Bad Interview Moments Forum

[mjb447]

This happened to me during a 1L summer job interview.

The career office asked us to list hobbies on our resume. I don't really have any, so I put down "memes" as one hobby. The interviewer surveyed me with a hard-to-read smile and asked me to show him one of the memes I made. I was horrified. I was trying to find a normal one on my phone when he accidentally saw a really imappropriate one and started to laugh. He laughed for at least a minute.

Then I got the summer job.

This didn't happen.

definitely not. if it had, his resume would have said "dank memes" obv

That or spicy.

[Br3v]

Post the meme

[Anonymous User]

A couple years ago, I got drenched by the rain going to my early morning OCI interview. Seeing that the door was closed and the partner hadn't arrived yet, I ran off and grabbed a stack of paper towels from the washroom. While I was wringing my hair out, an older gentleman appeared, also drenched and carrying a briefcase. I couldn't think of anything to say, so I held out the stack of paper towels and asked if he would like one.

He still brings it up sometimes.

[Anonymous User]

At an OCI screener recently I was asked what the biggest obstacles I've faced in my life were. I completely blanked on everything I had semi-prepared for this question, and said something about the traffic in the area where I go to school.
CB

[Future Ex-Engineer]

A couple years ago, I got drenched by the rain going to my early morning OCI interview. Seeing that the door was closed and the partner hadn't arrived yet, I ran off and grabbed a stack of paper towels from the washroom. While I was wringing my hair out, an older gentleman appeared, also drenched and carrying a briefcase. I couldn't think of anything to say, so I held out the stack of paper towels and asked if he would like one.

He still brings it up sometimes.

How is this a bad interview moment?

[Anonymous User]

I said I wanted to be a lawyer because I liked navigating through rules to get a favorable result, and immediately launched into when I was the president of my frat as an example and had to navigate around school/national rules.

No offer.

[LaLiLuLeLo]

A couple years ago, I got drenched by the rain going to my early morning OCI interview. Seeing that the door was closed and the partner hadn't arrived yet, I ran off and grabbed a stack of paper towels from the washroom. While I was wringing my hair out, an older gentleman appeared, also drenched and carrying a briefcase. I couldn't think of anything to say, so I held out the stack of paper towels and asked if he would like one.

He still brings it up sometimes.

How is this a bad interview moment?

Congrats, you summed up the thread.

[Genius]

Founding partner took me to a practice group partner because I had an interest in that group. The group's partner was a southern belle. Just gorgeous. But also super Republican and conservative. For some reason I talked about enjoying volunteering and helping the poor. Convo abruptly ended. No offer.

PS: earlier round of interviews with other associates: told me to run. "Bruh our minimum billable to keep our job is 2100. You get a small bonus if u hit 2300." "Why do you even want to work here?"

[Anonymous User]

The two attorneys who were taking me to lunch asked how I felt about Japanese food. I said I'd never tried it, and they said, "Well, that's what we want to eat, so that's where we're going to take you, and you're just going to have to deal with it if you don't like it." They ordered for me, and I didn't really know what I was eating. Specifically, I didn't know what the wasabi was, and I just put the whole side of wasabi in my mouth in one big spoonful. Both of the interviewing attorneys had been looking down at their food when this happened, and by the time they looked up, I had turned bright red, tears were streaming down my face, and my nose was running like crazy. One of the attorneys said, "Oh, you just found the wasabi, didn't you? I guess we should have warned you about that." And then they both laughed hysterically. My nose and eyes were still streaming, and the interviewers were still laughing about it, when the lunch finally ended an hour later.

No job offer, but at least I got my sinuses cleared out very thoroughly.

[Micdiddy]

The two attorneys who were taking me to lunch asked how I felt about Japanese food. I said I'd never tried it, and they said, "Well, that's what we want to eat, so that's where we're going to take you, and you're just going to have to deal with it if you don't like it." They ordered for me, and I didn't really know what I was eating. Specifically, I didn't know what the wasabi was, and I just put the whole side of wasabi in my mouth in one big spoonful. Both of the interviewing attorneys had been looking down at their food when this happened, and by the time they looked up, I had turned bright red, tears were streaming down my face, and my nose was running like crazy. One of the attorneys said, "Oh, you just found the wasabi, didn't you? I guess we should have warned you about that." And then they both laughed hysterically. My nose and eyes were still streaming, and the interviewers were still laughing about it, when the lunch finally ended an hour later.

