Ever been to an interview and been less than impressed with the company?

mattcanary

Horace wrote: »

I can remember attending an interview for a job with one of the government agencies . It seemed ok until I actually went into the room itself and there were two guys asking questions - there were two jobs on offer which meant working for either one of them. It started fairly smoothly until one decided he didn't like the questions the other was asking because it had previously been agreed that they would share the questioning. It turned into a real slanging match with me sitting there - in the end I stood up and said that I was leaving because it was obvious that they weren't interested in interviewing anybody. They did call me back for another interview but I had already seen enough so I declined.

How bizarre!

Cycrow

I've not really had any bad interviewers, but i have had some bad bosses in the past.

the worst was a guy who clearly didn't have a clue what he was talking about, but thought he knew everything. Would give me some ridiculously targets to meet, and he strongly believed that age was more important than knowledge and experience, and based the salary of that. So offered me a new job at a really low salary because i was young. He interview someone who was willing to work for about 10k (which is way to low for the job anyways) and as he was twice as old as me, i got offered the job at half that, 5k.

I decided to leave and go elsewhere, and last i heard, the company had gone bust and closed down.

he would boast about how good he was based on the previous businesses he had run (all of which had gone bankrupt)

itzmee

Well my worst interview was for a PA to a retired solicitor. The interview was held in a bedsit by a man who apparently helped out the solicitor. He told me that the job basically entailed 'nights away' and personal services were expected :eek::eek::eek::eek:. He seemed very embarrassed at having to tell me this and said I was a nice girl and should basically forget about this job, and he wasn't happy that he was having to do the interviews!! He even gave me taxi fare to compensate my wasted time! I definitely had a lucky escape there.

Valli

subscribing

sorry folks - but this is too funny!

[Deleted User]

There should be a book on this bad interviews! wouldn't be half a laugh (though never is at the time!)


This time round perhaps I got of lightly..
Remember the professionalism shown when the interviewer wanted me to believe I was 4 hours early (I later got an apology from HR who admitted the mistake, even if it cost me the job so be it I was glad) as felt left with a lasting impression of the organisation definitely and the contempt they could show for customers, eugh the roleplay assessment was wildly nothing like I had been prepared and practising for best part of 2 weeks prior either thinking this could be my 'dream opportunity' in reality they were probably another who just hadn't read my application!!!


Then there was the one that said don't ask any questions because we're giving you a 5 min interview; aren't you lucky more or less then as was walked to the exit had the cheek to turn around and say 'this company used to be hard to get into now we've opened the doors to any old body', I just thought OMG this was also a blue chip company...... I'm still waiting to hear! well they did quote they were taking on 80-100 people so more like a TOWIE playpen if you ask me... maybe I should have asked do you think people will stick around perhaps I missed a trick there!
I had an interview bizzarly setup at a hotel one time (I did think here we go) actually didn't occur to me till I was there how dodgy it seemed...


I've also walked out of interviews before now, when I was sent along for a Support Worker position via agency who gave the client really, really want to see you speel and when the panel interviewing started sniggering and saying homecare was nothing like support work, I agreed and said lets not waste each more of each other's time, only wish more occasions I'd found the courage to walk


oh, interviewers who keep you waiting way beyond the interview time or are allusive are usually never worth it either!! But, might be just me but why do the dream interviews always end up being what you don't want?

fairy_lights

When I was fresh out of university one of my first job interviews was for an office junior position at an estate agents. The manager asked a few standard questions about my qualifications and experience, and after listening to my answers to me that to be honest, I wasn't experienced or confident enough to do the job. At that point I thought he would bring the interview to an end but instead he told me that I reminded him of himself when he was my age, and launched in to a long and detailed account of his school days, how he got his first job, his relationship with his first boss, his progression up the career ladder, basically his entire life story (with added anecdotes about camping trips he had been on and what life was like back in the 1980's).
I sat there for half an hour listening to him ramble on, knowing full well that I hadn't got the job. I'm sure he was just trying to be helpful but I was looking for a job, not a pep talk and it was a pretty surreal experience.
When he finished his potted history and finally let me leave I felt quite relieved that he had made it clear I hadn't got the job, If the interview was so bizarre I can't imagine what it would have been like to work with him!

zkw29

I went for an "interview" for a call centre job. I sat down while the manager looked over my CV. Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she beamed across at me, "Oh! I see you've worked in a call centre before! So does that mean you can talk AND type at the same time?" She sounded genuinely delighted at this.

Unfortunately, I can only imagine the competency of my potential colleagues because I turned the job offer down. To this day I wish I'd gone along for the first shift just to see what sort of operation they were running.

aileth

I've had a few.

Two I remember that include sandwiches funnily enough.

The first was for an office junior role, two people interviewing, seemed to be very professional, going great, then one exclaimed they were starving, reached into their bag under the table and pulled out a Boots sandwich, then started to shovel it into their mouth while asking questions and coating me in a fine spray of egg mayo.

The other one was an interview for a PA at a Solicitors firm. All going well again and then I was told that one of my responsibilities was fetching the Solicitors' lunch from their cars as they 'often forget'? And then I was asked about my coffee and tea making skills, as well as ability to make sandwiches for everyone 'incase the Solicitors forgot their sandwiches.' I didn't get the job thankfully as they seemed like the most absent-minded 'legal eagles' I'd ever encountered.

Last one was when I went into the room with a person from HR only to find another four people there, so being interviewed by five people. Only the HR person asked the questions while the other four scribbled down on notepads and stared at me. Seemed a bit OTT for a £12k a year role, hardly like they were employing their next partner!

Raksha

Yes, the interview consisted of the company owner telling me what the company did and how he'd built it up, very little about what I'd done and my abilities, strengths or weaknesses.

I got the job after the first choice left after 3 weeks.

Training was minimal, moral was rock bottom, staff changed on a regular basis.

I was already suffering from depression and anxiety when I started. The experience left me so stressed I was actually glad when I was fired after my 3 month review and don't feel ready to look for another job even 2 and a half years later...

BigAunty

I had a rotten interview at Network Rail, a place with the lowest corporate morale I'd ever seen. I actually later received a rejected purchase requisition from some tyrant of a manager that was actually written in green ink.

I was interviewed by an elderly and irritable Project Manager for a project support role who had to be politely steered back from constantly criticising me by the HR manager. For example, he couldn't contain his fury with my definition of the difference between a risk and issue when asked, I thought he was going to explode.

I mentioned that the new organisation arose from Railtrack going into administration (it had recently collapsed with debts) and he went ballistic. "It went into RAILWAY administration, not administration. RAILWAY administration. There's a big difference." and he went on hectoring me like that for some time (until the HR lady managed to steer him back from sneering at me).

And while he was right, part of the business was put into railway administration and other parts were not (but it was still a debt laden organisation being protected from bankruptcy that was later liquidated), I just didn't see why I should be shouted at for most of my interview, one of the rudest I've ever attended by far.

Unsurprisingly, I didn't get the job but the HR lady recommended me for a similar role in a different team. Came back 2 days later and got the job after a cheery interview with a polite lady that was one of the nicest line managers I've had, albeit in one of the worst places I'd ever worked in.

Network Rail later had a cull of employees at that level so hopefully the guy got the boot - if you can't be polite at an interview, what are the day to day interpersonal skills going to be like?