Most of us have experienced something weird in a job interview, either a question that came out of the interviewer's backside or some personality quirk that was just odd. Or maybe the whole interview was bizarre.
Hiring managers have more than enough stories about weird behavior from job candidates, but sometimes they're just as guilty themselves. Here are four weird interview scenarios I've either read about, heard about, or experienced:
- The 'I Can't Seem to Grab His Attention' Syndrome. The interviewer makes eye contact with you only about 10% of the time because he's too busy picking lint off his jacket, playing with his tie, or tapping away on his laptop.
- The Multi-Tasking Interviewer. You're there because you're interested in a job. She's eating lunch and checking her email while trying to determine whether you're a good fit for the job.
- The Idiotic Interrogation. After reviewing your resume and highlighting a few points, the hiring manager questions your judgment with something like "Why did you take such an awful job with an equally awful company?" Or, "You were at this place for a year and at that place for two years. Do you have a problem with commitment?"
- The Question That Comes out of Left Field. Something like "How many blades of grass are in left field at Fenway Park?" (pun intended), or "Why are manhole covers round?"
How about you? What was your strangest job interview experience? Tell us about it below.
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