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[RavenSan]

GAF -- I just had the worst job interview I've ever had in my life.

Within the first minute I knew it was going nowhere. The dude first of all, looked tired and bored, and like he was doing me a favor interviewing me, and not happy about it. Started out by saying 'I've been with X company for 5 years, which is frankly like a lifetime in X Company time'

Then he starts asking me 'What drew you to this position' -- I fucking hate that question anyway. What drew me? You're looking for an IT Manger, I'm an IT manager. the fuck do you think drew me?

Then he starts asking me about Infrastructure-As-Code (Something I was quite clear about to the screening call I know nothing about) -- and I just had to say 'I don't know. I'm happy to learn the setup and formulate a plan to manage it, but it's not something I'm familiar with'

Then he tells me my direct reports are contractors in India.

Then he drops 'Yeah, we're retooling the team because some of our investors dried up'

I whole heartedly believe he was actively trying to just dissuade me from moving forward, and if that's the case, maybe the dude is a real G and did me a massive favor. But as it stands, if - by some miracle - I get invited for a 3rd round interview, the answer is a hard pass.

So GAF -- do you think you can beat my story? Share your worst job interview stories here, and lets have a collective laugh.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

I had an HR screener call and they accused me of lying on my resume for a position I was currently in. Like they actively did not believe that I was doing it. Strangest interview I've had on the applicant side.

 

[West Texas CEO]

I'm an IT manager

Well, there's the root of your problems right there.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

VP Sales told me I will have difficulty integrating the team because they are all French (I’m naturalised). Same VP told me the Sales team with a French manager is currently at 40% of target.

 

[Vyse]

Years ago (mid 90s) I got asked to apply for a financial position at a new company. Very vague. Went to the interview and the guy I was supposed to meet with didn’t show. Woman came in and said she would do the interview. When she started talking about the job, her nose started bleeding. She was so coked up it was ridiculous.

So I took the job and been there for 30 years. Just kidding, I ran out of there.

 

[AJUMP23]

I had an interview and they offered me a job, but I took a lower paying job over this interview because the guy I interviewed with was sweating and stressed and I didn't want to be in that environment.

 

[Valonquar]

My resume is all IT support, Infrastructure support, sysadmin & IT management. I had multiple recruiters on Linkedin ask me to interview for a position managing a nuclear power plant, and not in an IT capacity... after the third blind message about it I said fuck it and accepted an interview request. I thought it would be funny to BS my way through and just see how far it would go. It was clear in interview 1 that there was no way I would be able to do the job. I didn't know the answer to any of the technical questions, though all the management related questions were so common sense I still somehow made it into round 2. I didn't bother to do follow up with that round, but I often ponder the alternate reality where I was hired and was inadvertently responsible for the worst meltdown in American history.

 

[Punished Miku]

My resume is all IT support, Infrastructure support, sysadmin & IT management. I had multiple recruiters on Linkedin ask me to interview for a position managing a nuclear power plant, and not in an IT capacity... after the third blind message about it I said fuck it and accepted an interview request. I thought it would be funny to BS my way through and just see how far it would go. It was clear in interview 1 that there was no way I would be able to do the job. I didn't know the answer to any of the technical questions, though all the management related questions were so common sense I still somehow made it into round 2. I didn't bother to do follow up with that round, but I often ponder the alternate reality where I was hired and was inadvertently responsible for the worst meltdown in American history.

You should apply for the secret service next. See how far you get.

 

[Winter John]

I went for an interview once with a hole in the crotch of my jeans I didn’t know about. I was sitting there with my legs spread open and my balls hanging out. I knew something wasn’t right cos the dude interviewing me kept looking down but he didn’t say nothing.

 

[AJUMP23]

You should apply for the secret service next. See how far you get.

Sloped roof inspector.

 

[Punished Miku]

I went for an interview once with a hole in the crotch of my jeans I didn’t know about. I was sitting there with my legs spread open and my balls hanging out. I knew something wasn’t right cos the dude interviewing me kept looking down but he didn’t say nothing.

Definitely a management material move.

 

[West Texas CEO]

I went for an interview once with a hole in the crotch of my jeans I didn’t know about. I was sitting there with my legs spread open and my balls hanging out. I knew something wasn’t right cos the dude interviewing me kept looking down but he didn’t say nothing.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Not interview related, but at least first contact.

