It’s rare to find someone who actually likes job interviews .
Most of us rate it pretty high on the dread scale, right between a root canal and bad traffic .
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On the flipside, interviewers may deal with strange candidates who basically waste their time.
With that being said, here are 10+ stories that show a bad job interview happens to everyone.
The stone-cold interviewer.
Interviews are nerve-wracking enough as it is without a person who seems incredibly pissed off.
Even after attempts to make small talk, this Redditor found their confidence brought down by the person interviewing them.
The unpaid internship.
“I applied to a job as a junior programmer and within five minutes the guy goes, ‘Look, I’ll be honest, there is no job, you can get an internship, no pay, we offer the bus pass.'” – u/Commercial-Energy839
The panel interview.
It should be made transparent that an interview will be conducted by several people.
This Redditor was in for a surprise when they went to their teaching job interview and there were about fifteen people, including the librarian.
The smelly situation.
“I walked in as the HR lady farted — it was a small office with no windows. I later asked her questions about their employee retention rate that she couldn’t answer. The fart stayed the duration of the interview, and I hope the fart got the job, because I didn’t want it.” – u/RedShadowIV
The long interview.
“Eight hour long virtual interview. What a nightmare. It never ended,” this Redditor shared , adding that their butt hurt so bad. We can imagine!
If an interview is more than two hours, you deserve to get paid for your time.
The mean interviewer.
“The interviewer proceeded to berate me for not having a 4.0, saying clearly I needed to study more and I was obviously out partying too much and not learning anything. I had like a 3.6, not a 0.6.” – u/Shellshock1122
The impossible questions.
You may have heard questions like, “what animal describes your personality?” during interviews.
While it’s a fun ice breaker, one Redditor had an interview at H&M abruptly end when they answered blue instead of red as their favorite color.
The surgery.
“Applied to work at a vet clinic. Veterinarian did the interview while spaying a cat, apparently one of the cleanest and quickest surgeries they do. I fainted. Was not offered the job (after I woke up).” – u/Remembers_that_time
The warning.
This Redditor had quite the unorthodox interviewing experience. When the assistant walked them out, they warned them to get out while they can since the boss was so horrible. Suffice to say, they didn’t accept the job offer.
The fire alarm.
“I applied for a job in a planetarium, the interview was conducted in a big dome. Problem was that the planetarium staff was doing fire alarm tests during the interview. The dome amplified the sound so much, it was deafening. The interview staff acted like nothing was going on. We had to shout so we could hear each other.” – CanineRezQ
The clueless candidate.
Job interviews can be bad for the interviewer, too!
This Redditor shared that the person they interviewed for a server’s position in a club said that she couldn’t work weekends or past eight p.m… they’re a nightclub.
Mommy’s interview.
“Interviewed someone for a call center job and when we got to the salary part, he takes out his phone, calls his mother, and puts her on speakerphone to help negotiate his salary (like he was getting a job in the C-suite). Did not get hired.” – AUSavage
The inappropriate candidate.
“Guy stared at my boobs the whole time, asked me how old I was, what my ‘credentials’ were, told me I seemed young to be a director, and then said, ‘Are there even any men on this team?’ I was the one doing the interviewing, by the way.” – u/dadadawn
The personal interview.
“I once had an interview that asked really personal questions, like ‘Are your parents divorced?’ and ‘Were you bullied in school?’ The interview was for a really small, sketchy business with four or five interviewers and lasted around two hours. I’m glad I didn’t get the job.” – u/ffsellen
The creep interviewer.
Interviewers are supposed to be professional.
That wasn’t the case when a much older fellow made strange comments to this young female Redditor. He asked things like whether she had a boyfriend and if he was jealous.
The mundane interview.
“I once had an interview where they asked me questions word for word from the online application I filled out to apply. ‘Are you legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer?’ ‘Do you have 0-2 years experience using _____ software?’ And so on.” – u/qadrty
The multi-level rejection.
“During college, I applied for a bunch of jobs at Ikea. I got an interview followed by a rejection email. A week later, they called me for another interview. I got another rejection email. They interviewed [me] five times for five different positions. I got rejected all five times. I’m still salty about it two decades later.” – u/emily_is_a_dpp
The big waste of time.
“I took vacation days to interview, bought my own plane ticket, and paid for my own hotel. First thing the interviewer said was, ‘I have no intention of hiring you. This is just a courtesy because I knew your brother.'” – u/seeing_red415
The terrible negotiator.
When this Redditor shared his expected salary, the interviewer laughed in his face and told him that he wouldn’t get that anywhere.
He even told him what he should be “grateful” for. Ugh!
