Interviewee dropped multiple F-bombs. Job interviews are one of the most formal things a person will go through. Now, I’m not shy for swearing language, but they didn’t know that. It just showed I couldn’t trust her in any formal situation or important business meeting. It wasn’t the swearing, it was the lack of judgement.

This guy was an absolute rock star applicant, applying to be a teacher. He was super nice, young, dynamic, and had won awards. He also had great references. Then, when asked 'Any questions?' he replied 'Could you tell me if you'd have a problem with a teacher dating a student?'

When I worked in a bank as a manager, one internal candidate I interviewed put her finger in front of my face while I was talking and said” I’m gonna stop you right there” . I went with the other person who didn’t put their finger to my face

A woman casually mentioning that she wanted to set her ex on fire. Totally unprompted and unrelated to anything that had been asked. Later, when asked how to handle difficult customers she said she would set them on fire as well.

Had a guy who was a little rough but was looking quite promising for a design role. He blew it with me by saying “I’ll turn this company around in 6 weeks” and a few more comments along those lines with a theme of “you are currently messing it up”. This is a small successful company. I wanted him to fit in, not “turn us round”.

I worked for a big, well known company and we were recruiting interns straight out of college. The questions are more of a get to know you questions, rather than actual knowledge of the work or experience. The company actually gave us a paper with some example questions, like the one below, that we could ask if we ran out of ideas. So it's going pretty well, very bubbly, chatty girl and I have impression she would fit the team. Until: Me: how do you handle multiple deadlines in a short time period? E.g. if you have 2-3 exams close to each other or an exam and a big class project? Interviewee: well, you try to do your best, but if I realize I cannot meet both deadlines, I just call in sick

My manager once told me a guy came in to interview and didn't know about Ohm's law. The position was for electrical engineering.

Very clearly googling the answers during a remote interview.

Currently doing all video interviews (cause well Covid) and I recruit for a healthcare company. many, many, many times people answer the video call either naked, partially naked, on the toilet, etc. yeah you’re not getting the job bud.

Interviewed someone for a teaching position in China. Me: Do you have any preference in regards to which city in China you would like to live in? Candidate: Hmmm, I'm very interested in either Shanghai or Korea. Nope.

When I worked in HR, one applicant, who was in her 40s submitted a 40-page list of achievements/certificates and “sorority girl achievements” from 20 years prior. Needless to say she failed at even getting an interview.

When I was younger I worked in a bar and people would come in and give us (the bar staff) their resumes to give to management. One guy had "picking up chix" (His spelling not mine) listed under interests. After a good chuckle with my colleagues that resume got binned.

So many: 1. making comments about getting into an employees skirt as they walked past (also how to get reported to HR before even getting the job). 2. explaining how they took copies of all the companies code home. 3. explaining how they used to work two jobs at once, pretending to work for one from home 4. explaining how they program games for their playstation with notepad... While being interviewed by programmers for a sales role 5. telling the interviewer that the problem they are trying to solve is impossible (even though it was literally 3 lines of code... It was a warm up question)

Not a HR but I'm currently conducting interviews to recruit a new team member. We saw a guy who was great on the paper but when asked about hobbies he said "seduce and bang women". He was done at this very moment as I yeeted myself out of the place.

I was interviewing someone who had previously worked at the American embassy in his home country. The language barrier was very difficult and he was having a tough time with the interview. Part way through, he showed me some certificates he received from the embassy job, as awards for good work. The conversation then went like this: Me: Can you tell me the story about some of these awards? Him: Huh? Me: I'd like to know why you received these awards. Maybe you can pick one of them and tell me the story about how you got it. Him: ...awards? Me: Yes, these things you're showing me right now. Tell me about them. Him: They are awards. Me: Right. Tell me how you received them. Him: How? Me: Yes. What did you do to get them? Him: ...I dunno. It's your embassy, you tell me. That last bit was the longest sentence he spoke to me during the entire interview.

During my first management gig I was sifting through resumes for an internship program we had and one of the candidates printed her resume on glittery paper and sprayed it with perfume. I didn’t even look at her resume. To this day they probably still find glitter on that desk.

Telling me you obviously know more than me and that's why I need to hire you for a position I am the direct supervisor for in the most condescending tone I've ever heard in my almost 15 years of my career. Knowing more than me was required - I'm only in charge of this position because I know more than my bosses about it, but we were looking for someone who specialized in that role. The attitude of "I'm obviously better than you" was not required, and lost him the second interview. Until that point, I was loving his confidence and obvious knowledge, but he just took it too damn far.

She was throwing out questions out of the blue, then answering them herself without even waiting for a reaction from me, the interviewer. "Sir, do you know why I welcome challenges other people would immediately avoid? Well, sir, let me tell you..."