I find it weird when you get a recruiter contacting you on Linkedin introducing themselves and saying they got a job might interested in. We go back and forth and I agree and we set up a time he'll call me back.

And he or she never does. Looking at their profile, they arent a scammer as they look like legit recruiters from staffing companies. But they just ghost you on call day.

 

[Billbofet]

I went to a job interview after being phone screened and not knowing what it was for
When I got there, I found out it was cold calling to sell copiers and office equipment.
I acted all excited and told the hiring manager I had left a copy of my resume in my car - this is back when you would print a resume on high quality paper.
When I got to my car, I got in a drove off. I looked up at the window and the hiring manager was staring at me with both hands against the window with this sad look on his face that seemed to say "Take me with you."

 

[RJMacready73]

I've interviewed a few absolute Muppets in my time, was better back in the day as I could just say "nah m8 this ain't for you" a few minutes in, now I gotta sit through a whole lotta bullshit from our HR department who has to be present and has to go through the motions, me ill know of the candidate is a: right for the job and b:right for my team in the first 10minutes, after that if I'm not feeling it, I usually just bail and leave HR cuntymccunt to finish up whilst I go do an actual important job...

Anyways had one young guy in for a trainee post a right few years back and he didn't even bother to tuck in his shirt, stood up at reception, not an offer of a handshake, shirt hanging out, wearing trainers, took one look at him and said "if you can't be arsed to look fucking respectable I can't be arsed interviewing you and told him to leave"

 

[Robot Carnival]

My resume is all IT support, Infrastructure support, sysadmin & IT management. I had multiple recruiters on Linkedin ask me to interview for a position managing a nuclear power plant, and not in an IT capacity... after the third blind message about it I said fuck it and accepted an interview request. I thought it would be funny to BS my way through and just see how far it would go. It was clear in interview 1 that there was no way I would be able to do the job. I didn't know the answer to any of the technical questions, though all the management related questions were so common sense I still somehow made it into round 2. I didn't bother to do follow up with that round, but I often ponder the alternate reality where I was hired and was inadvertently responsible for the worst meltdown in American history.

I'm imagining you as the alternative reality version of Homer Simpson who didn't take the nuclear plant job now.

 

[DaciaJC]

My resume is all IT support, Infrastructure support, sysadmin & IT management. I had multiple recruiters on Linkedin ask me to interview for a position managing a nuclear power plant, and not in an IT capacity... after the third blind message about it I said fuck it and accepted an interview request. I thought it would be funny to BS my way through and just see how far it would go. It was clear in interview 1 that there was no way I would be able to do the job. I didn't know the answer to any of the technical questions, though all the management related questions were so common sense I still somehow made it into round 2. I didn't bother to do follow up with that round, but I often ponder the alternate reality where I was hired and was inadvertently responsible for the worst meltdown in American history.

 

[Valonquar]

I mean as a SCCM\Intune admin this IS pretty much my day when I'm not just gaming during WFH...

 

[dave_d]

I work as a software engineer and I've had plenty of interviews in my time. I thought about this for a bit and I remember the worst interview I ever had which was over 10 years ago. However it was so over the top it's been seared into my brain. I mean it was so ridiculous that I thought I was in a sitcom afterwards.

Now I just want to say a couple things before I get into it. This is true, it actually happened to me. Also I posted this on GlassDoor back when it happened. They immediately took it down. So they proved to me that they're largely worthless and useless. Anyway on to the interview

I went to this company which shall remain unnamed but they're in Massachusetts. I did the first few parts, talking about code and solving problems. Pretty much a standard software engineering interview. The company did seem a bit cool that they gave everybody their own office as a perk. (In this field you usually get a cubical not an actual office with walls and a door.) Then I got to THE portion of the interview.
I thought nothing of it, in the middle they were going to have a lunch interview. My interviewer would take me to the cafeteria, we'd get something to eat then bring it back to a conference room and eat while having a friendly chit chat over lunch. Very informal. I figured it was just something to break the tension and get everyone to relax. Nothing could go wrong there of course. RIGHT?
So we went to the cafeteria, and my interviewer got some Indian food you eat with your hands. At least I think you’re supposed to eat it with your hands. Anyway hey how about and enlighten people with some knowledge. Did you know you can't eat and talk at the same time? It's basically impossible. Do you know who didn't know that? Those of you that guessed my interviewer would be right.

