How many interviews have you failed?

0-3. It really pisses me off how totally different each interview is.
It’s like no matter how much I prepare, I will fail because i’m not even asked the questions I studied for, or they are looking for something completely different every single time.

fml

Really only 1. It was the first one I did coming out of college and it was a mullti-part all day thing and I completely bombed it. Every thing I could have done wrong, I did wrong. I was so stressed out. I knew all the answers to the personality questions and it was like every time I got asked one, I said the exact opposite of what I was supposed to say. I remember at one point I was even talking about getting drunk… when I don’t even really drink that much.

I’m actually kinda glad though, everyone from my class who got a job there was miserable. Most still work there because they never learned any transferrable skills.

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I think I get auto-failed because I don’t have a degree.
And I swear my in-person one I failed was based on racism.

Grats on the job tho.

I’ve interviewed for plenty of positions I haven’t gotten, but I’ve found that there are no failed interviews.

There are always learning opportunities

  1. What skills are currently in demand in the local marketplace? Are my skills current, or do I need to brush up on them?
  2. What “soft skills” are people looking into? Are they testing my problem solving or deducing skills? Are they testing my thought processes?
  3. Do I really want to work for the company I’ve interviewed for? (Found a couple that I didn’t based on the interview process and/or the interview itself)

It can get frustrating if you go through a number without success, but in the long run, there’s always something that can be improved upon.

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Don’t you have to be able to get an interview before you can fail one?

True, i’ve tended to look at it this way.
Hell, i’ve even asked at the end of the interview when I know I didn’t do too well if they could give me advice on how to improve in a technical interview.

Back to topic!

One, and I was somehow hired :smile: and I still work for the company that took me in.

Story:

Fresh out of college, and from a horrible ordeal with the former woman of my dreams. Depressed and all, I went ahead and passed my resume. I didn’t need a job back then, but I needed something to keep me preoccupied.

The HR head called a few days later for the interview. Not bragging, but I relatively had a better resume compared to my peers, having studied in the US for a while which put me in the priority line.

I studied personality interview questions, and the history of the company, so I was ready.

It was a good 30 minutes until she asked me about a particular outreach project which won an award. She asked me what it was about, and I completely blanked out.

She looked at me, smiling as I tried to gather my thoughts. It felt like a damn eternity and I was praying to the many pagan gods above to hit me with lightning. It sucked. Sucked. Eventually, I gathered my thoughts and spoke up. The rest of the interview was awkward as hell.

Even if I got the job, I still consider it a failure. If it were a different company/interviewer, I would have been rejected on the spot.

TL;DR:

I spaced out and there was an awkward silence for a minute .

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I think it is the norm to “fail” most interviews. I think unless one carefully targets prospective employers / clients it is to be be expected that most will “fail”

Even if one does target employers and does a lot of research the odds are still in favor of a “fail”

i.e. it’s the Law of Averages

That said, during my life many of my “fails” were in fact blessings in disguise . Though worrisome at the time, the end result was better than I was capable of even imagining

Just the expand on my comment in relation to the question posed, this is very much a reaction to the situation I find myself in currently, and not a reference to anyone else’s.

I have been looking for alternative employment for a little while now and it seems to follow a common pattern; job advertised, application and/or resume submitted, phone call received from HR person, preliminary questions dealt with, anticipated interview doesn’t materialise, no feedback as to why forthcoming. And hence my reaction.

In practice, I’ve not actually sat a formal interview for around 25 years, but have in that time occupied a number of roles under different managers, all within the same company or one of its subsidiaries. That tends to suggest that I’m adaptable and ‘do a job’, but it also leaves you out of practice at both getting that toe in the door in the first place, and then having the right approach when dealing with interviewers - on the assumption I ever get that far.

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And I think we just learned a lesson on assumptions and assuming that a response isn’t the person’s own experience (which was asked) but directed at someone personally.

As for myself. I haven’t failed any. I’ve walked out on several because mid-way through I realized it wasn’t the job I wanted or I didn’t feel like I’d be a good fit, but I’ve never really stuck around unless I knew I likely had a good chance to be hired.

I spent my senior year in college taking courses that helped me nail interviews. One of the classes was Project Management, where you got to learn to think like a project manager (someone you’d typically interview with). I also took advantage of every job fair to network, talk, see what questions they would ask there and then kept those in mind as I applied to places.

You can learn a lot from attending just one job fair. In fact, I’ve run into a few of those individuals years after and they still would love me to come work for them. Unfortunately, it isn’t in an industry that I have any interest, so eh.

@sangenyx, don’t look at it as a failed interview, but a learning experience. Be sure to send follow up questions afterwards, asking if they could provide any feedback that you can improve on. I know of a few companies that will respond to such requests, others will just ignore it (so your mileage may vary) – I for one send responses to such requests.

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I pass about 30% interviews. I join about 30 interview. I’ve work for ups, bluescopelysaght, jti…Now i work for myself.

I have failed tones of interviews. But I think it’s important to have a good resume that reveals your qualities and how you can meet employees’ requirements. So I rewrite my resume and get a job now.

Zero, although I tend to stick at jobs for quite a while and I’m really picky about what I apply for which obviously helps. I’ve had 5 jobs and 4 interviews :slight_smile:

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