Worst Interview Experiences 7

[prohammy]

Reading a thread today, I was reminded of one of my worst interviews that I ever had....

I was contacted by an agent who said he had a position he thought I might be interested in. He forwarded my CV to th eclient who got back the next day to arrange an interview for the following Monday morning. So far so good.

I arrived at the interview (nice posh reception area, always puts me in the mode for an interview), met the interviewer and was brought into the interview room. Both of us sat down, he placed my CV on the desk in front of both of us and started the interview with the following...

'Mr. Hammond, I see you are a Mechanical Design Engineer, I think we may have a problem. The position I am interviewing for is for an Electrical Engineer'. Immortal words that have stuck with me to this day....(Immortal words that went through my head are censored by this website).

He apologised for not having read my CV and thanked me for taking the time to attend the interview.

I had a very nice conversation with the agent who set it all up later that day.

I'm really curious to see what others have come up against that they think is either funny/annoying or whatever else

Cheers



Kevin Hammond

Mechanical Design Engineer
Derbyshire, UK

 

[JStephen]

"I interviewed a company in Texas a while ago...They took me to a German restaurant for lunch. Eveyone else ordered iced tea. I had a beer. I couldn't bring myself to drink iced tea with sauerbraten."

I'm not sure how that counts as a bad interview experience. Being in Texas myself, I can tell you that I've never been to a German restaurant and would probably get soda pop myself. But there seems to be plenty of beer consumed in the area, so I don't think you'd stand out one way or the other.

 

[BJC]

MikeH
I inerviewed in a state very near Texas. While two of the interviewers driving me around we passed a park where there were several little league baseball games going on. I made a comment on the uniforms the kids were wearing. They had everything the same and it was all part of the uniform, shirts, soxs, shoes etc. I though it was kind of spendy just to play ball. The interviewer expalined that by requiring full uniforms they kept a lot of "undesirable people" out of the league.

 

[CarolinaPE]

I had the engineering manager walk in and the first words out of his mouth (besides cordial greetings) was "so... what's wrong" (as in why are you looking to change jobs). Needless to say that was a check mark in the negative column and I squealed the tires on the car as I left the parking lot of that place!

 

[strokersix]

I interviewed for a manufacturing engineer position several years ago and was given a standard aptitude test. There were several questions like: Would you like to sort library books? I answered NO, I would not like to sort library books. The output of that aptitude test showed that I was weak with math. How could I have made it through BS and MS courses in engineering and be weak on math? The test was intended for general population, not engineers! I would like to build an automated system for sorting library books, now that would be cool. By the way, I totally aced the spatial manipulation portion of the test!

 

[swertel]

Sounds like a rediculously stupid IQ test. We could all do that too and compare genitallia while we're at it. Is that what companies are looking for in an engineer today?

FYI: I just applied for a job online. OK, pretty standard stuff, copy-n-paste your resume/CV here. Then, there were a serious of multiple choice questions. These questions were developed by the hiring manager and this website to screen potential candidates. You must answer these questions accurately in order to have you application forwarded to the hiring manager. I passed those 10 questions and quite frankly, if those represent the level of difficulty in the position, they best not be advertising a Senior Mechancial Engineering position and go find a high school or AA-degree graduate. By the way, the website stated "Congratulations! You passed this portion of the screening process, you may not proceed to the open ended questions."

Next came 4 open-ended questions. Same notice applies that I must post an answer to each question or my app will not be sent to the hiring manager. Of course, since these are open ended questions that a human must review, there is no right or wrong answer in order to my app to be sent on, I just had to place a character in the text box.

Answer #1.
"I would be more than willing to conduct an on-site or telephone interview to answer these questions. A static, text-based answer via a website will not fully highlight the qualities, characteristics, and skills associated with a Senior Mechanical Engineer."

Answers #2-4.
"Please see above."

I filled out that application Saturday (today being Monday). I'm curious to see if I get a response.

--Scott

http://wertel.eng.pro

 

[GrimesFrank]

I have two interview "lovely" experiences;

1) I was interviewing for a term job while in my sophomore year at school. I interviewed with the systems manager. It went so-so although I got the feeling the guy didn't like my "attitude", didn't get the job. I interviewed again the next year, same guy, well he proceeds to grill me with hard question after harder question until I slip up and says "Ha, well if you can't answer that I don't know how you expect to do this job....." The 2nd chair apologizes to me after the interview and doesn't understand why his boss has a mad on for me. I interview with the design manager (director) of the same company less than a month later and get the job easy breezy. I'm walking around the office and pass by Manager 1's office, he sees me and says "I thought I told you, you couldn't do this job?" I turn to him and says, "Your boss thinks differently." and I walk along.

