We’ve all experienced the jitters of a job interview at least once in our lives.
No matter how well you’ve prepared for any questions your prospective employer might throw at you, delivering your answers smoothly and without sounding rehearsed is no easy feat.
Under such pressure, mistakes are common, but sadly, it only takes one blunder for the hiring manager to dismiss your chances – even if the rest of the interview goes swimmingly.
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One man has admitted that he sabotaged his job interview within the first two minutes – simply by misunderstanding a frequently asked question.
In a Reddit post, the man shared that the interviewer asked: “How did you get here today?”, and instead of discussing his career journey up to that point, he innocently responded: “By bus.”
He continued: “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 clear the man didn’t secure the job, he’s far from alone in making a significant error during an interview. His Reddit post prompted more than 1,000 commenters to share their own experiences – including one who had a very similar faux pas.
One individual shared a humorous misunderstanding during a video call interview, explaining: “When asked ‘What’s your background’, I thought they were interested in my home decor rather than my career history. I still haven’t recovered from that.”
Another recounted an unfortunate incident when applying for a GP receptionist role at 18. They said: “I’d been receiving numerous spam calls recently, and when I received a ‘no caller ID’ call, I answered it with silence. After about 10 seconds of mutual silence, I snapped ‘So are you going to say something? What do you want? ‘ Turns out it was the GP receptionist testing my phone manner as part of the screening process. Needless to say, I didn’t get the job! “.
However, not all blunders ended in disappointment. One commenter shared a story of a friend who misheard a question during their interview but still managed to secure the job.
They explained: “They were asked ‘How’s your grammar? ‘ but heard ‘How’s your grandma? ‘. Their confused response of ‘She’s fine, thanks…’ had the interviewers laughing, and they got the job.”
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