rSlash - r/Askreddit What's Your CRAZIEST Interview Story?

Episode Date: October 15, 2024

0:00 Intro 0:03 Todays question 0:11 Love 0:49 People person 1:51 Corporate speak 2:55 Smug 4:03 Attire 4:51 Dolly 5:45 Mommy 5:55 Former job 7:16 Nerves 8:04 Fake injury 8:40 Pee 9:43 Peace corps 10:33 Connections 11:43 Snark Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does possible sound like for your business? It's more cash on hand to grow with up to 55 interest-free days. Redefine possible with Business Platinum. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms and conditions apply. Visit mx.ca slash business platinum. Welcome to r slash ask Reddit where people answer the question, for people who interview potential candidates for high level positions, what was the worst interview you conducted? Our first reply is from JSTANTheMan. I asked an engineer, what do you love about

engineering? And they paused for a long moment and then told me that they didn't love anything about it. I panicked and tried to save them and said, oh, what about the team you're on right now? And they said, oh, my team is great, but I don't think I want to be a software engineer anymore. I don't think I like it at all. At this point, the interview was dead and we had a policy not to end early. So I asked them, What's something you love? And we talked about knitting for 45 minutes.

It was really fun, but they didn't get the job. Our next reply is from Soulfighter. A friend of mine was interviewing a candidate for a customer facing managerial position. It was for a public university, think head of department type of role. This woman was adamant about being the opposite of a people person. She said that she prefers to work alone. This position is basically half delegation and the other half is collaboration. And she said that her biggest weakness was trying to relate to those who report to her.

She didn't elaborate and didn't seem to understand that she was giving the literal worst answers possible at every point. The most awkward part was the fact that when no one was hired for the role, they reposted the job listing and that same woman applied again and they were required by law to interview her again. The can- The candidate was made aware that no one interviewed was deemed a good fit, but still, her answers did not change. Our next reply from No Name Left.

She only spoke in high-end corporate speak and non-answers. I didn't have any clue about her as a person interviewing her, but I could tell that she was absolutely the wrong fit. Of course, she was hired and she tanked the program. I swear, she must have some dirt on someone high up, otherwise she should have been removed. Then beneath that, we have this story from JustRousin. I once interviewed a guy for a high level position. He kept talking about how he led a viral marketing campaign or something and I'm like, yeah, but what did you do? We utilized urban market strategies to reach target market blah blah blah. Yeah, but like, what did you do?

We engaged market demographics utilizing blah blah blah. I don't know what that means. So like, what did you actually do? We handed out stickers at concerts. Oh. They hired him. And he became my boss. Our next reply is from Simdai.

I interviewed a guy for a head of marketing position many years ago. This guy shows up to the interview and is immediately smug as hell. We hadn't even started yet. He refuses to turn on his camera, instantly remarks how he worked for Facebook, and lets it be known that he's the real deal. I ask him, what are the channels for video game marketing? And he responds with, I don't know, doesn't matter. Astonished, we asked him how he would approach marketing different platforms and he responded,

with lots of money. I asked him if he realized that we're an indie company, and he was like, that doesn't matter. Halfway through the interview, the CEO himself finally begged me to stop the interview. We contacted our recruiting firm and told them that he was the single worst candidate that we had ever encountered. They dropped him as a client because apparently this wasn't even the first time that he was a terrible interview. He ended up going back to Facebook. It seems like he tested the market, realized that he was garbage, and then went back home where

he could blend in as a useless nepo baby. Our next reply is from mushybrainiac. I interviewed a guy for a higher level management position for the company I worked for. The attire was supposed to be business professional. He showed up in a Hawaiian shirt, jeans, and flip-flops because he thought this interview was just a formality and he believed that his supposed reputation in the industry just preceded him. I had no idea who he was. When he realized that we were actually asking questions, he just said,

trust me, I'm the guy for the job. Over and over and over again. This became a running joke for all of us whenever we'd get a new assignment. The top reply beneath that is, You're not that guy, pal! Our next reply is from Easy Gorsied Beck. I once interviewed a woman who was a Dolly Parton impersonator in her spare time. No word of a lie here. She asked what the hours were. I told her that they weren't set hours, they were reasonably flexible,

and that I was more interested into what she put into those hours than the actual hours that she did. She replied, not 9 to 5 then, and proceeded to start singing that effing song. I swear she was crackers to be honest. What's so funny about that is I bet she asked that question and then no matter what the answer was, if it was 9 to 5, she would have said, oh, 9 to 5 and then sang the song and if it wasn't, then she had that answer prepared and she still could have sang. And then beneath that, SuitablePie says, why the hell didn't you hire her? And beneath that, they went with Jolene instead.

Our next reply is from throwaway. Not me, but someone told me about a guy who applied for a director position and brought his mom with him. Our next reply is from buroblob. My mom interviewed a guy for their chief safety and security position. They asked why he was leaving his last job after 15 years. He responds completely seriously that he was actually forced to resign shortly after he sent in his resume because he neglected a final security check at his facility which resulted in a fire.

