tell me about your most embarrassing job interview!

Nurses Job Hunt

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my friend who is a RN , went for a job interview . the person who was interviewing her asked her , now that you left your last job what would they be saying about you? she said " what do you mean?" the lady said to her well , would they be saying your mean , or rude or will they say your bad to work with and on and on. well she said she sat there stumped not knowing what to say. then said i always thought they liked me and the lady said " well what are they saying? she said i don't know and started crying. the poor girl had no idea what this lady wanted her to say. then the lady said " all i wanted to know what are your strengths and weaknesses? the girl said to her why didn't you just ask that? i felt so bad for her. i told her ya know what ,that was a stupid question. i have never been asked that in a interview have you? she said she doubts she will get the job . i said so what big deal. tell me about your embarrassing interview !! thank you !!

Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.

Isn't that ILLEGAL?

RUN for the door.

Yes it is. I mistakenly took the job anyway and left 5 months later. Worst job ever

I was fresh out of high school, interviewing for a government clerical position. I'd passed all the tests and stuff, typing, etc., and they seemed surprised that I'd passed and moved on to the actual interview. Turns out I have to inverview with three high level managers at the same time, something I wasn't prepared for. So I walk into the room, trying to act confident, but am incredibly nervous (it was one of my first ever job interviews), and sit in the chair they offered me. -IT WAS A SPINNING CHAIR- So you know how the rest of this story goes. They ask me questions. I answer, while unconsiously twisting back and forth in this chair. They ask more questions, with little smiles on their faces. I answer, thinking hey! This might be going pretty well! (still twisting in the chair). Finally, one of them says, "That chair is pretty fun, isn't it?" I stop immediately and turn bright red, realizing that I had been twisting that chair the entire time. I mumbled some yes or no answers to the rest of the questions and hurried out of there as fast as I could. I never heard back from them. Can't imagine why. :wacky:

Specializes in Med/Surg, Oncology, Epic CT.

When I was 17 (I am 27 now), I was interviewing for a non-medical position, specifically, a hostess position at a restaurant. This was my second time doing a job interview. Despite my nerves, I did fairly well. The manager was impressed too. After he walked me to my car (since it was night time), I proceeded to leave thereafter as he returned inside, but unfortunately when I backed out, I did it too wide and ended up side swiping the truck next to me, doing some pretty hefty damage to the side panels. Getting out...I was absolutely horrified and bawling. :crying2:

To make matters worse, the whole restaurant (staff and patrons alike) saw the incident. I was writing up my insurance information to leave on the car, when I heard a voice behind me say, "What happened to my car?!"

Guess whose car I struck? You guessed it...the manager that I just impressed in my interview! Now my horror was coupled with absolute mortification! I was a blubbering mess...

In the end, my insurance paid for everything (my parents' premiums went up too. :o Mom didn't speak to me for weeks.)

Despite all of that though, to my surprise, I still got the job! :x3:

I was almost 2 hours late to an interview once. I could have died, but the GPS was programmed incorrectly, and I had no idea where I was going b/c I was 1700 miles away from home in very busy metro DC. This sounds like a lousy excuse, but it's true. They still interviewed and hired me though.

Specializes in Trauma-Surgical, Case Management, Clinic.

I was interviewing for a cocktail server position at a casino nightclub. I got lost, ended up being about 40 min late. When I walk into the interview room, there is a panel of judges. Everyone was looking at me, Ms Late. No one told me this would be a panel interview! Since it was a food and beverage job I wore casual clothes. I had worked in this industry for years and never dressed up for an interview. I walk in the room there are about 50 applicants, all of them dressed in business attire. I had on skinny jeans, a graffic tee, and sandals. I was mortified; I wanted to just turn around and leave. They started going around the room asking everyone questions and you had to stand up and reply in front of everyone. Afterwards, they told ppl to step outside the room once their name was called. They never called my name. The ppl left were the ones who were hired. There was one position left for cocktail and I got it! I guess it was just meant to be. They were going for a certain look tho.

Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

Long before I became a nurse, I had a rather brief career as a graphic artist. The first job as an artist that I had, I hated. It didn't pay well, it was too far to drive, I wasn't doing any type of artwork that I wanted to be doing... I didn't fit in... the whole nine yards. Well, I was doing quite a bit of dabbling into web

design, and landed an interview at a very small web design firm.

The lead designer and I had an interview together at an Applebees, and it went beautifully. I really thought that I had the job in the bag. Well, then he brought me back into the office for a second interview. He then proceeded to plop me down in front of a computer that I wasn't familiar with, and wanted me to

FIRE OFF some graphics, just to show him that I could. I simply do not work that fast, and I became extremely nervous and choked, big time. Needless to say, I didn't get the job.

A couple of months or so later, I got fired from the other graphics job. It then became obvious that I was NOT going to have a career in graphic design. I had yet another brief career, in retail management =), then in the Fall of '01, I began nursing school. The rest is history. =)

Finally, one of them says, "That chair is pretty fun, isn't it?" I stop immediately and turn bright red, realizing that I had been twisting that chair the entire time. I mumbled some yes or no answers to the rest of the questions and hurried out of there as fast as I could. I never heard back from them. Can't imagine why. :wacky:

You probably handled better than I would have. I would've prob have done something clownish or have done some Jim Carrey antic and my story would end up in another AN forum under "who's the weirdest interviewee you ever interviewed"

Something on the line of "good thing we're not on a boat." If this was the break room, I would prob have proceeded to sail it.

So kudos for not doing the above. It could've been worse.

The question about are you married - do you have children - that's an illegal question!

Specializes in inerested in school nursing, peds, OR.

My first PCT interview was at a huge teaching hospital in Houston, and I wanted it SOOOO bad. I wasn't nrevous or anything and the first half of it went extermely well. I was answering all of the questions on key, and even had them smiling.

Now keep in mind I had just finished my CNA course about a week before. My interviewer aksed me "So what would you do if you were charting and every light on your hall went off at the same time?" (in school we called the call lights call bells,weird.) So I answered..."well, I guess I would find a flashlight." They just looked at me like I was crazy and went on to the next question. As the interview went on I realized what she was talking about and at the end I corrected myself. She just laughed and hired me on the spot!!!! Boy was I emberassed though.

:)

My interview to get into medical school (I was going to become a doctor before I became a nurse) went pretty well until I burped at the very end of it.:eek: That burp came out of nowhere! My interview panel started laughing like crazy though. They thought it was great! I was accepted to that medical school, actually, and ended up doing three of the four years.

Nevertheless, I about wanted to DIE when that burp happened.

Specializes in PDN; Burn; Phone triage.
My worst job interview was when the interviewer asked me if I was married or had kids as it is always more difficult to accommodate the schedule needs of nurses with families.

This sounds awful but I'm pretty sure a big part of why I got my coveted hospital job *was* my answer to this question. Not exactly asked, but the byproduct of chit-chat with the nurse manager during my job interview -- so...probably real, y'know?

Hubby has a good paying, stable job with a large company in the area. We had just bought a house. No kids, not planning any time soon. I got the job.

Specializes in Critical Care.

the comment about the burp gave me the confidence to admit that when i had interviewed for a sales associate position at Express, it was just prior to the holiday rush, so they were doing group interviews.

i farted a big, bad, silent but deadly one. it was choking.

but, i was dressed up in my fashionable interview wear looking on pointe and professional (hey i needed to pay for my nursing textbooks somehow!) and I never let on it was me.

they must not have guessed me either since I got the job and stayed for a year eve after the holiday season.

i still cringe when i think about the reactions in the room from people who were trying to keep it cool, answering questions but still remembering he who smelt it, dealt it!

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