Ever actually been glad to fail an interview?

LisaB85

I really want a job I get !!!!ed off at attending interviews only to be pipped to the post but last night I was actually hoping to fail within 5 minutes of it starting.

Applied for a job on Wednesday and got invited to interview within a couple of hours for Thursday 930pm, arrived at 920pm and there were a group of about 10 people (turns out it was a 'group' interview) we stood waiting round until finally at 945pm the person doing the interviews turns up.

Took us all to a large room upstairs and sat down, this was the deputy manager I believe and he did seem pleasant enough. The manager turns up and the deputy jumped out of his skin clearly a little scared of him, the manager was extremely blunt, intimidating, grumpy and arrogant while giving his talk about the hours and the rules of the place and how the interview would work.

He left the room and everyone commented on how they didn't like him, an older lady of about 50 stood up and said she wouldn't continue with the interview as she believes interviews are a 2 way thing and could tell the manager is a bully and will not work for a bully.

We would all go individually to do a typing test while the other waited in the room then have a brief interview with the deputy, so they called us all in to sit round when it wasn't really a group interview. Finally at 1015pm the manager took me down for the typing test, he barely spoke to me and I was too scared to ask any questions. Got marked an 8 for my test and sent to sit back in the room.

One of the other girls remarked that this manager said he was unhappy that she has a child.

About 1025 I went for my 'interview' with the deputy who is nice and friendly, I felt relaxed with him. Then he dropped the bombshell that they would be calling people that night or early morning for a second interview at 1030am TODAY.

I left at 1045pm, felt guilty as my lift was sat waiting outside in his car as there was no mention of a 'group' interview most of us in the interview thought we would be up to 30minutes. On my way home I was begging for them not to call me as I could honestly see working for them being a nightmare.

Luckily they haven't called

I know why I failed the interview though, the role is shifts over 24 hours 7 days a week and 2 shifts start at 6am or finish at 6am with no bonus for doing a night shift. I had filled out on my application that I rely on public transport therefore couldn't start or finish at 6am leaving me only able to do 1 of the shifts.

Noctu

Yes. In a similar situation actually - a group interview situation with a presentation of the job (working on a research project). The staff members joked around and declared that they had no idea what to ask candidates in their interviews. It was all very uncomfortable and unprofessional.

I purposefully messed up the one to one interview and ignored their call saying I didn't get the job (they left a message!)

Funnily enough I'm working in the same place now but a completely different area!

LadyMissA

I once had an interview many many years ago for a gentlemans club in London and without naming them I think you will know where I mean. The job may I point out was in accounts and the accounts manager and the company accountant sat in front of me talking about what the job would be and then he was arguing with her that he didn't think the job was going to be this etc.
He then went on to ask me if my boyfriend was to call at 6pm looking for me what would I say (I had no boyfriend!) and would he be ok I worked there and what would my parents think etc. It wasn't even like an interview and they told me nothing about the job as they had no idea what role they were filling and they asked me nothing!

He was a real creep and well I was offered the job but said no thanks!

want-it-all

Yep - I was job hunting after college and went for an interview at a mobile phone repair shop.

The job was for admin/receptionist type of role, so on my CV I put these types of skills. The interviewers openly mocked me to my face because I put that I had "ICT skills", rather than "IT skills". The year was 2006, I was 21, and "ICT" is all I'd ever been taught...I couldn't understand why they'd call me for interview if they just wanted to mock my CV. They also mocked my hobbies (I happen to be very passionate about rap music, have even written a few magazine articles, etc., and have an encyclopaedic knowledge of this music...they thought it was hilarious for a young small-town white girl to have this passion). I’m not talking laughing with me, they were laughing at me, and quite openly, too.

The interview was conducted by two 50+ males (which is absolutely fine, but I got the feeling they were expressly using their age and ‘experience’ to intimidate me in some way). Very pervy, too, ogling at me etc.

I didn’t get the job, but to this day I can’t fathom why they even interviewed me – I was never going to get the job. And I wasn’t signing on, there was no ‘pressure’ or incentive for them to interview me, I was just an ordinary applicant off the street.

It still makes me shudder, 6 years on!


As far as I'm aware, they went bust a year or so later, anyway!

LisaB85

want-it-all wrote: »

Yep - I was job hunting after college and went for an interview at a mobile phone repair shop.

The job was for admin/receptionist type of role, so on my CV I put these types of skills. The interviewers openly mocked me to my face because I put that I had "ICT skills", rather than "IT skills". The year was 2006, I was 21, and "ICT" is all I'd ever been taught...I couldn't understand why they'd call me for interview if they just wanted to mock my CV. They also mocked my hobbies (I happen to be very passionate about rap music, have even written a few magazine articles, etc., and have an encyclopaedic knowledge of this music...they thought it was hilarious for a young small-town white girl to have this passion). I’m not talking laughing with me, they were laughing at me, and quite openly, too.

