30 HR Recruiters Share The Worst Interview Experiences They’ve Ever Had

have to say this...
Not HR but...

Watched a guy walk into where I work for an interview...He was wearing a t-shirt that said "Things that get my d**k hard"... He didn't even get the job.

So I recently got to recruit for a position a lot higher than mine. I do project management, but without the title. Anyway I interviewed this lady with my boss, and this older just bombed the interview process. She came in dressed in a very casual wear(Like a muscle shirt with a logo, and yoga pants), and her hair kind of a mess. Okay no big deal, it's kind of windy. As we walk to the room she starts asking me question like," Do you like your job? What do you dislike? What's base salary?" No biggie, she just wants to get some insight. Well once we sit down with my boss, the older lady starts to treat me like baby. (Now I'm fairly young compared to the others you see doing my job.) Her body language completely changed, and even her speech when talking to me. She turned her body to where I saw her shoulder/back. Even when I asked her questions she wouldn't turn around, and would even interrupt me while I was asking questions. My boss took notice as well as to what was going on and would say "If you have any questions, lets try to hold it till the end." After 30min of that we decided to end the interview and thank her for her time. As you can guess, she didn't get a call back.

A long time ago, I was a manager for GameStop. GameStop was very particular about the interview process. "Here's a sheet, ask these questions"

I don't work that way. I'll get to this later though.

So I have a whole line of seasonal hires lined up. And I have one guy call me and say he's going to be a little late. That's fine, c**p happens, minnesota's weather sucks, I get it.

An hour passes, I have another potential hire come in for their scheduled interview. I take them in the back and the interview goes great. I walk out and there he is.

The only way I can describe this guy is hungover without taking a shower. I could smell the bar on him from across the store. I ask him "Can I help you?"

"Yeah I had an interview today, I've been waiting for 10 minutes."
"You had an interview at noon. I've been waiting for 60 minutes."

I can already tell this is going to be a good time.

We head to the back and I sit down with him, getting slightly intoxicated on the smell of what I suspect is well tequila.

Me - "So why gamestop?"

Him - "I dunno, I like video games and stuff."

Me - "Well not a requirement but it definitely helps."

I'm still trying to keep a sunny attitude, because you never know, maybe this guy is a hidden gem of a person, just had a rough night. I never try to pretend I know what's going on with someone. But I've already got quite a few red flags.

Him -"Yeah, I guess. When are you gonna ask the questions on the sheet?"

Me - "I'm sorry?"

Him - "The questions you're supposed to ask me."

Me - "I don't interview that way. I want to get a feel for the type of person you are and questions like, 'Tell me about a time you worked as part of a team.' don't really get me the information I need to know about you."

Him - "Well that's stupid. That's not how you should interview people."

So now I'm over the guy, but hell I deserve some fun.

Me - "How should I interview people then?"

Him - "The way GameStop says to do it."

Me - "Well GameStop as a corporate entity doesn't have to work with the people I hire on a daily basis. I like to have people that fit with my team. People who don't call in that they'll be a little late and then show up an hour later. People who don't show up to a business where they work or intend to work smelling like the inside of some cheap tequila bottle."

Him - "It wasn't cheap tequila."

Me - "Well, I've heard all I need to hear. I'll call if we make the decision to hire you."

He then proceeded to mumble some stuff under his breath before leaving the office. I have never had my employees run in to make sure I wasn't dead so fast.

"Jesus, we thought he might have killed you."

"He did. On the inside."

This was 6 or so years ago. I'm now a network engineer and don't worry about that s**t.

I was a director at a company and was asked to interview an applicant who I had worked with at a previous company. The last time I saw him, security was escorting him from the building because he had listed one of the co-founders as a reference on an application to moonlight for our direct competition. Co-founder got a call asking "Does this guy work for you?" to which the answer, naturally, was "Not anymore."

We found out he had been freelancing as a consultant for quite some time around our industry, which is just leaps and bounds outside the terms of his employee agreement. All his access was immediately revoked, his phone and laptop were confiscated, and his personal belongings from his desk were mailed to him after we finished the security review. Not sure if the company pursued litigation, but they would have had a case.

So naturally, I tell my boss at the new company that he's untrustworthy, and point out that he lists the consulting on his resume as a current position along with another full-time gig that he's leaving, so he's not even being discreet about it. Boss asks me to interview him anyway because "his skill set looks good."