2) I'm interviewing for a company, and after the "social event" I find I have no interest in it as they want you to be an automaton. So I get my drink on at the event, show up to the aptitude test late....ace it, and go to the interview thinking I'm going to ignore that too. Well I expected it to be the stuffed shirt manager at the event, turns out to be this bird just out of college. So I straighten up and give a great interview. Afterward she asks if I'd like to know how I did, I said sure, "She said she thought that it was great but that I wouldn't be getting the job", trying to look disappointed I said "Why?", she says the big stuffed shirt didn't think I was "P&G material". I shrugged my shoulders and then convinced her to have dinner with me that night before she left town. I figure I traded up.

Frank "Grimey" Grimes
Rule 25. of Swanson's "Unwritten Rules of Management"
Have fun at what you do. It will reflect in your work. No one likes a grump except another grump.

 

[sbozy25]

Shortly after graduation I was interviewing at a company in Ft. Wayne Indiana. Part of their interview process included a psychological evaluation test on a computer. It asked me a bunch of questions that had nothing to do with my engineering ability, but I must admit they made me laugh. Below are some examples...

1) Do you smoke crack?
a. 5x+ a day
b. 1-5x a day
c. on ocassion
d. never
2. Do you frequently wet your pants?
a. often
b. sometimes
c. never
3. Do you have violent thoughts?
a. Every day
b. once a week
c. once a month
d. never
4. Have you ever deficated in your pants while on the job? (this was my favorite... lol)
a. yes
b. no

Needless to say, the results of this 3 hour long test of questions like the above showed that I had the tendancies of a hostile employee. It also said that I had deep seeded issues with authority figures. They actually based their hiring on this test.... They even reccomended I see a shrink... Oh well.... At least I only wet my self once a day now!

 

[MedicineEng]

I also appleid for a job online (say position XYZ) in the end of the job description were 2 of the stupidiest questions that I ever saw:

Q#1: Do you seek a job as XYZ?
Q#3: Are you ready to send your CV?

 

[corus]

Applying for a position in a defence (defense for americans) related company I was asked if I'd ever been a terrorist. Bet that catches a few out!

corus

 

[prohammy]

MedicineEng & sbozy25,

Both these posts remind me of a 'design intent understanding' test (whata name, before I started I was already wondering what HR guru had come up with that one) that I took during an interview a few years ago.

I was presented with a 'black box' and a set of tools and asked to describe the function of various parts in the box. I was given a sheet of paper with some questions that I had to answer, which started out like this...

1. What is lever A's main function?
2. Lever A controls the position of Plate C. When can Plate C be moved?
3.(At this point I was on the floor laughing) Once Plate C has been moved by indexing Lever A and Lever B, where will its final position be?

To be fair to the questionaire, each question was on a seperate page.....

HR....the answer to all of life's puzzling questions

Kevin Hammond

Mechanical Design Engineer
Derbyshire, UK

 

[kchayfie]

prohammy, was the alternative title of the test "how to clear paper from a jammed photocopier"? The questions look an awful lot like the instructions on our new Xerox!

 

[KENAT]

corus, have you ever filled in the paperwork for a security clearance. They have a list of questions like that.

Even better is the immigration paperwork to enter the US, be it the Visa waiver form or for a Visa.

Classics along the lines of:

"Are you, or have you ever been a member of the Nazi Party"

"Are you, or have you ever been, part of an organization committed to the overthrow of the government by force"

I think there's one about Moral Turpitude too.

Back on topic, I once got to an interview at a defence company and needed to use the toilet. I asked the receptionist if it was OK to leave my brief case at reception while I went and she said sure. I went, came back a few minutes later and the receptionist I'd talked to was gone and her relief had decided my briefcase may be a bomb and was starting to take the appropriate action! Didn't exactly calm my nerves;-)

 

[EOIT]

Plain and simple - Interviewers should get some sleep the night before too.

Went into the interview with 3 interviewers who all had the same sheet of questions. They went round and round the table, each asking the next question on the list. The 3rd guy was interesting though, he fell asleep IMMEDIATELY after asking a question and then would wake up after a long pause when the 2nd guy was done with his Q/A and ask a question and go back to sleep. And when I say go to sleep I don't mean he put his head down or just closed his eyes. I mean he leaned way back in his chair, leaned his head WAY back, and started light snoring.

I honestly didn't think I would get the job or even a call/letter do to the obvious lack of interest on his part. Fortunately he was just the HR guy and the other two were my future boss and my bosses boss. Still at the company 2 years later and we have a good laugh now and then over the memeory.

EOIT

 

[ScottyUK]

I remember wondering what on earth 'Acts of moral turpitude" were and remarked to one of the cabin crew that I had no idea what they were but that they sounded fun. To this day I don't know what they are, but I said 'no' on the form and they let me in.


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Sometimes I only open my mouth to swap feet...

