Wierd job interviews

[cinema guy]

My g/f went for an interview for a new branch of a well-known catalogue store (in the UK at least).

The interview took place in the function room of a pretty sketchy pub. There was a group of about 15 interviewees and 3 or 4 interviewers.

Among the things they had to do was pair off and talk to one another, learning all about the other person and why they were suited for the job. Then stand up and talk about the other person.

Get into small groups, and between them come up with and draw a store-brand superhero.

Then there was some exercises related to the store's stock numbering system.

There was nothing that could be considered a standard interview at all.

So I'm curious to learn if anyone else has gone through anything similar or otherwise wierd.

[Dreamstalker]

I hate group interviews.

An interview I had once at the "red" chain bookstore took place in the store's cafe. Very loud and busy, I was having trouble hearing the interviewer at times. I did as well as I could, but never got a callback.

The interview for the game store took place at the counter and he was jumping up to help customers while it was going on. Very strange.

The weirdest by far had to have been a first-round interview at a computer retail chain. At the time I had a job coach who was going on the assumption that everyone working with her needed their hand held every step of the way (I don't). Each time the interviewer asked a question, the coach would get this expectant look on her face and turn to me; she was sitting so close that it was impossible to ignore. That was bizarre, but I must have done okay as I received a direct call from the service manager later. I went in, interviewed again and took a few tests. It ended with us discussing hours and salary...BUT upon finding out I went in without her (and did just fine kthx), the job coach started spamming the regional HR director during the runup to Black Friday. I didn't get the job (to this day I wonder if the coach's actions had something to do with it).

[Whiskey]

^i have the same experience with a job coach. I'm rather antisocial. I don't enjoy being around people, I don't go out. I'm diagnosed agoraphobic. However, if I'm paid to be perky and friendly, I simply am. This goes for interviews. I had a job coach with me, who is all kinds of stupid, and afterwards she goes "Wow, you really ARE normal in interviews!!"

Uh, thanks?


Anyways, at my current job, the interviewing manager said she preferred to hire people who lived close to the store. My house was five miles and a ten minute drive across town. I'm used to commuting 45 minutes one way on the freeway.

[Dreamstalker]

If anything, too much hovering makes me more nervous. My first time out of the gate in high school I did have a job coach with me, but she liked me, knew the business owner and really wanted me to get the job (I did, and now wish I could get rehired there) so she just did the introductions and then stayed out of the process beyond explaining my disability.

[fireheart]

I did something slightly similar at a group interview. However, this was done at one of the larger stores in my state.

We paired off and talked a bit about each other, then we were split into groups and had to come up with the solution to a situation.

Then the last thing we had to do was a test where you had to pick the correct number out of a sequence and also check the stock order to make sure that everything was correct. I think I blew the recruiting team's collective minds-we were only given about 90 seconds to do as much of the test as we could. I finished it with time to spare.

Strangely enough, my original interview was for one store, I got knocked back for that one and accepted at the other store.

[hinakiba777]

When I interviewed for this job(hotel) I wasn't really interviewed. I showed up at the hotel dressed nicely and prepared with my usual spiel. The owner came down 5 minutes after I arrived in grubby work close, had me sit in one of the hotel rooms, and then proceeded to give me my schedule for that week.

When I worked for my first university the interview was normal, but there was a kind of "pre-interview". You couldn't apply to work for the school until you were in your second year. It was kind of an unwritten rule that you needed to actually hang around with at the Rez Desk if you want to be hired. It was mostly because the Supervisors knew you that way, plus hanging out at the Desk taught you the job before you were even trained. Most people who worked Rez Desk knew the job backwards and forwards before their first shift so they usually only needed to be supervised for half an hour. ^-^

[Mytical]

Granted there was some extenuating circumstances, but my interview for the place I work now was .. odd.

I- Interviewer
M- Me

I - "Can you pass a background check?"
M - "Yes"
I - "Drug test?"
M - "Yes"
I - "Can you go do the check and drug test today?"
M - "Yes"
I - "If you pass these, can you start as soon as they come back?"
M - "Yes"
I - "Here is the directions to both. If you pass you are hired."

They didn't even wait for the tests to come back to have me drive up to get my uniform. Just warned me that if either came back bad I would be fired. I started the very next day.