I got to see firsthand what happens if you try to eat and talk at the same time. So while she was talking to me she'd scoop up a hand full of food and shove it in her mouth. So I got to see in glorious detail all the food in her mouth while she chewed and talk at the same time or at least tried to, it was nauseating. Now I mentioned it's actually impossible to eat and talk at the same time so from this "episode" I found out why. If you try to do that the food will fall out of your mouth. So when that happened for this "lady" the half chewed food would fall out of her mouth back on to her plate. When the food would plop back down she'd just scoop it up and shove it back in. The half chewed food was almost bouncing like a ball, back and forth between the plate and her mouth. The force of her speech forced it out of her mouth. She never stopped talking to take the time to just chew the food and swallow it. It was just completely revolting.
I couldn't look at this train wreck, my eyes averted. You'd think I was George or something. The few times I caught a glance I felt utter disgust. I was definitely very worried I'd vomit.

She finally finished her meal. Now if this was Seinfeld, Jerry would have added that extra little bit. He's a master of that. The "woman" then did it. She started licking her fingers. Not just a little bit, oh no. No, she started licking her hands to clean off the food, from her wrist to her fingertips. (Yes really.) You’d think somebody at a company like that would have some class but unfortunately that was something she dreadfully lacked.

Anyway after that I pretty much forget whatever happened during the rest of the day for the interview. I was so glad when they didn't give me an offer. No way was I going to accept one with an utter pig like that. I thought to myself if I ever find myself as a producer of a sitcom this is totally going to be in it. I mean the only change I'd make is the woman doing the interview would be hot and not some fat dumpy broad.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I can remember two actual interviews I had which the interviewers were sloppy or didnt give a shit.

1. Guy came in wearing a tshirt and running shoes. Told me he was flying out to Europe for business, and one time during the meeting a coworker popped her head in to chat about it as I guess they were on the same flight. Guy clearly didnt give a shit.

2. Similarly at a different company (it was my EIGHTH and final interview), she comes in late and just like the guy above didn't give a shit. She told me she's was in a rush this afternoon because she and fam are leaving for Disney World on the weekend and she was scrambling to finish up some work on my day. Then she said she had to cut the meeting short. This was the final meeting for my interview process and it lasted no more than 15 mins.

 

[Ribi]

I had a super dude bro interview where the guy wore a Hawaiian shirt and brought in another dude to write notes and observe. By the end of it we were all laughing and having a good time. Lol india lol

 

[GymWolf]

Not really a bad job interview but there was one time where i hired a young boy for some help in the warehouse, the dude only lasted one morning of work, he didn't even showed for the afternoon turn

 

[Bartski]

 

[diffusionx]

I had an interview with Citibank after college as an entry level investment banker. I have a degree in math, not finance, but they took the interview, right? The first guy, a younger guy, talked down to me and expressed puzzlement that I would even want this job (gee, maybe it had to do with the gazillion dollar bonuses they were handing out at the time). You don't need a finance degree to do this work, you need some basic math and MS Office knowledge, but the guy kept acting like my math degree wasn't worth shit at this job. The manager guy was a little nicer, but kept emphasizing the long hours. This was a 70 hour a week job on a light week. I kept insisting I could do the job, and want to do the job, and I think the manager guy liked me, but in the end they told me no thanks a few days later. Like, I don't even know why they offered me an interview.

2nd - during the pandemic I had a bunch of rounds with a company. All the interviews were remote and I had to take off an afternoon and sit in front of my iPad. I had a video interview in rounds 1 and 2, and in round 3, two people enter the lobby and leave their camera off. It was so, so weird and unprofessional imo. I was actually sort of stoked about the company until then.

3rd - from my end I once had a job interview for a company, it was also remote during the pandemic. I had just moved the day before, so my brain was totally fried, and I forgot the specifics of the job when the interview started. I had to ask her about what I would be working on in this role (it was something I knew and had experience with). I was so embarrassed and I could tell just how displeased the woman was. I fessed up to my recruiter and just expressed how sorry I was that I did that and she said, well, it happens, just be prepared next time.