The interview was conducted by two 50+ males (which is absolutely fine, but I got the feeling they were expressly using their age and ‘experience’ to intimidate me in some way). Very pervy, too, ogling at me etc.

I didn’t get the job, but to this day I can’t fathom why they even interviewed me – I was never going to get the job. And I wasn’t signing on, there was no ‘pressure’ or incentive for them to interview me, I was just an ordinary applicant off the street.

It still makes me shudder, 6 years on!


As far as I'm aware, they went bust a year or so later, anyway!

I would have just walked out :eek:

want-it-all

LisaB85 wrote: »

I would have just walked out :eek:

I'd walk out nowadays. And probably tell them to eff-off, too. But I was young, naive, and kind of needed a job. Luckily I had another one lined up that I stuck at for 4 years

magenta22

Oh most definitely. Sometimes you go for an interview and from the JD it sounds great but when you get to the actual interview you know that it's not for you.

Like you I am fed up attending interviews and getting pipped to the post each time and (although positive) I'm not getting any negative feedback from interviews which makes it even worse as it was just someone had 'more experience'

Was your interview really that late at night?

bluenoseam

Yep! Two actually, the first was years ago (2003 if i'm not mistaken) with a club shop of a major football club in a secondary location, i'll admit i was young & niave but it was a job i figured i wouldn't have any problems in doing so i applied. During the interview i was asked if i supported said club (which i do) to which the reply was that most of the staff actually had no interest in football & those who did supported a rival club (which i wasn't too fussed about to be honest - not like i was the manager of said club). The next question was "if you were to get the job you would be the only male member of staff - how would you feel about that?" - i ofcourse answered it wouldn't bother me (it wouldn't) however it very much showed that it was obvious the manageress was after more of the same! Needless to say when i didn't get the job i didn't lose any sleep over it!

The second was more recently, September last year with The Discovery Store. Now i'm used to interviews with all sorts of people, but when it comes down to it i do expect a degree of professionalism to be displayed in all cases - if for nothing else than to represent the company in a positive light. The interview was conducted in the "staff room" of the store, a ramshackle affair with stock strewn across it, old POS lying around & what you could describe as a depressing dank cupboard like appearance. I had to sit on a stepstool (alarm bells should have been ringing here) & the first act was to wait for 2 minutes as the manager proceeded to attempt to find my CV from the pile she had - when she couldn't find it she decided to go ahead with the interview anyway. From there she bad mouthed the company, asked what age i was & when i replied 27 her answer was "oh so that'll be you on the higher rate of pay then!" (more alarm bells anyone?) & her only other questions were did i smoke (which she asked twice) & what my available hours would be. The interview lasted a total of 4 minutes, the majority of which was her faffing about trying to find my CV & ended a grand total of 20 seconds after i'd said i was 27 - she phoned up that afternoon to say i wasn't successful but she'd keep my details on record. It's the only time i've ever told a potential employer not to bother as i felt that she was incapable of offering a job which i'd find to be anything other than a joke and that her representation of the company was so shocking that i would not consider being in her employment! The store shut down about 6 weeks ago along with, as far as i can see, the majority of their other locations, hardly surprising given the experience i had!

LisaB85

I can laugh about it now, it is shame companies don't ask for feedback on their interview technique when they write to give you feedback that you failed.....It seems a few fail themselves.

It is for a casino so the hours are all over the place hence the odd interview time; however if I got the job I'd still get paid the £6.25 basic rate for doing a 10pm-6am night shift.

They seem to recruit quite often and think I can see why.

GotToChange

LisaB85 wrote: »

I can laugh about it now, it is shame companies don't ask for feedback on their interview technique when they write to give you feedback that you failed.....It seems a few fail themselves.

It is for a casino so the hours are all over the place hence the odd interview time; however if I got the job I'd still get paid the £6.25 basic rate for doing a 10pm-6am night shift.

They seem to recruit quite often and think I can see why.

There's nothing to say that you can't drop them a line anyway - you'd be doing them a favour; that is of course, if you're sure that you'll never want to work there)

Maaaaany years ago (and even then, they told me that I would have been old to be a croupier), I was offered a job at the only casino in my nearest city (which is still 17 miles away) - and I couldn't quite get my head around the hours (again, no pay enhancement), I think finishing time would have been 4:00am... and I couldn't figure out when I would sleep/exercise my horse etc etc. Even though I was offered the job (despite being "old" (then 30-something), I declined as there was a two-week training period with no pay or something ridiculous like £100* per week.


*Which nowadays seems to be a lot - see my posts on "work experience" blah blah.
Or don't.

Lith

Group interviews suck anyway,

in the past when I find out it was a group interview i never attended (because the way i see it) your here to interview me not a group

and in the end it worked !