Bad Interview Moments Forum

[Anonymous User]

During a CB I talked about my experiences studying in Mexico, including an incident where I had to get stitches. The interviewer, who is fluent in Spanish, asked what word they use for "stitches" in Mexico. The word is "puntos," but I accidentally said "puta" (a rather offensive Spanish curse word).

Offer.

[Anonymous User]

During a CB I talked about my experiences studying in Mexico, including an incident where I had to get stitches. The interviewer, who is fluent in Spanish, asked what word they use for "stitches" in Mexico. The word is "puntos," but I accidentally said "puta" (a rather offensive Spanish curse word).

Offer.

LOL. totally know what both those words mean. How did she react?!

[stratocophic]

During a CB I talked about my experiences studying in Mexico, including an incident where I had to get stitches. The interviewer, who is fluent in Spanish, asked what word they use for "stitches" in Mexico. The word is "puntos," but I accidentally said "puta" (a rather offensive Spanish curse word).

Offer.

I'd give you an offer if I interviewed you and you told me you went to Mexico and ended up getting bitches

[Anonymous User]

During a CB I talked about my experiences studying in Mexico, including an incident where I had to get stitches. The interviewer, who is fluent in Spanish, asked what word they use for "stitches" in Mexico. The word is "puntos," but I accidentally said "puta" (a rather offensive Spanish curse word).

Offer.

I'd give you an offer if I interviewed you and you told me you went to Mexico and ended up getting bitches

Ha! I'm sure that's what motivated their decision.

The interviewer said "Oh, I think you mean 'puntos.'" I probably turned bright red (I immediately realized what the word actually meant) but sort of laughed it off and explained that although I still remember all of the grammar, my vocab has clearly deteriorated since I left Mexico. Neither of us acknowledged that I had just cursed.

[somewhatwayward]

During a CB I talked about my experiences studying in Mexico, including an incident where I had to get stitches. The interviewer, who is fluent in Spanish, asked what word they use for "stitches" in Mexico. The word is "puntos," but I accidentally said "puta" (a rather offensive Spanish curse word).

Offer.

I'm confused. If she spoke Spanish, why did she ask you for the word for stitches? But LOL puta....not the word you want coming up in an interview

[clintonius]

During a CB I talked about my experiences studying in Mexico, including an incident where I had to get stitches. The interviewer, who is fluent in Spanish, asked what word they use for "stitches" in Mexico. The word is "puntos," but I accidentally said "puta" (a rather offensive Spanish curse word).

Offer.

I'm confused. If she spoke Spanish, why did she ask you for the word for stitches?

Probably to test the applicant's grasp of Spanish. Lots of people claim fluency when they don't really mean it, and an esoteric word like "stitches" is a decent way to probe somebody's vocab. Could also be curiosity about a possible regional variation in the language.

[dresden doll]

A friend of mine interviewed with a ball busting interviewer who wanted to know why she was interested in his firm. She gave him a run-of-the mill, relatively acceptable answer (i.e. 'I'm interested in area X, Y, Z and your firm has a great practice group in that field.'). Dissatisfied, interviewer pressed with: 'yes, okay, but other firms have that too. Why us?' She then gave her reason number 2 (i.e. 'firm X has international presence and I'm interested in working abroad' or something along those lines). Still dissatisfied, the interviewer again pressed: 'well, okay, but other firms have that too. But why us?' She then gave him her reason number 3 (again, a relatively run-of-the-mill, but fairly acceptable answer showing she'd done her Vault/Chambers research). Continuing to be dissatisfied, the interviewer again said: 'okay, but other firms have that too so, really, why us?'

At that point, she's pretty frustrated so she goes into a fuck-it mode and responds with: 'are you trying to tell me that there's nothing special about your firm?'

Dooder got VERY MAD and burst out with, 'well, of course, there's plenty that's special about our firm,' then launched into a tirade about his firm's many excellent qualities.

No callback, of course.

[dresden doll]

Also, reading through this thread almost made me jelly I never had a bad/awkward/hilarious interviewing moment. All my interviews were pleasant/routine/totally appropriate.

[Anonymous User]

Jones Day screener. One partner, one associate. Things are going okay, more or less, although the associate is kind of meek and timid and the partner seems like the type of person who is combative just for the sake of being ornery.

We get to the part where they ask, "Do you have any questions for us?" I asked, "What drew you to the firm?" The associate gives me a wonderful, long, sincere answer about training and career development, blah blah blah. The partner then pauses and says, "I'm going to answer, and I'm not trying to be contrary, but why do you ask that question? I just don't see how you would get any useful information out of it. A lot of people ask that question but it just seems like it is a useless question to ask."