 

[Zarak]

I once had a "working interview" where you get paid to work for 4 hours to see if the job is the right fit for you. It was hard labor on a magazine production line. I never got paid and I then realized the whole thing was really just a way to get free labor.

 

[IDKFA]

GAF -- I just had the worst job interview I've ever had in my life.

Within the first minute I knew it was going nowhere. The dude first of all, looked tired and bored, and like he was doing me a favor interviewing me, and not happy about it. Started out by saying 'I've been with X company for 5 years, which is frankly like a lifetime in X Company time'

Then he starts asking me 'What drew you to this position' -- I fucking hate that question anyway. What drew me? You're looking for an IT Manger, I'm an IT manager. the fuck do you think drew me?

Then he starts asking me about Infrastructure-As-Code (Something I was quite clear about to the screening call I know nothing about) -- and I just had to say 'I don't know. I'm happy to learn the setup and formulate a plan to manage it, but it's not something I'm familiar with'

Then he tells me my direct reports are contractors in India.

Then he drops 'Yeah, we're retooling the team because some of our investors dried up'

I whole heartedly believe he was actively trying to just dissuade me from moving forward, and if that's the case, maybe the dude is a real G and did me a massive favor. But as it stands, if - by some miracle - I get invited for a 3rd round interview, the answer is a hard pass.

So GAF -- do you think you can beat my story? Share your worst job interview stories here, and lets have a collective laugh.

Yes.

I went for an interview last year for a job I didn't want. Basically the company was going through redundancies and the people who wanted to stay were given the option to interview for other internal positions.

I can't even remember what the job title was called, but they were looking for somebody to complete RCA on operation complaints and come up with preventable actions. I didn't have the experience and didn't want the job, but was encouraged to give it a go. Big mistake.

I fucking crashed and burned. I had no idea how to answer some of the questions. I either hit them with a word salad, or just answered with "I don't know". One of the women interviewing me clearly wanted to burst out laughing.

Luckily another quality analyst job came up and I passed that interview, but the previous experience gave me huge interview PTSD.

 

[diffusionx]

I once had a "working interview" where you get paid to work for 4 hours to see if the job is the right fit for you. It was hard labor on a magazine production line. I never got paid and I then realized the whole thing was really just a way to get free labor.

Not sure where you live but you should have reported them to the state DOL, probably could have gotten a chunk of money out of it.

 

[Bloobs]

I went for an interview once with a hole in the crotch of my jeans I didn’t know about. I was sitting there with my legs spread open and my balls hanging out. I knew something wasn’t right cos the dude interviewing me kept looking down but he didn’t say nothing.

 

[IDKFA]

Not really a bad job interview but there was one time where i hired a young boy for some help in the warehouse, the dude only lasted one morning of work, he didn't even showed for the afternoon turn

I get that.

I've done many interviews in the past where the candidates have nailed the questions, have a great personality and good experience, but when they get to the actual job they're shit.

I had one girl once who was hired for a contact centre job. Great in the interview, but when it came to the day she had to go on the phones she broke down. I asked her what was wrong and she told me she had a phobia of speaking to customers on the phone.

Why the fuck did you apply for a contact centre job then?

 

[GymWolf]

I get that.

I've done many interviews in the past where the candidates have nailed the questions, have a great personality and good experience, but when they get to the actual job they're shit.

I had one girl once who was hired for a contact centre job. Great in the interview, but when it came to the day she had to go on the phones she broke down. I asked her what was wrong and she told me she had a phobia of speaking to customers on the phone.

Why the fuck did you apply for a contact centre job then?

I think the dude didn't expected the work to be so hard for honestly not much money as rewards.


He was like 15 or 16, it was a summer job for him.

 

[Trogdor1123]

I’ve had 2 really bad ones in my life.

The most recent one, my boss got fired (I still don’t know why, she was awesome) and the two of us who were below her were the front runners to get it. My coworker (who is also great) got the acting role and I got moved to run another department till our interviews were done. No worries there at all.

So, I assumed during the interview that it would be about where I want to take the department, changes, staffing, efficiencies, etc. Leadership stuff. Nope. It was like a complete low level position interview that I was total not prepared for haha. It was such a train wreck.

I guess I should know the companies “values” by heart but I don’t and I doubt they did either.

