Again, What Were They Thinking?

In one my posts last week entitled What Were They Thinking?, I relayed some “interesting” interview stories that had been reported by various hiring agent sources, and some of the crazy things people have done during a job interview. The pressure can be tough when interviewing, and that can cause some off-the-wall unexpected blunders to happen; but some tend to be more thought out, making us really wonder what they were thinking when they did what they did. Well, the fun never ends it seems, and I have found more of these stories and figured I would share to give everyone a little chuckle as well as some valuable tips on what not to do during an interview.

These stories come from a survey that was performed with over 2,500 hiring managers, asking them for some of their most unusual interview blunders, and here are some of the top ones:

Dog Eat Dog World: During the interview, the candidate had to quickly get up and leave because he noticed his dog had gotten loose in the parking lot.

Setting your sights high: In one case, the candidate stared at the ceiling during the entire interview.

Food for thought: After the interview was complete, the candidate proceeded to enter the employee break room to have a snack. Seems kind of presumptuous.

How are YOU Doing?: After the interview was complete, the candidate proceeded to ask the interviewer out for a drink later.

Business Casual: What do you think of a candidate walking in dressed in a suit, yet wearing flip flops? Maybe he figured his feet would be too low to see, who knows.

Dungeon Master: Using games like Dungeons and Dragons as an example of good team work, is probably not the greatest idea, yet one candidate did just that.

This same group surveyed also reported the following common mistakes made during an interview by candidates, ranked according to how often they occurred. These are the types of things you need to work on really trying to avoid being a statistic in:

• Dressing inappropriately - 57 percent
• Appearing disinterested - 55 percent
• Speaking negatively about a current or previous employer - 52 percent
• Appearing arrogant - 51 percent
• Answering a cell phone or texting during the interview - 46 percent
• Not providing specific answers - 34 percent
• Not asking good questions - 34 percent

Here on the blogs at Nexxt, we offer many, many great articles with tips and suggestions for better preparing for the interview process. Take some time, peruse the articles, and be better prepared to succeed in your next interview.