Job interviews—those stressful events that can make even the most composed among us sweat. Despite meticulous preparation, there’s always that one moment that could turn the tide in an unexpected direction. Whether it’s an awkward joke that falls flat or a botched handshake, the pressure can get to anyone. One hopeful job seeker shared their tale of an interview gone wrong from the get-go on Reddit, sparking a wave of similarly cringe-worthy stories.
The Reddit user, u/That_Comic_Who_Quit, posed a question on the r/UKJobs subreddit: “What’s the earliest you’ve messed up a job interview?” They then shared their own rapid mishap as an example, explaining how the interviewer’s simple question, “Tell me how you got here today?” received a too-literal answer: “By bus.” The candidate quickly realized the interviewer was asking about their career journey, not their commute. “I got a stone cold stare as the realization hit me… He meant in my career not to the physical office. The remaining 58 minutes were going through the motions,” they added.
Others quickly joined in to share their own tales of interview blunders. U/LucidTopiary recounted a humorous misunderstanding during a video call interview: “‘What’s your background?’ I Look behind myself and back around to video call ‘Well it’s a sort of mirror?’…. ‘I mean what is your background in work?’ …. I still haven’t recovered from that.”
Meanwhile, u/Onebadlion shared a misunderstanding about a driving license: “‘Do you have a driving licence and your own car?’ ‘Yes’ ‘Is it clean?’ ‘Er, yeah, I washed it the other day actually’ ‘I meant the licence…'”
And u/TastyDragonfruit3000 offered a story of mistaken identity over the phone: “I was 18 and had applied to be a GP receptionist whilst trying to figure out what I wanted to do with life, had just dropped out of uni so was in a bad place. 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!”
It’s clear from these stories that it’s easier than you might think to slip up in job interviews. So, how about you? What’s your most memorable interview mishap?