Job Interviews

When I finished school and started applying for jobs my Dad gave me one really solid piece of advice, and that’s to apply for as many jobs as possible, prepare for every interview like it’s your dream job – because you never know it might turn out to be something you’d really like. And even if you end up interviewing for something that doesn’t seem right for you, the worst thing that can happen is that you learn from it.

This was great advice for where I was at the time. Nowadays when I’m looking for jobs I tend to be a bit more focussed, but I still value the experience which comes with doing a truly awful job interview.

In the past few years I have interviewed for a really varied range of jobs, some successful, some not so much, some just downright strange, so in order to document this for any other jobseekers I’m going to give you my top 5 most embarrassing, weird, and terrifying job interview experiences. Learn from my mistakes.

Number 5
The Job: An internship in a publishing company
When? The summer between 1st and 2nd year in college.

Before this interview I tried really hard to prepare by looking at the company’s website, but I couldn’t find a single thing about what the company does, who their clients are, whether or not I had the right experience, nothing. I kept my fingers crossed that this wouldn’t come up in the interview but of course it did. The first question he asked me when I sat down in that board room was “Can you tell me a bit about what you think the company does?”

A more experienced interviewee would have handled it better, perhaps discussing the lack of information on their website, how they could improve this for them. Not 19-year-old me. The best 19-year-old me could come up with was “eeeeeehm…..not really”. The interview was pretty short after that. I’m pretty sure he was desperate to get this mumbling nut job out of his office to grab a coffee before interviewing a real candidate.

What did I learn? Don’t ever go in to an interview without knowing what the company does, you will look like an idiot.


Number 4
The Job: Waitress
When? Winter 2010

I worked as a waitress for about a year in my final year of college which I quite enjoyed. I was on my feet a lot so I stayed fit, the people were great, the money was decent, so I figured if nothing else cropped up it wouldn’t be a bad way to earn money for a while. With that in mind I applied for a few waitressing jobs around where I live and got an interview for one near Sandymount.

My first waitressing interview was very straightforward. It was a new restaurant so they would be hiring an entirely new staff and full training would be given so experience wasn’t a must. This one was entirely different. In an interview for a fine dining restaurant you’re actually expected to know things, for example “how much do you know about wine?” “What’s the difference between a king scallop and a queen scallop?”

The strangest thing about this interview however was the setting. I invite you all to cast your minds back to the winter of 2010, and recall what was a major event at the time. Here’s a little reminder just in case:



The restaurant I interviewed for was a café during the day, a popular one at that, so rather than take up a table inside the interviews were held at the seating area outside in the snow. I could barely answer his first couple of questions from shivering.

What did I learn? If you’re interviewing in a restaurant familiarise yourself with every bit of the menu, wine list and all, and if it’s snowing, dress warm, they probably won’t interview you outside in the snow, but at least if they do you’re prepared.


Number 3
The Job: Promotions rep
When? Last Summer

I really should have learned from past experience that promotions work isn’t for me. Past experience refers to a particularly disastrous day of selling portraits in a shopping centre on the Northside, and a day selling alarm systems in Louth (see number 1). I decided to go back for one more bite of the promotions apple because, quite frankly I’m a glutton for punishment.

The job was selling top-up credit cards to students, fairly straightforward, just take a stand and some signage out to a college, play a few games of Twister with them to earn their trust then get them to sign up for a credit card. The interviewer asked but one simple question to try and gauge my personality for this job “Are you wild?”, with a look of utter bemusement and mild disgust I answered “Nnnnot really, not in the way you probably need for this job”.

I didn’t like the sound of the work and was hoping I wouldn’t get it, but was still rather insulted when the 40 year old interviewing me told me I was “too old” for the job. Well sir, at least I’m not creepy.

What did I learn? If you find out a job’s really not suited to your personality, there’s no sense trying to change for the job, wait for something that’s right for you.


Number 2
The Job: Marketing Assistant for a website/magazine
When? Start of 2011

This was a fairly straightforward interview, which went fairly well, as it turns out I was even one of the final two candidates short listed for the job although I ultimately didn’t get it.
This was the only job interview I have ever done where I was asked if I would have any qualms spray-painting a bull. Take a moment to let that mental image sink in, spray painting a bull!

The website does promotions work at farmers’ markets from time to time and at one the previous year they gave away a baby bull as a raffle prize, but not before they stencilled the company logo onto the poor thing’s side. I told them no, but if I had been a little less shocked and appalled I really wish my answer had been “No, because animals have dignity, and so do I.”

What did I learn? Two things: to never assume a job interview will be uneventful, and to never buy their product again.


Number 1
The Job: Promotions Rep selling alarm systems.
When? About 2 years ago, I’ve blocked out the exact date.

This job interview, my all time worst, is a day I will never forget, and is a story I would tell anyone interviewing for a promotions job. I had done an interview the day before with this company and was asked to come back for a tryout. I figured there was no harm in it, it’s all experience and if it’s awful I can just hop in a bus home.

I showed up for my trial day at 9am and at 9.30 we were all paired up with a sales rep to shadow them for the day, then 2 others joined who were just tagging along for a lift. So we hit the m50 and kept driving…and driving…and driving. South Dublin came and went, past the airport, then out of Dublin, still driving. About 2 hours later we were in Dundalk, our destination for the day, I was then told we wouldn’t be leaving until 7pm that evening.

The rest of the day was spent calling to every door in a designated housing estate, and when we had finished, we went back to all the ones that didn’t answer first time. Of the 300 houses we called to, 3 let us across the threshold of their homes, none bought an alarm.

When 7pm came one of the other sales reps was busy trying to shake some old woman down for money so we had to wait for them to close the deal, which left time for calling to more people’s houses.

10 pm and we were still in Dundalk, my parents were ringing me asking where I was and offering to come get me, but I didn’t know any of the landmarks.

When we eventually got back to the office in Dublin it was 11.30pm, and they needed me to stay for another interview to assess how I’d done that day. Still waiting for my parents to pick me up I agreed just because I could sit down. In the boss’s office I was being grilled about the day and if I thought the job would be for me. Half dazed and entirely exhausted I apologised, handed back the form I’d been made to fill in and walked out half way during the interview. I had suffered enough.

What did I learn? As long as I live I will never have what it takes to be a sales rep.


I never ended up working at any of these jobs, and aside from practically being kidnapped to Louth I don’t regret the interviews, because I learned from every one of them. And I now understand the importance of never, EVER getting in a car with strangers.