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PR interviews from hell

I have been interviewing lately, and always make sure that I only ask sensible questions and don’t roll my eyes at some of the ridiculous answers I receive. For instance, one intern candidate said the reason why he wanted to work in PR was because he wasn’t creative enough to work in advertising!

Doing the interviews has reminded me of some of the horrible ones I have gone through, like one panel interview where I am convinced that one of the interviewers was asleep.

And then UK employment law consultancy Protecting.co.uk consultancy was kind enough to send me this list of interview horror stories that workers have shared. Please remember never to ask any of these questions yourself!

"If you were a jar of jam, what flavour would you be and why?"

“We're going to do some role-play now. You'll be playing the part of the werewolf."

"Are you planning on getting pregnant?"

"When was the last time you got into an actual fight with somebody?"

"It's not on the job description, but would you be able to act as my house cleaner as well?"

"You're quiet. Are you imagining us naked?"

"What's your attitude toward illegal drugs?"

"Your CV says you speak French. How much do you think your language skills will be worth when Nigel pulls us out of the Common Market?"

"Are you gay?" "Does it matter?" "It does to me."

"I expect you'll be wanting time off for your weird religious holidays, am I right?"

"I see from your CV that you were in the armed forces. Did you ever kill anybody?" (I was in the Catering Corps, where the stock answer is always "Yes, thousands").

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