- Job Interviews - How Not to Get the Job -

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We've all been interviewed for jobs. And, we've all spent most of those interviews thinking about what not to do. Don't bite your nails. Don't fidget. Don't interrupt. Don't belch. If we did any of the don'ts, we knew we'd disqualify ourselves instantly. But some job applicants go light years beyond this. Top personnel executives of 100 major American corporations were interviewed and asked for stories of unusual behavior by job applicants. Here are some of the lowlights they reported:

    "Which company? When do I start? What's the salary?" I said, "I assume you're not interested in conducting the interview any further." He promptly responded, "I am as long as you'll pay me more." I didn't hire him, but later found out there was no other job offer. It was a scam to get a higher offer."

  1. " A balding candidate abruptly excused himself. Returned to office a few minutes later, wearing a hairpiece."

  2. "... announced she hadn't had lunch and proceeded to eat a hamburger and French fries in the interviewers office - wiping the ketchup on her sleeve"

  3. "... asked to see interviewers resume to see if the personnel executive was qualified to judge the candidate."

  4. "... asked who the lovely babe was, pointing to the picture on my desk. When I said it was my wife, he asked if she was home now and wanted my phone number. I called security."

  5. "... pulled out a Polaroid camera and snapped a flash picture of me. Said he collected photos of everyone who interviewed him."

  6. "... stretched out on the floor to fill out the job application."

  7. "A telephone call came in for the job applicant. It was from his wife. His side of the conversation went like this:

  8. "At the end of the interview, while I stood there dumbstruck, he went through my purse, took out a brush, brushed his hair, and left."

  9. "Candidate said he really didn't want to get a job, but the unemployment office needed proof that he was looking for one."

  10. "During the interview, an alarm clock went off from the candidates brief case. He took it out, shut it off, apologized and said he had to leave for another interview."

  11. "His attache [case] opened when he picked it up and the contents spilled, revealing ladies undergarments and assorted makeup and perfume."

  12. "Interrupted to phone his therapist for advice on answering specific interview questions."

  13. "Pointing to a black case he carried into my office, he said that if he was not hired, the bomb would go off. Disbelieving, I began to state why he would never be hired and that I was going to call the police. He then reached down to the case, flipped a switch and ran. No one was injured, but I did need to get a new desk."

  14. "Said he wasn't interested because the position paid too much."

  15. "She wore a Walkman and said she could listen to me and the music at the same time."

  16. "Stated that, if he were hired, he would demonstrate his loyalty by having the corporate logo tattooed on his forearm."

  17. "When I asked him about his hobbies, he stood up and started tap dancing around my office."

  18. "While I was on a long-distance phone call, the applicant took out a copy of Penthouse, and looked through the photos only, stopping longest at the centerfold."

Oddly enough, most of these applicants did not get the job.

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