 

[cksh]

1. I was interviewing with this guy who started to get a little upset about my resume. I think at the time I was a designer for a company that produced electric torque wrenches, and his companies product was different but it was a design job nonetheless. Anyways, he started getting angry for some reason. I was telling him the products I have worked on in the past (from concept to production). Then he asks: "But what have you 'Designed'?" And he was pretty irrate at this point. I was at a loss for words. And this would of been the guy I would of worked for. Then he starts telling me how I should word my resume. This was the first time I almost walked out of an interview. Must of been my tie. Or I looked like the guy that bullied him in school.

2. I had an interview that lasted all day. I met with about 7 or 8 people (seperately). Everone said it was the greatest company to work for and they would never leave even though they made less money (they were actually fortune 100). But by the end of the day (after listening to them describe their typical week) all I heard was: "We work 60-70 hours a week with no overtime. Then go home eat dinner and log onto the network and spend an additional 2-3 hours a night" (in additon to the 60-70 hours already put in). The last guy to interview me says to me "I just don't get the impression that you are excited about this opportunity"

3. I was interviewing for a design position. One of the guys I interviewed with was a sales engineer. He asks me what I would do if I was fully loaded with work and some engineer needed me to work on something additional. I started giving him all kinds of ideas (overtime...getting help from other departments or whatever...he made up excuses for not being able to do any of it). Everything I said was wrong. Apparently the answer he was looking for was "Tell him you are not going to do it!". What??!! I was speachless. I wish I worked for a compnay like that Might as well tell someone that its not my job.

4. Had one of my pants leg tucked into my sock. Not sure if they noticed

5. Lived in Pittsburgh at the time and got an interview in a small town in New York. It was a 10 or 12 hour drive I think. So I sprung for a plane ticket (130 bucks round trip i think). One of their guys picks me up at the airport. The interview goes well and a couple of days later they offered me the job. Anyways, I had another offer that I new was a better opportunity and had accepted the day before. I thanked the lady for the opportunity and she went off on me! Telling me that they had wasted all this time and energy on me. Wasted? All they did was pick me up at the airport. Sure it was nice of them but I did buy my own ticket. Would of taken a cab if I would of known that. Everyone they hired was laid off after 3 months too.

 

[HSThompson]

Alright, I have to put my two bits in.

Back in '91 I was going through the standard college placement service interview for an engineering job with a large US oil company. Times were tough then for engineers with a recession on and of mass layoffs. like any other prepared interviewee I was all dressed up, and well versed on this particular company. I show up at the interview, sit down, and the interviewer starts the interview this way: "Well, before we get to far into this interview, I must tell you that there are no positions available, I'm sure you have heard that we are currently in process of laying off 35,000 people." He continues by telling me that he is getting canned and is only doing the interview as a requirement for him to obtain his severance package. Then the weasel asks me if I know of anyone who is hiring and if I wouldn't mind taking a few of his resume’s to interviews that I go to if someone else I interview with is looking for experienced engineers. I tell the guy that if he folds his resume' just right, he can shove it all the way up his bung hole. I thank him for wasting my time, and walk out.

Only later did I find out that to hold their position within the university placement office for subsequent semesters, the oil company had to conduct interviews regardless of whether or not there was any intent to hire. What a bunch of crapola.

Thanks eng-tip.com, I've waited 16yrs to get that off my chest.

 

[lz5pl]

As I have worked only for two companies in my 20+ professional life, I have no big experience in interviews, and luckily no bad one's at all. But I would like to tell about a funny interview from last year.
I have now consulting company together with a partner. The company is relatively new and at that time it was not widely known. I received a phone call (on my personal mobile!) from a guy from HR consulting company. He invited me on interview and I met him just for curiosity. The guy informed me that somebody (undisclosed person, who knows me very well) proposed me for a Division Manager position in local branch of some West European company. Name of the company cannot be disclosed to me before I pass several tests, i.e. before HR consultants decide that I am more or less suitable for the position. I was given only a general explanation about the area of responsibilities for this position. Of course I informed him that I have now my business and the offer must be REALLY GOOD to allow to me leave it. But anyway I promised to think a bit and to give him an answer in a few days.
Four days later we met again and I said the guy: OK, in mean time I made my homework. The position you are looking person for is in company XXX, up to the last month YYY was on this position, but now he took a higher position in company ZZZ. The salary I can expect from you proposal is approximately AAAA Euro. You should see the HR guy at that moment :~/ !!!
Of course I could simply refuse the position by telephone, but I needed to see his reaction, because of all these secrets from our first meeting.
And after that I told him that the position is not interesting for me, but if he needs I could suggest him another candidate. I gave him a telephone of a lady who works for another company and according to me has reached her maximum at this place. HR guy seemed quite enthusiastic, but I don't know if they really interviewed her at all. Anyway I know who finally took the position and I am sure the HR's customer lost a good professional. Sorry for the lady, if only she haven't refused the position too. I haven't seen her recently (and I never told her about this story, of course) - it would be very good and deserved chance for her.

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It may be like this in theory and practice, but in real life it is completely different.
The favourite sentence of my army sergeant