Wildest Job Interviews You Won’t Believe Actually Happened

I drove a friend to work one day in my pajamas. I was jobless at the time. They walked inside and then came back to the car saying, “I got you an interview.” I said, “What? When?” Taken aback but grateful I guess. “Right now! My boss is inside waiting for you.” They said cheerfully. Not knowing what else to do, I got out of the car still in my pajamas and went inside to find the boss lady sitting in one of the booths waiting for me. I got the job on the spot. She and I are friends to this day.

I interviewed a guy who was very slick and my boss (male) loved him. I said no, because every single question he directed his reply to my boss and ignored me yet he knew I'd be the one who was his line manager.

During Covid I applied to wal mart. Not even 8 hours later I get a text saying I’m hired. Ngl I thought I accidently applied on a fake site. Nope. No interview just come in. And I’m sure they regret it every day because I am a nuisance.

I interviewed for a job as a hospice nurse. I was asked if I had had a significant loss -- everyone who worked their had had a death in their family (spouse or child) and she felt it made them a better support to dying patients. I had just lost my grandmother. She asked if my grandmother lived with us. When I said no, she kind of crinkled her nose and said, "Well, I wouldn't call that a significant loss, then." I couldn't work for her after that.

An interview I had years ago had me interviewing for two hours, only 15 minutes of which I was allowed to speak. The second interview was done with the boss and my most direct coworker, and she told me later, after I had accepted the position, that she came with him to save me from a second two-hour interview. My QUEEN.

I’m Puerto Rican but have been told I sound Caucasian over the phone. In 2000, I was relocating from NY to DC/MD area. I answered an ad & had a great 1-hr long phone interview with the owner of the company. She really liked me & thought I’d be a great fit. She will fly out from home office in TX to meet me in DC to finalize everything. The look on this woman’s face when I introduced myself was priceless! Shock, anger, horror. She rescinded the offer and couldn’t get me out fast enough!

Had someone a few months ago come in for an interview. Her past experience showed she changes jobs every few months and she admitted she also decides on a whim to just pack up and move hundreds of miles without word to her employers. When asked how flexible she is (as in can she handle when a normal day does a complete 180). She says ‘let me show you!’ and proceeded to contort herself into a pretzel and had her leg behind her head before we knew it. 😳 Shoulda been more clear I guess. 😅

I had an interview with a very well-known cancer research company. The interviewer pulled out a deck of cards and told me I had to figure out which card he chose by asking questions. I asked three questions and guessed the correct card. Apparently, I got the right answer the wrong way… so I didn’t get the job. 😂

They pulled up my LinkedIn and interrogated my entire 15 year career history, plus college internships - one by one. It took so long we didn’t cover my most recent 5 years of work. Then said “we don’t think your skillset aligns with this role.” No way! You asked how I demonstrated leadership in f***ing college, I’m selling multi six figure software contracts now. The irony…they sell talent acquisition software and this was the worst recruiting experience of my life.

I was head of HR and in the middle of interviewing a candidate I really liked, he had a full on stroke and had to be taken to hospital. He was 28 years old.

Some years ago I had a long interview, lasted about an hour. I had my legs crossed during. When the interview was over, I stood up to leave and couldn't feel my legs. I fell face first into a stack of boxes. Ive never been so embarrassed!!🤦🏿‍♀️😂😂

RN here. Interviewed for a job as an office nurse for a surgeon. During the course of the interview he asked me if I had a boyfriend and if I liked to party? I was very young at that time, maybe 23 or 24, and was shocked, so I just answered: yes, and sometimes? But I was very uncomfortable. They called me back a few weeks later to offer me the job. I said no, obviously. Today, I am much older and would have a very different response to that bull.

Company calls me in for an interview, after waiting in the lobby 75 minutes past the appointment time, I am ushered into the office of the boss who takes three different phone calls in the five minutes I was in there and says on the third one “I’ll be done in a minute here, I’m wrapping up something that’s not very important.” I walked out of there thinking ‘I would NEVER work here.’

I was interviewing for a job and they were going over my resume. The job was at a retail/office medical supply company. Related experience - the satellite college I worked for: moved out. A not for profit program: Ended. Retail: Store closed. A laundry list of places that closed including another store and my department at a phone co. The owner was incredulous. All these closed? Yes. He ended the interview and I heard him say I had bad karma. Note. They closed a year later.

I interviewed at a hospital for food services in the 90s, and passed the first interview with flying colours. Next was with the food services chief. She looked me up and down, and said, "You can expect to be hazed," and I said, "no I don't think so," left, went back to the original interviewer, told her what was said to me and left.

I once went to an interview at a bail bond place. A friend of mine set it up. It was like 90 minutes of me sitting in his manager’s office as this guy went on a coked-out rant. I think he asked me maybe 2 questions, I barely had to talk because he did all the talking for me. Honestly kind of expected him to pull a gun out at some point. Turns out the guy really liked me and wanted to bring me on. The feeling was not mutual.

Mine is straightforward: I depended on public transport schedule to get to an interview, it was a 10mins walk from the train station to their office, I got there exactly 10mins before the interview, while rushing there I walked down a side road but there was a tall wall and iron gate blocking the way (some closed residential area). Couldn't wait, climbed over, entirely ripped my suit pants, they loved it, I got the job.

