With the painstaking preparation that goes into preparing
for an interview and the tension often felt when the hour has come, it can
be difficult to maintain a sense of levity in the process. Still, you are
not the only person to suffer a faux pas or awkward moment during an interview.
Perhaps you said or did something wrong. Perhaps your interviewer was bizarre.
Perhaps something just felt weird. Maybe it is Murphy's Law or perhaps it
is just par for the interviewing course. Take comfort from these stories
gleaned from the collective experience that is interviewing.
"I was part of a team of eight colleagues who
interviewed 50 people in the space of two weeks. Four to seven people
conducted each interview, which occurred in a small room. We were stuck
in that room for hours. One of the questions designated for me to ask
was what the most formidable challenge the person had ever gone through.
During one particular interview in which four of us met with the applicant,
she began to share her most significant challenge when the Director
intervened with a follow-up question, interrupting my chain of questions.
Apparently I made an odd face. My colleague saw me and began to giggle.
Then two of us began to laugh, and we could not stop. At one point,
the first colleague tried to disguise his laughter by blowing his nose,
but this just made everyone else laugh more. All the while, the interviewee
elaborated on the most difficult challenge she had been through, maintaining
solid eye contact with the Director. It was both equally funny and horrifying
that we were laughing. Soon the Director said to her: I think we need
to ask you to leave until we compose ourselves."
"The summer internship organization to which I
applied had about ten of us come at once, but they interviewed us individually.
My meeting was towards the end, so I waited there for an hour before
the two interviewers called my turn. They said: we have three questions
that we are going to ask you at once, and you can answer the three questions
in order at which time we will be done. They told me the three questions,
and I answered the first. Then they looked at each other and said, 'Okay,
that will be it.' Surprised, I asked, 'Well, do you want me to answer
the second question?' They kind of looked at each other and said, 'Well,
okay.' I answered as briefly as possible, skipped the third question
altogether, and left. I got the position."
"I sent a digital resume and cover letter via
email to apply for a position as a technical writer. Within a few hours,
a message from the director in charge of hiring came via email. Full
of anticipation, I opened the email to find a terse message: 'your resume
is infected with a virus and has been quarantined.' A person cannot
recover from an infected resume. I did not pursue the position further."
"At one rather intense interview with a high powered
man, the phone kept ringing and interviewer took the calls long enough
to say that he would call the people later. He seemed to be telling
me that I was a nominally important use of his time or at least demonstrating
how busy he was. There was some kind of odd power dynamic going on.
Then he got another call, which was clearly from his wife. After saying,
'Hi, Honey,' my interviewer only said three cryptic things: 'is he lucid?,'
'do you need me to come home tonight?', and 'call me when you know more
and can tell me what to do.' Then he hung up the phone and looked at
me."
"I once interviewed a woman who came in ringing
her hands. I asked her the standard interview questions: what are you
looking for in a job, what don't you like in a job, what do you need
from a boss? To the third question, she replied: 'I need my boss to
be my best friend. I'm so lonely. We just moved here a few months ago
and I haven't made any friends. I need a friend.'"
"A man walked in and deemed himself the right
man for the job I had advertised, even though he did not fit in any
sense of the word. After the interview, which highlighted how badly
he and the position matched, he started an email campaign. Another man
wrote to me on his behalf. Between the two of them, I received at least
twenty phone calls and electronic messages: he wanted the job so badly,
would I please reconsider? The barrage of follow-up finally waned when
I hired someone else, but even then his advocate kept scolding me for
hiring someone else."
"I had to undergo a ludicrous 500 question psychological
examination when I applied to be a security guard during college. Among
the 500 questions were about 17 questions asking me in slightly varied
ways whether or not I have ever thought of killing myself. If the exam
had not been a scan-tron, I would have answered, 'No, but the idea is
growing on me every time you ask.'"
"During a particular interview, the interviewer
had a dog present. The dog became especially interested in my leg. I
kept shuffling and moving to protect myself from the dog, but the person
giving the interview took no notice of the dog at all. Uncomfortable
as this was, I was actually wondering if it was some kind of test to
see if I could maintain my concentration."