People Are Sharing The Funniest, Weirdest, And Most Embarrassing Mistakes They Made During Job Interviews

1. "The manager had a picture of a naked mole rat on his desktop, and I said, 'Gross.' He then told me it was his pet."

2. "It was a silly server position, but during the interview the guy asks, 'Do you smoke?' My nineteen year old stoner brain responds, 'Cigarettes? ...No.'"

"I didn't get that one."

3. "At the end of the interview, I jokingly said, 'So, when do I start?'"

"That was a terrible, terrible decision."

4. "I didn't do my research and didn't realize one of the main people I'd be interviewing with was a girl I had hooked up with a few years prior."

5. "The boss agreed to the first salary I suggested for myself, so I took that to mean I should have asked for more."

And similarly, "Their initial offer was $25K more than I was asking, and I just accepted it without any counter-offer." 

6. "When I was younger and thinking the 'tell me about yourself' question meant they genuinely cared about your personal life."

7. "Accepting the job when they offered it right on the spot. I didn't know at the time, but that's usually not a good sign. They're usually either desperate, or the job just sucks."

8. "Not an interview, but in high school I got auto-rejected from a clothes retailer. I want to say it was because I put 'strongly disagree' to 'I am a people person.'"

"Didn't make that mistake again when I started applying to actually important jobs."

9. "I once interviewed to sell an allergy medication (pharma). It was a launch of a twice-daily rival to getting allergy shots (which are monthly). Interview was going well and I get asked 'Do you have any questions for us?' See, I do homework, and when this comes up I ask real questions as I don't want to get stuck working somewhere I don't like…"

"...I said, 'So product X is a twice daily product, costs the patient more than shots, nets the doctor less money per visit, and has about the same efficacy. What is your current strategy or vision in successfully getting this into the market and well adopted?'

Needless to say, the director did not like my question and just said, 'Well, that's where you'd come into play.'

I wasn't offered the job. It's okay, because after that answer I didn't want it anyway."

10. "Went negative and bad-mouthed my current-at-the-time company. Apparently that's a huge no-no. You should always make it sound like you want to go to the new company and not escape a bad one."

11. "Interviewed at a bank. It was going perfectly despite how nervous I was, and I was probably in with a great chance. Then as a final question, the panel asked me, 'Why should we hire you?" And I word-vomit replied, 'Because I probably won't steal your money!'"

"I was not hired."

12. "'Where do you see yourself in 5 years?' 'Owning my own business, and not chained down to a dead end job.'"

"Still hired though!"

13. "To illustrate my excellent attention to detail I mentioned that I had noticed a spelling error in their job ad."

"Never heard back; I don't wonder why."

14. "My first job interview was a bullshit group interview. They were asking a bunch of questions related to pop culture and movies I hadn't seen, because at the time I lived a fairly sheltered life. They then asked what our favorite animal was, and I knew I had to say something to stand out from everyone else, so when it came to me I just blurted out 'Flamingo.'"

"I thought that would be a unique animal that no one would think of, but didn't think far enough ahead to actually justify why it was my favorite animal. So I completely blanked on the follow up question. Pretty sure I came across as a raving lunatic."

15. "My interview was at 6pm at a coffee shop right across from the business; the owners were going to close up for the day then meet me at the coffee shop for the interview. I got there early but since I didn't want to loiter, I bought a coffee so I could sit at a table to wait for them."

"They eventually showed up, maybe 15 minutes late. I never noticed until that day, but I'm pretty sensitive to caffeine so by the time they showed up, I was a little too high-energy. I was rambling a lot more than I needed to. 

In the moment, I thought I was doing well, but it wasn't until afterward that I realized I probably should have ordered a tea or something. I didn't get the job."

16. "Told them I was homeless. I will never do that again."

17. "Noticing the job description they handed me on paper was $1/hr less than the one advertised online. I asked about that, and shouldn't have said anything."

18. "Went for an interview at a local movie rental store. Completely blanked when I was asked what movies I've watched recently."

"Ended up throwing out 'Cheech and Chong' after a way too long and awkward delay, then nervously laughed like a stoner."

19. "Interviewed at United for flight attendant. They asked something about what I thought would be the downside of job and I said another 9/11. Immediately everyone’s face changed and I knew I fucked up."

"But honestly, why was that bad? Like… that would be a bad day/part of work and I'm acknowledging that is a possibility with the job. I think they just wanted friendly/dumb/smile-and-nod types."

20. "Did not prepare for the 'what are three things you can improve on skill-wise?' question. The job was to work with disabled kids; I said I could improve my patience."

"Not my timeliness, not my communication, not my team-building skills… patience. Stupid, stupid, stupid."

21. "I was a teenager interviewing for a hot dog place. They asked what the most important thing is about their organization and I shrugged and said, 'I don't know, the weiners.' I didn't get the job. 😂"

22. "I asked if I should negotiate my salary. To the guy interviewing me. I said what I was thinking OUT LOUD. His expression still burns in my brain to this day."

23. "When asked where I saw myself in 5 years, I said in their seat. Don't think he liked that. Was not hired."

24. And finally, "Attending in the first place."

"At the end of an (IMO) productive two-hour interview for a position I was well-qualified to take, the most arrogant of the three interviewers revealed that the job they would be offering me was actually two levels down from the one for which I had applied ... at a little over half the salary. He did so without the least hint of embarrassment, basically indicating the company made a regular habit of deliberately deceiving their prospective hires.

I didn't say anything; I simply gathered my resumes — quite literally yanking one out of the hand of one interviewer — put them in my portfolio, and walked out."