I had a good response that seemed to satisfy him and he said "Oh, that is a good reason, okay."

No CB.

[Tanicius]

Jones Day screener. One partner, one associate. Things are going okay, more or less, although the associate is kind of meek and timid and the partner seems like the type of person who is combative just for the sake of being ornery.

We get to the part where they ask, "Do you have any questions for us?" I asked, "What drew you to the firm?" The associate gives me a wonderful, long, sincere answer about training and career development, blah blah blah. The partner then pauses and says, "I'm going to answer, and I'm not trying to be contrary, but why do you ask that question? I just don't see how you would get any useful information out of it. A lot of people ask that question but it just seems like it is a useless question to ask."

I had a good response that seemed to satisfy him and he said "Oh, that is a good reason, okay."

No CB.

Jones Day partner was the most dickish person I met during all of OCI. The associate seemed way too artificially happy. Would not have worked there if it was the only offer I got.

[stewie27]

During a CB interview, a partner started describing how she was mugged at gunpoint about 15 years ago when she lived in a certain neighborhood. After blaming herself for the incident for a few minutes she then said that she didn't think that neighborhood was particularly bad and that someone could be mugged anywhere. She then muttered "anywhere" to herself a few times before explaining that for several years she always walked in the gutter because she was too afraid to walk on sidewalks.
I wasn't really sure how to respond to this and I still have no idea what prompted this story.

[somewhatwayward]

^
LOL sounds more like you were being interviewed by the patients for a position at a mental hospital

[Anonymous User]

During a CB I talked about my experiences studying in Mexico, including an incident where I had to get stitches. The interviewer, who is fluent in Spanish, asked what word they use for "stitches" in Mexico. The word is "puntos," but I accidentally said "puta" (a rather offensive Spanish curse word).

Offer.

I'm confused. If she spoke Spanish, why did she ask you for the word for stitches?

Probably to test the applicant's grasp of Spanish. Lots of people claim fluency when they don't really mean it, and an esoteric word like "stitches" is a decent way to probe somebody's vocab. Could also be curiosity about a possible regional variation in the language.

It was the latter. I didn't claim fluency at all, but my interviewer had never been to Mexico (he was born in a different Spanish-speaking country) and said he was curious about language differences between the countries.

[anozira]

...

[soccerfreak]

I posted this in another thread, but it seems more appropriate here.

Right off the bat, one of the interviewers, who looked very stressed, told me that associates are extremely stressed and work very long hours. She proceeded by saying how terrible the conditions were for a minute or two. All the while, the other interviewer, a partner, starred at the one going on a tirade in horror. I responded like a good interviewee by saying that I wanted to challenge myself at work. The stressed one responded to that by telling me that I have no idea how incredibly stressful it was. I didn't get a callback, but I don't think I would have been interested in one after that experience.

I'm pretty sure I witnessed a mental breakdown. Not surprisingly, that firm does not receive high marks for hours/morale.

What firm was this?

[Anonymous User]

I posted this in another thread, but it seems more appropriate here.

Right off the bat, one of the interviewers, who looked very stressed, told me that associates are extremely stressed and work very long hours. She proceeded by saying how terrible the conditions were for a minute or two. All the while, the other interviewer, a partner, starred at the one going on a tirade in horror. I responded like a good interviewee by saying that I wanted to challenge myself at work. The stressed one responded to that by telling me that I have no idea how incredibly stressful it was. I didn't get a callback, but I don't think I would have been interested in one after that experience.

I'm pretty sure I witnessed a mental breakdown. Not surprisingly, that firm does not receive high marks for hours/morale.

What firm was this?

Katten

[romothesavior]

Jones Day screener. One partner, one associate. Things are going okay, more or less, although the associate is kind of meek and timid and the partner seems like the type of person who is combative just for the sake of being ornery.

We get to the part where they ask, "Do you have any questions for us?" I asked, "What drew you to the firm?" The associate gives me a wonderful, long, sincere answer about training and career development, blah blah blah. The partner then pauses and says, "I'm going to answer, and I'm not trying to be contrary, but why do you ask that question? I just don't see how you would get any useful information out of it. A lot of people ask that question but it just seems like it is a useless question to ask."

I had a good response that seemed to satisfy him and he said "Oh, that is a good reason, okay."

No CB.

Jones Day partner was the most dickish person I met during all of OCI. The associate seemed way too artificially happy. Would not have worked there if it was the only offer I got.

So you wouldn't have taken your only job offer and instead headed for unemployment because one person in their firm of 2,000+ attorneys was a jerk?

[romothesavior]

Also, reading through this thread almost made me jelly I never had a bad/awkward/hilarious interviewing moment. All my interviews were pleasant/routine/totally appropriate.