In the interview, I brought up that had two current jobs, and asked him how much time he was spending on the consulting, and whether that would impact his full-time work. He dodged by saying to me "It hasn't ever been a problem in the past." I was just blown away. Like, I was there, dude. I was the one who revoked your access.

He didn't get the job.

Edit: the problem was that he was sharing the company's trade secrets. I worked with him at an industry leader, he took the training he got there and brought it to our competition. Not only was this in violation of his non-compete and non-disclosure agreements, it was very against the ethos of the company. Everyone else who worked there focused on getting an edge, being better in a competitive industry, while this dude actively worked against that. It's one thing to work for a year and then go freelance if you want to hustle that way, and I respect that, but to lie to your employer in order to sell their secret sauce across the street after hours is deeply uncool.

Edit 2: It's probably important to note that this was a technology company in a competitive landscape. Both old co and new co were highly dependent on proprietary tech, methods, and processes. All this was made really, really explicit and the penalties for violating it were also laid out clearly.

My manager did a telephone interview the other day.

He asks her what her qualifications are.

She says they are on her CV

He says they are not (they weren't), that's why he's asking.

She says "A-Levels"

He asks what grades.

She says "Cannot remember"

He stresses a few things about skills required for the job.

She hangs up on him.

Apparently that is the only time in his life he's had someone hang up (or the in-person equivalent which would be to walk out) on him.

"What would your friends say are your best qualities?"

"I don't have any friends."

Looked down the hall to see applicant in blue jeans playing on his phone. His application nunber came up and it was filled out in pencil. Went to save both of us time and tell him no thanks but he had decided to lay out for a nap across half the available chairs.

HE STILL GOT HIRED (MANAGER HIRE).

Everyday, on the phone or asleep in the breakroom. He was still there when I left the company.

Not a recruiter. Insteaad this is about an interview I did with Wendys. This happened last year during the end of my hs senior year. My family doesnt make that much so I wanted to have a job to help pay for my college. The only problem is that my mom is extremely protective and doesnt trust "non-arabs". After months of asking her to let me apply she finally said yes but only nearby since she didnt want to drive me there (my parents didn't want me to get a license fearing I might run away. Im 19 and I still dont have one). After a few applications I managed to land an interview with Wendys and on the day of the interview my mom said she got me a "congratulations gift", a bluetooth ear piece. Turns out she wanted me to go to the interview wearing while she was on call with me. Once I arrive there the hiring manager does give me weird look but doesnt mention the earpiece. Anyways the interview was going well and in the end she starts mention some of the requirements needed for the job such as being able to talk to people handle food and pick up 50 pounds in weight. That's when I hear in my ear the sound of the phone being picked up and about 2 min of screaming how she doesn't want me to hurt my back, this job is dangerous, ect. I try to maintain composure but then my mom tells me to get up and leave right away. I ask the manager to give me a moment and she say ok. I go to the bathroom area pleading with my mom to let me stay however to no avail she tells me to leave without saying a word and that she is waiting for me outside in the car. As I walk out I look at the manager with a sad look ajd just wave good bye to her and without saying a word I leave.

TLDR; mom busts in and doesnt let son get the job

Edit: Thank you all for your kind words and advice. I'm going to attempt getting a job once more and see how it works out

Did a phone interview with a guy whose resume said he lived a couple of hours from the job. It became obvious pretty quickly that he had just filled out the application without looking to see where we were. After asking him more than once if he knew where we were, and him not really giving a solid answer, I asked him directly about how he was going to manage the commute. He said that we weren't that far. When I told him where we were, and how far away he was, there was a brief silence, and he blurted out, "S**t! I'll move!" I told him to wait on a follow up email to find out the next step. He did not move on to the next step. I liked the guy, though.

I interviewed a women for an IT position. A few minutes in she started rubbing one of her eyes. Within a few minutes it was all red and started to swell.

She kept rubbing at it and rubbing at it.

By the end of the interview she couldn't see out of the eye at all and a HUGE whitehead had formed on her eyelid but the whole time she never acknowledged the problem even though I asked if she was ok.

When the interview wrapped up she tried to shake my hand with the same hand she had been rubbing all over her disease infested eyeball from hell.

I politely declined. She didn't get the job.