'He was the single worst candidate we had ever encountered': 20+ Job candidates whose interviews could not have gone worse

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Sep 15, 2024 3:00 PM EDT

These job candidates thought they were nailing their interviews, but their interviewers knew that they were flunking them. 

During job interviews, hiring managers meet all sorts of people. They meet people with little experience but awesome personalities. Some candidates are highly experienced and seem great for the role, with only a few minor issues that need to be addressed. The hiring manager might have to speak with dozens of candidates before making their final decision. It's based on the candidate's knowledge and skills, as well as deciding if they'll fit the general vibe of the workplace. HR folks know that people get very nervous when they interview, too, so they allow a little room for performance anxiety or uncertainty. But every now and again, they'll encounter a candidate who is so off the wall or unqualified that it's remarkable. 

Thousands of people replied to u/jimbobsausage's question wondering, "For people who interview potential candidates for high level positions what was the worst interview you conducted?" More than 2,700 people shared their worst candidate interviews, and you can read some of the funniest and most entertaining stories down below. 

Up next, this boss asked for help dealing with his employee's daily "super unprofessional" disruptive habit, and the good people of the internet had some excellent advice. 

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10403725824
    via Austin Distel on Unsplash

    Image does not depict actual story subjects. 

  • 02
    For people who interview potential candidates for high level positions what was the worst interview you conducted?
    via u/Jimbobsausage
  • 03
    Coconut-bird I was chair of a committee to screen a new library director. The candidate came in and was dismissive of me from the beginning. It was if she was insulted that a lowly librarian was interviewing her instead of a dean or provost. Then during the interview she asked a question which I was answering, she interrupted me, told me I
    via u/Coconut-bird
  • 04
    wasn't answering her question correctly and then proceeded to explain my library to me. The faces of the rest of the committee were hilarious to watch. They gave up on poker faces and just let their true opinions show. Several just put their pens down and
    via u/Coconut-bird
  • 05
    just went through the motions with the rest of the interview. I'm not sure she was savvy enough to notice.
    via u/Coconut-bird
  • 06
    Noname_left She only spoke in high end corporate speak and non answers. I didn't have any clue about her as a person leaving that interview but could tell she was the absolute wrong fit.
    via u/Noname_left
  • 07
    Of course she was hired and has tanked that program. I swear she has dirt on someone high up otherwise she would have been removed.
    via u/Noname_left
  • 08
    Cymdai I interviewed a guy for a Head of Marketing position many years ago. This guy shows up to the interview and is immediately smug as ; we haven't even started yet. He refuses to turn on his camera, instantly remarks how he worked for Facebook, and let it be KNOWN that he's the real deal.
    via u/Cymdai
  • 09
    I ask him "What are the channels for video game marketing?" And he responded with "I don't know, does it matter?". Astonished, we asked him how he would approach marketing different platforms, and he responded "With lots of money." I asked him if he realized we were an indie company, and he was like "That doesn't matter."
    via u/Cymdai
  • 10
    Halfway through the interview, the CEO himself finally begged me to stop the interview. We contacted our recruiting firm and told them he was the single worst candidate we had ever encountered. They dropped him as a client because apparently this wasn't even the first time he was a terrible interview. I still remember his name. He ended up going back to
    via u/Cymdai
  • 11
    Facebook. Seemed like he tested the market, realized he wasn't , and then went back home where he could blend in as a useless nepobaby.
    via u/Cymdai
  • 12
    Pigbenis7687 In the middle of an interview I had a few years ago, my soon-to-be manager thanked me for dressing up and explained to me the guy he interviewed the day before showed up in a mesh t-shirt lol
    via u/Pigbenis7687
  • 13
    mushybrainiac I interviewed a guy for a higher level management position for the company I worked for. Attire was supposed to be business professional. He showed up in a Hawaiian shirt, jeans, and flip flops because he thought this interview was "just a formality" and he believed
    via u/mushybrainiac
  • 14
    his supposed reputation in the industry just preceded him. I had no idea who he was. When he realized we were actually asking questions he just said "trust me, I'm the guy for the job" over and over and over again. It became a running joke for all of us when we'd get a new assignment.
    via u/mushybrainiac
  • 15
    BlueCoatEngineer Senior engineer role, in person (right before the pandemic). Guy kept steering all his answers to technical questions back to the time he'd spent with peace corps. After the third time, I just let him ramble. When we were done, I offered to toss his empty cup and he was weirdly protective of it, like insisted it was too much trouble and
    via u/BlueCoatEngineer
  • 16
    I could just show him the kitchen on the way out. Sure, whatever. Guy washes his paper cup before throwing it out and leaves.
    via u/BlueCoatEngineer
  • 17
