Posted by Helen on: 05.22.2008 /
These mistakes by interviewees were listed on a survey taken by careerbuilder.com last year. (I read them here.)
-
Candidate answered cell phone and asked the interviewer to leave her own office because it was a “private” conversation.
- Applicant told the interviewer he wouldn’t be able to stay with the job long because he thought he might get an inheritance if his uncle died - and his uncle wasn’t “looking too good.”
- The job seeker asked the interviewer for a ride home after the interview.
- The applicant smelled his armpits on the way to the interview room.
- Candidate said she could not provide a writing sample because all of her writing had been for the CIA and it was “classified.”
- Candidate told the interviewer he was fired for beating up his last boss.
- When the applicant was offered food before the interview, he declined saying he didn’t want to line his stomach with grease before going out drinking.
- An applicant said she was a “people person” not a “numbers person” — in her interview for an accounting position.
- During a phone interview the candidate flushed the toilet while talking to hiring manager.
- The applicant took out a hair brush and brushed her hair
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15 Responses to "Mistakes interviewees made"
Comment by: joe
1 05/22/08 4:05 AM | Comment Link |I wouldn’t put that past any of the current candidates on The Apprentice. Is your version as cringe-worthy as ours?
Comment by: Helen
2 05/22/08 6:32 AM | Comment Link |Joe, I don’t know because I’ve never watched it. Maybe someone else can help you out with that :)
Comment by: Staci
3 05/22/08 10:33 AM | Comment Link |The strangest thing I’ve seen in an interview was this poor woman who kept scratching. She had on a long-sleeved knit top and was actually reaching up the sleeves to scratch her upper arms up to the shoulders and then scratch her head with both hands. She would also close her eyes when answering the questions. I think it was a nervous habit rather than some sort of rash. I wanted to offer her some lotion as I just felt so sorry for her.
Comment by: Helen
4 05/22/08 12:28 PM | Comment Link |Staci, that poor woman does sound very nervous.
Comment by: Barbara
5 05/22/08 9:01 PM | Comment Link |These are pretty amazing. I was in HR and did interviews for 9 years. My number one weird thing:
We asked a woman what her biggest job related mistake was, she said “I accidentally killed my last boss”.
Comment by: Jason Horton
6 05/23/08 3:55 AM | Comment Link |I always ask for feedback after a job interview. I was told once that my taking notes was distracting. I thought this was odd as I’d always thought that a note pad with comments helps to order your thoughts and stops those moments when your mind goes blank. Plus it gives you something to do with your hands when you’re nervous.
Obviously my furious scribbling was annoying.
–
I occasionally have to interview people for technical jobs. I can usually weed out the unqualified people from their CVs (resume in Americanese) but sometimes someone sneaks through with a good lie. An interview is not just a great way to test knowledge but is a great way to get a feel for a person’s character. You don’t have time for more than that in a typical interview but your list is a fine example of things that betray a lack of character or consideration for others. Not good traits for a new member of staff.
An an interviewer I always look for three things in a candidate:
1. Can they do the job?
2. Will they do the job?
3. Are they manageable?
The first is really about skills, the second is about attitude and the third is about character and the ability to integrate into the team. You may be surprised on how rarely all three boxes get ticked.
I could go on about this for days.
Comment by: Helen
7 05/23/08 5:19 AM | Comment Link |Barbara, yes, that’s totally weird, isn’t it?
Jason, I’m surprised - I would have thought note-taking conveys you’re taking the interview seriously. Oh well.
You’re impressively bilingual - where did you learn all your Americanese?
Ironic that neither word is English anyway - CV is Latin (Curriculum Vitae) and resume is French. I suppose the English words didn’t sound high brow enough for “My awesome job experience and spectacular personal details”.
My husband would agree with you about interviewees. He’s done a lot of interviews and had similar experiences to yours.
The thing about character is, people can learn new skills on the job, but it’s much harder to change someone’s character. If the job requires someone who works well with others and is a team player, showing you lack those traits in an interview is much more of a deal breaker than not quite having the training/experience the interviewer was hoping for.
Comment by: Jason Horton
8 05/23/08 6:37 AM | Comment Link |Helen it’s not just English and American that I speak. I’m also able to speak Australian and Indian. I’m really only fluent in gibberish though.
I was once told by a teacher that a CV had one job: to get you to an interview. An interview was your one chance to stand out from the other candidates. Getting the job was something that you had to work at for the first three months of your employment. Only then were you properly employed.
Comment by: Helen
9 05/23/08 12:20 PM | Comment Link |Helen it’s not just English and American that I speak. I’m also able to speak Australian and Indian. I’m really only fluent in gibberish though.
:)
Do you really speak Indian? Where did you learn that?
What your teacher said makes a lot of sense to me.
Comment by: Jason Horton
10 05/23/08 1:03 PM | Comment Link |The common language of India is English, thanks to British colonialism. I don’t speak Hindi or Urdu or any of the other 20 official languages. Although Hil has picked up the odd phrase in Bengali, though probably no more than I know of Welsh or Greek. i.e. how to swear and order beer. ;)
Comment by: Helen
11 05/23/08 2:29 PM | Comment Link |Oh, that Indian language. I get it now!
Comment by: Doreen A Mannion
12 05/26/08 11:45 AM | Comment Link |That’s actually a legitimate answer, IMHO. And anyone who asks for a writing sample is a fool, IMHO.
Doreen, Fellow, Society for Technical Communication
Comment by: Helen
13 05/26/08 2:00 PM | Comment Link |Doreen, why is it foolish to ask for a writing sample?
Comment by: joe
14 05/27/08 1:21 AM | Comment Link |Depends if they’re going to make dubious assumptions about the candidate’s character based on their handwriting, I suppose Helen.
I find it hard to believe that an employer really has a legitimate reason to want to see handwriting.
Comment by: Helen
15 05/27/08 4:09 AM | Comment Link |I thought they meant, writing sample to see whether you can put words together well i.e. not necessarily hand-written.