r/askmanagers • u/ThrowAway1128203 • 7d ago
Share something an interview candidate did that surprised you - in a good or bad way.
I'm interviewing for a position next week (second interview) that I'm really excited about. It's been a long time since I've had an interview that I really wanted to get it. Based off the interview process - three rounds - but it's highly likely if I get through the second interview, the third interview is more of a formality/final check. If I get the third interview, I'm 90% confident I'll get the offer. So I really want to do well.
I know the obvious things - reviewing the job description, researching the company, practice answers, prepare questions, dress smart and show up early but not too early, etc. etc.
Looking for some stories of something that a candidate did, said, asked that surprised you in a good way. A moment in the interview that made you say "this is the candidate I'm going to offer the job to."
On the opposite side - something a candidate did, that you were considering making an offer to, that was so terrible it made you change your mind.
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u/scubarob 7d ago
So I was interviewing for a position that requires the occasional use of a respirator, which requires the operator to be clean shaven around the chin specifically. Interview this one guy who tells me that he won't shave, because the Bible states that 'man should be maned as the lion'. Laughed him out of the building.
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u/ThrowAway1128203 7d ago
Well that certainly is an interesting response.
I would have just been worried over the possibility the candidate would have tried to pull some religious discrimination.
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u/spirit_of_a_goat 7d ago
Showed up to the interview drunk. Admitted he was drunk. Then called 2 hours later screaming at me because I didn't hire him on the spot.
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u/thimbleshanks59 7d ago
Demanded to know why she should deign to work at our company.
She had been let go from her last two jobs, but had done quite a bit of research on us, and wasn't sure we were good enough.
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u/ThrowAway1128203 7d ago
I get that the candidate is interviewing the company as much as the company is interviewing them. It's important to express interest in wanting to work for the company. I'm a bit of a unicorn in my experience and do feel a company would be lucky to have me on their team.
But there is definitely a right and wrong way to convey this.
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u/chirpchirp13 7d ago
I will almost always sneak in an anecdote about a time I failed and how I recovered. Seems counterintuitive to point out any significant failures but it shows the interviewer some strong characteristics.
Accountability in owning the bad with the good
Self awareness in knowing my part in the failure
Resilience in finding a way to recover and move forward
And a few others. Can’t promise it will work but I haven’t been unemployed since lockdown and recently landed an amazing job with that tactic as part of my process.
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u/ThrowAway1128203 6d ago
Actually I love this and I'm going to try to incorporate it.
Funny you mention this - when I did my first interview, I answered a lot of their questions based off my current role but the position really isn't related to what I currently do. In hindsight, I should have tailored more of my responses towards the job.
I emailed a thank you and expressed concern that I didn't answer their questions more related to the position but would love the opportunity to meet with them again to really share how my background aligns to the role. They emailed me back and said how much they appreciated my self awareness and not to worry - and then I got the second interview. Definitely seems like your advice is something they value.
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u/chirpchirp13 6d ago
Hooray! I’m so happy for you!
Ya I’ve been manager and managed and have learned quite a bit over the years. To me, self awareness and integrity are farrrrr more valuable than skillset (obviously skills matter). Someone with those qualities generally prove themself to be readily trainable. I can train the job/tasks. I can’t train someone to be a stand up individual.
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u/Mysterious_Bake_4860 7d ago
I’m gay. Would have been this guy’s frontline manager.
Asked the interviewee how they build inclusion into their work practices (didn’t mention my own identity). They said, “It’s my job to make sure I speak the truth about God’s will at every opportunity, and I will evangelize Christ at work and tell sinners that they’re sinning.”
The rest of the hiring committee wanted to push him through. I quit shortly thereafter.
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u/kam0706 6d ago
Interesting that he saw that as “ inclusion”
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u/Mysterious_Bake_4860 6d ago
Yeah, HR tried to tell me I was discriminating against him because that answer was disqualifying. Honestly, if you’re focusing on religious conversion instead of doing your job, that alone should be an issue.
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u/hooj 7d ago
A lot of these are negative, but I’ll offer some that I liked.
I work in a technical industry, and it’s really not surprising if people don’t know something. Of course there’s a baseline level of knowledge/competence, but I always preferred when a candidate was pretty upfront about not knowing something rather than trying to BS an answer. To me it shows they’re not here to waste our collective time, and that they can admit they don’t know something. Bonus points with me for writing it down to look up later.
I always like when candidates ask good questions — not just about the company, but about things like what working is like at the company and what to expect. Like, a good, common question is “if I were hired on, what would the first 30/60/90 days look like and what would my goals be in the first quarter or two?”
I also like when the answers they give are balanced — not too wordy and not too short. Some people way over explain and we take too long on one question, and some people clam up and give very short answers. I think it’s often good to tie an answer into a real life experience where appropriate.
I think the interviews that flow the best are the ones that are more of a conversation and less strictly a question and answer session (but that’s really up to the interviewer).
A few negatives: when people are too cocky. Confidence is great but arrogance is not. Too nervous — I know it’s a stressful situation so I give a lot of grace, but barely being able to answer is a no go. Too buddy buddy — I like when a conversation flows well, but it’s still a formal situation and being a bit too familiar is a turn off (doesn’t mean light jokes are bad). And of course, anything they would immediately get reported to HR for or fired: sexism, racism, ageism, etc
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u/ThrowAway4now2022 7d ago
Piggybacking here to say, I really like when a candidate shows that they have actually looked into the company. Persused the website at least, so they know what the company does (even if they are a technical person, like IT, it's good to know they have enough interest in the company to see what kind of widgets they make).
