What is the worst interviewing experience you have ever had?

[RSav4013]

Whether you're a hiring manager or a person being interviewed, what was your worst experience?

I'm a hiring manager for my company and during an interview with a potential candidate I was asking my standard spread of questions and one of them is "what do you believe is your greatest weakness?"

The candidate replied "You shouldn't ask people that. It is a really triggering question and you shouldn't be allowed to ask that. I'm feeling very uncomfortable and vulnerable right now"

I couldn't believe it, I just told him the interview was over and showed him the door.

[DryGermanGuy]

First of all, I mostly agree with your candidate, because these standard questions are so dumb, boring and pointless, only asking for a pre-programmed "textbook" answer.

To your question:

As candidate, I once stood at an empty front desk, no person, no sign or anything. After waiting five minutes I roamed around in the offices to find the whole staff in some kitchen, eating pizza. The manager greeted me with the remark that I was "almost punctual". During the interview he and the other guy continued to eat and talk with their mouth full. No, they did not offer me any food. Also the project sounded differently than what he advertised on the job fair.

As interviewer, we had a certain IT project that required a lot of skills in mathematics and algorithms. The guy that was invited and unfortunately hired was a complete professor-type nerd, all theory and no practice. What he had planned, looked good on paper but never really worked after he implemented it. He also was most difficult to deal with, as he had no team skills. After using three times the allotted project time he was fired and sued the company.

[RSav4013]

You agree with the candidate that I shouldn't be able to ask questions that trigger them because they're difficult for them to answer?

[DryGermanGuy]

I don't know about "triggering", specifically, for his case. My argument against them is that they are just not difficult to answer, because everyone has the same cookie-cutter answer already prepared, either from books or simple repetitious experiences. I mean, who even answers No to the question "are you a teamplayer?" Seriously?

[RSav4013]

He essentially said the question was too difficult to answer, which triggered him. If they can't answer a simple question, I doubt he'll find a career that they desire.

[RSav4013]

Regarding cookie cutter questions, I agree. I ask some in my interviews but I make sure to throw some critical thinking questions in there too, such as "why do you think the doors on a school bus fold?"

[DryGermanGuy]

Well I guess he gave the wrong explanation for the right reason, as these questions are completely useless. Have you ever gotten an answer that had any bearing on the actual job/contract in question?

[RSav4013]

They're not totally useless, as it clearly weeded out someone that I didn't want to hire. Most of the time, one single question isn't going to make or break a candidate during an interview. I'm more interested in seeing people's body language amd learning their tells to get a baseline to know when they're lying or not. The cookie cutter questions aren't typically going to give my any valuable knowledge about the candidates but they will allow me to establish a baseline for integrity when answering more outside the box questions.

[Lliam]

Up to age 26, I had been surfing, going on adventures, playing in rock bands, and partying like a Viking. I had long hair and had worked warehouse jobs for the previous couple years.

When I was 26, I got offered an really good job as a motor vehicle damage field adjuster/appraiser trainee with an auto insurance company.

A friend's mom was an executive secretary and lived down the street from a VP for the company that was starting a brand new trainee program. She got her son and me interviews.

The day before the interview, I got my hair cut short and bought a 3 piece suit.

I had no idea what a claims adjuster was.

The manager who was doing the interview asked me if I knew much about cars. I said I had taken auto shop in high school and worked on my own cars. But he was wondering what I knew about auto body work.

He asked of I knew what a quarter panel was. I said "Sure." I actually didn't. When he asked me what a quarter panel was, I winged it. "There are four of them, two on the front and two on the back." He said, "Not exactly" and explained what they were.

I thought I had blown the interview and was about to stand and say "Thanks for your time", but he told me to relax. After a bit more conversation, he said they would let me know the next day if I got the job.

When I left, I realized that the tag was still on the sleeve of the new suit I was wearing. I imagined that supervisor laughing at what a dumb ass I was.

The next day, I got a call saying that I got the job. That's when I realized that the VP had told them to hire me and the interview was a mere formality.

[KostasKouvalis]

I did one of those group interviews, and I literally only answered 2 questions 'cuz they kept skipping over me

[RSav4013]

Food you get the job?

[RSav4013]

Did you*

[KostasKouvalis]

No😂 I basically had to force them to even take my resume

[RSav4013]

Geeze that's rough! I hope you found another job that you like

[KostasKouvalis]

Yeah, about that...

[RSav4013]

Oof... best of luck to you in the future

[KostasKouvalis]

How long after getting canned can you reapply to the same company? ↗