No job offer, but at least I got my sinuses cleared out very thoroughly.

Wow those people sound like a-holes.

[it'sjustme]

The two attorneys who were taking me to lunch asked how I felt about Japanese food. I said I'd never tried it, and they said, "Well, that's what we want to eat, so that's where we're going to take you, and you're just going to have to deal with it if you don't like it." They ordered for me, and I didn't really know what I was eating. Specifically, I didn't know what the wasabi was, and I just put the whole side of wasabi in my mouth in one big spoonful. Both of the interviewing attorneys had been looking down at their food when this happened, and by the time they looked up, I had turned bright red, tears were streaming down my face, and my nose was running like crazy. One of the attorneys said, "Oh, you just found the wasabi, didn't you? I guess we should have warned you about that." And then they both laughed hysterically. My nose and eyes were still streaming, and the interviewers were still laughing about it, when the lunch finally ended an hour later.

No job offer, but at least I got my sinuses cleared out very thoroughly.

Wow those people sound like a-holes.

This. Should've tossed some soy sauce on them and left.

[TEM]

Founding partner took me to a practice group partner because I had an interest in that group. The group's partner was a southern belle. Just gorgeous. But also super Republican and conservative. For some reason I talked about enjoying volunteering and helping the poor. Convo abruptly ended. No offer.

PS: earlier round of interviews with other associates: told me to run. "Bruh our minimum billable to keep our job is 2100. You get a small bonus if u hit 2300." "Why do you even want to work here?"

Yeah, I mean Republicans/Conservatives definitely despise volunteering and helping the poor. That was most likely the reason the conversation ended abruptly/no offer.

[pml87]

Founding partner took me to a practice group partner because I had an interest in that group. The group's partner was a southern belle. Just gorgeous. But also super Republican and conservative. For some reason I talked about enjoying volunteering and helping the poor. Convo abruptly ended. No offer.

PS: earlier round of interviews with other associates: told me to run. "Bruh our minimum billable to keep our job is 2100. You get a small bonus if u hit 2300." "Why do you even want to work here?"

Not sure how the statement about helping the poor came up in an interview. Either way I think you might be reading too much into the connection btw her political leaning and your non-offer. Doubt that she actually hates you for helping poor people.

[foregetaboutdre]

i love these stories and figure I'll bump/add my biggest "blunder." It's not that great tbh.

Screener at firm I was really interested in home market. First screener of the morning.

I was interviewing with a partner who went to the same undergrad I went to and also the same law school I transferred from. Within 1-2 minutes he is reading my resume etc... and blurts out "and I see you went to X for undergrad then Y, now you're at Z....I went to Y too, but I STAYED!"

Interview just got super awkward and I think the guy was waiting to bring that up. OCI is a crapshoot, but I got CBs at much more selective firms in that market, but didn't get one at that firm. Oh well. I knew I was in for a doozie anyways.

[magnum_law]

Founding partner took me to a practice group partner because I had an interest in that group. The group's partner was a southern belle. Just gorgeous. But also super Republican and conservative. For some reason I talked about enjoying volunteering and helping the poor. Convo abruptly ended. No offer.

PS: earlier round of interviews with other associates: told me to run. "Bruh our minimum billable to keep our job is 2100. You get a small bonus if u hit 2300." "Why do you even want to work here?"

Going out on a limb and guessing that that southern belle worked IP?

[Genius]

Founding partner took me to a practice group partner because I had an interest in that group. The group's partner was a southern belle. Just gorgeous. But also super Republican and conservative. For some reason I talked about enjoying volunteering and helping the poor. Convo abruptly ended. No offer.

PS: earlier round of interviews with other associates: told me to run. "Bruh our minimum billable to keep our job is 2100. You get a small bonus if u hit 2300." "Why do you even want to work here?"

Going out on a limb and guessing that that southern belle worked IP?

No. Non-tech/IP.

[Br3v]

Post the meme

[Anonymous User]

Got a post-CB offer call from my 1st choice firm around 5PM. Had a screening interview the next morning that was too late to cancel, so decided to go to keep up appearances. Just a quick background, I'm Asian with a patent-eligible undergrad degree. The screening interview was for a V200-ish firm that has no IP group. The interviewers were an older (60-ish) white male partner and a young white female associate.

As soon as I walk in, the partner asks, "Hey, <Chinese Restaurant> owner near our firm has the same last name as you, are you related?" Um... no.

