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**** Interview Failure Stories ****

7,546 Views | 60 Replies | Last: 7 yr ago by HerschelwoodHardhead
HollywoodBQ
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I thought I'd start a thread for amusement and stories that we can all learn from with respect to "what NOT to do" during the interview process.

I just went through a 5 round interview process and realized after round 3 that there was essentially no way I was going to get the job. But, I still played rounds 4 and 5 as if I wanted to win.

I now regret not having had more fun with round 4 which was a second interview with interviewer #2. Instead of allowing myself to be abused by him for most of the interview, I wish I would have gone completely scorched earth on that guy. I knew the interview was over and my chance at the job was gone once I started standing up for myself and clinging to conditions of employment that were fair treatment for me.

Interviewer #5 was in so far over his head it wasn't even funny. I could have easily pulled a "Fletch - it's all Ball Bearings nowadays".

The net summary of my failed interview process was:
  • I failed to identify who the real decision maker was (it was not the hiring manager) early in the process.
  • Once I realized who the real decision maker was, I declined to kiss his butt (this did not sit well with him)
  • Interviewers 2,4 (same guy) and 5 were corporate tools who were just looking for a candidate who would toe the party line and didn't really want to know the truth.
  • I made the mistake of being forthcoming with specific details about things that needed to be fixed and how to fix them. This was good for interviewers 1 and 3 but had the opposite effect on interviewers 2/4 and 5.

For next time, I probably need to spend as much time evaluating the interviewers as they did reading my resume. Only interviewers 1 and 3 read my resume. 2/4 and 5 didn't.

Now, share some of your painful/hilarious interview failures with me. Thanks in advance.
AtlAg05
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First job out of college my hiring manager told us a story about someone who interviewed and kept saying the wrong company name (one word was in common between the two companies). At the end they told him and he really thought he was interviewing with the other company. He was not hired.

Another job I interviewed for during my last semester was an all day affair. A couple interviews in the morning where one of the questions was around my thoughts on profiling a certain group of people at airports. I have an answer and to this day it still seemed out of place. They took me to lunch where they asked about the earlier interviews and how they went. I foolishly mentioned the profiling question so then I had to explain it all over lunch while trying to eat to this new set of folks. Didn't get the job but it sure set the bar for the rest of my interviews as being way easier than that one was.
zooguy96
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I've had a lot of interviews in the past 15 years.

Got one job on only a phone interview, which was surprising. Was moving from Tennessee to Texas at the time.

Had several interviews which I thought I hit out of the park, only to not get the position.
Had others in which I thought I sucked, only to get the job.

Phone interviews are much easier for me personally. It allows me to put my thoughts together and better answer questions.

I always do better when the panel has actually looked at my resume and is familiar with my qualifications.

I do worse when they don't know what my qualifications are and obviously haven't looked at my resume or contacted any of my references. I probably let them know exactly what I think a little too much - but, I'd rather be direct and gauge their response than BSing answers and not knowing how they actually are.

I'd rather know what I'm getting into rather than not - I've had too many hostile/psycho work environments to do the opposite.
schmellba99
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I interviewed a kid one time looking for an entry level type project engineer position. He had some decent qualifications, but he pretty much cut his own throat about 3/4 of the way through the interview.

My office is in Houston and we concentrate on the Gulf Coast area of Texas. This kid grew up in Chicago, but went to Ole Miss for college and was looking for a position in Houston. Everything seemed great, he knew a little bit about my industry and seemed pretty interested. Somewhere along the line we ask him why he wants to move to Houston (currently living in Chicago), his response was that he and a buddy of his always had visions of coming down here and working int he O&G field. A comment was made that we do not do O&G work - to which he replied "I know, I'm looking for something to pay the bills until O&G picks back up and then I'll jump over into that industry".

Yeah....word of advice. Don't tell a prospective employee in an interview that your goal in trying to get hired is just to have a place holder until something in a different industry opens up. We opted to not hire him.
Matsui
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Interviewed with Petsmart at a career fair. They asked if I had ever been to their stores. I said yes, in my hometown of Temple, TX. The interviewers looked confused. They said you might be thinking of Petco. I said oh, my fault. So, no I haven't. Didn't get the job. This was over 10 years ago. There is a Petsmart and Petco now in Temple.
SidetrackAg
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Quote:

I know, I'm looking for something to pay the bills until O&G picks back up and then I'll jump over into that industry


