What is the strangest job interview you've ever had?

[WDWBarb]

I've had several unusual interviews (but as the interviewer).

There was the time that a young man showed up late for his interview in a rumpled white shirt with a t-shirt with a giant red logo on it underneath. He yawned excessively and acted like I was keeping him awake. I couldn't take it much more so I said, "Are you OK?" and he then explained that he was hung over because he didn't get a chance to "sleep it off" from the night before because the interview was just set too early (9 a.m.). When I asked him why he was applying for the type of position that he was interviewing for, he told me he didn't know anything about it but was told that those keywords would get him "hits" on Monster.

Yeah, interview over.

The next one was an ambitious young man who came in dressed in a nice suit and tie and his portfolio in-hand. My DD, who was about 6 at the time, was unfortunately in my office because she had gotten sick at school and I had to rush to pick her up so I didn't have to reschedule the interview (the cantidate was coming from out-of-town and I didn't want to cancel on such short notice). It was a great interview, an obvious great cantidate, but I couldn't help notice (nor could anyone) that his pressed white shirttail was hanging out of his open fly. I was so embarrassed and didn't call it to his attention (how could I??). I offered him the position, shook his hand and gave him a starting date. My DD looked at me as soon as he left my office (she had been quietly coloring in the corner) and said, "MOM! You let him walk around with his fly open!! That was mean!!" I didn't even realize that she was paying attention.

About 2 weeks later he came to my office and told me, "I can't believe I'm telling you this because I was so embarrassed when I realized it, but I was shocked that you never noticed that my fly was open the entire interview!" I just said, "I know" and his face turned bright red. I told him his resume must have been good because I hired him anyway.

He went on to do great things and my DD is now 16. It's a story they laugh about every time they see each other.

 

[pah-fla]

My first interview at a large employer was with a lady in her office which had a very poor furniture arrangement. I sat in a chair by the door and she proceeded to interview me with her back turned to me since her chair faced the wall. She did not approve me for hiring as according to her I had no current office experience since I had been at home raising my daughters even though I had clerical experience the whole time through volunteer organizations.

I proceeded to get a clerical position in another company and when they laid one quarter of their staff, I was happy as I could try to get a position at the first company again as I had a year's current experience. I went to a temporary agency who placed me in a three day job at the first company which was in June of 1988. I was hired in permanently in October of 1988. A year later, I transferred to a different secretarial position in the same company. There were 4 ladies who had the same job title as my boss and guess who was one of them yes, the lady who had interviewed her with her back to me! I wanted to say something about it so badly, but my boss had advised against it.

A few years later, I transferred to another position and that interview was the toughest I had ever been through. Two gentlemen, one the head of the division and the other, his assistant conducted the interview, each asking some tough questions. When I finally made them laugh at an answer, I was positive I had the job. Usually it took almost two weeks to find out if you got a position, but I received a phone call two hours later offering me the job, where I just celebrated my 18th anniversary with them.

 

[design_mom]

My strangest interview was for an internship while I was in college. I went to the interview all gung-ho with my resume and portfolio. The interviewer walked in and said, "Let's get one thing straight. I always get my interns from my alma mater [a different school], but they're making me interview you, so let's get this over with." It went downhill from there.

I was meeting my dad right after the interview and his first question was "So, did you get the job?" Um... I don't think so. If the same thing happened today, I think I'd say "Then let's not waste each others' time..." but I really did my best at that interview.

I also had an interview (for a job at an ad agency) where they didn't ask me anything about my job skills. All the questions were strange like "If you were on a TV show, which TV show would you be on." -- and they asked me to describe how an annuity worked (the job I was applying for had nothing to do with annuities, but I had previously worked for an insurance company) and stuff like that. I'm not sure if they were testing my creativity or what... but I got that job.

 

[mickeymedic]

For my strangest interview I was the interviewer. The job candidate swore no less than 20 times during the 10 minute interview. Mind you this was for a job that requires constant interaction with the public while wearing a uniform and driving a vehicle with the company name on the side. So, needless to say, he was not what we wanted representing our company. He got the usual "thanks but no thanks" letter. And then he proceeded to call several times per week for many, many weeks to ask when the next orientation class was going to be.

 

[5lilfish]

Mother....I was hired on the spot. The nurse plopped the baby on my chest and walked away. Nobody asked if I had any experience. Nobody asked for any references. To top it off, nobody gave me an accurate job description. I could not believe the hours I had to work or what some of my job requirements were. Still, it's the best job I've ever had.

Other than that, my interviews have been pretty standard and boring....although I haven't been on an interview in 15 yrs.


Jess

 

[kaytieeldr]

Then she picked up a blue bic pen and told me to sell it to her..........maybe if it was a Waterman or the like I might have gotten the job

"Simple, functional, basic communication tool. Writes where you want, when you want, what you want. No moving parts to break down. Visible ink supply so you can see when the pen needs to be replaced. I can give you a ten percent discount on a purchase of two dozen - how many would you like?"