I remember sitting down with the big boss and we had a good laugh about it. His response “it wasn’t your best work”. Coles notes, the coworker got it and was awesome to work for. I left the organization for a better job but hold zero ill will towards them. Was, and is, a great place.

Other was right out of university. I was totally green and interviewing for an intro job. The lady interviewing me was incredibly seasoned. She knew her shit and knew that she knew it. I really liked her but I was totally nervous and forgot everything. It was supposed to go an hour and was less than 15 minutes. Terrible.

I learned a lot from that interview and had another the next day with another section of the same place. Well, I was offered the job before the interview was done. Like 2 weeks later, I was walking in for my first day and I hoped on the elevator with the same lady. She sat there looking at me with a weird look on her face. We chatted for a second, I told her what happened,

 

[Rival]

I went for an interview one time where they brought us around to several different people and each part went really good or so I thought. Then they put me and another guy in a waiting area and basically said you will be interviewing with this one last guy. Made it sound like that was just a formality and we were being offered the jobs. We will come and get you in a few minutes they said. We waited for probably 45 minutes or so and when we finally decided maybe we should see what’s going on it turned out that everyone in the immediate office had left. In case you are wondering no I did not end up getting the job. This was at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago.

 

[Ophiuchus]

There was one where the interviewer spent half the time talking about how “they never hire anyone over 30” and then grilled me on stuff I clearly said I wasn’t experienced in. Totally felt like a setup to fail.

 

[Trogdor1123]

I’ve had 2 really bad ones in my life.

The most recent one, my boss got fired (I still don’t know why, she was awesome) and the two of us who were below her were the front runners to get it. My coworker (who is also great) got the acting role and I got moved to run another department till our interviews were done. No worries there at all.

So, I assumed during the interview that it would be about where I want to take the department, changes, staffing, efficiencies, etc. Leadership stuff. Nope. It was like a complete low level position interview that I was total not prepared for haha. It was such a train wreck.

I guess I should know the companies “values” by heart but I don’t and I doubt they did either.

I remember sitting down with the big boss and we had a good laugh about it. His response “it wasn’t your best work”. Coles notes, the coworker got it and was awesome to work for. I left the organization for a better job but hold zero ill will towards them. Was, and is, a great place.

Other was right out of university. I was totally green and interviewing for an intro job. The lady interviewing me was incredibly seasoned. She knew her shit and knew that she knew it. I really liked her but I was totally nervous and forgot everything. It was supposed to go an hour and was less than 15 minutes. Terrible.

I learned a lot from that interview and had another the next day with another section of the same place. Well, I was offered the job before the interview was done. Like 2 weeks later, I was walking in for my first day and I hoped on the elevator with the same lady. She sat there looking at me with a weird look on her face. We chatted for a second, I told her what happened, we had a good laugh, and worked together for several years. And by that I mean she taught me tons.

I’ve been on the other side as well. That can be equally entertaining.

 

[Drake]

Nothing as crazy as a lot of you have had. Back in college I worked as a line cook in an Italian restaurant a few nights a week. I didn't really like it, so I figured I would apply at TGI Fridays. I get there for an interview and the kitchen manager said he would be right with me. I sat there for over an hour and he just did not come out of the kitchen. It wasn't even busy at the time. I said screw this and left. Ended up working at that Italian place for another few years until I graduated from college and got a "real" job.

I've been lucky where I haven't had that awful job interview experience.

 

[ForAcademicPurposes]

Then he starts asking me 'What drew you to this position' -- I fucking hate that question anyway. What drew me? You're looking for an IT Manger, I'm an IT manager. the fuck do you think drew me?

The feeling is mutual. And even if you did answer that question correctly and gave the most perfect answer to him or her. No one gives a flying fuck. He doesn't give a flying fuck. The company does not give a flying fuck. What matter is number on a spreadsheet. None of this lilac and gooseberries shit.

Maybe that paycheck is worth it to you. But me, on a level, unless the pay is massive. I could never work for asshole like this. I

 

[jshackles]

My interview for my current job was a bit of a nightmare, at least the first round. It was a panel interview with 4 people on the panel.

