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Job interviews that didn't go well

Deleted user
over 2 years ago

I thought others might be interested in sharing their experience of job interviews.

I am in the lucky position now of not having to work but I found it very hard in the past to get a job because I found the interviews so wholly traumatic.

In fact, the last years of my working life I worked for agencies because then I didn't need an interview.

Possibly the  worst:  I was being interviewed as a secretary for a Church of England Cathedral.  I was asked 'what part do you believe that the Church of England plays in the lives of ordinary people today?'.  My reply was that I feel it is irrelevant to the majority of people, who only really find it relevant at Easter, Christmas, Weddings and Funerals.

I knew immediately that although I spoke as I felt it was completely wrong and I should have lied.  Their faces dropped and I think they would have liked me to leave the room immediately.

Now I understand why I spoke as I felt in the light of my autism diagnosis.  I find saying what people expect/want me to say very difficult, despite many decades of 'masking'.

Job interviews (and jobs) are a huge test of a person's social skills and their ability to dissimulate, I think.

Does anyone else have a story to share?

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  • over 2 years ago

    My favourite interview question was always "where do you see yourself in 5 years time?" usually asked for jobs like McDonalds and JD Sports. I would always answer "developing in the company" as part of my script while actually thinking in my head "not bloody here!" I dont think that would have been the right answer though lol

  • over 2 years ago in reply to Billy87

    Billy87 said:
    My favourite interview question was always "where do you see yourself in 5 years time?" usually asked for jobs like McDonalds and JD Sports. I would always answer "developing in the company" as part of my script while actually thinking in my head "not bloody here!"

    I had a conversation on another thread about that question.  It is annoying because it is designed such that more confident, forward, assertive, ambitious people are favoured where my thoughts are to come into work to do an honest job making use of the skills I have and not to be pushed towards increased responsibilities that would burn me out.  A good reply on that thread was:

    Shardovan said:
    I wonder if the ‘five years time’ question might actually be the perfect place to mention being autistic, as a positive. Emphasise  that you honestly would hope to be their continuity-not-change person who can offset a lot of churn and flux with others

    bearing in mind that many of the confident, ambitious people favoured by it would be more likely to leave.

    Another good point in the quote:

    Jenny Butterfly said:
    I often only got the job by pretending to be someone else and that then, once I was in the role, I confused my employers by slipping back into extreme introversion.  Sorry, employers, I couldn't help it because I needed to make a living and your ads (with their terms like "Self starter", "Shirt sleeves approach" and " team player") seemed to suggest that qualified individuals who were introverted need not apply

    I posted a while ago that 'team player' is such a subjective descriptor.  I believe the objective definition should be that a person can courteously co-operate with team colleagues and share knowledge in a working context, however the subjectivities creep in such as measuring a person "fitting in", participating in certain types of "team building exercises" and seasonal things like Christmas meals and Secret Santa.

  • over 2 years ago in reply to metalmickey

    Indeed.  I do believe that their understanding of "team player" and mine were always very different things.  As with so many words that are bandied about. 

    I sometimes think that we share a different language and a different culture because the underlying understanding and meaning are so often at odds.  That is probably the case for everyone, of course, but certainly for me the divergence was quite wide and, after my initial success at interviews, it became increasingly obvious.  

    I was basically like the frog in gradually boiling water, got reassurances from others that it was all fine and dandy and also that "Well, it's OK for everyone else!"  Until I was virtually breaking down and it very clearly wasn't OK.  And then the escape plan would have to begin.    

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  • over 2 years ago in reply to metalmickey

    Indeed.  I do believe that their understanding of "team player" and mine were always very different things.  As with so many words that are bandied about. 

    I sometimes think that we share a different language and a different culture because the underlying understanding and meaning are so often at odds.  That is probably the case for everyone, of course, but certainly for me the divergence was quite wide and, after my initial success at interviews, it became increasingly obvious.  

    I was basically like the frog in gradually boiling water, got reassurances from others that it was all fine and dandy and also that "Well, it's OK for everyone else!"  Until I was virtually breaking down and it very clearly wasn't OK.  And then the escape plan would have to begin.    

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