10 Interview disasters

So, sometimes interviews don't go as you'd hoped, thankfully that usually means not answering a question in as much depth as you could have, but for some unlucky souls interviews go so badly they just wish the ground would open up and swallow them.

We asked some of our colleagues at Diamond if they'd be willing to share their interview disasters and share they did! It seems a lot of people have a 'friend' who's stuffed up spectacularly at an interview; here are 10 of our faves:

• "Schoolboy error, but I once forgot to turn my phone off. I could've sworn I'd done it. Mid-interview I'm sat there wondering where that music was coming from, before I realised it was the radio on my phone coming from my pocket. I apologised and they said they were fine with it, but I can't imagine it made a great impression. Moral of the story, always turn your phone off and recheck it!"
• "My worst interview ever involves me sneezing all over the interviewer right at the end of the interview, I was quite sick at the time so it was more disgusting than I'd care to describe... Needless to say I didn't get the job."
• "I know one guy who went to play squash just before an interview and then spent the whole interview red-faced, flustered and dripping sweat onto the table. Nice!"
• "When applying for my first job as a retail assistant, I dropped off my CV and they invited me for an interview there and then. I was 16 and unprepared, when they asked me what my main strengths were and why I was suitable for the job, I answered, 'I'm quite tall so putting things on the higher shelves shouldn't be too much of a problem'. I didn't get the job."
• "I was advertising for a project manager in IT based in Cardiff. The gentleman was through an agency so a telephone interview was set up. It turned out he was based in Italy and didn't even know where Cardiff was. In answer to one of my questions he stated: 'I hate working on projects, they never go as you planned'.
• "I interviewed someone who openly said he likes to go out fighting doormen on Saturday nights - safe to say we didn't employ him."
• "I was interviewing a prospective candidate and I asked how he keeps himself motivated through a tough day and he replied 'You've got to believe you're gold, always believe you are gold'. So, not only was he doing a spoken-word version of a Spandau Ballet song, he got it wrong, too."
• "I was just about to leave home to catch a bus to an interview, I went to give my baby daughter a kiss and she was ill down my shirt and trousers. The only thing I had close to change into was a pair of jeans and an old pair of shoes. I had a lot of explaining to do to the interviewer."
• "I was once asked what a regret of mine in life was, I replied, 'I married it'."
• "I walked in making sure I was keeping eye contact with the interviewers. I pulled my chair out not realising it was on wheels. When I went to sit down I found myself sitting on the floor because I'd pulled the chair out with such vigour it had wheeled to the back of the room. I had to get picked up and wait for the panel to stop laughing before I could start my interview."