Them: "Tell us everything you know about DNS".
Me: "how long do you have?"
Them: "well, just keep telling us everything you know until you run out of things to say."
Me: proceeds to spend about 20 minutes explaining how DNS works, the history of DNS, how DNS is used in Active Directory and Exchange, etc.
Me, again: "is that enough info, do you want to know more?"
Them: "Do you know more?"
Me: "sure. So DNS also has record subtypes..." (proceeds to explain A records, CNAME records, MX records, etc.)
Them: (with no comment or expression at all) "okay great, now can you tell us everything you know about Active Directory?"
Me: sigh

The interview lasted over 4 hours like that where I did a wikipedia level knowledge dump of a variety of networking topics
But, I did get the job, and I've been here almost 15 years now
I guess they just wanted to either make sure that I was actually knowledgeable or actually autistic. Lucky for them, I'm both.

 

[SlimySnake]

My first interview after college, i had to drive 11 hours to get back to NY where I went to school. I got in at 2AM, was exhausted and slept on my friend's couch for like 4 hours. I had prepped for the interview and went on the company's site to see exactly what they do. I remember browsing their website. I can still picture it in my head. Something to do with laboratories. But mostly, i worked on my own resume and figured they would ask me coding questions so focused on that.

The very first question the lady asked me was this: 'What do you think our company does?" And I blanked out. All of a sudden i couldnt remember anything from their website. I dont even remember what answer I gave. All I remember is that the interview was pretty much done. I knew I had fucked up. She knew i had fucked up. Nothing i said beyond that point mattered. it was fucked.

i drove back cursing at myself non-stop for 11 hours. they emailed me the rejection letter the next day. Needless to say I learned the value of having a good night's sleep before any job interview and to research what the company actually fucking does before taking on an interview lol.

 

[Embearded]

Wife had an interesting one:

- What is the color of success for you?
- What would you do with 1 million $ if i gave them to you now?
- Who do you think was the best president of our country?

It was for customer support manager position in a big pharmacy store with lots of online sales.
The guy was the owner.

 

[nkarafo]

I was looking for a job in computer service in a big retailer. They interviewed me and it was going very well but then they tried to "test" me.

So i thought it would be some repair job or something like that but no, they placed me inside the store to engage with the customers in sales. Even though the post i was interested for was repairing behind walls and i was not supposed to have any interaction with any customers myself. Which i tried to remind them but they didn't seem to care.

So we went to the store and they told me to engage with the people walking inside, while they would be watching me. Which doesn't even make any sense since i didn't know anything about the store, where is what, etc. I only knew computers but they also sold cell phones and other tech related stuff like TVs and digital cameras so how would i help anyone if they asked me about those?

I didn't expect this whole charade and frankly i completely lost it since i'm also an introvert and very awkward with strangers so yeah, not a sales guy. It didn't go well obviously. They started pointing out all my mistakes like my bad body language, awkward smile, etc. But one of the interviewers wanted to "give me a second chance" so he staged a fake scenario where he posed as the customer and i would be the salesman.

This felt even more awkward and cringe but i tried to play along so i opened with "hi, do you need some help?" (which isn't the best opener but what do i know), to which he replied "why, do i look like i'm helpless to you"?

I felt like they were mocking me at this point for the lolz and i got angry. They explained that some customers may be rude like that so it's part of the testing and it felt like they were lecturing me. Yeah no, fuck that. No job is worth that kind of humiliation. I just left without saying anything or listening to the rest of their ramblings.

 

[Durien]

I did a phone interview with a panel for a company maybe 8 to 10 years ago. The purpose of the job would be to manage mobile devices, users, troubleshoot exchange issues.

So I feel like I am rocking it, I mean after all, I have literally been doing this since pocket pc.

Towards the end, one chick goes, I see you you don't have a degree. I explain, yeah I was going to local community college for psychology and was doing tech work on the side since I have always been in tech as a hobby. I dropped out after MS hired me full time.

So she says, but why didn't you finish your degree? So I am now kind of confused. I tell her well working full time at MS had better benefits than being a starving student. I go on to say, even if I was to major in CS, what is CS going to teach me that the industry is not already teaching me. I worked with devs on the prototype for what you are asking, I have taught other people in the other divisions how to build labs to do this work. If I were to remain in school for 4 years, it's catchup where as working at MS (at the time when innovation trumped buying companies) I was at the forefront of technology.

She goes ok.

