26 People Share How They Embarrassed Themselves During Their First Job Interview

"What position are you interested in taking in our school?"

"Defence against Dark Arts"

Interviewed at a bank. Was going perfectly despite how nervous I was, and I was probably in with a great chance. Then as a final question, the panel asked me "why should we hire you?" And I word-vomit replied "Because I probably won't steal your money!"

I was not hired.

The interviewer asked if I had any convictions.

I sat there and thought for a moment and said, "Well I guess I'm passionate about saving the environment."

He was very confused and said, "What are your talking about? I'm asking if you have been convicted of any crimes..."

I did not get that job.

At the end of my job interview, I asked a few questions about the position, the people involved, and other general questions. For my last question I decided to switch it up and I asked something along the lines of "if you could have any job and make any amount of money you want, what would it be?"

Interviewer A answers. Interviewer B answers. Interviewer C answers. Interviewer D answers and uses something very similar to what I was prepared to say. Interviewer E answers.

I finally answer and since Interviewer D used what I was prepared to say I decided to wing it. I said "Well since I love pizza, I'd travel the world, and eat pizza in different countries." I wanted to smack myself.

Showed up in person to a phone interview.

I was interviewing to be a dishwasher at a restaurant. The chef, who was the interviewer, asked me why I wanted this job. The real reason was the reason any high-school kid wants a job: money. I panicked though. I thought that was an inappropriate answer. So instead I started spewing all of this nonsense about dishes being my favourite household chore. He laughed in my face. I got the job, though :)!

"Why should we hire you instead of anyone else?"

"I don't even know who else you are interviewing with, how could I know that I'm better than them?"

Led to a really awkward silence.

The interviewer asked if I had any "salary requirements."

I said, "I do. But it doesn't matter, because I understand from employees I know who work here that your pay standards are much lower than most workers' expectations."

Asked about my hobbies talked about sewing and reading. Guy pushed a little more,asked if there was anything else. I was confused why he would push at this question and said no. I was interviewing at a [freaking] video store, the correct answer is watching Movies dumbass. I will never let myself live that one down.

Said “Well, thanks for coming in.” I was the one who had come in.

My first ever internship interview.

Me: Hi, how are you?

Him: Good, and you?

Me: I'm doing well, how are you?

It still keeps me up at night.

Asked about a time I had to make a compromise and, not drawing on any past experiences beyond an hour ago, I cited the time I had to give the last blue Jolly Rancher to my girlfriend even though it's my favorite flavor. Still got the job but wow

Okay, this is embarrassing but when I was a teenager I was able to get an interview to work at a major coffee chain that offered good benefits and I really wanted the job. I had one job until this point and didn't have a lot of experience with job interviews so I googled up some tips to help me with that. One of the things that I read was the importance of maintaining very good eye contact lest the interviewer thought that you were disinterested or bored. I maintained very good eye contact. It was too good. That guy must have thought that I was some sort of psychopath because I would not break eye contact at all. It was as if we were having a staring contest that he lost several times but that I would not let up on. I had to wait a few more years before I was able to get a job with that company.

I freaked out and forgot how old I was. Turns out I was fourteen. Fourteen and absolutely terrified. And no, I didn't get the job.

The interviewer asked if I smoked and I replied "Smoke what?" Immediately lost my chances at getting the job.

I wore a rival companies shirt to the interview without realizing...oops.

when asked why I wanted to work for McDonald's, I said that I wanted money mainly

I didn't get the job

This wasn't at the interview, but in my email applying for the job. It was right after college and I really didn't know what I was doing, so I just had my resume saved on my desktop under "resume."

I finished writing my cover letter, I attached my resume...or so I thought. I had accidentally misclicked when attaching and I attached this gif instead.

I had already clicked send before I realized my mistake, but luckily I was using gmail and was quick enough to be able to unsend it and attach the right file.

First time I was honest about why I was leaving my old job and the reason was negative. Next time I had a story about how -while I loved my current job- the new job gave an additional positive push to my career path. You have to bend the truth for sure.

Dominos Manager: "why do you want a job here"

Me: "It's close to my house, and I like pizza"

...I got the job.