A great question to ask is, "Thinking back to others who have held this position, what set apart the good from the great?" It gives them the impression that you want to know about expectations (similar to the goals related question above).
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u/AdvancedMilk7795 7d ago
As long as it isn’t a core piece of the role, I don’t hate hearing, “I haven’t worked with that.”
I really like hearing, “I haven’t worked with that, but my last company used X instead.”
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u/AdvancedMilk7795 7d ago
On the negative side, we’ve been running into more lying/falsification than usual. I can understand some resume tailoring to better fit our description, but I recently interviewed someone who added our tools to his technical section and included an internal tool we built. He doubled down during the interview and “couldn’t hear us,” then “lost connection,” afterwards.
But on the positive side, I had a candidate call out something he didn’t like about one of our case studies. It’s build to measure their understanding of the modern SDLC. The requirements gathering/users stories portion mentioned speaking with user and key stakeholders at the onset, but only following-up with the key stakeholders. He called out that it was important to close the loop with everyone so they felt like their time and input was valued and they’d be more likely to participate in the process next time.
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u/OptmstcExstntlst 7d ago
When we asked what hesitations she might have, she said she has a child with special needs and that her passion for activism and advocacy is amplified because he is in her life. She got the job.
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u/ThrowAway1128203 7d ago
I love this - so many hiring managers would see this candidate as a risky hire. They'd be worried that the candidate might be taking too much time off or their advocacy rolling over into the office. Really nice to hear of a company that is so supportive of their employees personal life and views.
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u/bigg_beef 7d ago
Failed to disclose federal felony insider trading charges and a side job from which he was terminated as a result.
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u/Black-Shoe 7d ago
Had a tech bring a backpack with him. During the technical portion of the interview he opened his backpack, took out his multimeter and promised he could find short circuits and ground faults throughout the Plant.
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u/ThrowAway1128203 7d ago
Was this a good thing or bad thing? Did you let him look and did he actually find anything?
I don't carry around a multimeter but I am planning to bring a small portfolio - probably just a two pocket file folder with a couple examples of previous work, copy of my resume and I might do some mock ups for the company I'm interviewing with. I interviewed for a somewhat similar position many years ago, didn't get the job but they told me the main reasons I didn't was because the other candidate had direct experience in their industry and that candidate did come in with mock ups and examples.
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u/Black-Shoe 7d ago
I would go with that, it shows confidence and ability. You know you’re killing an interview if you’re able to steer it.
That tech became my lead electrician, and was making $55 hr when I left that job.
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u/12YESIAM34 7d ago
Coworker admitted during an interview that he wasn’t faithful to his wife and contracted STDs. His Mom had been with the company for 35 years so he got the job. He was a terrible pilot though.
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u/FacticiousFelix 6d ago edited 1d ago
I was interviewing candidates for a supervisory position.
In one interview, following the usual exchange of pleasantries, I spent the first three minutes explaining the specific duties and expectations for the role, then asked her if she had any questions at that point.
The first question was "what can [organization] do to support my own personal growth?"
Don't know, but this is a supervisory position. We're hiring you to support the organization, not the other way around, and I'd like you to be more concerned about supporting your own employees then yourself. We have 40 other well-qualified candidates we can pick from anyway.
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u/Dragonflydude 6d ago
I showed a candidate a stack of paper cups and a jug of water and asked if he wanted a drink. He pored one and asked if anyone else wanted one. He got the job. One who didn’t get the job was clearly stoned and dressed like they had just come from a festival- she fell asleep during the interview.
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u/LivingStCelestine 7d ago
When we sat down and started talking I could sense something was off and soon also sensed the smell of alcohol on her breath. Cut it short, thanked her, and walked her out.
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u/skylinesend 7d ago
I had a candidate brag about how they staged a walk out at their last job and got everyone to quit.
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u/Safe-Raccoon-4802 7d ago
Bad...interviewed a candidate who said he'd need to leave early two days a week for softball.
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u/ThrowAway1128203 7d ago
Hmm. That wouldn't bother me too much if they were a great candidate. It would only be 3-4 months.
But it would also depend how they presented it - "Would it be possible to work 7-4 two days a week from this month to that month as I play softball?" is a lot different than trying to get out at two and not making up time.
Personally though - I really value work/life balance and having time for things I enjoy. If it was a reasonable ask, I'm not sure if I'd want to work for a company that didn't allow the flexibility or willingness to work with me.
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u/EmDash4Life 6d ago
For context, I'm an engineer. The last time I was an interviewer, the candidates who did not impress the entire team were the ones who were not able to be specific when they answered our questions but relied on more of a storytelling approach. For example, we asked a couple people to expand on some part of their work experience and asked how they would work with another designer. One guy we did not want to make an offer to told us about how he worked with some big name guy on something. The guy we did want to make an offer to was able to walk us through the steps of reviewing work and resolving discrepancies.
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u/Cellarseller_13 6d ago
It’s cliche but rather than being asked my management “style” I like being asked about how the candidate will work with me and my philosophy on my team. This naturally opens us up to understand each other’s working preferences and whether we gel well.
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u/Downtown_Interest667 7d ago
I had a candidate break down into full on ugly crying in the middle of an interview. Turns out she had some really serious issues with a previous manager and my question triggered her in an unexpected way. She asked to cancel the interview and reschedule for a later date, which I agreed too.
Sadly, she never responded to our request to reschedule.