Ridiculous things said during job interviews

...Or, how not to get the job

[Lilliabeth]

This one had seemed qualified, but we passed:
"You might as well know that I am not one of those rah, rah team people. I won't be expected to socialize with the rest of the staff, will I?" Just scary odd.

And a different person:
"Funny you should mention that! The judge said exactly the same thing this morning," The judge? "Yes, I had to see the judge this morning - I violated my probation again."

And we get lots of resumes where the cover page just ruins their chances. For example, if we advertised a receptionist position, we would get many of the following:

Objective: Attaining a position where I can utilize my people-management skills (or project management skills, or hair-cutting skills, or any other thing totally unrelated to the advertised opening)

It is also not the smartest thing for a woman to tell the interviewer that she hopes to start her family this year. While I would never discriminate, it is safe to assume telling them you plan to immediately leave on maternity is not appealing to the interviewer.

While I would never discriminate, would y'all agree it would be best to wait until you're done with the crutches and wincing in pain with every step rather than having to explain that you just had your third back surgery?

[rfontaine]

I firmly believe almost all of us could have been on parole at one time or another.

Admit it. If you have lived life at all, you have probably commited a felony or serious crime at some point in your life. What separates you from the parolee is this simple fact only: you were not caught and they were.

this includes DWI, stalking, smuggling, etc etc.

Also, many of the best workers do not socialize (or suck up) much. These are often the greatest employees you can have. Many bosses like to be surrounded by "Yes" men - dumb way to run a business.

[lawman]

>>I firmly believe almost all of us could have been on parole at one time or another.
Admit it. If you have lived life at all, you have probably commited a felony or serious crime at some point in your life. What separates you from the parolee is this simple fact only: you were not caught and they were.

this includes DWI, stalking, smuggling, etc etc.

Not sure which post you're referring to, but I've always said that there are a lot of unindicted felons running around. :)

[Sarah Atkinson]

Socializing with co-workers outside of work doesn't always mean getting plastered with them. I love our company get-togetethers Althouth all of them have been dry. Also We recive e-mails a lot on co-workers families that are sick. For instance one co-workers son was in a terrible accedent and in the hossipital for like 6 months and we put together a basket for the family. We have had many workers spouses have heart attacks and stroks and updates are always sent out.

[walkman]

>> Not sure which post you're referring to, but I've always said that there are a lot of unindicted felons running around.

Yp, I'd say that 95% of us have commited something worthy of a felony. Either from "lying" on credit card application's income box, placing prescription pills on an unapproved containers, using someone else's wifi to check email etc. etc. etc.

[lawman]

Check your state's laws and see if they have anything there limiting what two consenting adults can do in privacy.

[Jane_Doe]

Wouldn't honest chit chat between two partys to determain if the two are compatable to work together or not be the best and most eficent way to conduct an interview?

As someone who had the task of being the manager in charge of firing all of the department's psychotic employees in the past, let me give you a different perspective. It is a lot easier just to not hire someone that it is to spend hours on employee counseling sessions, documenting all of your talks and their responses, spending hours having everything reviewed by HR and the legal department and then having to actually fire someone who may either start screaming at you, threaten to sue you or both.

People are supposed to be on their best behavior in job interviews, so saying anything remotely weird will often tip the balance in favor of some other candidate. It's a lot easier for a manager to just to not hire someone you might have doubts about than it is to fire someone. At least this is true in the U.S. where you usually have to follow lengthy, time consuming, formal termination procedures so you don't get sued.

[SteveJohnston]

In my early days I ran a book shop in London. We were interviewing for sales staff and this very posh young woman was interviewed. When asked why she wanted to work in a bookshop and she said she wanted to be an artist. When pressed she explained that to paint the 'working class' she'd have to work with them. The interview didn't last much longer!

[DamonHD]

Hi,

OK, OK, you've goaded me!

Recent interviews for programmers. You guess whether these two were amongst our hires on that round...

Interview(ee) 1:

Q: "Given how much fun optimising code can be, but given that we actually have to deliver working systems in reasonable time, when would you decide to stop optimising?"

A: "I wouldn't."

Interview(ee) 2:

Q: "If you had a different view to other people on the team how to do/implement something, how would you try to objectively chose the right combination of suggestions or even diplomatically back down?"

A: "I wouldn't, because I'm right."

Rgds

Damon

[Essex_boy]

psychotic employees - Tell more!