People Share Their Worst Job Interviews, And Here Are 30 Of The Most Entertaining Ones

"Non-technical qualities are hugely important for interviewing well," Sam told Bored Panda, sharing that some of them include speaking with confidence, maintaining eye contact every so often instead of locking on as though with laser beams, sitting up straight, and pointing your feet and body towards the interviewer. What's more, it's vital to maintain good hygiene, have a "radiant smile," be full of enthusiasm, and give a "firm, non-sweaty handshake."

"At the end of the day, your manager wants to hire someone whom they can get along with and trust. The nicer and more competent you come across, the better," he explained.

We were very curious to find out whether there are any tricks to help someone control their nerves before a big job interview. Sam, the author of 'Buy This, Not That,' told Bored Panda that applicants should remind themselves that everyone's equal outside of the workplace. "If you bump into the interviewer at the supermarket, you have an equal right to be there as they do. If you see the interviewer at a concert or at a restaurant, you're both equal, even if the interviewer is a billionaire!"

Another way to get your nervousness under control is to know your stuff. "The more you know about the company, the industry it's in, and your qualifications, the less nervous you will be," the expert said that doing your research and putting in the effort to learn as much as you can should give you a boost of confidence.

Sam, the founder of the Financial Samurai project, explained the difference between confidence and over-confidence and stressed that it's far better to be humble than to err on the side of arrogance.

"Being humble and confident is better than being overconfident. Nobody likes overconfident people. They are often unpleasant to work with. Instead, the trick is to speak with confidence and humility," he said. "For example, you can point out some award or accomplishment on your resume as a learning moment where a lot of luck was involved. This shows humility. But you can confidently say that you will happily try again to see if the win wasn't a fluke. This is an example of confidence and humility."

He noted that we have to accept luck as an important factor in our lives and our successes: "It's important to never attribute all your success due to your own hard work and skills. Instead, be humble to recognize that a lot of success and tremendous wealth is due to luck. Once you accept luck, you tend to naturally be more humble and appreciate more of what you have. Because if you can get lucky, you can also get unlucky!"

It’s important to keep in mind that it’s not just you who’s being interviewed: you’re checking to see if the company you’re applying to gels well with you, too. You’ve got to be true to your standards and avoid showing that you’re desperate (even if you might be). There really are plenty of opportunities out there, and you shouldn’t have to settle for low pay, a toxic atmosphere, and micromanaging bosses just because you think you might not be worth anything better.

Career coach Jermaine Murray suggested to Bored Panda a while back that being too humble is the biggest mistake that any job applicant can make. You have to highlight your wins, your achievements, your accomplishments. Nobody else will do it for you. At least, in Jermaine's opinion.

"They humble themselves when they need to be boasting. If you understand why the work that you were doing was important and how it impacts your org then you should be explaining that to the interviewer without holding back. How did you go above and beyond to make sure things worked? What creative ways did you come up with? Show off,” he suggested.

"If your body language or tone says otherwise [i.e. that you’re not confident], you destroy the perception of your skills. Once that's gone so are your chances of landing the job," Jermaine explained that you have to be as confident as can be.

Something that recruiters look at very closely is your personality. Technical skills alone might not be enough to secure a good position at a prestigious company.

"You can teach someone to be a better coder but it's near impossible to teach them how to be a better person. Recruiters will always value personality first, but technical skills are a very close second," the career coach said.

"Hiring managers keep that in mind and try to make sure candidates they like can perform competently. Different things contribute to this bar that aren't based on the candidate but the organization's internal ability to support and develop someone. Once those two elements are present, a hire will happen.”

Meanwhile, Kierra, a cloud engineer and a data analytics consultant who helps people pivot into tech roles in the job industry, told us that recruiters look for people who show an interest in the company and the interviewer, and have a willingness to learn.

"This means one should have a few questions to ask after every interview. Asking which projects should someone in the role expect to work on and what the interviewer likes about working for the company,” she gave some advice to Bored Panda.

"The best way to build confidence is through practice. If you’re familiar with a skill set that a company is hiring for, you’ll have fewer jitters. This means working on meaningful projects that are similar to the tasks one would expect to perform in a role,” she said that you could work on some fun side-projects related to the position that you want so you have something to talk to during your job interview.

"Also, you do not need to know every single item that a company lists on a job description. I say if you know 70%, apply, and if you’re selected to interview… go and study the fundamentals of the items that you don’t know from the job description and understand how they would be used for the job role," Kierra said.

"This way, if you’re asked about the items, you can show that even though you don’t have working knowledge, you still understand the importance of it. No one knows everything before they join a company so showing initiative to learn something new before the job interview goes a long way!"