Funny job interview stories (inspired by MrsPiglet)

danacara

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Aug 29, 2000
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Do you have any funny job interview stories?

Two years ago I interviewed with a big consulting firm. I was wearing these really cute, really tight pumps, and I walked to the interview, so once I sat down and we began talking, my feet were really killing me. I took my shoes off under the table (big tablecloth, I figured he'd never know) and was stretching my feet, pointing back and forth, back and forth - and then I stretched my foot against the center leg of the round table - but nope, that wasn't the center leg. That was my very tall interviewer's leg, and I was rhythmically nudging it with my stockinged foot.

I apologized profusely, but that interview was pretty much over!
 
I'll bet he never even remembered what he asked you!!!
 
I have a story about an interview that I conducted that was so pathetic and horrible that it is funny.

I was interviewing a guy for a technical analyst position. I asked him to tell me about his experience with various network operating systems. He went into a long diatribe about how much he hated Novell and how much he loved Windows NT. I let him rant for about 3 minutes before I told him that we were running a predominantly Novell shop. He stopped short and started telling me about how he's used Novell in the past so it wouldn't be a problem for him to administer it.

After that interview, he applied here several other times. He had an unusual name, so he was easy to pick out from the group.
 
I answered my phone and a man said "I'm ****** ***** and you applied for one of my job openings. I said, I probably did (I had no idea who this man was). He said "Well it is either in Atlanta or Denver, and someone will be calling you." The next day a guy calls and said, well I heard you interviewed for the job yesterday, and the company relocation people will be calling you to arrange your move. I had no idea even what this job was! But I moved to Conyers, GA, and was happy to continue my carreer, now at 31.5 years.
 

OMGOSH too funny!!!


My first job interview was for a tourist place in Spokane ( Riverfront Park if youve ever been there) I was just getting over the stomach flu but this was THE job to have and I wasnt going to miss it. While I was waiting for the manager I started feeling really sick and apparently it showed on my face. I was looking around for the quickest exit when the receptionist said " Dont worry so much honey, just be nice to him and he'll hire you"
getting the job at that point was the least of my worries. :rolleyes:

LOL
 
I went to an intervview once wheher ethe person doing the interviewing me must ahve taken Dale Carnegie. you know, where they tell you that when you talk to someone you've just met, make usre to call them by name several times.


only probelm was, she kept caling me "Linda".


(my name is NOT "Linda") :p
 
That was my very tall interviewer's leg, and I was rhythmically nudging it with my stockinged foot.
I apologized profusely, but that interview was pretty much over!
Geez, maybe I'm slow, but I can't figure out how you didn't get the job!

;)
 
/
This isn't mine, but my husband's story.

We were in FL for a short vaction back in 1987, when he called home for messages and found he had an interview scheduled for a company he really wanted to work for. We decided to spend our last day at the beach getting some color. He laid on a raft in the Gulf for hours, but forgot to put sunblock on his feet and ankles. To make a long story short, he ended up with sun poisoning and his feet looked like Fred Flintstone's they were so swollen. He also had blisters the size of eggs. They wouldn't let him on the plane at first because he couldn't get shoes on, and the airline had to eventually get him on the plane in a wheelchair.

His interview was scheduled for the next morning, but he still couldn't get shoes on. My sister came up with the brilliant idea of getting him some old man Velcro sandals to wear with his suit and dark socks. The only ones we could find had a big white stripe around them. We colored the stripe in with black marker, and hoped for the best. Then I drove him to the interview (he couldn't drive at all) and I sat in the car and waited for him. He also had to use my grandfather's old cane to help him walk, by the way. So he shuffles across the parking lot in these sandals and his suit, along with the cane. All of a sudden it started to rain. As he shuffled into the building he noticed he was leaving a black puddle all along their carpeting. Apparently, we should have used permanent marker on that white stripe! Well, he sat down for the interview, and I can't even imagine what these people were thinking! About an hour later I had dozed off in the car, and someone was banging on the window to wake me up. It was the owner of the company asking me if I would like to join them for dinner so they could talk to DH further. Well, I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, with no makeup on and my hair was a mess. To make matters worse, my face was really peeling from a sunburn. I had no choice to go, and boy did I feel out of place! It was a fairly nice restaurant, and all the other people I was with had suits on. We had been sitting for a long time, when DH needed to go to the restroom. He stood up and his feet gave out because he had been sitting so long. He started swirling around and the cane he was holding started flailing all over. He looked like a drunken sailor! I just wanted to crawl under the table! (I'm sure DH did too!) I couldn't wait for that evening to be over!

In any case, he was offered the job, and he is still there till this day. Years later at a Christmas party I was talking to the owner's wife and she said her husband came home that night and told her that story and they were hysterical! His boss then said to me that they had seen him shuffle across the parking lot with that cane and didn't know WHAT to think. At first they thought he was handicapped, because my doofus husband never told them what was going on!! Oh well, it has made a good story over the years.
 
I once had a person show up for an interview in running shorts, a tee shirt, dress socks and running shoes. To top it all off, the socks didn't match! It was a very short interview (he didn't get the job), but I really wished I had a camera.

