People shared the worst job interview they have ever had and these are so bad they’re brilliant

Poke Staff. Updated January 16th, 2026

We’ve all had nightmare job interviews. In fact, we haven’t had too many job interviews which weren’t nightmares.

We say this because people shared their own awful experiences back in the day after writer Harriet Williamson asked this.

‘Twitter, what’s the worst job interview you’ve ever had?’

And lots and lots of people got in touch to share what happened to him. Here are our favourites.

‘A friend of mine interviewed for a sales role and made up something about doing everything as efficiently as possible. Panicking for an example he said that he “always runs instead of walking”, and after the interview ran out of the room and office to show he was genuine.’
@jack_vening

‘I went to an interview really hungover, when the interviewer came to meet me and show me to the room, she held out her hand guiding the way. In my hungover state, I stood up and held her hand! Both of us were too embarrassed to let go so walked to the interview room hand in hand.’
@so_bad_ass

‘It was the second interview in two days. As I walked across the room yesterday’s underpants fell out of the leg of my interview suit. I didn’t get it.’
@twattybanjo

‘Not me but a colleague once went to an interview across London in his lunch break. Client locked him and 2 others in a room and refused to release them until they ‘found a solution to his problem’. One of them called police and the man was charged with false imprisonment. 😲;< @q1t3d0

‘Doing the student milk round for finance jobs. Night before interview for a major player, did my pub shift. Woman in there was blind drunk, aggressive, lairy, and then took her top and bra off. Threw her into a taxi. Walked into interview, she was the (badly hungover) interviewer.’
@TheStopthecoup

‘I’m totally vibing with the interviewer, we’re laughing, it’s going great. An assistant enters, whispers to the exec, leaves.

‘Exec: There has been a mix-up, me and a colleague are each meeting with a Mike right now and we got you switched.’
@shutupmikeginn

‘I walked up the stairs to the very top and met the woman. I thought she was gesturing to the door ahead of her so I walked over, opening it and went inside. It was a storage cupboard. She stood there and watched.’
@missmillythomas

‘Once called in sick in order to go for an interview only to find my current boss had done exactly the same and was sitting in the waiting area. Neither of us got the gig.’

@mgtd76

‘I had a panic attack and passed out in the interview. Woke up on the floor with everyone peering over me.’
@OpenMindMH

10.

‘Had a job interview for some sort of electricity supplier and for some reason panicked and told them it was me who’d invented the Cineworld Unlimited card.’
@token_salad

11.

‘Me: “So why has this position opened up now?”

‘Him: “Well after my dad gave me the job I decided to get rid of all former staff.”

‘I’M NOT EVEN KIDDING.’
@KatieBeech

Not all of them had unhappy endings though.

‘Interview at GameStation when I was in my late teens. The manager asks me “What do you think you’ll bring to the company?”

‘I panicked, not knowing what to say and just blurted out: “What have you brought to the company?” – He gave me the job on the spot instead of answering.’
@Just_In_Dreamer

Nice.

Source Twitter @harriepw Image Pexels