10 of the Worst Ways People Have Tanked Their Job Interviews

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The vast majority of people in the world hate job interviews. They’re anxiety-provoking, and you must put your best foot forward.

If you’re nervous about an upcoming interview, you can feel reassured that you won’t mess up as badly as others.

A user on a popular online forum asks, “What’s the worst way you’ve heard of someone tanking a job interview?” People on the forum replied with their stories.

1. Being a Little Too Honest About Her Goals

When an overqualified woman walked into an interview for a junior position, the manager was puzzled.

But when they asked the woman about her future goals at the company, they realized why other companies didn’t hire her already. She replied, “I will become manager, fire all of you, and completely change how business is run.” Needless to say, she didn’t get the job.

2. Sharing Conspiracy Theories

While it’s important to honor each employee’s different beliefs, allowing them to share their conspiracy theories with clients is another ballgame.

During a test run for a plumber, one manager says one of the interviewees bombed the test “Because he wouldn’t stop talking about the moon being a projection.”

3. In the Right Place at the Right Time

Karma gives bad people what’s coming to them, like in this satisfying story of justice. One commenter shares a story about their friend, who happened to walk past an interview at his workplace.

He looked through the window and saw the candidate for the job was a man who had seriously assaulted him a few months prior. The man notified his boss, who contacted the police, and the interviewee was soon charged with his crimes.

4. Still Using Hotmail

Sometimes something as simple as your email address can get you rejected during an interview.

One respondent says a potential employer refused their friend because he still used a Hotmail email account as a thirty-year-old man in the late 2010s. “None of his reasons for using Hotmail were apparently good enough for the interviewer,” they add.

5. Who Are You?

One manager shares a story of an interview that went wrong despite multiple attempts to allow the candidate to speak. A woman came into an interview with the manager. When they asked her to share a little about herself, she “Broke down and cried while unable to answer any questions or speak coherent sentences.”

After the interview, the manager felt terrible for the woman and decided to call her back to give her a second chance. But still, she could not share any facts about herself with the manager during the interview.

6. Stealing Others’ Work as Their Own

An artist tells the thread about an interview her former creative director had with a potential art director for a role at an arts organization. The candidate brought a portfolio of her work during the interview, but it wasn’t her work at all.

It was the work of the artist who worked under that very same creative director, and the creative director knew exactly whose work it was. “He called me mid-interview to say, ‘Hey, guess what work I’m looking at right now.’ ”

7. You’re Not Qualified

One boss searching to fill a position with a multi-lingual employee interviewed a man who claimed to have that skill.

Unfortunately for this interviewee, he had no idea that the manager interviewing him spoke one of the languages he listed.

When the interviewer asked the candidate a question in that language, the man stared blankly at him because he clearly didn’t speak a word of it.

8. Dedicated to Her Shoes

“My boss was interviewing a woman who asked about the dress code, and my boss said it was business casual,” writes one employee.

While that’s a perfectly fair question during an interview, what happens next shocked the manager. “The woman then puts her feet up on my boss’s desk and asks if her shoes would be okay because it’s the only type of shoe she will ever wear.”

9. Road Rage

Make sure to leave with plenty of time to get to the interview to avoid any road rage on your way.

Why? Because one candidate for a job fought with another car in the parking lot for a prime spot only to realize the other vehicle’s driver was the manager who interviewed them.

10. Terrifying Hobbies

When a man showed up late to an interview because his Uber didn’t arrive on time, the interviewer showed him some grace and allowed the interview to proceed.

But the manager decided he wasn’t the right fit when the candidate opened up about boxing and why it’s his favorite hobby. “He said he liked boxing because it gives him permission to hurt people,” the manager claims.

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This thread inspired this article.