Same here... kind of wish I had at least one weird or intense one just for the lulz. My interviewers were all nice and helpful, and I didn't do anything awkward or inappropriate. How boring.

[FeelTheHeat]

Jones Day screener. One partner, one associate. Things are going okay, more or less, although the associate is kind of meek and timid and the partner seems like the type of person who is combative just for the sake of being ornery.

We get to the part where they ask, "Do you have any questions for us?" I asked, "What drew you to the firm?" The associate gives me a wonderful, long, sincere answer about training and career development, blah blah blah. The partner then pauses and says, "I'm going to answer, and I'm not trying to be contrary, but why do you ask that question? I just don't see how you would get any useful information out of it. A lot of people ask that question but it just seems like it is a useless question to ask."

I had a good response that seemed to satisfy him and he said "Oh, that is a good reason, okay."

No CB.

Jones Day partner was the most dickish person I met during all of OCI. The associate seemed way too artificially happy. Would not have worked there if it was the only offer I got.

So you wouldn't have taken your only job offer and instead headed for unemployment because one person in their firm of 2,000+ attorneys was a jerk?

[PennBull]

Jones Day screener. One partner, one associate. Things are going okay, more or less, although the associate is kind of meek and timid and the partner seems like the type of person who is combative just for the sake of being ornery.

We get to the part where they ask, "Do you have any questions for us?" I asked, "What drew you to the firm?" The associate gives me a wonderful, long, sincere answer about training and career development, blah blah blah. The partner then pauses and says, "I'm going to answer, and I'm not trying to be contrary, but why do you ask that question? I just don't see how you would get any useful information out of it. A lot of people ask that question but it just seems like it is a useless question to ask."

I had a good response that seemed to satisfy him and he said "Oh, that is a good reason, okay."

No CB.

Jones Day partner was the most dickish person I met during all of OCI. The associate seemed way too artificially happy. Would not have worked there if it was the only offer I got.

Jones Day asked me my fucking LSAT score in my screener, and proceeded to have the WORST people interview me during my callback. One lady needed to get some work done so she sat me down in her office way across the room from her desk and had me sit there awkwardly for a good 10 minutes.

[Anonymous User]

during my screener interview with a large international firm i mentioned the firm's international reach as on of the reasons of "why x" and the litigation associate went on and on about how the international feel of the firm affects so many of her cases and even litigation which no one thinks of as it mattering if the firm is international at this firm it matters yada yada ( gave multiple case examples). On the cb the first partner i met with asks "lit or corp/transactional" i say lit then he asks why this firm and i list a # of reasons including the international reputation of the firm. he launches into a 20 minute lecture about how for litigation it couldnt matter less that the firm is international and litigation associates at the firm wouldnt be affected at all by the international nature of the firm.

edit: ding came pretty fast after the cb

[Anonymous User]

I'm surprised by all the bad Jones Day experiences. I know its all luck of the draw, but I found my Jones Day interviewers to be the best of the bunch, and I got an offer from the Chicago office that I was glad to accept.

I also thought Jones Day had a rep for being one of the better cultures in Biglaw. What offices were you guys interviewing with?

[ilovesf]

I'm surprised by all the bad Jones Day experiences. I know its all luck of the draw, but I found my Jones Day interviewers to be the best of the bunch, and I got an offer from the Chicago office that I was glad to accept.

I also thought Jones Day had a rep for being one of the better cultures in Biglaw. What offices were you guys interviewing with?

I met a couple people from the SF office and liked everyone a lot. I would have been fucking thrilled to work there.

[Anonymous User]

I'm surprised by all the bad Jones Day experiences. I know its all luck of the draw, but I found my Jones Day interviewers to be the best of the bunch, and I got an offer from the Chicago office that I was glad to accept.

I also thought Jones Day had a rep for being one of the better cultures in Biglaw. What offices were you guys interviewing with?

I was thinking the same thing. I was a summer there (though in DC) and thought that every person I met was more friendly than the last. To me it was one of the big selling points.

[Anonymous User]

My interview with jones day went like this:

Two interviewers. In an attempt to showcase collegiality at the firm, they spoke to each other the entire time. I could supplement the circle jerk only with "mmmmhmmms" or laughing when they laughed. At one point, they seemed to be in genuine catch up mode, which seemed ironic because if the firm was so collegial, wouldn't one have known if the other had a baby and just came black from maternity leave?

Anyways, wtf. If that was my only offer, I'd have taken it in a heartbeat because it was and is a shitty economy and I'd have taken whatever I could get and be grateful for it.

Thankfully, I had other offers. That's not to imply I even got an offer from these guys. Rejected from the screener.