Worst job interview ever... funny.

Published

Ok I had to share this...

So I had just graduated nursing school and got my first job interview at UofM on their oncology floor. I was so excited to have a job at the place I wanted to work for so long (not necessarily oncology but at UofM).

The interview was a 3 part interview and it was long. First a 3 hour job shadow of the floor to see patient ratios, the floor meet some staff etc. Then an interview with 3 or 4 staff members (my mind is still fuzzy) and then another interview with 2 managers.

So if the long day wasn't enough to scare the crap out of me, I had quite a drive ahead of me to be there at 7am. I was also 21 or 22 weeks pregnant with baby number 2. I ate a decent breakfast in the car (McDonalds and I brought a fruit smoothly with me). LOL or so I thought.

I arrived and listened to report and began the job shadow. About 2 hours into the 3 hour shadow I was in a patient's room with the RN and she was doing an assessment (no biggie right?) All of a sudden I got really hot, and felt my heart racing so I decided I'd step in the hallway to cool off, totally oblivious to the what was going on.

One step out the door I began stumbing to find the wall...then it dawned on me the floor is going to hit me really fast and hard if I dont sit down. I sat down on the floor...everything goes blank. LOL yup you guessed it... passed out.

There was no reasoning behind why I passed out. Blood sugar was good, HR was fast but that's normal, all other vitals were great. Nerves? Who knows lol.

After an hour of sitting with the 3 PA's on the floor I was allowed to continue with my interviews. (LOL 2 of the 3 PA's watched me go lights out).

I then did the interview with the nurses... everyone knew except one. The question "How do you handle stress?" was filled with a chuckle in the room about me passing out on the floor. I had the interview with the managers but was so tired and still quite fuzzy that I hardly remember it.

I can only imagine there is a running joke on that unit whenever someone new is doing an interview... "Couldn't be worse than that one girl who passed out :chuckle"

LOL no I didn't get the job... I think I would have been too embarrased to show my face back there. Anyways I had to share... who seriously does that? At least if it had been nurse messing with a bunch of blood or something gorey I would have had an excuse lol... I'm the girl who passes out to the RN listening to the patient's lung sounds. :chuckle

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in pediatric transplant.

I'm sorry that happened. But, I did get a chuckle out of your story. I'm also a new grad, and I could totally see something like that happening to me. Like tripping and falling on the unit tour, or inhaling my saliva before answering an interview question. :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ED, Rehab, LTC.

I came very close to passing out in the OR in nursing school, not during the procedure-before the procedure! The patient wasn't even in the room yet and I had to ask to step out. I think just standing there so long with the thin air and weird smell. I was fine during the procedure (weird). I dunno.

That is funny, at least you have a sense of humor!

Better luck on your next interview.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency, outpatient.

Nursing students routinely came to our little clinic to watch outpatient procedures. Our 4-bed urgent care/ED was attached. Those days we always left one bed open for the student who would invariably pass out.

Happens every time. (that's okay--happened to me, too.)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

my worst interview ever was when i was still in nursing school, trying for a secretarial job because it paid enough that i would only have to work one job instead of 3. i thought i was doing great until they gave me a typing test . . . i was sitting in that chair in my white pants and thinking "i wonder if it's just stress, or if i'm really getting my period." and i was typing away, worrying about whether or not i was getting my period . . . typing really, really fast. but this was before computers and word-wrap, on an old ibm selectric typewriter, and i was so worried about getting my period that i forgot to return at the end of the line. so i typed off the edge of the paper, and just kept right on typing.

meanwhile, i was sure i was getting my period. finally got enough guts to look down at my lap, and my crotch was bright red! worse, i had saturated the chair i was sitting on. i got up and walked right out of that office and just kept right on going. i didn't have a car in those days -- rode my bicycle everywhere. so i had to ride my bike home through the city with those bright red/white pants!

i never got a call back from that company, which is just as well. i'd never have had the nerve to go back!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I think its to their discredit that they did not continue the interview and not make such assumptions about your nervousness. Perhaps you had some sort of vagal response. Who knows, obviously they couldn't figure it out either, right?

Good luck with the next interview. Hopefully you'll run into some more normal human beings.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I think its to their discredit that they did not continue the interview and not make such assumptions about your nervousness. Perhaps you had some sort of vagal response. Who knows, obviously they couldn't figure it out either, right?

Good luck with the next interview. Hopefully you'll run into some more normal human beings.

OH lol the did the interview.. just didn't hire me. I wish they would have asked me to come back another day or do the interview a few hours later. It really took a full 24 hours before I didn't feel half out of it. I'm sure i didn't make any sense in the interviews lol.

ETA: I do have a job now as well :p This happened almost 9 months ago... but I only found this site like 2 weeks ago ;)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
my worst interview ever was when i was still in nursing school, trying for a secretarial job because it paid enough that i would only have to work one job instead of 3. i thought i was doing great until they gave me a typing test . . . i was sitting in that chair in my white pants and thinking "i wonder if it's just stress, or if i'm really getting my period." and i was typing away, worrying about whether or not i was getting my period . . . typing really, really fast. but this was before computers and word-wrap, on an old ibm selectric typewriter, and i was so worried about getting my period that i forgot to return at the end of the line. so i typed off the edge of the paper, and just kept right on typing.

meanwhile, i was sure i was getting my period. finally got enough guts to look down at my lap, and my crotch was bright red! worse, i had saturated the chair i was sitting on. i got up and walked right out of that office and just kept right on going. i didn't have a car in those days -- rode my bicycle everywhere. so i had to ride my bike home through the city with those bright red/white pants!

i never got a call back from that company, which is just as well. i'd never have had the nerve to go back!

i probably would have done the same thing, just never gone back.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

sorry to hear that! you must've been so nervous. Your post brought a smile to my face. thanks :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

My funniest bad interview was for a job at Staples. I think the manager forgot I was coming. He led me to the furniture section, sat at a desk, and interviewed me there. I kept hoping no one would come by and ask him where to find something .

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

this happened to my cousin and not me.

when she was 37 weeks pregnant, and having irregular contractions, she was scheduled for her masters orals. she wore a suit with a skirt, not pants, for comfort. she was walking across the room to her chair and the elastic in her slip let go and down her slip went -- right onto the shoes of an ancient, stern, forbidding man in a three piece suit. she was huge and bending over to retrieve it was out of the question. she just ignored it and kept going. :D

two weeks later, bigger still, she interviewed for head of the social services department in a psych hospital. her chair was at the side of the interviewer's desk. because of her size and condition, the interviewer came around to shake her hand. she began to get up, was hit with a strong contraction and just then, her water broke. :eek: she got the job -- the the man whose shoes she had just decorated, drove her to the hospital.

kathy

shar pei mom:paw::paw:

Up Vote Up Vote ×

OMG Ruby!

Now there isn't one person in the world who would not have left in a hurry. And you know that after they noticed you were gone, someone probably just sat right down in that very chair :lol2: :eek:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion