You just said what?

/in /by

I had a candidate sitting in our reception this week that made the decision to ruin their chances for a role prior to sitting down with me for interview. “You have a lot of Asians in this building” the applicant called out as I was preparing before coming out to see them. I nearly fell over with disbelief and had to refrain a bit before responding to them with my calculated response and a tone that showed my disapproval. The conversation ended abruptly and there was an uncomfortable silence before I stepped out to see them for a very short interview.

Interesting things that people say and do

Whilst it was a first for me to have someone ruin their chances that close to an interview, we often come across some really interesting (dumb) things that people say and do during the process. From our point of view a lot of the time it’s not about being nervous, it’s actually about self-awareness, something that a few people are lacking. To help our clients, we have shielded you from some interesting thoughts and activities from candidates during interviews such as the following:

  • During an off site interview over a coffee, the candidate decided to order some toast to go with it and ate breakfast (at 11:30am) whilst we tried to discuss a role. He didn’t go much further but enjoyed his breakfast
  • We asked a candidate what they knew about the company and they asked “what role is it for again?”
  • “I don’t really want this particular job but….” – I missed the rest of what they said during that interview
  • “I’m retiring at the end of next year and just want a role now where I can sit back a bit and do what I have to do” – thank you for kindly for letting us know that now
  • When a candidate has ‘Professionally presented’ stated on their resume – take that with a grain of salt. We have seen some very interesting interpretations of this

We have also had candidates talk themselves out of the job, bad-mouth their last employer (or every employer they have ever had) and also have high demands on what they want rather than what they can give to their prospective employer. It’s an interesting business being in recruitment as we meet some great candidates and also the ones that you don’t ever want to meet. We would enjoy hearing your stories on some of your ‘interesting’ interviews.