Lol wow, that's like a slap in the face to the company/interviewer. I know people do that, but I'm sure they don't put it out there during an interview.
Disco Stu
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I had a former coworker that used to love to tell the story about a time he was interviewing and he knew it was going very poorly. He stops the interviewer and asks what time it was. After the interviewer told him him the time, he stated that he needed to take his medication, and then he got up and walked out of the interview and didn't return.
largelili
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The worst interview I had was with the Department of Student Activities. The position was for a low paying entry-level program assistant, and I was expecting a standard one-on-one or maybe two interviewers. When I walked into the conference room there was an entire panel of SEVEN interviewers!! I was given zero heads up that this was going to be a huge panel interview, and I'm pretty sure I turned as white as a ghost. I was so nervous I messed up every single answer and practically ran out of the door once the interview was over. I did not get a call back for a second interview lol

The second worst was when I interviewed for a law office in College Station and the attorney saw my engagement ring, asked about my marital status and fiance's degree (aerospace engineering) and immediately told me he would not be hiring me based on that. I had no clue that was illegal because I was so naive and young. Looking back I am so glad my first job out of college wasn't with scum like him.
Some Junkie Cosmonaut
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largelili said:

The worst interview I had was with the Department of Student Activities. The position was for a low paying entry-level program assistant, and I was expecting a standard one-on-one or maybe two interviewers. When I walked into the conference room there was an entire panel of SEVEN interviewers!! I was given zero heads up that this was going to be a huge panel interview, and I'm pretty sure I turned as white as a ghost. I was so nervous I messed up every single answer and practically ran out of the door once the interview was over. I did not get a call back for a second interview lol


an old company i worked for began to do this. they would bring people in to a panel interview like this for a basic data entry job making peanuts (if that). so ridiculous.
Wife is an Aggie
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I had a phone interview a few months back with a big IT company based out of Raleigh.... The HR lady had told me I would be speaking to both the manager and the team lead at the same time. When I called in the manager began the interview. Shortly after the team lead joined up and the manager got really flustered (he was a Japanese guy who didn't speak English very well), he started to almost panic because he wanted to do individual interviews so he just abruptly dropped off and told me that we would reschedule his portion.

So team lead guy was much more relaxed. I had to start over but we had a good talk. Towards the end he started asking me what I do outside of work and we started talking SEC football (he was a Bama alum)... Out of no where he asks me "do you like to crush beers?" Almost immediately after I began to give my response their fire alarm went off and the thing was so loud over the phone we honestly couldn't hear each other at all. The call basically ended with him screaming into the phone thanks and you'll hear from us in a week.

I didn't get the job, apparently the position was put on hold due to budget issues and I never followed up after that as it was a slim chance I was going to move the family across the country anyways, but definitely one of the more entertaining interviews.
akaggie05
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Stepped out of the office at my then-current employer to get away for a brief phone interview. Decided to drive to a fairly secluded parking lot and do the call from the car. Didn't think much of parking next to a row of dumpsters. Halfway through the call the garbage truck shows up and starts lifting each dumpster one by one in the air to empty them. You can imagine the noise and distraction... I'm sure it only lasted a couple of minutes but it seemed like it would never end.

Ended up getting the job.
E
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largelili said:

The second worst was when I interviewed for a law office in College Station and the attorney saw my engagement ring, asked about my marital status and fiance's degree (aerospace engineering) and immediately told me he would not be hiring me based on that. I had no clue that was illegal because I was so naive and young. Looking back I am so glad my first job out of college wasn't with scum like him.
Wait, so the attorney asked something that is blatantly illegal in a hiring process?? Sounds like you didnt miss out as he is pretty terrible at his job...
Some Junkie Cosmonaut
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i've only got one personal story that i can think of. i was having a great phone interview while driving. i was trying to find a nice quiet place to park beforehand but they called me 15 minutes earlier than scheduled. i was sitting at a red light when i got rear ended by a truck going @50-60 mph. dude never hit his breaks. you can imagine the noise and the subsequent words that came out of my mouth. they ended up flying me up to their hq in new york after an in person interview in dallas and i ended up getting the job. made for a funny story my manager liked to tell afterwards.
Seanzy2012
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Seems like forever ago now. The one and only interview I didn't get the job.

The guy who recruited me really wanted me on his team so I sat down with the CEO and CFO of this group. I walked into their conference room, low lighting, expensive chairs, sat across the large table staring a hole in my face. Commented on how young I looked (I am baby faced admittedly...and also pretty young).

Most interviews I have done I've been able to establish a rapport but these guys were rock solid. Didn't laugh at anything I said just stared at me. It was like being on shark tank or something. The real beauty of all of it was that I actually didn't need that job, I was doing great where I was and I'm sure that was one of the few reasons they were interested in me in the first place.

