Signs Your Job Interview Went South

Sometimes at a job interview, you’re unsure whether you aced it or not. But sometimes, you just know that you flunked it, and you flunked it bad. We got some of you to share your bad job interview experiences and then we give you the tips on how you can save the interview (or not!)

“I went in for an interview with a major newspaper but wasn’t exactly thrilled about the position. My general knowledge on the local political scene wasn’t great and unfortunately, the interviewer caught it. I basically err and aaaa throughout my interview because I was way out of my depth. The interviewer looked at me and said, you’re not really interested in becoming a news reporter. I sheepishly smiled and said sorry. If anything, I felt bad for wasting the interviewer’s time.” – Melanie

“There were two people who interviewed me. Till today, I am not sure if they were having a bad day… or they simply didn’t like me. They basically shredded me to pieces, questioning everything on my resume, and asking me ridiculous questions. Ten minutes into the interview, I knew I didn’t want to work for this company even for a ridiculous amount of money. So when they asked if I had any questions, I turned the table around and questioned their professionalism. Childish of me but I couldn’t help it.” – Chee

“I came in prepared to ace the interview. I did my research, practised my answers. But five minutes in, I had a feeling the HR manager wasn’t thrilled to be doing the interview. Maybe it was personal or maybe it was something else but she basically asked non-consequential questions that were not related to the role or my skills. Then after 15 minutes, she simply stood up and said, thanks for your time and walked away.” – Jordan

“You know how you always read about being prepared for the interview? In my case, it was the opposite! The person interviewing me didn’t read through my resume in the first place so we spent a good 10 minutes going through everything I had done on my resume which was really self-explanatory. He kept looking at his phone, as if waiting for a call or a text message. At one time, he even picked up the phone, laughed, and then just proceeded to ask me the next question without really paying attention to what I had to say.” – M. Asli

“We didn’t connect. There was no chemistry. It was very blah. I wasn’t given the opportunity to ask any questions. The interviewer wasn’t really interested in what I had to say. I knew I wouldn’t be getting a call back.” – Aisyah S

“Can you believe it, I faltered at the most basic question! The interviewer asked if I could share a work experience that would come handy in this new role. I just blanked out! I couldn’t think of an example, struggled to think… and finally, the interviewer said, OK never mind, next question. Major fail!” – Steph

What to do if you were ever in these situations during a job interview? Here are three tips for damage control.

#1 Send a short thank-you note
Nothing like words of appreciation to make your interviewer hopefully forget it all. Your thank-you email should only be a paragraph or two to explain yourself, whether it is clarifying some details that were asked during the interview or even adding additional info that just might still give you a shot at redemption. You might not get the job but at the very least, you tried to salvage the situation and no one can fault you for that.

#2 Be positive
You may be reading too much into your interview – who knows, you actually did not too bad and still have a shot at the role! Whatever the case, it always helps to stay positive so you can learn from the situation. Take every interview as giving you the right step towards the job you really want. Don’t beat yourself up too much on an interview gone wrong.

#3 Improvise!
Say you’re already in the middle of a bad interview – there’s still a chance to come out of it with some positive news! First, don’t let the disappointment drag you down, continue being upbeat about the job interview. If you feel like the HR manager is getting bored, maybe switch things a little to get her to talk about her work experience in the company. This may give the interview a much-needed distraction as well as allows you to connect better with the HR manager. If anything, just smile and carry on! Sometimes, it’s not your fault and there’s nothing you can do about it. Perhaps the HR manager was having a bad day. But if you get sucked into the negativity and start being abrupt with your answers, you know for sure you won’t be getting the job!

Photo by Walls.io on Unsplash.