One time a resume crossed my desk with the title "Joe Smith, Your Computer Genie"! For a brief moment I considered asking the guy in for an interview just to see what a computer genie looked like. I had visions of someone delivery a lamp to my office which I would have to rub 3 times to begin the interview (LOL).

I learned an important rule on one of my first interviews for a professional programming job (far too many years ago). Everything was going well and I was able to easily answer all the questions asked of me. Then my interviewer asked "How good are you with Pick?". The question made no sense to me, so I responded "That depends, what is Pick?". He burst out laughing and replied, "you know, you're the first person I've interviewed who had the guts to admit that they didn't know what I was talking about". I was offered the job later that day and I learned that saying "I don't know" will usually take you farther than trying to fake your way through a question in a job interview.

BTW: If you're curious, Pick is an old computer operating system with built in database functionality (named after its designer, a man named Dick Pick). The man interviewing me (who later became my boss) was an expert in Pick. I would have never been able to fake it.
 
Before I became a teacher I was working on an occasional basis as a teaching assistant. It was Halloween and I was dressed up as a pumpkin, orange face and all. Well I got a call at the school I was at that day to come for an interview right after school. The school I was at was 35 minutes away from home and I did not have a change of clothes with me. I only had on green nylons under my pumpkin suit so there is no way I could take the suit off. I explained to the principal calling for the interview the situation, and he said to come anyway. So I went to the interview in my pumpkin suit....and I was hired as a full time educational assistant. Ironically, this same principal was part of the interview team this past year when I got a job as a teacher. He remembered too, and he commented that I traded in the pumpkin suit for a dress. :D
 
Jeafl - that is hysterical. I was laughing out loud at that one.
 
Wow Dana - I can't believe you didn't get the job either!

Well I'll tell you my Princeton U. interview story, when I started I was in the Development Office but really wanted to be in one of the academic departments. The HR person assigned to our building refused to let me interview, she would only let me interview for positions in the business building. I think once they got people there they never wanted them to leave! So one day I got fed up, typed up my resume and marched through campus dropping it off at every academic department I passed explaining I really wanted a new position but HR wouldn't recommend me. I got called in for two interviews - one in Economics and one in History. I was offered both jobs and accepted the Economics. Not only did I accept it but I got my friend the job in the History Dept. and another friend a job in Economics. In total 3 of us left together and let me tell you HR lady was not pleased with me going behind her back!

How I got Econ. job was the head of the Dept. at the time had a chocolate lab puppy in the room for the interview along with two other Profs. I had on a long black cotton skirt. I got off the couch, took off my shoes, sat cross legged and let the puppy climb all over me while I interviewed. Eventually the puppy fell asleep in my lap while I gave him a belly rub. The owner of the puppy said I was the first applicant who didn't keep shooing his "baby" away. When I got up I was covered in dog hair! It was my job to walk the "baby" through campus on occasion when he was about 90 lbs. later. One day he tromped through a mud puddle and proceeded to jump all over a woman dressed all in a white suit. I had some fun times at PU!

After staying at home for 12 years I decided to return to the work force full time. I was very nervous and my interview consisted of "Why do you want to go back to work?" and "Wow you were at Princeton University". People are always impressed with that fact, so I never remind them that -- I WORKED there I didn't get my education there!! My boss said he was told that I was "extremely intelligent". I'm sure I've disappointed him a few times since then.
 
OMG Jeafl---I haven't laughed like that in awhile. :) :) :) That is hysterical!!!! And the more I read, the funnier it got!

I interviewed once for a job shortly after I got married for a local theatre company as a secretary for the Director of Development. Well, this woman was very nice, but very slow and deliberate in her speech and actions. The interviewed lasted much longer than it needed to and I realized that my foot had fallen asleep. I tried to nonchalantly "wake it up" by shaking it as she was talking. I could tell she was trying not to notice. When I finally went to get up, my foot gave way and I nearly fell. I finally started laughing and confessed what happened. I was soooo embarassed:eek:

P.S. I got the job!
 
When I interviewed with my last employer, I was just out of college, and didn't have much experience with interviews. I had only gone on a handful of interviews, and at the time, I was all that confident talking to people in that type of situation. So, the interviewer is asking me the typical job interview questions, and I get tounge tied and completely lose my train of thought. The interviewer actually had to give me examples of how she would respond to the questions to get me back on track.

This interview was at a law firm, and after going through all of the questions she had for me, the interviewer starts telling me about the firm. She says, "We have XX associates and XX partners. Do you know what a partner is?" Without thinking, I say, "Sure I do. I've read all of the John Grisham books." At that point, the interviewer laughed and that was the line that got me that job. We wound up spending the rest of the interview chatting about John Grisham, and recommended books to each other. Quite a turn around with just one little quip, eh?

Karen
 
I once applied for a job as a receptionist in a large plumbing supply store - looking for a summer job. I can't even remember what the guy said to me (but I can still picture his face), but he was so rude that I scolded him for treating me that way and walked out of the interview. Not only did I get offered the job, but they called back twice to up the ante when I refused it. I guess I passed his little test, but there was no way I was going to work for the jerk!
 













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