Worst job interview answers 25

[Bernoulli31]

Just wanted to share this..
We recently had a young grad in our office to interview for an entry level mechanical engineer position.

Q: What type of systems would you like to work on / are you interested in?
A: HVAC! I want to design HVAC systems. I have a passion for it and want to do pursue my career in HVAC.
Q: What does HVAC stand for?
A: Heating, Ventilation,.. and.. err.. hmmm... I forgot!

I design aqueducts in a parallel universe.

 

[drawoh]

lacajun,

A colleague told me that when he was servicing equipment in France, they did not have a torque wrench. One of the Frenchmen assured him the bolts would be torqued "German[ ]tight".

--
JHG

 

[Gary_321]

I once interviewed a candidate, we were looking for an engineer that was good with linear motion and controls. His resume indicated he designed a laser marking system with +/-.002" positional repeatability. When I asked him to describe his device he started using sounds effects.

"The laser unit would driven into position 'whirrrr' and stop based on a position sensor 'eeert'. The laser would then mark 'zzzzzat' the bags with a serial number."

I can imagine the whole interview was very similar to this (even down to the look on your face at the end!) ...

Link

 

[JohnRBaker]

Or in this case, where an individual is being interviewed by the people who will be making the recommendation as to whether he will be 'hired' or not for a guaranteed, life-time position. Note that the questions being asked are directly related to the day-to-day responsibilities and tasks that this candidate will have to be acutely knowledgeable about in order to fulfill the expectations of the job he's being considered for. Furthermore, his ability to perform his job will have a direct and intimate impact on other individuals to extent that their life, liberty and/or property could be inappropriately placed in jeopardy if the candidate failed to perform his job in a professional and informed manner:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs0z2Ef-aEE

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[Sparweb]

I do like how that is done in public hearings in the USA. Many countries don't do that (like mine). Some say that these hearings get very political, but the nominations are political to begin with, so a public airing of the political choice by the loyal opposition makes a lot of sense to me.

STF

 

[JohnRBaker]

Also keep in mind that the US Senator asking the questions is a member of the same party as the executive who's trying to make these appointments. In other words, this was NOT a member of the 'opposition'. However, in all fairness, this particular Senator had a reputation of being an experienced and dedicated attorney before running for office as well as being a former law school professor, so you can see that even if he might have been expected to 'go easy' on one of his own party's nominees, his integrity as a member of the legal profession got the better of him. Too bad others haven't shown the same level of concern for the welfare of the nation.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[IRstuff]

It was pretty clear the senator was trying very hard to make a point, given that he was referring to the written answers provide by the applicant during the questioning.

The converse is that this applicant KNEW what questions were being asked, given that he provided written answers beforehand, and FAILED MISERABLY at doing even the most minute amount of preparation. I almost think he really didn't have any interest in the appointment. Almost anyone could have spent an hour or so looking up Wikipedia or a number of legal info sites and aced those very questions.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list

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[zeusfaber]

I'm from a different part of the world and don't know the applicant concerned - but I suspect a bit of canniness around that apparent lack of preparation.

If he'd looked the questions up beforehand and aced them in the hearing, he would only have ended up looking stupid in the face of some TV interviewer with new questions a couple of days further down the line. Without being insultingly in your face about it, this performance has a bit of a feel of the "I don't know and neither do most of the people watching this hearing - nor do they care all that much: Many are maybe thinking that rubbish has more to do with 'The Law' than it does with true justice - and I can ride a fair way on the back of that sentiment".

Let's face it, after the opening barrage of "I have nots", a masterful exposition of the ins and outs of the Daubert Standard was unlikely to shift the panel's opinion a great deal, so it made sense to accept a bit of carefully calibrated embarrassment and get it all out of the way at once.

A.

 

[WARose]

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know exactly what a lot of Presidential appointees do (especially in the cabinet level positions; a lot of people think they do, but I suspect most don't). But there isn't much denying the whole process has a lot of canned questions asked for effect rather than reason.

A case in point: Betsy DeVos. I remember watching some of it on C-Span.....she certainly didn't come across as the most qualified person in the world, but the questions put to her were ridiculous. Elizabeth Warren asked her (among other things) had she ever run a bank or overseen a trillion dollar loan program.

How many people (period) have overseen a trillion dollar loan program? Dick Riley (Clinton's secretary of education) certainly never did (prior to getting the job). Neither did Arne Duncan. (Obama's secretary.) Neither had ran a bank either. That puts some perspective on some of Warren's ridiculous questions.

Furthermore, exactly what makes a good one? As someone who lived/lives in South Carolina while Riley was governor, I saw his EIA program first hand. And what it did was raise the sales tax and didn't improve the state's education one bit. Duncan oversaw the mess known as the Chicago school system.

 

[IRstuff]

DeVos, at best, will only last as long as Trump is president. The applicant in question was up for a LIFETIME appointment as a federal judge. From what I've heard, the main test was whether he was sufficiently "conservative" enough, and the lack of any tangible in the judicial level at any position is probably a good thing, for him.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list

http://www.eng-tips.com/forumlist.cfm

 

[WARose]

The applicant in question was up for a LIFETIME appointment as a federal judge.

I'm aware of that. I was commenting on the process of these hearings. (And how they can become a partisan show with misleading questions.)

 

[JohnRBaker]

...the main test was whether he was sufficiently "conservative" enough...

And lest not forget the other requirement, that he was a young white male.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[WARose]

Oh I forgot this one (actually may fall into the best answer category).....I recommended this designer and (ergo) was asked to sit in on the interview. This guy was semi-retired, had just turned about 60 and wanted to come back for part-time work. Ok my boss had these questions that he asked no matter who he was talking to.....he just read them off every time. Well we've all heard this one....but gotta love the reply:

Boss man: "So where do you see yourself in 20 years?"

Guy being interviewed: [without hesitation] "Dead."



We all got a good chuckle out of that one. (My boss immediately inquired whether that was expected anytime soon.)

 

[handleman]

Oooh, lawsuit! Can't ask questions about health...

 

[WARose]

Oooh, lawsuit! Can't ask questions about health...

He got hired and left on his own. So it's ok.....but you are right: my boss should have left out the follow up question.

 

[handleman]

Yeah, that was about 90% tongue in cheek, 10% observation of just how easy it is to ask those sort of questions completely unintentionally. Interviewing is a dangerous sport!

 

[jari001]

In response to my question about how other junior level employees advance within the company, meaning do they tend to stay in engineering for the product line they started with, bounce between product lines as a technical resource, go to management, etc. the hiring manager told me "I don't really know, people do what they want around here"