Searching for a new job is hard; applying for one is even harder. But the interview process is where things can get weird!
As if the pressure of meeting someone new and having them judge you based on a 30-minute conversation isn’t enough, sometimes these face-to-faces can flop; some due to mismatched personalities, some due to difficult questioning and some because the CEO’s internet connection on his yacht kept cutting out.
I’ve had my fair share of bad interviews and recruiting experiences, check out my favorite ones below.
Round and round we go
I recently interviewed with a health tech startup that told me to expect a total of six rounds of interviews and one assignment if I were to make it through the entire interview process. I thanked them for the transparency. I met with a variety of key stakeholders on the team and charmed them all — except for one.
According to the company’s recruiter, everyone on the team liked me, except for the General Counsel. She told me although the General Counsel loved my resume and previous experience, she didn’t necessarily like me as a person. (Honest question: how is someone supposed to respond to that kind of feedback?)
During that same conversation, the recruiter also told me that I had still been picked as the top candidate for the role, but I needed to do additional follow-up meetings with the General Counsel so she could get to know me better and start to like me.
Against my better judgment, I went through with this plan — signing on for an additional two rounds of interviews with the company. Two extra rounds were all it took for the General Counsel to move from “maybe” to “yes” and I was told to expect an offer by the end of the week.
The end of the week came quickly, and at 4:56 p.m. on that Friday I was told I would have an update on Monday morning. After hearing nothing from the company Monday morning, I followed up around 3 p.m. for an update. After eight rounds of interviews, I was told that budgetary constraints had changed and that they were eliminating the position.
Eight rounds of nerves, eight sets of interview questions, and almost eight hours of “work.” Round and round I went on the carousel of the job market and just as I went to step off it, I was told there was nowhere for my foot to land.
At sea with the C-Suite
My final interview for another role involved a 30-minute virtual interview with the CEO, which is pretty standard in this industry.
As we said our initial greetings, I noticed something odd about the oceanic view behind him: it was moving. When I commented on the beautiful Zoom background, he responded: “Oh thanks, but that’s actually real: I’m on my yacht right now.”
Wow — this guy has a yacht and I had just charged tomatoes to my credit card.
During our call, his internet was a bit spotty (what with him being on a yacht in the middle of the ocean and all…) so we ended up finishing our conversation on the phone instead. It wasn’t a bad interview, per se, but it was certainly original.
The ghost
A few years back I interviewed with a telehealth company working in a space I had a wealth of experience — the position seemed like a natural fit.
I was contacted by their recruiter the same day I submitted my application, did a series of five-hour-long technical interviews over the next few weeks and was told I was a finalist for the position.
After completing my final interview with the company I waited a week to follow up — no response. I followed up again a week after that — still no response. I waited another week and still nothing.
Obviously, I didn’t get the job but I wasn’t technically informed of that fact until two months later when I received a standard one-sentence rejection. Don’t get me wrong — I wasn’t upset that I didn’t get the role, more so that I spent at least five hours interviewing with people within the company and they couldn’t even be bothered to send me a timely rejection. A little decency can go a long way with job candidates.
Sick as a dog
Technically, this one is my fault. I had scheduled a vet appointment for my dog, Atticus, a bit later in the day but still chose to keep my morning virtual interview with a law firm. I wanted to keep an eye on him, so I brought him to my office instead of leaving him in the kitchen.
At some point during the interview, I heard a choking noise and turned around in time to see my dog projectile vomit across the room. (He’s fine now.) My face turned red with embarrassment and before I could even get the words out to apologize to my interviewer and said a curt, “We’re done here,” and left the interview. Whoops.
The job application can be incredibly frustrating. It can feel like you are just throwing your resume into the air and hoping someone will catch it. As the examples above illustrate, interviews can go wrong for a variety of reasons, with the majority being beyond your control. It’s easy to put all of your hopes into one employer, one role, or one industry but the important thing to remember during any job search is that you are not defined by what you do, but rather, by who you are.
That being said, if things continue to go comically wrong — at least you get a good story out of it!