    In our follow up meeting to discuss the candidate, our director was. because the guy wouldn't stay on topic and if he didn't know any better, he'd think the candidate was drunk. And then it clicked as to why he'd been so odd with the cup. We did not make an offer.
    via u/BlueCoatEngineer
  • 18
    eezgorriseadback I once interviewed a woman who was a Dolly Parton impersonator in her spare time. No word of a lie, she asked what the hours were I told - her they weren't set as such, reasonably flexible, and that I was more interested into what she put into those hours, than the hours she did.
    via u/eezgorriseadback
  • 19
    She replied "Not 9 to 5, then"? And proceeded to start singing that song. I swear she was crackers to be honest.
    via u/eezgorriseadback
  • 20
    Soulfighter56 A friend of mine was interviewing a candidate for a customer-facing managerial position (public university, think head-of- department kind of role). This woman was adamant about being the opposite of a people person, said she prefers to work alone (the position is basically half delegation and the other half is collaboration), and
    via u/Soulfighter56
  • 21
    said her biggest weakness was trying to relate to those who reported to her. She didn't elaborate, and didn't seem to understand that she was giving the literal worst answers possible at every point.
    via u/Soulfighter56
  • 22
    The most awkward part was the fact that when no one was hired for the role, they reposted the job listing and that woman applied again, and they were required by law to interview her again. The candidate was made aware that no one interviewed was deemed a good fit. Her answers did not change.
    via u/Soulfighter56
  • 23
    M... I once set up an interview with someone for a lead position at a company I've since left. Right from the start, they sent me a snarky email saying, "If you're going to post a job, at least make sure the people you mention actually work there." I was confused, so I asked them to clarify. They responded, claiming the name of the company's
    via u/MarshmallowMarble
  • 24
    founder/director listed in the ad wasn't accurate and that no one went by that name in the list of employees on the website. Confused, I double-checked our website and right at the very top of our "Meet the team page" has the name and photo of the company director, which matched the name listed in the ad. I therefore went back to the candidate and confirmed
    via u/MarshmallowMarble
  • 25
    that the name of the director on the job ad was indeed correct and apologised if they misread this. They responded, completely unacknowleding my response, to confirm their interview time. Weird, but ok.
    via u/MarshmallowMarble
  • 26
    Fast forward a few days to the interviews and we are conducting the initial rounds. via Zoom. The candidate from the email tried to join the meeting 45 minutes before their scheduled time while I was interviewing another candidate, so I declined their request to enter, and intended on giving them a call once finished to see if something happened/they needed to
    via u/MarshmallowMarble
  • 27
    meet earlier. Before the other interview even ended, I received a rambling email where they berated me for not letting them in early and threatened to report me to [company directors name] I simply replied, "We don't have anyone by that name working here," and then blocked them.
    via u/MarshmallowMarble
  • 28
    Fritzo2162 I'm a senior engineer at our firm and often sit in on interviews to gauge technical prowess. We had some kid come in fresh out of college, and it was evident he read or was given some advice to come off demanding- the "if you know exactly what you want people will respect you" type of thing.
    via u/Fritzo2162
  • 29
    It was almost comical: he came in and said things like "Look, we all know the back and forth...the bottom line is I'll help progress this business and take you in new directions." He was also saying things like "I'll need you to stock Peet's Dark Roast coffee in the kitchen, I like my lunch time around 2pm, I need vacation time available immediately..."
    via u/Fritzo2162
  • 30
    Mr. Confidence turned into Mr. Confidently Rejected...on the spot. At one point my boss even asked "are you always like this or are you just nervous?" LOL I never saw a face sink like that so fast. We even gave him pointers to tone it down or he's going to have a really hard time out there.
    via u/Fritzo2162
  • 31
    jstantheman I asked an engineer "what do you love about engineering?" And they paused for a long moment and then told me they didn't love anything about it. I panicked and tried to save it for them and said "oh what about the team you're on right now?" And they said "oh my team is great! But I don't think I want to be a software engineer anymore,
    via u/jstantheman
  • 32
    I don't think I like it at all". At this point the interview was dead, and we had a policy not to end early. So I asked them "what's something you do love?" And we talked about knitting for 45 minutes. It was really fun! They didn't get the job.
    via u/jstantheman
  • 33
    RedditWhilelmWo... My boss and I interviewed a woman who spoke too long about her many cats, and when asked about her previous job began to cry. My instincts said "she might need some time to sort things out before diving into another job" and my boss.
    via u/RedditWhilelmWorking
  • 34
    hired her. I was flown up to train her for two weeks at great expense for the company and effort from me. She quit 6 months into the job.
    via u/RedditWhilelmWorking
  • 35
    throwaway19923... Not me but someone told me about a guy who applied at a Director position and brought his mom with him
