Getting hired for a role you really want isn’t easy — and interviews can be the hardest part to get right.
With nerves running high, some applicants get thrown by unexpected questions or clam up entirely. Recruiters say it’s a common issue, and plenty of otherwise promising candidates end up missing out because their interview doesn’t land well.
On Reddit, a number of recruiters and hiring managers recently swapped stories about the strangest interviews they’ve sat through — and what jobseekers can learn from them if they want to make a better impression.
From relying on AI during live questions to turning up unprepared, overly casual, or even bragging about bad decisions, they said these missteps were among their most memorable red flags.
One recruiter described a particularly “wild” interview where a candidate appeared to be using ChatGPT in real time to respond.
“I did a video interview with a lady who, after a few questions, made it painfully obvious that she was just feeding the questions into ChatGPT and reading back the answers,” he said.
“Her answers were rambling essays defining a key word in the question rather than answering it. I asked her about her proudest accomplishment, and she said, ‘some things that people often feel a sense of accomplishment about include…’
“This told me she either knew nothing about the position, or had so little confidence in her skills that she would need to be constantly shadowed rather than being able to eventually work independently. Both are instant “no”.”
Another hiring manager said they’d seen an applicant join a Zoom interview with an eye-catching lack of professionalism — they weren’t wearing a shirt.
“My boss once had someone show up to a Zoom interview not wearing a shirt,” they wrote. “How in the world do you get by in life if you’re the type of person to be shirtless for an interview?”
Others said the problems weren’t limited to what people said or wore — basic hygiene also came up as a deal-breaker.
“If you stink from across the table, it’s an instant “no” from me,” one said.
And it’s not only unpleasant body odour that can derail things; overpowering fragrances can be just as distracting, another manager explained.
Another wrote: “One woman had an extremely strong rose perfume. It hit like a ton of bricks when you were within five feet of her. I couldn’t focus on the interview.”
Several recruiters also stressed that interviews should be handled independently — and that bringing a parent is a fast track to rejection.
Arriving at the interview alongside a parent is also an immediate no, according to one manager. “Any level of parental involvement in the interview, especially someone who brings their parent to an interview, is a no,” they said.
“Parent calls to schedule or reschedule the interview? Pass. Brings parent to the interview? Immediate pass.”
Professional boundaries were another theme. One manager described overhearing a candidate loudly boasting about a weekend of heavy partying — and even faking illness to miss work.
She wrote: “Young intern candidate came in, didn’t realise there was a desk behind a short wall where one of us got an earful of how much partying… and drinking he did all weekend and faked being sick to get out of work.”
Alongside these extreme examples, they also pointed to more routine reasons applicants get rejected, including not meeting baseline requirements, lacking work authorisation, or needing visa sponsorship that a company can’t provide.