After I sit down, the partner says, "So, the associate here went through our summer program and knows everything about that. If you have any questions, you can direct them to her." Partner then pulls out his cell phone and starts checking e-mail.

Interview then proceeds with the associate and I having a conversation like normal screening interviews, while the partner ignores us. The associate mentions that there's a food court in the building next to theirs with great food, and asks me what my favorite kind of food was. Don't really have one, but answered, "Sushi."

Partner looks up from his phone and says, "I don't understand sushi or people who like it. To me it's disgusting." Returns to checking e-mail.

Later in that interview, my undergrad degree was brought up. I mentioned that even though my background looks like I want to go into IP, that's not the case. Associate asks, "Oh! So what do you want to do?" I respond I was interested in litigation in general.

Partner looks up again and says, "That's a stupid answer. That's what everyone says."

No CB, obviously. Was extremely thankful I already had an offer, otherwise I would've actually cared.

[Micdiddy]

Got a post-CB offer call from my 1st choice firm around 5PM. Had a screening interview the next morning that was too late to cancel, so decided to go to keep up appearances. Just a quick background, I'm Asian with a patent-eligible undergrad degree. The screening interview was for a V200-ish firm that has no IP group. The interviewers were an older (60-ish) white male partner and a young white female associate.

As soon as I walk in, the partner asks, "Hey, <Chinese Restaurant> owner near our firm has the same last name as you, are you related?" Um... no.

After I sit down, the partner says, "So, the associate here went through our summer program and knows everything about that. If you have any questions, you can direct them to her." Partner then pulls out his cell phone and starts checking e-mail.

Interview then proceeds with the associate and I having a conversation like normal screening interviews, while the partner ignores us. The associate mentions that there's a food court in the building next to theirs with great food, and asks me what my favorite kind of food was. Don't really have one, but answered, "Sushi."

Partner looks up from his phone and says, "I don't understand sushi or people who like it. To me it's disgusting." Returns to checking e-mail.

Later in that interview, my undergrad degree was brought up. I mentioned that even though my background looks like I want to go into IP, that's not the case. Associate asks, "Oh! So what do you want to do?" I respond I was interested in litigation in general.

Partner looks up again and says, "That's a stupid answer. That's what everyone says."

No CB, obviously. Was extremely thankful I already had an offer, otherwise I would've actually cared.

Those race-based comments were stupid. But Are you seriously taking umbrage with a partner checking his email during an interview THAT WAS MEANINGLESS BECAUSE YOU ALREADY ACCEPTED AN OFFER? What's more rude, checking emails to get work done during a waste of time interview, or wasting this partner and associates time with a meaningless interview?
Don't do interviews when you know you will decline an offer. There's no such thing as "too late to cancel" even if you got an offer you plan to take while walking into the office.

[Anonymous User]

Those race-based comments were stupid. But Are you seriously taking umbrage with a partner checking his email during an interview THAT WAS MEANINGLESS BECAUSE YOU ALREADY ACCEPTED AN OFFER? What's more rude, checking emails to get work done during a waste of time interview, or wasting this partner and associates time with a meaningless interview?
Don't do interviews when you know you will decline an offer. There's no such thing as "too late to cancel" even if you got an offer you plan to take while walking into the office.

LOL, seriously? There are multiple threads on this forum telling you not to cancel or no-show if you can't give enough notice. My school's CSO will tell you not to cancel an OCI interview at the last minute because it makes the school look bad. Whether or not you agree with that, that seems to be the consensus response, so I'm a little confused why you are acting like it was totally unreasonable to do so.

[Micdiddy]

Those race-based comments were stupid. But Are you seriously taking umbrage with a partner checking his email during an interview THAT WAS MEANINGLESS BECAUSE YOU ALREADY ACCEPTED AN OFFER? What's more rude, checking emails to get work done during a waste of time interview, or wasting this partner and associates time with a meaningless interview?
Don't do interviews when you know you will decline an offer. There's no such thing as "too late to cancel" even if you got an offer you plan to take while walking into the office.

LOL, seriously? There are multiple threads on this forum telling you not to cancel or no-show if you can't give enough notice. My school's CSO will tell you not to cancel an OCI interview at the last minute because it makes the school look bad. Whether or not you agree with that, that seems to be the consensus response, so I'm a little confused why you are acting like it was totally unreasonable to do so.

No show would be horrible. I do not advocate that.

