A job seeker was left blushing after misunderstanding a simple question from an employer.
The candidate sat in front of her potential boss and was asked how she got there. Thinking that the boss was simply curious about her trip, she said that she had taken the bus.
However, they actually asked her about her career path and what led her to apply for the job.
The admission led to hundreds of people sharing their own job interview “failures” with many amusing confusions.
—What is the first time you have ruined a job interview? the job seeker asked on Reddit before sharing her own embarrassing story.
A candidate left a job interview feeling very embarrassed after misinterpreting the employer’s simple question. They sat in the meeting and asked them how they got there.
“They asked me, ‘Tell me how you got here today?’ and I said bus. I got a stone cold look when I realized.
‘He was referring to my career, not the physical office. The remaining 58 minutes were spent in formalities.’
Users thought the story was hysterical and said the interviewer’s question was phrased ambiguously.
“To be honest, that’s a weird way to ask the question,” one person said.
”Tell me how did you get here today?’ he is very open to interpretation. I would have done the same as you,” agreed a second.
‘I’ve been interviewing a lot lately. That answer wouldn’t bother me at all; To be honest, it would be a fun way to break the ice,” said one businessman.
“Any interviewer who didn’t find this funny would be a terrible person to work for,” noted another.
The job seeker said the interviewer was “not in the mood to break the ice and laugh,” and said the “death look” he gave them after they answered “still haunts them.”
Thinking that they were curious about the trip, the candidate said that they took the bus and addressed them with a cold look. In fact, they were asked about his career path.
People began sharing their job interview nightmares, including one who was confused when asked about her “background.”
“I look back and do the video call again, ‘Well, is it some kind of mirror?'” ‘I mean, what’s your work experience?’ I still haven’t recovered from that,’ they laughed.
Another was asked if he had a driver’s license and a car. When they confirmed the interview they wanted to know if he ‘was clean’.
‘Yes’ ‘Is it clean?’ “Er, yeah, I actually washed it the other day.” ‘I was referring to the license,’ they recalled.
‘The building was confusing and I entered through the wrong door. The interviewer saw and told the receptionist: ‘I definitely don’t want that one,’ a third recalled.
‘It was one of my first job interviews since I was just 18/19, but I asked them what the notice period was. The look on his face was priceless and I obviously didn’t get the job,” said a fourth.
Someone said that before their interview they had gotten into a heated argument, involving shouting and rude hand gestures, with a driver in the parking lot who turned out to be the hiring manager.
‘They told me I had a colorful CV. I said, ‘Thanks, it’s just a Microsoft Word template,'” one woman cringed.
‘I had two interviews scheduled… one in the morning and one in the afternoon at competing companies. Only a special kind of idiot could confuse them,’ a second responded.
