Interview Mistakes- What's the worst thing you've ever done?
 

I was asked once what my biggest weakness was.
I said, "Getting out of bed in the morning..."

The look on the guys face was priceless.

I'm not sure what the hell I was thinking with that answer!

Just about everyone I knew gave me some advice for an interview and it definitely ended badly. I had just been hired for my current job and then the day of hiring I got an interview for a banking position that could possibly pay more. Everyone I knew said to tell the interviewer "I already have a job, you're gonna have to pay me (insert salary here) in order to get me to take this job." The look on his face was great. He was like ok thanks for your time cya. Never heard back, and the salary wasn't outrageous.

For my current job, I spent so much time preparing answers to questions relating to my skills and what I would bring to the job that I forgot to think about the basic...like how much money I wanted. It didn't help that due to the nature of this job, it would only last for about 5 months, so I wasn't thinking about long-term issues. I wanted the job for the experience moreso than the money.

When the interviewer asked me if I had any salary requirements, I succinctly responded, "no." The other interviewer (my main interviewer's boss) jokingly responded "Great! He'll work for free!" and we all had a laugh. I covered for myself by just being honest and continuing, "Within reason obviously. Being a short-term job, the money details are secondary."

I got the job, and maybe I could be earning a few hundred more per month than I am now, but it's true that the experience in this job is more important to me than the money, and I'm still making more than I was before. So, it turned out well.

When I told this story to a friend of mine, he told me about his biggest interview mistake. When the interviewer asked him where he saw himself in 5 years, he responded, "No longer living in my parents' basement."

Not me, but someone was asked if he ever shoplifted.
"I've never been caught."

This isn't the worst thing you could say so long as you point out that you are on a path of independence.

I played footsies with the daughter of the manager (who was assistant manager) while being interviewed. On purpose.

When asked "If Dept. A and Dept. B each have an important project, and each are clamoring for dedicated effort, how do you choose which dept. to put as top priority ?"

My Reply ... "Which ever Dept. brings me donuts!"

(I did land that job, I felt it showed a good sense of humour)

From the other side of the table, I was interviewing a candidate once, and when asked why he thought he'd not landed some of the other jobs he had interviewed for, his response was..."I was probably too good for those positions!"

(he did not get this one either)

Here's a mistake that I committed as a high school senior. This was at my interview with Harvard admissions.

Q: So if you had your choice to go anywhere for college, where would you go?

Correct answer: Harvard.

My answer: "Well, uh... I don't know, they're all really good, I don't really have a top choice. I could go anywhere."

I suppose I was being honest -- I didn't have a top choice of school at all when I was applying for college, and only made the decision after I visited the schools that I was admitted into. But in terms of playing the college admissions game, epic fail on my part.

My worst was simple. I misread the individual interviewing me. Humor is a difficult thing, ain't it?

"What's your dream job?"
"Interviewer."

I'm surprised you were able to sit down with those huge balls.

One word: AWESOME.

I don't have any really grievous stories to tell from my own interviewing.

I was once interviewing a guy for a job coding web applications in Perl. He'd come to us from a gig in Oman working for Shell Oil doing visualizations of drilling paths for oil rigs. He said, "I enjoy working in Perl, but there wasn't a lot of call for it at Shell. It was Perl before swine, if you will." At that moment, I knew I had to hire that man.

Of course, several years later he bought the company and laid me off, so seen from that perspective, hiring him was a monumental error on my part... ;)

I don't have much in the way of interview mistakes in my past. Probably the worst was the very first job I ever had: file clerking at a small law office, the summer in between my junior and senior year of high school. They said: "You understand the job pays minimum wage only?" And I said, "Sure. Remind me what that is, in these parts?" They told me, and without thinking, I blurted out, "Jeez, people live on that?!"

The boss was a friend of a family friend, so I still got the job.

A friend of mine in college, however, enjoys telling about the time he forgot an interview, and when-- fortunately-- they called at the last minute to tell him they had to push the interview back half an hour, he flew out the door to keep the meeting-- unfortunately-- while he was high as a kite. He swears he busted out the Visine, and they couldn't tell at all, but I doubt it. When he was that high, he sounded like someone playing Keanu Reeve's dialogue tracks from "Bill and Ted" at half-speed. He did not get the job.

I also overheard one interview at the pizza place I worked at after college, when I was an actor. My boss asked this guy what were the areas in which he felt he needed improvement. His answers: "First of all, I totally need to figure out the right stance when I'm front porching, because I am getting shacked every time I hit the tubes. Oh, and I should probably cut down on the shrooms, because I'm getting hella trails right now, and I haven't even had any today." Also did not get the job.

The worst thing I have ever said in an interview is also the best thing. I realized right away that I would NOT be able to work with the interviewer as my boss so I stood up and said, "You know what? Never mind," shook his hand and walked out.

I openly laughed in their faces when they told me the base salary. I laughed even harder when they told me that they only offer a training bonus of 50% of the rest of the departments. This was a panel of 6 members comprised of upper management.

Then, as I was being given a tour of the facilities and listening to how they were the "most innovative" in their industry, I pointed to the competitor's product which was dismantled on the shelves and said "wait a minute, shouldn't they be getting the credit?"

Needless to say I was given the "regret to inform" letter in the mail. In honesty, the only reason I went was to duck out of school for a few days, eat a free dinner, and get paid mileage even though a friend and I carpooled.

They did have good carrot cake, though.

The interviews I've been in (Radio Shack, Oil Change garage, current job) all went pretty well. I didn't get any stupid trick questions, and my answer to "greatest weakness" was honest (not that it mattered to Radio Shack,) that I tend to pay too much attention to detail and sometimes lose sight of the bigger picture or get distracted trying to micromanage details.

I wore my steel loop earrings to an interview. One in each ear. As a guy in the south working IT (in College Station, TX, no less), that is a mistake. I landed the next job though, without earrings lol. I put them back in once I got the job.

Saying i was annoyed with all the eastern europeans in my previous job who had no respect and just made a complete hash of everything (which they did).

Forgot it was a company with a strong presence in eastern europe i was applying for...

Forgot to remove my tongue ring.

Nothing especially interesting.

Got the job anyway. Turned it down.

My first, real interview for a real job (high school teacher)... I was rushing to iron my pant-suit for the interview, and I realized 1 second too late that I had the wrong fabric setting on the iron. *Sizzle*, melt... so it basically left an iron-shaped shiny mark on the back of my black blazer.

There was nothing else I could wear. I had to go like that. I was horribly nervous anyway, and tried to walk quickly out of the room after I was done, in case they were staring at my back. :lol: Didn't get the job (probably not due to the blazer, but it didn't help), but I got my next one, with a new blazer. :)

I am a pretty good interviewee, if I do say so myself, as I can bullshit with the best of 'em. So my biggest mistake wasn't so bad:

I interviewed for a sales job at a mens clothing store that carried mainly suits and other dress apparel.

I saw the interviewer, who was the store manager, was wearing a suit himself.

So I told him that I loved "dressing up" in suits and couldn't wait to start working there, which was BS, but a little enthusiasm and ass kissing never hurt.

He promptly informed me that, because of lagging sales, the store was switching to "street" apparel, and they wouldn't be carrying suits any longer.

Unfortunately I got the job, and because this was about 5 years before hip hop really got big, we couldn't sell any of that shit either.