If your job interview is going well, keep it to yourself. It’s probably best not to phone your parents half way through the interview to tell them how it’s going. Strange as it may seem, that’s juyst one of the crazy things that have happened in recent interviews.
British Recruitment Specialist company, Robert Half, recently released some fascinating research regarding job seekers. They named the top seven blunders from job interviews they’d researched. I wonder if you can top any of these.
1. One person brought his mother to the job interview and let her do all the talking.
2. A job applicant went to an interview with a cockatoo on his shoulder.
3. The candidate sent his sister to interview in his place.
4. After answering the first few questions, the candidate picked up his mobile and called his parents to let them know the interview was going well.
5. One candidate sang all of her responses to interview questions.
6. When asked by the hiring manager if he had any questions, the candidate replied by telling a knock-knock joke.
7. One candidate handcuffed himself to the desk during the interview.
It’s always helpful to be honest during your interview but can you be a little too honest? A few responses in interviews would suggest that sometimes it’s best to remain silent.
When asked by the hiring manager why she was leaving her current job, the applicant said, ‘My manager is a jerk. All managers are jerks.’
In response to the hiring manager’s offer to answer questions about the position, the job seeker replied, ‘What happens if I wake up in the morning and don’t feel like going to work?’
When asked what motivated him, the job seeker replied, ‘I’ve got a big house and a big car and a big credit card balance. Pay me, and I’ll be happy.’
The applicant told me he really was not interested in the position, but he liked that we allowed for a lot of time off.
Have you ever had a weird job interview? Has it ever gone horribly wrong for you or have you been interviewed by someone that has just left you scratching your head? have you ever heard of strange things happening in interviews?
On the other hand, what are your top tips for people going for a job interview? Have you found anything really helpful when searching for a job? I’d love you to share your comments.
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My tip has always been to relax and do my best at the interview. I just go and present myself and my job experience and skills in a positive way. Then I leave it up to the people to make the decision. I know God has work for me to do and He can get me to where He needs me to be. I just do my best and leave it in His hands.
I’ve found it’s good to do some research on the organisation beforehand (like having a look at their website). It’s also helpful to have a list of questions to ask the interviewer/s. Often at the end of the interview they will ask you if you have any questions for them, and to say nothing looks like you don’t really want the job.
I went to one interview where the lady barked at me straight away, “Why do you want the job?” then proceeded to tell me about all the slack young people she’d hired in the past. She scared the living daylights out of me.
A friend told me that her sister went to a job interview in her pyjamas. That was because she didn’t actually want the job but Centrelink were making her go.
I think I would have hired the person that asked the knock knock jokes 🙂 My first job after qualifying was in the head office management development department. To give me some practice I was sent up to one of their rural factories to interview 15 year old school leavers for processing work. It was me that asked the silly questions for the first day or so. I did, however, find out that most of the girls were not at all interested in the work, the majority of them wanting to “work with horses”, get married and have kids (well it was 30 years ago)