They asked for more details and learned that his negligence led to a loss of over $2 million for his former employer. And because no one was hurt, they made a deal that he would resign and forfeit his severance package to boot. When they asked why they should hire him considering this information, he replied, It's just one mistake and you shouldn't take it so seriously. Beneath that, When A Do It Right says, Oh man, he had such a good opportunity to give a great answer, because that company just spent 2 million dollars training me to never make such a mistake again.

And beneath that, this story from Cowboy Law. I heard a story about a junior executive at IBM who made some error that cost the company something like $500,000 back in the 70s when that was real money. The story goes he tendered his resignation and his boss refused it saying, I just spent $500,000 training you. What makes you think I'm willing to let you leave now? Our next reply is from Muro. was a 34 year old guy. She was so nervous that she was shaking badly and part way through the interview she asked if she could hold my hand to calm herself. I let her and it worked and she calmed down.

But given that our CEO was a straight up psychopath, I decided that she would probably not be able to handle him well. Beneath that, Scotty Logjob says, Do you mind if I... If I rest my head on your manly chest for a moment? Just to calm my nerves. Alright, yeah, okay. That might actually work on me. You know, assuming I was single, of course. Our next reply is from The Mad Irishman.

One time, me and another guy were interviewing a candidate for a job. He was perfect! Fully qualified, mature, exactly what we were looking for. He was a shoe-in for the job! At the end, I asked him if he had any questions or comments for us. He said that he wanted to be honest with us, that he was angry at his previous employer and was suing them over a fake injury. He wanted us to know that he was perfectly healthy and nothing was actually wrong with him.

But he felt that it was the right thing to do to tell us. Boy, we dodged a bullet! Our next reply is from Mickey. My mom interviewed people for some high up position in the company she worked for. She said this one woman came in and didn't seem nervous or anything and did fine in the interview. Not particularly good, but fine. Then when they walked her out and came back to discuss their notes of her, someone noticed a weird smell. Turns out her chair was soaked with pee. She just pissed all over the chair onto the carpet below, but because of the layout of the room, no one noticed.

She was wearing a black dress, so no one noticed when she walked out by looking at her. She could have easily asked to just use the bathroom, but didn't. They had to throw out the chair and get the carpet professionally cleaned. She did not get that job. Beneath that, Engineer says, Hey man, that shows serious commitment and dedication. Ask yourself, are you willing to piss yourself in front of strangers for a job? I think not. Our next reply is from Bluecoat Engineer. This was a senior engineer role in person right before the pandemic. The guy kept steering all of his answers about technical questions back to the time that he had spent with the Peace Corps. After the third

time he did this, I just let him ramble. When we were done, I offered to throw away his empty cup, and he was weirdly protective of it. Like, he insisted that it was too much trouble and I could just show him the kitchen on the way out. Sure, whatever. The guy washed his paper cup before throwing it out and left. In our follow up meeting to discuss the candidate, our director was pissed because the guy wouldn't stay on topic and if he didn't know any better, he would think the candidate was drunk. Then it clicked as to why he had been so weird about the cup.

We did not make an offer. Our next reply is from FatSilentNin. I was hiring for a role, and someone reached out to me via LinkedIn to let me know they'd applied. Totally fine. It turns out he was the son of a former co-worker, which was interesting to know, but not really relevant to the hiring process. I reviewed his resume, but unfortunately he didn't have the experience needed for

the role. His background was in completely different industries. Since I used to work with his mom, I gave him that feedback, and he was totally understanding. His mother, my former coworker, then reached out to me, pleading her son's case. She even said that she would personally fill in any gaps in his knowledge and coach him through the role, insisting that I give him a chance. Two big problems here. Having your mom reach out like this makes it seem like you can't stand on your own

in the workplace. Also, his mom and I now work for direct competitors. There's proprietary information involved, and she would potentially have access to it. That's a major conflict. Bottom line, don't have your mom reach out for you in a job application and definitely don't bring her with you. Our next reply is from Marshmallow Marble. I once set up an interview with someone for a lead position at a company that I've since left. Right from the start, they sent me a snarky email saying, If you're going to post a job, at least make sure the people you mention actually work there.

I was confused so I asked them to clarify. They responded, claiming the name of the company's founder slash director listed in the ad wasn't accurate, and that no one went by that name in the list of employees on the website. Confused, I double checked our website and right at the very top of our Meet the Team page was the name and photo of the company director, which matched the name listed on the ad. Therefore, I went back to the candidate and confirmed that the name of the director on the job ad was indeed correct

and I apologize if they misread this. They responded, completely unacknowledging my response to confirm their interview time. Weird but okay. Fast forward a few days to the interviews and were conducting the initial rounds via Zoom. This same candidate tried to join my meeting 45 minutes early WHILE I was interviewing another candidate, so I declined their request to enter. Before the other interview even ended, I received a rambling email where they berated me for

not letting them in early and they threatened to report me to the company director. The guy, by the way, that this person said didn't work there. I simply replied, haha, we don't have anyone by that name working here, and then blocked them. That was r slash ask reddit, and if you like this content, be sure to follow my podcast because I put out new reddit podcast episodes every single day.