A man has confessed he ‘messed up’ a job interview within the first two minutes after he misunderstood a basic question – and has warned others not to make the same error
It only takes one wrong move to ruin your chances at a job interview.
We’ve all gone through the nerve-wracking experience of a job interview at least once in our lives. No matter how well you’ve prepared for any questions your prospective employer might ask, actually answering them without stumbling over your words or sounding like you’re reading from a script isn’t always easy.
Mistakes are common when you’re put under pressure, but unfortunately, it only takes one slip-up for the hiring manager to put a cross next to your name – even if you ace the rest of the interview.
And one man has confessed he ruined his chances at a job interview within the first two minutes – simply because he misunderstood a commonly asked question.
The man claimed in a post on Reddit that the interviewer posed the common question: “How did you get here today?”, and instead of telling them about his career up to that point, he simply answered: “By bus.”
He added: “I got a stone-cold stare as the realisation hit me… he meant in my career, not to the physical office. The remaining 58 minutes were just going through the motions.”
While it’s safe to say the man didn’t get the job, he’s not the only one to have had a major blunder in the middle of an interview. The man’s Reddit post encouraged over 1,000 commenters to post their own experiences – including one who had a very similar mishap.
The commenter revealed that when asked “What’s your background” during a video call, they believed the employer was interested in their decor choices instead of their career. They added: “I still haven’t recovered from that.”
Another recalled: “I was 18 and had applied to be a GP receptionist whilst trying to figure out what I wanted to do with life. I’d been plagued by spam calls in recent days, and I got a ‘no caller ID’ call and answered it with silence. There was also silence on the other end.
“After about 10 seconds I say ‘So are you going to say something? What do you want?’ in an annoyed tone. Turns out it was the GP receptionist calling me to test my phone manner as a screening process. I didn’t get the job!”
But one commenter gave us all hope, as they shared a blunder that had actually helped secure their friend a job. They said: “Not me, but a friend. They got asked ‘How’s your grammar?’ They HEARD ‘How’s your grandma?’. So they answered ‘She’s fine, thanks…’ in a very confused tone. Thankfully the interviewers laughed, and they got the job.”
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