That took me ten seconds - i.e. virtually no time - to create. In fact, part of how I got my current job was to 'sell' my boss one of his desk tools.

 

[5lilfish]

"Simple, functional, basic communication tool. Writes where you want, when you want, what you want. No moving parts to break down. Visible ink supply so you can see when the pen needs to be replaced. I can give you a ten percent discount on a purchase of two dozen - how many would you like?"

That took me ten seconds - i.e. virtually no time - to create. In fact, part of how I got my current job was to 'sell' my boss one of his desk tools.

Very nice...and given the way pens seem to grow feet and walk off in my house, you just sold me 2 dozen.

Jess

 

[Becky2005]

Very nice...and given the way pens seem to grow feet and walk off in my house, you just sold me 2 dozen.

Jess

That would be pencils in my house! They really DO grow legs here and walk off. It's the most amazing thing how they disappear.

 

[design_mom]

That would be pencils in my house! They really DO grow legs here and walk off. It's the most amazing thing how they disappear.

We have a bazillion pencils here (from various goodie bags and treasure boxes). However it's the pencil *sharpener* that can never be found. Unsharpened pencils are not very useful.

 

[Katy Belle]

I was finishing my year as a Teacher's Assistant and interviewing for Teaching jobs in the same district. I went to the interview. It was a panel of 4, two teachers, the Principal, and the HR guy from the district. They explained that they would each ask quesions from their papers and then write answers but they would not comment on any thing I said. There would be no back and forth communication, only them asking, me answering. And that is exactly how it went. Zero feedback. No facial expressions, no nothing. It felt really horrible. At the end I shook their hands, drove straight home and cried for 30 minutes, then returned back to work. I got the call with the job offer the next day! I was completely SHOCKED.

 

[kellyg403]

I have been on both sides of the fence, interviewer and interviewee!

Once, I was looking for a part time job and saw an ad in the paper for pt work for a 'communications' company. When I showed up, another girl my age (about 26 or so) was also waiting, and the guy comes out to interview us. Two things struck me as odd, the 'communication' part turned out to be a itty itty bitty newspaper..and we need to be the ones to sell it to people and the guy interviewing us was obviously obsessed with Elvis..from the big sunglasses to the sideburns...the only thing he was missing was about 8 inches. I bet he was barely five foot. The whole interview was with both of us sitting there as he moved around and well, he looked like ELVIS. It was all I could do not to laugh at the 'supposed' pay we would get when things took off and how this guy thought ANY of us could take it seriously. I turned down the offer as did the other girl but we went out to lunch together and became good friends. We still laugh about that.

As the interviewer, just this week. I had a young kid who had come in every couple days for about a month. I figured heck, he must really be interested since I have already explained we are open 364 days a year, flexible schedule means whatever time of day we need to schedule you and it is a grocery store, customer service is the #1 thing no matter how rude the customer is to you. So, I notice he is there, I finish up my conversation with the customer, turn around and hold out my hand to shake his hand. His cell phone goes off, he looks at me and puts his pointer finger in the air like 'wait a minute' and walks away. 10 minutes later he comes back and says he is ready for his interview. I calmly had to explain his interview time was ten minutes ago, I was unavailable to interview him at that time. Just odd that for weeks he had been begging for an interview and the minute he got one he was rude to his potential supervisor and then wanted me to stop what I was doing to interview him, after he decided to walk away. And to clarify it wasn't a business call as he answered 'Yo dude..what cha been doin? Been trying to get up with you since last night for plans tonight'....so he blew off a job for plans that night and I was really really glad karma showed me what potential he was.

Kelly

 

[NMAmy]

First, I will say that I haven't been on a job interview in years. Maybe this is normal, I don't really know. Anyway, I interviewed for a position this week in a nonprofit organization. There was a panel of three individuals conducting the interview in the company conference room. Each had a questionnaire, so they each take turns asking a question from the paper, then a long pause while they all write down the answer I gave them. Next person, next question....this went on for 4 pages. They didn't ask anything that wasn't on the paper either. They should have just emailed me the questions, let me answer then send it back! Then if they were still interested, download some other form from the internet and conduct an interview.

I know each person probably hears things differently, but the "wait while we write" drove me crazy. All three of them wildly scribbling while I'm just sitting there was quite awkward. I can just picture them after I left...."let's compare notes! Oh wait, we all have pretty much the same thing..."

It doesn't sound odd at all to me but just like every interview I've participated in as an applicant and as an interviewer in academia. And, yes, we do have to compare notes after you're gone and often, interviewers get very different impressions.

The interview is set up that way so that every applicant gets the same interview and we have documentation of why the applicant was hired or not hired. So, I guess most of the interviews I've had have been strange.

