35 Times People Ruined Their Job Interviews In 15 Seconds

I once interviewed a guy who asked me who his boss would be. When I explained it would be me, the person interviewing him, he laughed and said congratulations for "getting so far" but that he could not be expected to just do what I asked him to, and also any woman being in charge of a man was "disrespectful."

He did not get the job.

I interviewed someone who rolled her eyes at me when I asked her to put a mask on before we got started.

Spoiler: she did not get hired.

"We won't give you a contract until you've bought your uniform and paid for your training"

Yeah, no.

Back when I was teaching, I had an interview once where I had to plan a lesson of bingo. One of the kids kept rubbing their answers out and writing new ones so they could win. I sat down and advised the kid I didn't think what they were doing was fair and asked them why they were doing it. We had a little chat of the school values and they agreed that it was wrong of them to do it.

Cut to after the interview the the interviewer took me aside and said that it was disgraceful I told a kid tehy were cheating and it was wrong and I'd make a horrible teacher. One of the many experiences I've had on why I don't teach anymore.

Some schools are honestly just toxic. The teaching profession is really only for strong willed people and I am definitely not one of them.

I once had an applicant like that throw a fit and insist that he be given my job immediately. (For the record, he wasn't remotely qualified.)

Shockingly, I decided not to hire him.

They asked me to pay for "administrative fee". It's a giant red flag.

The owner of the company told me she’d come to my house and cut off all my hair if I ever shared any information with her competitors.

I never shared any info about the company, but you better believe I told everyone what she had said to me.

As an interviewer let me say my favorite one.

Me: What's your greatest strength? Candidate: uhhh well I guess free lifts.. I can do like 80 now...

I had to excuse myself and leave the room. Mind you this was some 16 year old interviewing for a grocery store but to this day I still think I should have hired him.

My husband inadvertently ruined his job interview that way. Group interview with four people and this was the first question they asked him [what do you know about the company]. He had done his research and started running down the work history of the CEO, patents they obtained, patents they had applied for and even talked about how impressed he was with their one system. Turned out 3 of the interviewers were from HR and one was from marketing or some other completely different department. This was for an engineering job. They abruptly ended the interview. It was quite clear they were not happy he knew more about the company than they did.

Had an interview at a retail store: "I'm really good at zoning out and doing repetitive boring work". Still got the job, don't know how.

I was interviewing for a customer service position at a company I'd never heard of but thought "hey, maybe it's a start-up". I got up and excused myself when the interviewer mentioned door to door sales for commission. I told her "I'm sorry, the online posting said customer service. Not sales. I don't appreciate having my time wasted, and I'm sure you don't either. Next time be honest In what you're looking for."

Job performance assessment for me.

Was making $21/hr as a 3rd year apprentice. I asked for a raise to $26 - after completing my third year of school (a typical 4th year wage in my area) - and he countered with $22.

I chuckled under my breath and looked down at my feet and said 'well if you don't wanna pay me, I'll leave.' The reply was 'we really need the help.'

My retort was, 'if you did, you'd pay me,'

I had a new job 4 days later with the pay I wanted.

The interviewer raised her voice and became verbally abusive during the interview. I stood up, announced the meeting was over, and left.

I was interviewing someone once for a job working with children.

A lady told me, out of the blue, "Hispanic people don't know how to raise their children, the things that those kinds of children will say".

That sure took less than 15 seconds and it sure ruined the interview.

I went for an interview at a "sales company" whatever that means. I was 17 and just wanted an easy job, thought it would be a door to door thing. When I got there I was surrounded by business men in suits, all looking really panicked. I got into the interview and the guy looked really shocked to see me, but I instantly smelled something fishy. Worked out pretty quickly it was a (very polished looking) pyramid scheme. When he started to explain the emphasis on getting results and how the pay worked I stood up, told him he clearly didn't pay attention when sorting through the CVs and that it wasn't for me. Shook his hand and walked out. On the bus home I figured out that my shirt was on inside out the whole time. Total professionalism on both sides!

I had a candidate tell me “I have extreme anger problems and I can’t help but get loud and hands on when’s someone’s doesn’t get what I’m trying to say” it was for an engineering internship.

Did this already! Was nervous and chugged the last of my coke before going inside. Went to shake the guys hand and say Hello but a very loud long burp came out instead. I just dropped his hand and left.

A driving job advertised as paying $16 an hour plus tips. During the interview they clarified it's actually $9 an hour but the tips would bring the average up to $16 an hour. No thanks. Maybe don't word it like your wage will be $16 and the tips will be added to that. They knew what they were doing, I could tell the interviewer noticed my change in demeanor when she told me the truth. Borderline bait and switch.

I was told that I would have to sign aircraft off for return to service even if I wasn't the one doing the work or inspection.

I worked hard to earn my certification and am not risking someone else's mistakes going on my record.

Interview with small business. Mostly remote work. Supply your own computer. Salary and preliminary benefit info is okay, not stellar. They mention the requirement to install monitoring software on my computer. It takes snapshots every 5 minutes and video every hour that is reviewed by mgmt. If not mouse or keyboard movement within X time, you get clocked out.

Not really interested in working someplace they don't trust employees. If your going to make these crazy rules, you need to pay someone to put up with your craziness. Oh, and *NOT* on my personal computer. Not even on a VM!