We’ve all been there: the dreaded job interview. As unnerving and stressful as they are it’s to be expected that mishaps are bound to take place. Here is a list of the 15 worst job interview calamities that will leave yours in the dust. Next time you bomb an interview, feel free to check this list out; it’ll be certain to brighten your day and make you feel a bit better!
1. You’re Related to Who?
It’s never a good idea to badmouth your old boss, no matter how much you disliked him or how intensely you feel that she should have been the subordinate, not you. This applicant spent the length of their interview bellyaching about their former boss totally unaware of their interviewer’s relation to their aforementioned boss. They even had the same last name!
2. Zzz…
Remember back to your younger days in school where they stressed the importance of a good night’s rest before a big test like the SAT? Well the same goes for job interviews. It looks like this applicant failed to heed the advice of his tenth grade English teacher when he dozed off right in the middle of his interview!
3. A Day When Everything Goes Wrong
We’ve all had those days when you wake up and you just know it’s going to be a bad day, days where everything seems to go terribly wrong and you realize you should have just stayed in bed. At least that’s the realization this particular interviewee came to after an interview at an advertising company went completely awry.
Stressed out and in a hurry due to the process of pawning off his 5-year-old niece to an ex-girlfriend this unfortunate interviewee forgot to put on his suspenders and grabbed his prescription sunglasses instead of his regular pair. Needless to say once he discovered he had the wrong pair of glasses he figured it would be better to go through the interview blind than rudely in sunglasses.
When standing up to shake the interviewer’s hand he found himself standing in the middle of the agency’s office with his pants around his ankles!
As if that’s not horrific enough it only gets worse when on behalf of his hindered eyesight when asked to supply his resume he hands over a resume to a competing agency and was asked to leave.
4. Hello, Doctor?
Employers want to see that their perspective employees are independent thinkers who are capable of making their own decisions. This woman displayed just the opposite of what her interviewer hoped to find when she brought the interview to a halt in order to dial her therapist for guidance on how to answer a question!
5. What Did You Say?
We’ve all said things we wish we could go back in time and erase. This candidate was caught with his foot in his mouth when he made a wisecrack about West Virginia only to discover that his most likely now agitated interviewer hailed from West Virginia.
6. That was YOU?!
Always think twice before you do anything rash. When in a state of rage try your hardest not to let your emotions get the best of you, you may never know just who exactly you are ripping into. This woman sure didn’t when she flipped off, honked, and shouted obscenities to the driver of another vehicle prior to finding that same driver conducting the interview for her desired position.
7. What Are Your Qualifications?
Don’t make the mistake of being too full of yourself. Although you do want to portray a certain amount of confidence this applicant took it too far when he declared that he was so adept for the job that if he happened to be denied the position it would ultimately confirm the company’s management to be insufficient!
8. Sore Loser
This interviewee refused to leave his chair unless he was given the position. Eventually police were called in to the scene to remove the applicant.
9. Did I Get the Job?
Sometimes you have to wonder what in the world are some of these people thinking? Are they trying to sabotage the interview? This man clearly was when he stated that he didn’t actually want the position, he only needed to validate he was job searching for the unemployment office!
10. Dress Down Friday
Although there is much more slack in dress codes nowadays you would assume its common knowledge that one must dress professionally when attending a job interview. Apparently not. This applicant showed up to an interview in her robe and slippers!
11. All For Nothing
Nothing’s worse than going to hell and back for a job interview only be denied the position. This particular applicant drove 30 minutes to a 7:30am interview, could not find the arranged parking lot forcing her to leave her car in a private lot, and waited 20 minutes for her interviewer to only find the position had been offered to another applicant two days ago. After all this the only thing the applicant had to show for her troubles was a parking stub.
12. Make Yourself at Home
Most people would agree that on a job interview they tend to feel a bit uptight and constrained however this woman showed no signs of tension as she proceeded to make her self at home by removing her socks and placing them on her interviewer’s desk claiming she was “too hot”.
13. The Literalist
When feeling nervous and under pressure its understandable to give one or two silly answers lacking forethought. When asked what person they would most like to meet, living or dead this applicant replied with “the living one”.
14. Spit it Out
It’s probably for the best to spit out that piece of Winterfresh before beginning an interview to keep clear of appearing ill-mannered or to avoid what happened to Yolanda Evans from Project Performance Corporation who had a piece of gum spewed into her face by an anxious interviewee.
15. Don’t Let the Door Hit You On the Way Out
A final impression is just as important as the first. This applicant made a memorable one when he got up to leave the interview and walked into a glass door shattering it to pieces.