 

[jackskellingtonsgirl]

"Sell the pen" made me laugh, because when I interviewed applicants to work in retail I always made them "sell" their outfit to me.

 

[DVCJones]

I haven't been on a job interview in years. I am lucky to have the same job for over 15 years. But, one interview does stick out in my mind.

I was young and I was interviewing for a job as a waitress at the Outback. I had put myself through undergrad being a waitress and I had more than enough experience. Anyway, half way through the interview the manager (who was talking down to me through the entire interview) asked me to "sell this pen" and he pulls out a pen from his pocket.

Umm, I laughed and told him that I couldn't sell him a pen, because we were at a place that sells food and that if YOU were in the market for a pen, my guess is you would go to an office supply store. And, if I wanted to sell pens I would be interviewing at an office supply store. I could tell he wasn't amused at this point, so I went on to say that I would have trouble selling such a cheap pen and that I would have to sell a better product. I then took out my nickel tipped calligraphy pen that I just happen to have and proceeded to tell him all the wonderful things about my pen.

No surprise...I didn't get the job

Hehehehehe, I did have a lot of fun though.

 

[MissFitt]

My story isn't about the strange job interview (I was interviewing for an attorney position with a solo practictioner) but after I left I couldn't help but notice that this guy I just interviewed with followed me out to the parking lot and was looking to see what kind of car I drove! He didn't think I would notice -- I pretended to be busy "writing" notes and "talking" on the phone. I was there in my car a good 5-10 minutes while this guy stood there watching my car...needless to say I was too creeped out that I didn't send a thank you letter for the interview and was VERY thankful that I never heard from the guy again.

 

[SC Minnie]

First, I will say that I haven't been on a job interview in years. Maybe this is normal, I don't really know. Anyway, I interviewed for a position this week in a nonprofit organization. There was a panel of three individuals conducting the interview in the company conference room. Each had a questionnaire, so they each take turns asking a question from the paper, then a long pause while they all write down the answer I gave them. Next person, next question....this went on for 4 pages. They didn't ask anything that wasn't on the paper either. They should have just emailed me the questions, let me answer then send it back! Then if they were still interested, download some other form from the internet and conduct an interview.

I know each person probably hears things differently, but the "wait while we write" drove me crazy. All three of them wildly scribbling while I'm just sitting there was quite awkward. I can just picture them after I left...."let's compare notes! Oh wait, we all have pretty much the same thing..."

This is the way we HAVE to conduct interviews. We aren't even allowed to elaborate on the questions. This is to make sure every candidate is interviewed the same way and no one has an unfair advantage.

The strangest one we had was a recent college graduate who answered the each question in less that 5 words. Sat there with his elbows on his knees the whole time too. It was a painful interview to get through.

 

[Jennasis]

I conducted an interview once here at my farm. I was hiring an instructor. Lady shows up and apparently has her 2/3 week old infant with her...in the car...which she left IN THE CAR during the interview. Every few minutes she woudl tell me she needed to check on the baby and then dash out to the car. Luckily it was spring time and not terribly hot. I kept telling her we could reschedule for another time, but she wouldn't leave. Finally I said, "GO. Take care of the baby". As n GO HOME. So she goes out to the car and brings the baby back with her and proceeds to BREASTFEED in front of me. It's a natural act...I'm fine with it...but during an interview is NOT the place for that. Its not the place for your baby PERIOD. So then I figure I can get her the heck out of my place if I give her the quick tour of our facility, which she brings the baby for. The baby is SCREAMING bloody murder the whole time so badly that I can hardly hear myself think. She finally looksat me and says "I think I should take her home." and she leaves.

Calls me the next day to ask if she got the job too.





She did not.

 

[diznygirl]

Long ago I interviewed for a clerical position in a car dealership. They made me take a typing test - okay. Then another questionnaire - okay. Then they gave me a schedule to choose a time I could come in and work for two hours FOR FREE so they could see how I work. Um, I don't think so.

 

[Tinkermommy]

Not an interview I have been on but . . .

Several years ago I worked for a company where HR had a contest for the department that had the best Halloween costumes. My department decided we would all dress as pirates.

You guessed it HR also scheduled an interview on Halloween, so when he came to get my boss (who was doing the interviewing) he was shocked and asked him if he wanted to change for the interview. My boss said no, he was ready.

Now my boss is about 6' 2", black hair and swarthy looking and he went all out on his costume. Long coat, black books, hat with a long plume and even a stuffed parrot on his shoulder! He looked just like Captain Morgan on the rum bottles!!

So he did the interview and we all went over to see what came of the interview and what they guy said about his costume. The guy interviewing never said a word!! A guy with a stuffed parrot is interviewing you on Halloween and he never commented on it. He didn't get hired. We figured he would not have fit well with our group.

We did win the Halloween contest though. And I haven't seen anyone on this thread say they were interviewed by a pirate, so most not be a DISer!