WASHINGTON — What’s the most ridiculous thing you can think of that might happen in a job interview?
Maybe you’re channeling the interview scenes from “Step Brothers,” with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, right now.
CareerBuilder.com has released its annual survey showing the craziest things HR professionals across the country have seen on the job.
Some of CareerBuilder’s top-10 list:
- Candidate answered a cellphone call and asked the interviewer to leave her own office because it was a “private” conversation.
- Candidate told the interviewer he wouldn’t be able to stay with the job long because he thought he might get an inheritance if his uncle died — and his uncle “wasn’t looking too good.”
- Candidate asked the interviewer for a ride home after the interview.
- Candidate smelled his armpits on the way to the interview room.
- Candidate said she could not provide a writing sample because all of her writing had been for the CIA and it was “classified.”
Other top blunders include taking a hairbrush out and casually brushing, or flushing the toilet midway through a phone interview.
Many employers cited a candidate’s attire as a common mistake. More than half of hiring managers say interviewees have shown up dressed inappropriately.
Speaking poorly of a previous boss is the second-most damaging and common mistake, after clothing choice.
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