Former head teller. My old manager once came over to my desk after an interview and let out a massive sigh and declared (quietly so only i heard him) that he needed a double of scotch. Apparently the person showed up to the interview in a white “wife beater” tank, ripped khaki shorts, and had the n- word in his email on his resume (interviewee was white if it matters). Needless to say, my boss did not hire them.

"Is that a photo of your wife? Wow, she's hot! Is she at home? What's your home phone number?" Demonstrating self-confidence: 100%. Demonstrating stupidity, and many other bad qualities: 100%

Preface: I work in a medical cannabis dispensary. Had a candidate drop off his resume. Seemed like a promising candidate, until I flipped over his resume and saw that he had a "wish list" of dispensaries he wanted to work at, and a reminder that he had an interview that same day, later that afternoon. My company wasn't on his wish list. He later called to ask if his resume had any writing on the back, and asked me what time his interview was. I wished him luck. I didn't hire him. Have had countless candidates who only wanted to work at a medical (meaning you have to have a qualifying condition like cancer) dispensary because they "thought it would be chill af", "could be high all day", or "get free samples". None of them were called back.

In high school I was in a group interview for a cr*ppy mall retail job and they asked us if we had any fun nicknames. This college aged kid next to me perked up and looked excited to answer. He then proudly proclaimed that his friends liked to call him DJ Big Balls.

I was interviewing an apparently well qualified Senior Project Manager for a major, full time project. She hadn’t worked for six months and while that certainly wasn’t a deal breaker, I asked “How come you left your last job without another to go to?” She said “Oh I had problems with my Manager...” Tiny red flags waving - I asked her to explain... She said, rolling her eyes, “Well he like wanted me to come to work like EVERY day...” I must’ve looked shocked because she added “Would you want me to work like every day?” I thought that maybe I was on camera and was being pranked - but retained my composure... “Well this IS a full time job, running a major project...” She cut me off and said “I don’t think I’ll like that...” Let me clarify “everyday” - the job was a simple full time role - Monday to Friday 9 - 5.

This guy's resume had a ton of IT skills/technologies in it and that should have been a red flag but we didn't have many candidates for the position so we gave him a shot. First question I asked him was "So I see you have PHP on your resume, can you tell me what types of environments you've worked with it in?" His answer was "What? I don't know know that." And he didn't say it like he didn't know PHP, he said it like he'd never heard of it. When I showed him a copy of his resume he scratched out PHP with a pen and said "My friend did my resume for me, I'll have to update that..." That was the end of any consideration of hiring him. I texted the recruiter to come get him and it took them 20 minutes to get there. To be polite we continued the interview but it was a long 20 minutes. I don't remember everything but every question was a train wreck. He insisted he knew Active Directory because he kept it on a usb drive he carried with him. He got a text and stared at his phone for about 10 very uncomfortable seconds and then said "Hold on, this guy is trying to sell me some windows" while he texted back. When asked what types of teams and groups he's used to working with instead of saying "very structured" or "easy going" he rattled off about 10 names, first names, as if we knew who they were. When we asked what that team was like he was like "Oh, you know" and then repeated the names again. Someone asked him to walk them through a typical day at his current job. I don't think he said anything about work and instead talked about his wife and his kids. Then he told us a story about a funny thing his uncle did years ago. I asked him how his work was presented to him and whether he used a ticketing system or if he used any project management software and he said "They call me." When I asked if he meant a help desk environment he said no "They call me at home." He couldn't elaborate on how any of that worked or what he did after they called him.

Been doing a bunch of interviews lately for an intermediate network engineer. I had a guy start off an interview with "I don't really know anything about networking"

Refusing to remove your rollerblades and sitting on the table is a pretty big no.

I used to work in staffing. I have a few. Showing up ridiculously late. You should never be late for an interview but a few minutes may be forgiven. An hour will not be. Smelling like weed, regardless of the position. Being rude to anyone in the office before the interview (My favorite) Interrupting the interviewer by answering a phone call and sticking your finger in the interviewer's face

A candidate that during "do you have any questions?" asked deadpan if it's ok to have a six-pack of beers during his lunch break.

He literally told me that he was only at this interview cos he heard the chicks working for us were hot.

Just straight up writing "Shrek" onto the contract he was supposed to sign.

Ask if you have to pass a drug test.

Did not happen to me (am a dude) but a woman recruiter friend of mine who had packed on a few kilos was asked by a candidate, at beginning of interview, “When are you due? You are glowing!” Shortest. Interview. Evah.

This reminds me of the time I took an old friend to see my marine recruiter. He asks my friend if he's ever done drugs, which the obvious answer should be NO. He goes and says yeah, recruiter looked shocked, looked over at me, then looks back at my friend. And slowly laughs and says, "well which ones? Maybe we pretend you didn't say that." He didn't join. Surprise, I know.