share your instant death at interview stories
 

These are mine. I'm not making them up, they really happened. What are interview incidents that told you instantly that your chances of getting the job had hit the floor?



Instant death incident 1

Interviewer: So you're a manager? What qualities do you yourself look for when interviewing staff?

Me: Erm.. actually I'm not involved in staff interviews. Where I'm at even our department heads are not involved in interviews. Only directors and above interview potential new staff. But if you're asking for what I myself look for..

Interviewer: You don't interview people? But you're a manager right?


Me: Um.. yes, I am. But my organization works in this manner...


Interviewer: *silence*



Instant death incident 2

Interviewer: So you've been at your current place for 3 years already? Have you ever been promoted?

Me: No, I haven't.

Interviewer: Why?

Me: Why? Um.. well, it is the government sector, and generally promotions can be slow..

Interviewer: Not true. If you are good you would have been promoted in about one or two years.

Me: Er..

Interviewer: *silence*

Gosh. You don't know how to lie???

I'm worried I'll get found out so better to be honest.

Lie smart. Say things in such a way that (1) you can't be caught and even so (2) you can always use the "miscommunication" excuse to defend yourself.

For example, you can always say that you are a "manager" of business lines and have "interviewed" vendors, just like a sales manager can sometimes mean he manages certain products instead leading a team.

Don't give short answers. Take a tough question as a chance to bring out what your achievements are. Always exaggerate.

On the promotion thing, you can always say that you have been told you're a good performer but just that the scholar system (which is an open secret) puts you at a disadvantage. Claim that you boss had wanted to promote you last year, but the recommendation was rejected at the n-th in the leveling exercise, again due to scholars-first policy.

Learn to lie.

Excellent! Thanks for sharing!

Is it a good idea to say that about the scholar system when applying for a gahment job? They may not like it.

I thought you are applying for private sector jobs. Government is full of !@#QI# - it depends on your luck to get interviews who like you.

Still, learn to lie. Lie smart. Exaggerate. If you don't, others do, and you lose out. Be smart about it and don't be a moral ass. You wanna be super moral, go be a monk. Heck, even monks and pastors aren't super moral nowadays.

i guess u 'failed' at the start. the truth is the interviewer don't like your face and it's not your fault. He's just playing you. Passed this company, you will not be happy even when your got this job.

#1 there are a lot of jobs with manager title not to manage staff but as individual contributor and the title is given due to the responsibility rather than in a traditional sense of managing a team.

#2 don't even bother with this interviewer, the reply obviously is condescending

remember, u looking for a job, a job is looking u too...

I just remembered another incident that I'll share here, for a laugh.

Interviewer: "so you're a manager? How many staff are you in charge of?"
Me: "3 of them"
Interviewer: "Hm. So they're also younger Div 1 staff?"
Me: "Um.. no. 2 are Div 3, 1 is Div 4."
Interviewer: "."