been perky enough. The appearance thing was weird since those turned down ranged in age from 30 to 45 and in weight from 115-215 lbs - all of us nicely dressed and experienced public speakers and presenters.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-04 09:50 pm (UTC)The next morning I had a job interview. I woke up hungover/still drunk and mildly concussed. I pulled on my "interview blouse" and realized it didn't really go with the pants I'd picked out, but it was too late to change it. So I ran out the door and wound up having to catch a cab b/c I was running so late. When we got to the studio I was flustered and didn't have the right $ for a tip, but when I requested different change, the driver told me not to bother. "Weird," thought I.
During the interview the lady seemed to have some weird bra problem and I had trouble looking her in the eye since she kept tugging at her shirt. I also rambled incoherently, trying desperately to pretend I wasn't totally loopy from the crack to the head.
Then when I got outside I realized it was sympathetic tugging. My too-small blouse had popped the top button and my boobs were pretty much on display. Pretty sure that's why the driver didn't care if I tipped. >_<
I didn't get the job, but annoyingly enough, it was because they hired someone they already knew and shouldn't have even had outside interviews anyway. Freaking economy. Grrr.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-05 06:39 am (UTC)I began looking for a job, while still employed. I was working for a non-profit religious order and they were awesome. They really helped the poor and women in need with all of their heart. The only issue I had after 8 years of employment was they moved which made my commute three hours each way a day in addition to my actual work. I could have moved, but the money I made did not support what rents were going for close by. They got a deal in their move, it just didn't work out for me. That and my husband was ready to put my face on a milk carton.
Anyway, with that being said I saw an opening for a local church not 5 minutes from my house. I got the interview and the lady on the phone seemed really nice. We set up a meeting and I go to the address. It is in an industrial complex, but many churches operate out of situations like this so I am not alarmed.
When I get inside is another matter. I open the door and believe me when I say this I felt like someone was choking me. I have never had this feeling anywhere else. It was not an attack of nerves. I walk up to the reception desk, which by the way is protected by floor to ceiling bullet proof glass, much like you would find in a bank. Odd? What is this church afraid of? This is in a decent area of town.
The receptionist gives me additional papers to fill out and the questions are just really way out there. I skipped most of them because I felt they did not need to know. It really was not applicable to work.
I should have of run then. As I sat, I noticed a camera on me and a very poorly made two way mirror. Again, this is a church. The receptionist told me that *Cindy* was not going to see me, but *Tamara* was going to do my interview. Ok, bait and switch anyone? *not their real names*
*Tamara* then proceeds to ask me standard questions, typing speed, etc. Then she gets this really angry tone and blurts out. "Have you ever stolen anything?" I look at her and say, "No." She then proceeds to badger me, "C'mon, really?" I told her no, because if I had, my parents would have made me wish I had never been born had I even attempted something.
Her assistant who is with her is taking notes, and in walks this very pinched faced woman who then starts the barrage of psych questions. "If you could be any animal, what would you be?" I'm thinking what kind of psycho babble bull *hit is this, really? She then introduces herself as the pastor's daughter. We finished the interview, and she ends it with, "We will be investigating into your background, very thoroughly." Her tone was just disturbing.
Well, as I was leaving I see a plaque on the wall in another hallway, under "Insert Name Here Ministries" which was not the name of the church in the job posting.
I went home and did some investigating on them, too. This man had been defrocked from his own church some 30 years before. He actually had a TV show, and was exposed as a sham. People thought he was this great healer, who knew which people had cancer and who didn't. His people cued him in and this went on for quite awhile until he got caught. His website claims, you send me a $30.00 offering for "some worthless trinket" and carry it around for a week. Then you, like Joe and Judy A. will receive a check for $20,000. This "Man of God" did not have pictures of Jesus on his web page, he had limos, diamonds, and jets on his website. Preaching the prosperity Gospel, only this guy was making all the money.
When I found that out, I knew why I felt creepy. I was working for people who really cared for the less fortunate and gave their personal all. This place...well.
A few days later they wanted a second interview so I could meet the "pastor" in person. I told them I found another position.
no subject
Date: 2010-06-05 09:49 pm (UTC)