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Recent TJNTIY Stories

Interviewer TJNTIYs are funny, informative anecdotes from recruiters and executives (hiring managers)about the things candidates say or do that ruin their chances of being hired, from the outrageous to the subtle and nuanced.

Loose Lips Sink Candidates

Anytime candidates bad mouth their company, be a boss or the board, it reflects poorly on them. Its always my goal to present candidates who have been successful in past roles, not those that carry baggage from getting burned. What candidate's might not realize is that when they bad mouth the boss/company it makes me wonder what the other side of the coin is and why they couldn't push through the problem for a good outcome. Great employees overcome adversity. TJNTIY.

Candidate Says Interview Is a Waste of Time

--The interviewee was an older gentleman. He was looking for a collections position. As I was walking him back to my office for the interview he stated, “I don’t know what I’m doing here. I’m just wasting my time.” He repeated this three more times within the first five minutes at which point I stood up, stretched my arm out for a hand shake and said, “You know what? You’re right and we don’t want to waste any more of it. Thanks for coming in and have a nice day.” And I showed him the door. TJNTIY.

The Watch Watcher

I had a candidate, very nice and pleasant, come in to interview with me. The interview was going great she seemed to have done all of her research on the company and the position. She was energetic and excited but started talking really quickly (almost rushed) about 15mins into the interview. I noticed that she then started to look at her watch quite frequently between questions/answers. I was wondering what had caused the sudden change in her mood so I asked her. She let me know that she did not want to be late for her next interviews and I assured her that I would get her to the next one on time. I looked at her interview schedule and noticed that I was her last meeting of the day and she went on to say "Yes, you are my last interview here, but I don't want to be late for my next company interview". Needless to say, I wrapped up the interview quickly after that so as not to make her "late" for her next appointment. Yes, I gave her credit for her honesty....but we decided to hire someone else...TJNTIY

Hypothetically Speaking . . . If I Could Give You A Straight Answer, I Would

Responding to questions with hypothetical answers. It's something that I'd never given much thought to but at the pointy end it was crucial and I had a good candidate miss this particular opportunity because of it - and you don't get a second run at it as a candidate. TJNTIY.

A Candidate Who Apparently Does Not Surf

One terrible thing that job candidates have said is "what does your company do?" How can you go to a job interview and not even have visited the company's web site? TJNTIY.

Engineers Who Forget Their Decoder Rings

During the dot-com era, our small, privately-held consulting firm was interviewing for a C++ programming position. We got quite a few applicants who had no real aptitude or skill at programming, but had managed to get some kind of IT degree and were looking for the big bucks. While they couldn't answer basic coding questions, they always knew to ask, "When are you going public?" and "How soon can I cash out my stock options?" TJNTIY

Subliminal Message . . . Er, Massage

I was interviewing one gentleman some time ago and in the middle of the interview he took out two bottles of massage oil and proceeded to first warm it in his hands and then massaged it all over his neck, back and front. He repeated the procedure with the second bottle. It was weird. TJNTIY.

Candidate For Whom Nighttime Is the Wrong Time

I've run into many strange people over my long years of interviewing candidates. My two favorites are the young woman who was impeccably dressed with great educational credentials who was apply for a job as a senior corporate banking analyst. When asked if working long hours posed a problem for her, she responded by telling me she was prepared to work as many hours at it took to do the job - so long as she didn't have to work them from the office and that she was allowed to leave everyday before it got dark outside. She told me she was afraid of the dark and couldn't go outside after sunset.

Interview Interrupted

On another occasion I was interviewing a smart young lady who was graduating from college and looking for a full time job. The interview was going in her favor until she stopped and said "I expect your company pays competitive salaries because if they don't I don't want to waste my time interviewing any further." I looked her in the eyes and said "yes, we always pay competitive salaries; however, I don't want to waste your time, so we really can end the interview now." (Needless to say, her interview coach at college wasn't doing her any favor!) I'll save the one about the lady who passed out on me during an interview! TJNTIY.

Candidates That Aren't Google-icious

Some people air their former and current employers' dirty laundry on their blogs, and then wonder why they can't get interviews. Nobody wants to be next on these folks' wall-of-shame, and all it takes is a recruiter who knows how to type the candidate's name into Google. TJNTIY.