My memorable interview moments
As I'm about to embark on my next round of job hunting with interviews, networking, calls and catch ups high up on the agenda, I thought I’d take a nostalgic look back at the more eventful interviews I've been in over the years.
The one who kept saying “You didn’t do that”
This interview happened when I went for a mid-level marketing role at a place that shall remain nameless but is a hub for the construction industry.
One of the interviewers, let’s call him Mr. Grey Haired Dismissive One, had an amazing technique for disputing everything I said in the interview. Nothing like being constantly undermined before you even got the job!!
He’d worked with one of my previous MD’s before when I worked in PR so any response, I gave that referenced that job, he literally kept saying “you couldn't have done that, that must have been the MD”. The thing was I was telling the truth about what I’d done – the Director he was referring to sat in a different part of the business and quite frankly didn’t run accounts.
Did I get the job? No
Did I want the job? Hell no – can you imagine working for someone who constantly puts you down – imagine the damage that would do to your long term mental health.
The one who cried when I mentioned infrastructure!!!
Have you ever had an interviewee burst into tears when you ask them a question? I have and it was the strangest thing. I was interviewing for a manager level role who would quite frankly needed to have bucketloads of confidence to hold their own in what was a tough construction business environment. This person would be working at board level and the board members just didn't hold back.
The interview started off well enough, I’d explained the company the role etc, then I asked what should have been a straightforward question “tell me about your experience in infrastructure” or something along those lines. Her response was to look around the room then burst into tears. In terms of killer questions this really wasn’t meant to be one and I found myself comforting her, offering to reschedule/end the interview, saying this was perfectly normal and happens all of the time. Once she’d had time to recompose herself and stop crying, she alluded to a few personal things happening the day before so we continued the interview as best we could and we were as supportive as possible.
Did she get the job? Sadly not but I really do hope she was ok.
The one with the interviewer from hell
There was one interview I went to which had three people in the room, Head of HR, Head of Digital and the main Head of Marketing. The Head of Marketing had just started at this company and was looking to bring in a new guard into the organisation to inject a new energy and marketing approach. And her first question was “do I know such and such” who was one of the most senior level people in one of the companies where I used to work. He was also known as being a ball breaker and general old school bully boy tyrant. Well guess what – she was really, really good friends with him. He was so awful – it was hard to imagine him having any real friends to be honest. Anyway, in their interview – she was dismissive of anything I said, said things like “your skills are redundant” and generally anything aggressive you can think of.
Did I get the job? I don’t know as I withdrew from the process
What happened next? All 4 candidates that recruiter put forward that day withdrew from the process and had similar feedback…….
The one where they wanted a literary whizz!
This is probably one of my fav interview stories for my first job fresh out of uni when I was asked what books I like reading. My response was “I don’t do books, I’m more a glamour magazine type of girl!!!”
Did I get the job? Yes, and I’m still friends with my old boss and she still quotes this too :).
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading stories from my interviews – I’d really love to hear some of the most memorable moments from interviews that you’ve been involved in. Feel free, to like, share and comment below.