[smileyeagle1021]

My strangest interviews were once at the movie theater that I used to work at, it was a "group interview" which translated to, "if you showed up on time, and you're hired"
At the reservation center I showed up for the interview, they handed me a hotel brochure and told me that in 5 minutes the phone next to me was going to ring and I'd better be ready to sell them a room at the hotel they just gave me the brochure for.
One hotel I had interviewed at before getting the job at the hotel I'm at now the interview was pretty normal, except the manager asked me if I had heard about them winning the best bathroom in the state award (which I actually had, which I think caught him off guard).
My roommate applied at the relay center that I work at, and his interview was
RM- roommate (yes, I know the other meaning for that)
WAM- Way Awesome Manager (aka, my manager )

WAM: Your test results show a typing speed of... umm... holy shit, yeah that's fast enough.
RM: Thank you.
WAM: Now, we'll set up your ASR profile and test you on that.
RM: My what?
WAM: the software you'll actually be using rather than a primitive keyboard.
They set up his profile, test him, the bastard beat my initial ASR score by 20wpm
WAM: great, here, have a cup of coffee and a lot of water, you have an appointment to pee in a cup, you start work in two weeks.

[TelephoneAngel]

thirty or so years ago i got a part time job at "electrical store which sounds like an indian dish" and whe i had the ineterview, there was a teapot on the desk.


At some point the interviewer said "the teapot's ringing, what are you going to do about it?"

So I picked up the lid and said "good morning how can I help you?"

Another candidate said he told the interviewer not to panic, and he would disarm the teapot's alarm as it was faulty!

[Sakka]

For the current job, the interview consisted of the owner calling me up and asking if I wanted to work at the store. I had been a customer of the place through three store location moves, so was reasonably well known to the staff.

The interview consisted of two to three half days of, 'Here's the tech room, here are some computers that need fixxing, if you have questions ask <sales guy> out front. Head-tech and Tech-moving-onto-bigger-and-better are going on calls, see ya.'

A few days later was asked if I wanted to work mornings, I was already working afternoons/evenings at a job that was killing me.

The next week, was offered me full time as the full time candidate was not working out as hoped.

[NorthernZel]

The weirdest job interview I had was at a factory where I was applying for a position as "runner" (kinda like an assistant to the secretary).

I got greeted by the manager who at the beginning made the job sounding very interesting (such as quick possibilities of promotion, according to him almost all persons in key positions had worked their way up from the floor), but then it started going downhill.

When it came to check on my professional and personal qualifications, he didn't as much as glance at my resume, but instead stuck to a script that one of the HR guys had given him (you know, one of those that ask "how social are you on a scale from 1 to 10", "how would you handle this-and-this situation" and so on). The thing is, this was the VERY FIRST TIME he ever had seen the script, so there was a lot of "um", "ehm", and "what's next on the list?"

The kicker? At the end of the interview I asked about work environment and social activities - normally a quite "formal" question since normally the answer is something like describing dresscodes (if they have such a policy) and whether they have a bowling team/Casual Wear Friday/wine tasting club etc.
Not this time - the manager told a lot about the bickering going around, especially amongst the female workers

So I must say I was all but disappointed when a "No Thanks Note" came with the mail a few days later

[PepperElf]

possibly my latest job...

That wasn't an interview. That was just 2 of the 3 bosses chatting with me about where I'd worked before. I think they already planned on hiring me & just wanted to be sure that I was interested.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Weirdest job interview was at a photo lab where the boss, who was this gruff old fart, just sort of looked me over squinting at me. Finally he says "so....a lot of cussin' bother you?"

And that was the interview.

Those of you who have read my fiction blog are now going "wait a minute, that is from your story, that didn't really happen."

Yes, it did really happen and that got written into my story because I thought it was freaking awesome.

The answer to that question was "no sir." and I got the job. Incidently, the nickname given to that lab by a lot of the customers was "Midland's Cussing Photo" (cussing replacing the word "Custom".)

Not surprisingly, there was in fact a lot of cussin' going on in that lab. I fit right the hell in.

[crazylegs]

They didn't even wait for the tests to come back to have me drive up to get my uniform. Just warned me that if either came back bad I would be fired. I started the very next day.

It took me 3 months for my clearances to come through - I'm guessing yours didn't take that long?

[ravevolution]

I had a job interview at an insurance company once, and the lady said "Where do you see yourself in five years?"

I said, "Celebrating the fifth year anniversary of you asking me this question!"

Mitchell Lee "Mitch" Hedberg (February 24, 1968 – March 29, 2005