Interview Mishaps/Faux Pas

[jadezomb]

I am wondering if anyone has any interesting interviewing stories! Have you ever "bombed" an interview, had a mishap, or accidentally got caught in a faux pas?

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[Rivi]

During one of my post-doc interviews, I must have cleared my throat a half dozen times. When I get nervous my throat gets dry and I get a frog in my throat.

 

[DontDissTheDiss]

Oh sure. I've had a few times where I completely mind-blanked on a question. More recently for predoctoral internship interviews, I did bomb a "trick" question. It was simply one I had not prepared for and I had a lot of problems thinking of an answer. I did eventually slap together an answer, but it was kind of a hot mess. Not my most elegant moment, for sure.

 

[QAsPsych]

At an interview for a PhD program I asked the partner of my POI (also a prof in the same department) if he really believed the central idea in his research (which seemed inaccurate to me). Big mistake now that I think about it.

He also asked in that interview if I would go to that school if I got in. I fumbled my answer, eventually saying something like, "yeah, sure, the town is not as bad I thought."

I was not shocked to be notified on my return home that I was no longer being considered for that school.

 

[Doctor Eliza]

I was nervous and started to confuse the definitions of intervention and prevention. It must not have mattered because that's the school I graduated from!

 

[futureapppsy2]

I was nervous and started to confuse the definitions of intervention and prevention. It must not have mattered because that's the school I graduated from!

I remember that I had one grad school interview I thought that I absolutely bombed (the professor asked about a study I had worked on a few semesters prior, and I honestly struggled to remember some of the details), but I ended up getting an offer. Otoh, I also had interviews I thought went well but didn't end up getting offers, so who knows?

 

[researchgirl]

This year, I had the fortunate and misfortune of having to interview for 6 positions in the span of 1 week; 3 of which fell on the same day. By interview #3 of that day (and #5 of 6 for the week), I was mentally and physically exhausted - but the faculty wanted to take me out for dinner after the interview to wrap up the day. During dinner, they asked me what I liked to do in my spare time, and somehow the two things that came out were 1) read young adult fiction such as The Hunger Games and 2) binge watching HGTV. Luckily, one of the other people at dinner said her favorite show was Fixer Upper... but in hindsight, I probably could have said something that didn't make me sound like a teenager with no legimiate hobbies or interests.

On the bright side, I did get a job offer from my 1st choice out of those 6 places, so I apparently held it together for at least some of my interviews.

 

[bostongal109]

This year, I had the fortunate and misfortune of having to interview for 6 positions in the span of 1 week; 3 of which fell on the same day. By interview #3 of that day (and #5 of 6 for the week), I was mentally and physically exhausted - but the faculty wanted to take me out for dinner after the interview to wrap up the day. During dinner, they asked me what I liked to do in my spare time, and somehow the two things that came out were 1) read young adult fiction such as The Hunger Games and 2) binge watching HGTV. Luckily, one of the other people at dinner said her favorite show was Fixer Upper... but in hindsight, I probably could have said something that didn't make me sound like a teenager with no legimiate hobbies or interests.

On the bright side, I did get a job offer from my 1st choice out of those 6 places, so I apparently held it together for at least some of my interviews.

If binge watching HGTV isn't a legitimate hobby then I need to re-evaluate who I am as a person

 

[bcliff]

If binge watching HGTV isn't a legitimate hobby then I need to re-evaluate who I am as a person

My interview weekend experiences so far have been such a blur of social interaction, that I can't remember 100% of what I said and what I talked about, which makes me nervous, but so far it seems like I haven't said anything too embarrassing.

If I'm ever asked the dreaded "what sort of things do you like to do for fun?" question, I usually end up rambling about my dog for 10 minutes.

 

[clip.clop]

An applicant once, 3-4 hours after arriving with his grad student host, demanded to be re-housed with a different graduate student (this was at around 9:30 PM) because his girlfriend back home was threatening to break up with him if he stayed with a female host.

The next day he wore no-show socks with his dress shoes.

Don't do either of those things.

 

[researchgirl]

My interview weekend experiences so far have been such a blur of social interaction, that I can't remember 100% of what I said and what I talked about, which makes me nervous, but so far it seems like I haven't said anything too embarrassing.

If I'm ever asked the dreaded "what sort of things do you like to do for fun?" question, I usually end up rambling about my dog for 10 minutes.

I also tend to ramble about my dog - but since I had done interviews earlier in the day and talked about 'tell me about yourself out side of work' things, I had already talked to my dog... so I literally think they said "so other than spend time with your dog what do you like to do?" .... hence the, umm, read fiction written for middle schoolers and binge watch fixer upper?

 

[EekVonBlergh]

.

 

[psyman]

They asked me that question and I said "Well, I really like spending time with my cat....and my spouse". It got brought up later that they understood my priorities because of the order I specified. hehe. I also rambled about how my husband got me the ASPCA vans with cats all over them for Christmas, and another interviewee commented that I looked like I was going to cry of joy when talking about them.

So apparently I just came off like a big cat-loving weirdo... Which is actually pretty accurate, so whatever I guess.

 

[EekVonBlergh]