This was one of the few interviews I've ever prepped for so I looked up the area they'd have me working and saw that there was multi million dollar potential for them. I said there was a multi BILLION dollar potential (I was a little nervous I'll admit). They came back to the guy who would be my partner if hired and told him I was pretty much an idiot because I'd quoted it a billion potential. I called the guy and said "they didn't like the billion thing did they?" He said "I tried to explain to them how it was a good thing."

I didn't know this at the time, the guy who wanted me for a partner (who is also good friend of mine) comes from considerable wealth. I absolutely didn't fit in with their firms profile because I was "normal." They brought in some other person from the "right kind of family" and he didn't pan out. They asked my friend if I'd consider coming back in. I told them I wasn't interested at this time (I will never burn a bridge...ever).

I'm not sure I'd ever feel comfortable with working for them anyway but it did bother me at the time when I was turned down. Taught me that interviews run both ways, means they might not match your expectations either.
largelili
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He knew he would get away with it. I was fresh out of college and clueless about employment law. I can't remember his name, but I'm sure with morals like that he's no longer practicing.
rbcs_2
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About 10 years ago, I was stuck in an rut and needed a change. I was tasked with all IT functions at the company I worked for, but wasn't compensated as though that were the case. I wanted to get back to my roots as a web developer, so I was looking for just about any web development job that paid decently.

My resume was found by a company with offices in various cities, but they wanted me in the Juneau, Alaska office. I wasn't sure about it, but interviewing couldn't hurt.

I phone interviewed with their head of development and it went about as well as I could hope. The head of HR called me the next morning to run through their benefits and expected pay, all kinds of stuff. She even sent me pictures of their office and the view of the harbor. Things were going so well, even my wife was on board (as long as we planned to move back to Texas eventually).

The next afternoon, the lead developer on the team I was going to be a part of called me to do his portion of the interview. It was a total disaster. Our phone connection was terrible. He had to repeat half the questions. Some I answered completely incorrectly because I had thought he had asked something else. Not to mention some of my answers had to be repeated to him. It was probably a 30-40 minute interview, but I answered maybe 2 or 3 questions without something misheard between us. I remember the specific moment when I realized I wasn't getting the job. I had misheard the already repeated question, but answered anyway to what I thought he asked. And it was not even close...

It didn't even take them a full 24 hours to close the door. I received an email that evening from HR that they had "filled the position internally."
E
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largelili said:

I can't remember his name, but I'm sure with morals like that he's no longer practicing.


You haven't met many lawyers have you??
HBCanine08
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Worst interview I had was last year with the General Counsel of a drilling company. At one point I could tell the Assistant GC got uncomfortable at what the GC was saying.

It started off with the GC making small talk with where I went to HS, what I did, what my parents did. It didn't occur to me until after the interview that he was sizing me up in terms of family/financial background status - I didn't grow up with money and neither did my parents. First in my family to go to college. Among the things he said to me were:

  • "I don't know if you ever had anyone to encourage you to get good grades, but my dad was a college professor so he expected it."
  • "I met some kids like you in college with your similar background who struggled...."
  • "You should get law firm experience. Although I never worked at a law firm, and have been in-house my career, I think it would benefit you."
  • "I don't feel confident sending you into a negotiation and coming out with a win."
  • "You're a survivor, not a winner."

I had to bite my tongue a lot, and honestly, I should've walked out and told him to "**** off". I was more upset with myself that I allowed him to make me feel like dirt.

Ironically, their HR dept. called me today at lunch asking if I was still interested in making a move (about 8 months later now). Conversation went like this:

HR: "Hi...we'd like to know if you're still interested"
Me: "Is so and so still your general counsel?"
HR: "Yes, he is."
Me: "Not interested. No way I'd work for him after meeting him last year (HR starts laughing). You'd have to pay me at least $150,000 for him to be my boss"
HR: "I understand. I appreciate you taking my call."
BrazosDog02
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The way I have failed is with questions. Having worked at my previous job so long, I was able to do everything. There are a LOT of things that are important to me in a job and they are usually very different than the things that are important to a hiring manager who does not know you.

Hiring Manager:
How can this candidate solve xxxx problem, challenge, etc?

Me:
Vacation?
401k?
Profit sharing?
Work/life balance?
Working weekends?
Is it 8am-5pm M-F?
Salary?
How do I get promoted to get more of everything else in this list and how long does that take?

I'm was so confident in being able to handle doing the job that their concerns were simply not in my list of questions.

