This week, a rather odd job advert popped up online, written by none other that Tory adviser Dominic Cummings.
In a nearly-3,000 word blog post, Dominic said he was looking for ‘weirdos with odd skills’ to apply to work with him.
He detailed what working as Boris Johnson’s right hand man’s right hand man might look like, saying that there would likely be no time for romantic relationships and would include ‘lots of uninteresting trivia and things you won’t enjoy’.
If that didn’t sweeten the deal for jobseekers, he also said ‘I’ll bin you within weeks if you don’t fit’. Not exactly heartening.
For many of us in the workplace, though, we’ll be able to compare that tyrannical attitude to previous bosses (or almost bosses we ran a mile from).
Off the back of Dominic’s idiosyncratic standards for an employee, we asked people what their worst interview stories were. Some are from people who replied to our call-out, and others are from job search engine, Adzuna, who sourced some of their users most shocking horror stories.
Read on and cringe.
Matt
‘I had a really strange one for a bike shop in town, where he asked very very inappropriate questions about my personal life (marital status, do I have tattoos, planning on having any kids). Then tried to cover over this by asking what cake I liked.
‘It was for a customer service job at the bike shop. So nothing to do with the job.’
It turns out Matt actually got and took this job, but says, ‘Working with him was worse than the interview! He created such a bad atmosphere. Couldn’t manage his way out of a paper bag.’
Mary
‘I was just about to graduate, and this was for a one-year cultural-ambassador-for-Derby position in Osnabrück, which is its twin city.
‘I’d spent 6 months in Osnabrück as a student & was desperate to go back. I’m from Nottingham, which is like 15 miles away, so I figured I could represent Derby! But it became clear very, very quickly that they wanted someone who knew Derby like I know Nottingham.
‘Questions like, What do you think of when you think of Derby? [blank stare].
‘Them: The [name of local stadium]? The [major shopping centre]? The [other landmarks here]?
‘Me: That’s … nice?
‘Them: *unimpressed*
‘I wished more than anything I could the courage to say, “okay, I’m clearly not what you’re looking for, have a good day, goodbye!”
‘But I sat it out, got the train home, decided to walk home from the station, got soaked to the skin, went straight to my best-friend’s to moan, and only realised when her flatmate answered and looked horrified that my interview shirt had gone completely see-through.’
Bex
‘I went to an interview to be a PA for a woman who ran a small recruitment agency on Goldhawk Road out of budget co working space. She looked at my CV and told me that she was disappointed that I’d gone to Bristol because she only really wanted a PA who had been to Cambridge.’
Charlotte
‘They asked me my favourite song. I said ‘Radiohead’s Pyramid Song’, and they said ‘sing it’. So I sang it (they stopped me after a little bit). I had a proper panic attack.
‘It was to help people get back into work. It was to help me ‘feel’ nervous like they would be. As if I wasn’t shiiting it already.’
Dee
‘I once went for an interview where it turned out I would be expected to live on site and be on call 24/7, 365… I may have understood this if the job was for a very well paid nurse, carer or nanny…but it was for a ‘Sales and Marketing Officer’ on just above minimum wage. No.’
Georgina
‘I was working in advertising & media in the ‘tell us a joke’ and ‘who would win in a fight between a baboon and a badger’ years *eye roll emoji*.’
Laura
‘I turned up for my interview and was directed to a meeting room upstairs by a member of the team, who said they were waiting for me in the room.
‘I walked in full of confidence, only to realise I’d walked into the middle of someone else’s interview! I quickly retreated and waited awkwardly outside while the other candidate finished and then walked past me on the way out.’
Lizzi
‘I went to an interview that was an absolute car crash. After I left I found some keys on the stairs so I went back up to hand them in and heard them slagging me off. I hid the keys and left.’
Holly
‘I used to work for an owner of a business who turned up to an interview late, took one look at the (reasonably senior) candidate and then yawned loudly and argued the whole way through the interview.
‘When I asked him why he behaved so badly during the interview he said he didn’t like the guy’s eyebrows! I have never been so embarrassed doing an interview before, so eventually I took the lead, got a lot of eye contact and encouraged the candidate to address me instead.’
Andrew
‘I remember having to sing Kylie Minogue I Should Be So Lucky at one! I left my dignity and the job offer at the door!
‘I was fresh out of university interviewing for a sales and marketing role and eager to please, otherwise I would have walked out.’
Lee
‘We were hiring for one role at my company and I was already running late due to a significant amount of roadworks.
‘I took a detour to try and bypass the traffic and at one T-junction, a couple of miles away from my office, I admittedly jumped out a little hastily which aggravated an oncoming driver who was going faster than he should have been.
‘The driver in question proceeded to beep, flash and tailgate me to show his annoyance for the rest of my journey into work, until it became clear we had both just pulled onto the site car park.
‘It got more awkward when I got out of the car and he just sat in his.
‘I went inside and a couple of minutes later was told our first interviewee had arrived. Yup – it was him. It was an awkward interview, particularly when I asked him how he managed pressure or stress. And no – he didn’t get the job!’
Helen
‘I once went to a retail interview in a hotel. When it was my turn, the interviewer beckoned me into the interview room apologising profusely because the conference suite had been double booked. We did the whole thing in a twin room and I had to sit on a bed!’
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/03/people-tell-us-worst-ever-job-interviews-11996717/
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