    via u/throwaway19923677
  • 36
    fatsilentnin I was hiring for a role, and someone reached out to me via LinkedIn to let me know they'd applied. Totally fine. It turns out he was the son of a former coworker, which was interesting to know, but not really relevant to the hiring process. I reviewed his resume, but unfortunately, he didn't have the experience needed for
    via u/fatsilentnin
  • 37
    the role-his background was in completely different industries. Since I used to work with his mom, I gave him that feedback, and he was totally understanding. His mother, my former coworker, then reached out to me, pleading her son's case. She even said she'd personally fill in any gaps in his knowledge and coach him through the role,
    via u/fatsilentnin
  • 38
    insisting that I "give him a chance." Two big problems with this: Having your mom reach out like this makes it seem like you can't stand on your own in the workplace. His mom and I now work for direct competitors. There's proprietary information involved, and she would potentially have access to it.
    via u/fatsilentnin
  • 39
    That's a major conflict. Bottom line: Don't have your mom reach out for you in a job application. And definitely don't bring her with you.
    via u/fatsilentnin
  • 40
    bu... Not me but my mother. Interviewed a guy for their chief safety and security position. They asked why he was leaving his last job after 15+ years. He responds completely seriously that he was actually forced to resign shortly after he sent in his resume because he neglected a final security check at his facility which resulted in a fire. They asked
    via u/buroblob
  • 41
    for more details and learned that his negligence led to a loss of over $2mil for his former employer and because no one was hurt they made a deal that he would resign and forfeit his severance package to boot. When they asked why they should hire him, considering that information, he replied. that it was just one mistake so they shouldn't take it so seriously.
    via u/buroblob
  • 42
    Happy 5Day Some guy came in and he was the spitting image of Mr Bean. He had a briefcase/ suitcase and was dressed in tweed. It wasn't a joke he was just that way. But me and HR just couldn't keep it professional. He said things like 'oh I'm never sick except
    via u/Happy 5Day
  • 43
    at Christmas when my mum said I was talking to the curtains!' HR woman had to leave after that one and get herself together.
    via u/Happy 5Day
  • 44
    TheMadIrishman3... Not a high level position, but two of us were interviewing a candidate for a job. He was perfect! Fully qualified, mature, exactly what we were looking for. He was a shoo-in for the job. At the end, I asked him if he had any questions or comments for us. He said he wanted to be honest with us. He was angry at his previous
    via u/TheMadIrishman327
  • 45
    employer and was suing them over a faked injury. The candidate wanted us to know he was perfectly healthy and nothing was actually wrong with him. He felt like it was the right thing to do to tell us. Boy, we dodged a bullet.
    via u/TheMadIrishman327
  • 46
    jo... I was interviewing people for a staff-level software engineering position on my team. For high level IC positions you often see a common type of person; someone who moved into middle management (like a director-level) at their previous role but wants to get back to the technical work. This one guy (from Wisconsin... which is
    via u/johnsilver4545
  • 47
    important) applied and had been in management for years. My technical interviews are usually a series of 5 questions that slowly ratchet up in difficulty or complexity as a way of just level- setting. You can't really fail it just tells me where you land in terms of experience and title (should we make an offer). In the first question... which is basically training
    via u/johnsilver4545
  • 48
    wheels for anyone who has ever written any code in their lives...the guy just starts saying "Ah geez. Ah geez!" In his thick Midwest accent. He is also muttering stuff like "I'm blowing it" quietly under his breath. I think it was a full on panic attack (which I totally get). He then just refused to do any kind of coding live.
    via u/johnsilver4545
  • 49
    Again, this is like "write a function that multiplies two integers together... in any language you want." As we end the call and he is incredibly contrite and says he will follow up if I send him "the exercise" via email. I agree (although I know I won't be considering his candidacy) and we part. Two
    via u/johnsilver4545
  • 50
    days later I get the angriest email from him saying that technical interviews like that are unfair and we sprang it on him. The tone was so different I thought it was another person. Very odd.
    via u/johnsilver4545
  • 51
    GenericHam Interviewed a lady for a Sr. Data Science position who continually said things like: "I am a perfectionist", "if there is something I don't like I will do it myself", "I have re-wrote almost all my old companies policies".
    via u/GenericHam
  • 52
    The interview went from "ooh this lady really likes do get done", to "ooh this lady is going to be in everyone's II
    via u/GenericHam
  • 53
    sweetmullet Senior engineer position. She just straight up typed out questions in chat gpt and read them verbatim. She told us "I don't know what kql is, but then gave us a dictionary answer about 3 seconds later on log analytics workspaces, and the basis of kql as a language. She wasn't even good at cheating.
    via u/sweetmullet

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