No hire. The recruiter calls me back and literally says, they liked you but they want someone with a degree. I tell the recruiter, ok, just so I understand this, I am a no hire because I don't have a degree for a position where I worked on the prototypes and continued to work on the same work at the same company and where I have taught people at the company how to do this.

He laughs, and tells me I'm sorry, I can't wrap my head around it either but they want someone with a degree.

Sounds like someone was salty that I didn't need to shell out 80k for a bachelors to work in the space and needed to "pay my dues".

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I did a phone interview with a panel for a company maybe 8 to 10 years ago. The purpose of the job would be to manage mobile devices, users, troubleshoot exchange issues.

So I feel like I am rocking it, I mean after all, I have literally been doing this since pocket pc.

Towards the end, one chick goes, I see you you don't have a degree. I explain, yeah I was going to local community college for psychology and was doing tech work on the side since I have always been in tech as a hobby. I dropped out after MS hired me full time.

So she says, but why didn't you finish your degree? So I am now kind of confused. I tell her well working full time at MS had better benefits than being a starving student. I go on to say, even if I was to major in CS, what is CS going to teach me that the industry is not already teaching me. I worked with devs on the prototype for what you are asking, I have taught other people in the other divisions how to build labs to do this work. If I were to remain in school for 4 years, it's catchup where as working at MS (at the time when innovation trumped buying companies) I was at the forefront of technology.

She goes ok.

No hire. The recruiter calls me back and literally says, they liked you but they want someone with a degree. I tell the recruiter, ok, just so I understand this, I am a no hire because I don't have a degree for a position where I worked on the prototypes and continued to work on the same work at the same company and where I have taught people at the company how to do this.

He laughs, and tells me I'm sorry, I can't wrap my head around it either but they want someone with a degree.

Sounds like someone was salty that I didn't need to shell out 80k for a bachelors to work in the space and needed to "pay my dues".

Could be HR gunning for demographic ratio pts. Not gender/race in this case, but education. The more degreed hires, the smarter the employee pool looks. So it makes the company on paper look smarter than other companies.

 

[nush]

I was late arriving for a job interview because of public transport delays. I thought "That's it, I've blown it already" But I called the manager and said I was going to be late as a professional courtesy anyway. He replied "I'll come and get you in my car, where are you?", I replied "Thanks but I'm only 5 minutes out". That was pretty good.

At the end of the interview he just straight up offered me the job. Worst, because I've never been late for in interview. But I got the job anyway.

 

[Deleted member 1159]

Well I just got laid off, so I'll bookmark this thread 'cause it's interviewin time!

 

[daffyduck]

Could be HR gunning for demographic ratio pts. Not gender/race in this case, but education. The more degreed hires, the smarter the employee pool looks. So it makes the company on paper look smarter than other companies.

They had to have known he didn’t have a degree before they gave him an interview. So they’re just wasting time for… reasons.

 

[Durien]

Well I just got laid off, so I'll bookmark this thread 'cause it's interviewin time!

If you don't mind me asking, what field?

 

[ReBurn]

I walked out of an interview once because it started with a written test that I wasn't informed of ahead of time. They said I only got to speak to someone if I passed. I told the HR drone to not bother calling me again because I expect them to respect me and my time. Company went under not much later. Technology companies overthinking something as simple as an interview is way too common.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

Having given a lot of interviews in a prior phase of my career, my strategy was generally just to hear how people think.

Not technical puzzles to solve on the whiteboard under pressure, but technical topics to discuss freely. I always wanted above all to hear an opinionated view ("I would never use that tool / do it that way / this particular tech will soon be obsolete" etc), because the way someone navigates their strongly held views or takes on a topic tells you much more than factual knowledge or puzzles under pressure.

For some reason, however, we had a lot of people who simply wouldn't give us much of anything. As if they were political candidates trying to avoid taking any position on anything at all... when surely it's obvious that we're trying to have a real conversation, not get one word replies back.

 

[T8SC]

I once interviewed a guy, remotely (COVID era) and he was Googling the answers.... His built-in webcam was bouncing up and down as he typed whilst "umm" and "ahhh" through his searches.

 

[RavenSan]

Well I just got laid off, so I'll bookmark this thread 'cause it's interviewin time!

Yup, laid off last week (company went insolvent) - sucks. Good luck to you!