Bright Side Readers Explain How to Know When a Job Interview Isn’t Promising at All

Having a job interview is almost always stressful. But it’s important to remember that the potential employers aren’t the only ones who evaluate how the interview went — candidates for the job can also learn a lot from this. In fact, it’s the latter who have to spend most of the day in the office, talk to colleagues regularly, and, most importantly, do what the boss asks them to do.

Our readers remembered times when job interviews didn’t end well. We at Bright Side really hope that these stories will help you to not waste your time when looking for a job.

• It’s really telling if you are asked to make a work plan one month before you even start working. They ask you to explain what they should pay you for. It immediately becomes clear that there will be no money no matter how much you work. © Petr Davidov / Facebook
• When you show up for the job interview and your employer doesn’t... © Aleksey Kevorkov / Facebook
• I was put in front of the window and I have high light sensitivity. So I only saw the dark figure of my employer. I said I was feeling as if I was being interrogated, I got up and left even before the interview started. © Anna Robinson / Facebook
• When they look over you and say, “Well, I’ve taken a look at you, now you do the same.” It was the shortest interview in my life. © Nata Nata / Facebook
• When the HR manager holds your CV and asks you what your zodiac sign is! © Nataliya Kuzmina / Facebook
• When your future employer asks you, “How would you react if you were yelled at or if someone pulled your hair?” © Irina Gurzhieva Priev / Facebook

• When I wanted to get a janitor position and was asked to fill out the questionnaire, “Do you speak any foreign languages? Can you work on a PC? What do you do in your free time?” They should ask the company presidents these questions. © Vera Dikovitskaya / Facebook
• When I asked about the salary that was mentioned in the ad, they told me it was after probation. After I worked for several weeks, I found out that not a single person in the company ever got this money. I knew I should’ve left right after the interview. © Katerina Gordiyko / Facebook
• When I was told that they didn’t care about my knowledge and that my appearance was enough for me to get the job, I stood up and left. © Anastasiya Rafayilova / Facebook
• When they asked me if I was scared of living alone, and they advised me to “at least get a cat.” © Tatyana Larina / Facebook
• 18 years ago, when I was getting my first job at a bank, the employer put a green lipstick in front of me and asked me to advertise it so that everyone in the room wanted to buy it. © Alla Fuks / Facebook

• When I came to a big cleaning company to get the managing job, the HR person asked me what my physics grade was in school. I was 40 years old at the time. What did they want to know about me? © Valerya Arno / Facebook
• When they asked me why I chose this company. It was them who called me first! © Marya Mirgorodskaya / Facebook
• “Why do you think we need to hire you?” After questions like these, I usually smile and leave. Or things like, “What kind of salary would you like to have now? And what about 1 year after working for our company?” After you read reviews about this place online, and you know they never promote anyone, questions like these are nothing but a joke. © Lina Volkova / Facebook
• When in the middle or at the beginning of the interview, you need to wait until they speak to someone else, and you’re just sitting there, waiting, and nobody needs you. © Ludmila Kovalchuk / Facebook

• When almost the entire family works in this company — the family isn’t yours. © Yulia Gofman / Facebook
• On a working desk, there was a chart with the timetable for bathroom visits. No, it wasn’t a position where it mattered. It was a design company. © Elena Moroz / Facebook
• When they ask you to tell them what car you drive and information about all your relatives — I always leave. And they also promise an amazing salary and you see their employees that don’t look very rich. © Yana Baglay / Facebook
• If the interview takes more than 10 minutes. A good HR person that knows what they are doing needs just several minutes. Another few minutes are needed to decide what this person can do the best. I hate it when people waste my time and theirs. © Yulia Rudskaya / Facebook
• “Do you have your own apartment?” © Nadiko Erentsenova / Facebook
• It might sound funny, but it’s actually true. To find out how well a company is doing, just visit their bathroom. If there are good TP, soap, and napkins, it means the company is doing fine. Because when there are problems, the first thing companies cut expenses on are hygiene products. © Elena Chernish / Facebook

Have you ever had a job interview where you realized, right in the middle of the conversation, that you wouldn’t want to work at that place? Tell us about such experiences!