Last year a survey of hiring managers was conducted to find out what the biggest and most common interview mistakes made were. The results, as you can imagine, are both hilarious and a little sad! The national survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive from November 6 to December 2, 2013, and included a representative sample of 2,201 hiring managers and human resource professionals across industries and company sizes. Here are there results, as put together by CareerBuilder:
When asked to share the most outrageous mistakes candidates made during a job interview, employers gave the following real-life examples:
- Applicant warned the interviewer that she “took too much valium” and didn’t think her interview was indicative of her personality
- Applicant acted out a Star Trek role
- Applicant answered a phone call for an interview with a competitor
- Applicant arrived in a jogging suit because he was going running after the interview
- Applicant asked for a hug
- Applicant attempted to secretly record the interview
- Applicant brought personal photo albums
- Applicant called himself his own personal hero
- Applicant checked Facebook during the interview
- Applicant crashed her car into the building
- Applicant popped out his teeth when discussing dental benefits
- Applicant kept her iPod headphones on during the interview
- Applicant set fire to the interviewer’s newspaper while reading it when the interviewer said “impress me”
- Applicant said that he questioned his daughter’s paternity
- Applicant wanted to know the name and phone number of the receptionist because he really liked her
Our own HR Specialists had a few to add from their own experiences:
- Applicant talked about her EEO law suite against her last employer
- Applicant talked about being arrested for solicitation / prostitution (had one of each)
- Applicant admitted he hadn’t gone to bed the night before, because he was out clubbing.
- Applicant admitted he wasn’t interested in the job he was recruited for and came in hoping I’d have something else to offer
Do you have any more interview blunders to add to this list? Let us know in the comments!