My most recent “interview”. I’ve been unemployed due to company closure. My SIL works for a company and they need a temp person. I’m down. HR emails me, doesn’t ask for an application/resume-nothing. Asks me to come in and chat. “So tell us about you” I do. “Do you know how to handle difficult convos?” Yep I worked with surgeons. “Okay when can you start?” 😂

Part of the interview was some math problems. We gave them a calculator and had them fill out an application and do the math, then checked their answers in the interview. It was an entry level position. One guy did all his calculations manually and we asked why he didn't use the calculator. It was the kind w a cover that flipped closed. "I thought it was a paperweight" 💀 That was 20 years ago and I still think about him.

I had a girl come in for an interview and brought someone with her. Like inside the building, into the office with her. We had to tell him to wait outside because he tried to come in the interview. The whole thing was very odd.

The first time I interviewed for a grownup job my prospective boss asked me what church I went to. I told her I didn’t. Still got the job. I guess we both knew it was baloney. I got, and really loved, that job. No idea what she was thinking though.

I was interviewing for retoucher position for a watch company ran by the Hasidic community. I was in the middle of showing my future manager my portfolio when he asked me if I liked Jewish guys. 😖😖 I ignored the question and continued flipping through my samples. Got the job but then he would call my phone at inappropriate times. Didn’t stay there very long.

I once interviewed a guy who kept going on about his rap career and how weird he is because he can be the only white guy in a room full of black people and be comfortable. He then went on about how Bone Thugs N Harmony has asked him to join their group but he turned it down to focus on his solo music. Keep in mind this was in a small town in Northern Michigan.

I had an interview and I already knew it didn’t go well. It was very awkward. When she walked me out, I said, “thank you for the job opportunity” when I meant, “thank you for giving me the opportunity to interview”

I was told I was "too hungry". After a stellar interview with everyone else. From a woman two years older than me at the time.

I interviewed at an assisted living place. They ran out of chairs so three of the five people sat on the floor. A manager came in, cussed about something and walked back out. They spent the first 15 minutes gossiping, completely ignoring me. It was probably some kind of test but I said I didn’t think I was the right fit and walked out.

I have two: Sat in on an interview at a video store. We offered him the job. He started training. A few days later he was all over the news for murdering a rich guy he'd been shacked up with. Happened prior to the interview. Next one isn't as crazy. Sat in again. They asked the prospect to tell us a little about himself. He said "I'm not going to steal from you." I kind of believed him, but the boss didn't. Boss was later fired for stealing hundreds of tapes and dvds.

I interviewed a guy for a government job. He wore a hoodie and a baseball cap. There was a lengthy pause between questions (we have to take a lot of notes)... The man started SINGING.

Had a guy chase me down the street to a job interview at a dock bar. He was mad I passed him going 20 mph. Chased me down the dock, into the restaurant and announced to everyone in there that “you should not hire this girl because she drives like a maniac” …….. bruh

I was interviewing a candidate who appeared to be really I'll. I was trying to ask her questions and she sat across from literally blowing green mucus bubbles from her nose. I was gagging so bad. I was afraid I was going to throw up. I excused myself, got her a box of tissues and cut that interview short. I refused to shake her hand and I immediately went to wash my hands and sanitize my desk.

Worked for a refuse company in the garage. My boss interviewed a guy who was deaf. They did the whole interview on paper. A deaf guy in a garage with large trucks, in a location with large trucks driving around, backing up, etc would not work well.

I went to a scheduled interview that I took time off for and they went to lunch then home early.

Years ago I interviewed for this department store. I dressed really professional because that's just how I am. The guy interviewing me was so nervous. Lol it felt like I was interviewing him for the job. I was honestly a little uncomfortable.

Interviewed a guy once for a position. He walked in, looked at me and said “ oh, I see how this is going to be.” Then, throughout the interview he kept pounding on the table. WTF!?!? He didn’t get the job.

I was leading enterprise agility and needed to get some contract agile coaches to help my team “boot up” several new domains. A candidate was so anxious and nervous he almost started to cry and froze. I stopped the interview. Told everyone to turn off their cameras. Took everyone through a mindfulness exercise and then we started over cameras off and conversational. ☺️ He didn’t get the role but I was proud of how well my team handled it. 👏🏽

I got hired for a pharmacy tech position for Walgreens over text messages lol. When I went in for the interview. One of the lady's from HR didn't like me. She was probably intimidated by how I dressed and carried myself. I had my passport and she literally asked if that was an acceptable form of ID! Then she made jokes about how it looked dirty and how clean hers was. That job was hell!

When I was a manager at a college commons for 2 food brands, I had a girl come to an interview late, she dressed very casually (I guess her mom was in the hospital and she just came from there, I let that slide) but as soon as we sat down she asked...so how do I get out of here? Like to the bus stop?

my current job- my now-manager asked my boyfriend how old i was after introducing us n when he told her she was like have her come to the golf course for a few hours. n the rest is history, i love my job n my manager!