I found the biggest growth and development for me has been to craft questions try to control an interview such that I ASK everything they want to hear and get ANSWERS for everything I need to know.
Joan Wilder
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When I was in college my mother saw a want ad (kids, ask your parents) in the Atlanta paper. She read it to me over the phone and it said contact KDH XXX-Lise. So I went to the computer lab and fired off a cover letter.

A few days letter I get the want ad in the mail from my mom. The company's name was XXXLIFE. Not Lise. My mom's f sounded like s when she read it to me.

I actually got an interview and as I sat with the VP I see my letter on his desk with KDH XXXLise circled 3 times. I was so mortified I explained it to him - it also turns out their HR manager was "KDH" and they hadn't listed it as "contact KDH at XXXlife". So many job seekers had made that mistake.

I got the job somehow and later my VP told me he respected that an engineer couldn't spell, and he felt tricked when it turned out I was actually a very good writer.
Josepi
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SidetrackAg said:

Quote:

I know, I'm looking for something to pay the bills until O&G picks back up and then I'll jump over into that industry


Lol wow, that's like a slap in the face to the company/interviewer. I know people do that, but I'm sure they don't put it out there during an interview.
I interviewed several people for an open position recently. Many were Ags, and many were people laid off from the O&G industry.

I can not tell you how many of the people I interviewed, said something along the lines of, "I really loved Company X, and I wish i was still working for them." or "I would work for Company Y for the rest of my life if I could." As the person performing the interview it sent of huge red flags and made me think that as soon as O&G started hiring again they would jump ship.
Carlo4
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Mine was my first interview post college... 12 years ago... where has the time gone!

Interviewed with a land development company in Dallas. Interview went mostly well, but then we started talking sports/local. Found out where I went to High School and played baseball, so he asked what I thought of the baseball coach... spoke about how good a man he was based on his special ed work but couldn't coach to save his life. Went off about why he suspended me and some of his questionable decisions, like promoting less talent since his dad helped construct the field.

He said they were super close friends, so I immediately left the interview as I was no longer in contention.

Don't ever bad mouth a person of mutual acquaintance unless the interviewer clearly doesn't like said person.

Wouldn't have worked out anyway . Coach was already fired at the time of conversation due to poor performance anyway.

peacedude
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I interviewed for over three hours with Whataburger at their HQ for an advisory position to the President..Four were Ags, three were not on his board.

One of the lead HR girls said "Whataburger is a Christian company. Some days Preston will come in and on the overhead speakers, he'll ask everyone to step out of their cubes, hold hands, and repeat his prayer. Do you have a problem with that?"

Squirming in my chair, because I knew she had just asked me one of the most illegal questions the EoE Commission has in their guidebook, I responded "Of course I have no problem with that! I pray every day."

I consulted a law firm, and they said that's an unwinnable case in Whataburger's hometown.

Whatabunchofcultmembers leader is what Preston is..
PLUM LOCO
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The one that floored me was a face to face interview.

I wore a really nice gray suit with a pair of gray shoes. Looked really good so my wife said.

Interview went really well but I did not get the job.

I asked the headhunter why and she said his response was...

"He wore gray shoes, he is a non-conformist."
powerbelly
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Quote:

I wore a really nice gray suit with a pair of gray shoes.
Not really acceptable interview attire.
Vernada
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I have one that still baffles me.

I applied for a job that wasn't completely qualified for - I check all the boxes except for experience in one application which was a key part of the job.

Surprisingly I got a phone interview. During the phone interview and reiterated that I did not have any experience with that application. He say no big deal you check all the other boxes. I get invited for a face-face which happens with two peers, one more sr guy, and the hiring mgr and his boss. Each goes very well.

They contact me some time later to say they really liked me, think I'd be a good fit on the team, but they had another candidate who did all that PLUS had the key application experience so that's they way they were going.

I totally understand.

They say again they really like me and will pass my resume around and keep in mind.

(Sure you will I'm thinking)

Well sure enough, about a month later I get an email from a hiring mgr saying that he has just requisitioned for a new job, he's seen my resume and he thinks I'll be a great fit. Would I be interested? Sure I would.

We trade a few more emails over the next 6-8 weeks because the req takes forever to get approved.

It gets approved so he calls me direct for a phone interview... basic stuff: here's the details, the type of team, day-to-day stuff. I talk about myself. Good call.

HR contacts me a few days later to 'officially' start the process. Phone interview with HR. That went well so they scheduled me a technical skills test. I did fine on that so they scheduled me for a day of three face-to-face interviews.

I go in for this round of face-face interviews and they all go really well (again). It closes with the hiring manager again and he says I'll be hearing something soon.

