Throughout my not-so-illustrious career in the technology industry, I have had the fortune/misfortune to perform hundreds if not thousands of interviews. I have learned many things from this experience. I wanted to share one of the more memorable and unfortunate interviews. Some might find the information beneficial. Others may just find humor in the situation.
My company had an open position for a software developer experienced in Windows development. A number of candidates applied for the position so a number of interviews were conducted with the candidates. One of the candidates stood out with his experience which included working for Microsoft. He passed the screening interview so he was invited for a formal interview. It was pre-COVID so the formal interview was held in person in our office.
Red Flag #1.
This candidate showed up several days prior to the scheduled interview. I believe a candidate should arrive early but my thinking is 10 to 15 minutes early. Showing up a few days early was, well, strange.
Is that a good sign that he was excited about the opportunity?
Is that a bad sign that he has extremely poor listening and time management skills?
I brushed it off as being overly eager. I could sense he was excited about this opportunity.
Red Flag #2.
On the day of the interview, he failed to show up at the scheduled time. The interview was scheduled to start at 08:00 AM. It was 08:00 AM and no candidate. Then 09:00 AM, no candidate. Next was 10:00 AM, no candidate. At a little after 1 PM, he arrived at our office. In hindsight, I should have said it was nice to meet him but he missed his opportunity. After all, first impressions are critical. And he made one of the worst first impressions possible. He wasn’t just late, he was LATE. I was forced to make a decision — follow through with the interview or kick him to the curb. I elected to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Red Flag #3.
Upon entering my office, I immediately noticed his appearance. Cuts and bruises on his knuckles and an eye that was badly bruised. It was apparent he was in an altercation. His answer for his appearance was he had been hit with a ball during a softball game. I didn’t get a good sense that it was the truth. Even if I give him the benefit of the doubt that he was hit in the eye with a softball, it doesn’t explain the bruising and cuts on his knuckles. I should have thrown the BS flag but again, I elected to give him the benefit of the doubt.
When Will It End?
I started the interview by asking a few standard questions. What do you know about the company? What interested you in the position? Then I started to ask technical questions related to his experience. His answers didn’t seem to make sense. Then things really took a turn for the bizarre.
As I was asking questions, he stood up, waited about 10–15 seconds, then sat back down. Stand, wait, sit, stand, wait, sit. It lasted for a few minutes. I had no idea what was happening. Then came the biggest “oh you didn’t just do that” moments in my interviewing history. Upon sitting down for the last time, he draped his leg over the side of the chair as if we were watching football and eating nachos. I was forced to ask myself:
- Was he under the influence of alcohol?
- Was he under the influence of drugs?
- Was he just that unstable?
For someone that should be trying to impress me, he was doing a very poor job. The interview continued as I quizzed him on the different technology listed on his resume. He struggled to answer my questions, responding with “I know what you are talking about.” I’m thankful you understand what I am talking about, now answer the questions. I was relieved when the interview was completed.
It Wasn’t Over Yet
The fun didn’t stop there. Oh no no no. A few days after the interview, I received an email from the candidate. The email was a last-ditch effort to make his case. He stated he was forced to visit the emergency room on the morning of the interview (he didn’t go into detail and I didn’t ask). No apology for his tardiness or behavior anywhere in the email. As I continued to read the email, he made a bold claim that I will never forget. He would increase the productivity of the team by 200% (that was his number) without the team knowing it was him. Let’s recap a handful of things he didn’t know.
- He wasn’t familiar with our industry.
- He wasn’t familiar with our applications.
- He wasn’t familiar with our codebases.
- He wasn’t familiar with our architecture.
- He wasn’t familiar with our development process.
But he was going to increase productivity by 200% without the team knowing about it.
I decided to not make an offer of employment. It might have been the first good decision I made in this situation.
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