If that is the consensus response then the consensus is a bunch of school CSO's trolling for their own benefit. Attending an interview in which you have 0% interest of accepting an offer if given is a waste of the interviewees time, period, and thus worse than canceling, even while walking through the door. Show me an interviewer who after spending 30 minutes with a candidate was then told "that person has literally 0 interest in accepting the job" who responds with "well I'm glad they didn't cancel!"
On top of all that then complaining that during said interview the partner was checking his phone is extra silliness.

Edit: my future responses will be sent via pm to not further derail this thread. Or start a new thread and pm me link.

[lavarman84]

Those race-based comments were stupid. But Are you seriously taking umbrage with a partner checking his email during an interview THAT WAS MEANINGLESS BECAUSE YOU ALREADY ACCEPTED AN OFFER? What's more rude, checking emails to get work done during a waste of time interview, or wasting this partner and associates time with a meaningless interview?
Don't do interviews when you know you will decline an offer. There's no such thing as "too late to cancel" even if you got an offer you plan to take while walking into the office.

LOL, seriously? There are multiple threads on this forum telling you not to cancel or no-show if you can't give enough notice. My school's CSO will tell you not to cancel an OCI interview at the last minute because it makes the school look bad. Whether or not you agree with that, that seems to be the consensus response, so I'm a little confused why you are acting like it was totally unreasonable to do so.

You didn't get the offer while you were walking into the office. I'm sure if you had called the firm and informed them of that you were accepting an offer, they would have had no issue cancelling the interview. Those people have real jobs. They don't want to waste time interviewing you if you're not interested. It's both common sense and common courtesy.

[LaLiLuLeLo]

Got a post-CB offer call from my 1st choice firm around 5PM. Had a screening interview the next morning that was too late to cancel, so decided to go to keep up appearances. Just a quick background, I'm Asian with a patent-eligible undergrad degree. The screening interview was for a V200-ish firm that has no IP group. The interviewers were an older (60-ish) white male partner and a young white female associate.

As soon as I walk in, the partner asks, "Hey, <Chinese Restaurant> owner near our firm has the same last name as you, are you related?" Um... no.

After I sit down, the partner says, "So, the associate here went through our summer program and knows everything about that. If you have any questions, you can direct them to her." Partner then pulls out his cell phone and starts checking e-mail.

Interview then proceeds with the associate and I having a conversation like normal screening interviews, while the partner ignores us. The associate mentions that there's a food court in the building next to theirs with great food, and asks me what my favorite kind of food was. Don't really have one, but answered, "Sushi."

Partner looks up from his phone and says, "I don't understand sushi or people who like it. To me it's disgusting." Returns to checking e-mail.

Later in that interview, my undergrad degree was brought up. I mentioned that even though my background looks like I want to go into IP, that's not the case. Associate asks, "Oh! So what do you want to do?" I respond I was interested in litigation in general.

Partner looks up again and says, "That's a stupid answer. That's what everyone says."

No CB, obviously. Was extremely thankful I already had an offer, otherwise I would've actually cared.

Those race-based comments were stupid. But Are you seriously taking umbrage with a partner checking his email during an interview THAT WAS MEANINGLESS BECAUSE YOU ALREADY ACCEPTED AN OFFER? What's more rude, checking emails to get work done during a waste of time interview, or wasting this partner and associates time with a meaningless interview?
Don't do interviews when you know you will decline an offer. There's no such thing as "too late to cancel" even if you got an offer you plan to take while walking into the office.

I must be missing the part where interviewing partner knew OP accepted an offer.

[Genius]

ok nobody is that braindead and blatantly racist. OP is trolling.

[Anonymous User]

It took me forever to park, so I was in a hurry to get to the firm's office for my first callback of the OCI season. I arrived with about a minute to spare. I sat down in the lobby. As I started interviews, I noticed people staring at my chest area. I looked down from time to time but didn't see anything, so I figured I was just imagining things. The morning interviews ended, and I went to lunch with two associates. As we were walking to the elevator, one of the associates (an alum from my law school) said, "wait a sec, let me fix that," and he pushed down the back of my collar. It was then i realized that my suit collar had been popped up for the entire morning. I couldn't see it because it was the back of my collar. Everyone had been staring at my collar, not my chest. My heart sank. No offer. It was especially difficult given it was my first callback. I laugh about it now, but at that associate lunch, I literally had nothing to say because I was so upset with myself.

Lesson: look at yourself in a mirror or window right before you go to an interview