HR calls me that evening and says there was someone else I need to interview with - this is a new position and apparently there's still internal discussion about exactly how this role fits. Can I come back tomorrow? Sure.

Come back for interview #4 and day 2 and again it goes well.

HR calls me back again that night to say that everything has gone well and I'm really sorry to do this, but there are two more people that we'd like you to talk to because you'd be working with them almost daily.

So I go back. Again. Interviews 5 and 6 on day three.

So we are now at over 2 months since I was first contacted, three days to their office interviewing with 7 different people (not counting HR), plus a skills assessment.

They apologize again for the drawn out process and tell me they'll be in touch the next day.

A week later they call to say the 'team' liked me but they didn't think I had right background for the job. Keep in mind - they contacted me for this role.

W
T
F

At that point it was really hard to care, but you'd think if 'background' was the real reason they would've figured it out LONG before.

Based on some comments that were made at different points I think it was possibly a reason that would be an EEO issue - but I'm just speculating.

Still a pretty frustrating experience and left me with a pretty negative view of the company because
1. I felt led on
2. It seemed like they suffered from a lot of internal issues/confusion
AgLA06
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schmellba99 said:


Yeah....word of advice. Don't tell a prospective employee in an interview that your goal in trying to get hired is just to have a place holder until something in a different industry opens up. We opted to not hire him.


I get this and this kid wasn't very smart. However, in this day and age with employees having to job hop to get promotions and with all the layoffs lately this really shouldn't matter. You're paying someone to do a job and it's just as likely the person you hired will leave earlier than O&G boy.

Continuity in jobs is long dead for most of us, but companies still expect employees to be loyal while knowing they'll burn them the first chance a quarterly report threatens a dividend. Beyond hypocritical.
Vernada
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Quote:

Continuity in jobs is long dead for most of us, but companies still expect employees to be loyal while knowing they'll burn them the first chance a quarterly report threatens a dividend. Beyond hypocritical.
hard to disagree with this.
HBCanine08
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Vernada said:

Quote:

Continuity in jobs is long dead for most of us, but companies still expect employees to be loyal while knowing they'll burn them the first chance a quarterly report threatens a dividend. Beyond hypocritical.
hard to disagree with this.
I was thinking the same thing as I was reading his post.
chico
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interview out of college on campus. Mgr asks me what position on the football team I'd play for if his company were a football team. I said unsure of the analogy & he explained that an offensive lineman works hard. So I said offensive lineman.
Told my friend who had next interview about this question. She answered him that she didn't know football, only soccer. The mgr said he didn't know soccer so he didn't pursue it further.
Kinda weird exchange....
BombayAg
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Back in 1999, I was called to ABN Amro for a tech job. I didn't have a printer so I grabbed a rough cut version of my resume and went. There, he asked me for a resume and I had to give him that with marks all over it.
Fail.
Josepi
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My last year of school, I interviewed to be a bartender at The Chicken. I was hungover and did not really want to be there. The owner asked if I would skip work so I could attend a concert with my friends, and I answered, "probably." He hired me at the end of the interview. I guess he appreciated that I wasn't in the mood to give him a b. S. Answer.

He also had a pistol on the desk during the interview. Kind of weird
Average Joe
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I interviewed for a position with three different area managers in a panel interview. Very laid back interview with them telling stories and jokes most of the time. They would take turns asking technical questions in each area to see where I best fit.

One manager starts asking me questions about my relationship with my previous management staff. I'm pretty professional about my answers even though one of the former upper management and I butted heads all the time. After a few questions he started pressing the issue and I let slip about the negative relationship without going into a lot of detail. Then he name drops the guy and tells me that it's his brother-in-law and stood in his wedding.

I didn't even get a call back. Got a letter in the mail a few weeks later.
AgLA06
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F em.

He already knew. That's why he pressed the issue. That's a dick move to bring you in yo do that.
lunchbox
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At a previous employer, my boss and I were interviewing candidates for a junior tech position for my team (i was the team supervisor). We had a code word that we would use in a sentence if at any time we thought it was a "no" and wanted to just speed through the rest of the questions with no small-talk, etc. It was "master boot record"...which was something that would not come up during the interview otherwise.

One candidate had a sizable gap on his resume and I asked about it about 1/3 of the way through. He looked down and sighed and said, "I was in the pokey."

I said "OK..." and glanced over at my boss. He looked at me and said with a straight face, "Master. Boot. Record."

I nodded and skipped to the last question and then told him that HR would contact him with an update as we go through the process.

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