5 Crazy But True Interview Tales
(1 min read)
Are you sitting comfortably?
You probably won’t be after reading these crazy but true short recruitment stories from our experiences with candidates and employers.
Without further waffle, let us begin…
Life in the fast lane
Barbara was cutting it fine. Racing along in the outside lane she had just 20 minutes to reach a busy M4 service station where she due to meet an IT Director for an off site interview. SatNav was adamant she’d make it but traffic was quite heavy. Suddenly, a powerful BMW roared close behind her and flashed to signal her out of the way. The two inner lanes were packed with cars and lorries but the BMW driver didn’t care and continued to flash driving closer and closer, bumper to bumper. After a mile of hostility, Barbara became increasingly nervous and slowed down. This decision enraged the BMW driver into a wild frenzy aggressively gesturing and visibly shouting at her. Eventually, there was a space to move over. The BMW driver roared past still yelling and shaking his fist.
15 minutes later, Barbara walked into the service station restaurant where, you guessed it, Mr BMW was sat there waiting for her. Red face awkward!
What did he just say?
One hot summers day in central London an up and coming Support Engineer was being telephone interviewed for position with a major competitor. He really wanted this job and was determined to give it his all. Having just selected an ideal sun-drenched bench on the edge of Hyde Park his phone rang as expected. After 15 mins the call was going really well. The interviewer had just started to explain why they were recruiting when she was interrupted with “Hey! You can !@&% Off!” before the phone went dead. Appalled, she immediately called him back and left an angry message complaining about his language, unprofessional attitude and unacceptable sense of humour believing this to be a bad competitor joke.
Actually, the poor candidate had suffered an opportunistic robbery having his phone snatched from his hand mid conversation by a charming, eloquent thief.
Licky Licky
This is gross. An IT Manager was patiently waiting in the reception of a major bank’s head office ahead of an interview. With a ping, the lift doors opened revealing the Head of HR. Walking directly towards the reception seating area she made eye contact with the IT Manager, smiled and extended a hand. The IT Manager arose, smiled back, licked his hand and gripped hers. Shocked and still moist with his saliva she starred at him for a few seconds in utter disbelief and led him to the interview secretly desperate to find a sink. He did not get the job.
Who does that!?
Do you come here often?
Every woman attends an interview to both get a job and find love. At least, that’s what some people seem to think! Recently, a senior software developer attended a management interview with a London marketing agency. After several minutes in reception she noticed a steady parade of men passing by seemingly without purpose making eye contact and grinning. Suddenly a tall man made his way towards her. Assuming he was the interviewer she stood up, collected her bag and smiled.
“Hi. I don’t make a habit of this but I noticed you sat out here and thought I’d move to make your acquaintance. I hear you’re a developer? You’re a rare breed. Love a lady coder.”
She left. He resigned. Karma restored.
It just slipped out
The interview was going really well. It had only been an hour and yet the interviewer and candidate were getting on like they’d been friends for years. Having already dealt with all the job related questions the pair were happily exchanging amusing anecdotes. The last story was so funny that the candidate fell apart laughing. The interviewer followed up with an equally amusing comment resulting in laughter so hard that the candidate’s bowels betrayed her and released a loud, short bottom burp. How do you recover from that!? It was going so well!
People are people and as such will always be inappropriate and unpredictable. We look forward to the next exciting episode of “Crazy but True!”
Our expert IT recruitment consultants are here to take the pressure off you when recruiting someone new, permanent or contract. We liaise with candidates with the utmost care to ensure that their candidate experience is a positive one. Call us on 0207 788 6600 and let us help you Recruit Someone Worth Recruiting.
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