If These Résumés Could Talk is a Wall Street Journal feature in which recruiters and headhunters share their wildest and most interesting stories. Previous installments of the series are .
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The Passive-Aggressive Doughnuts That Tanked a Job Interview
Unexpected answers
Back when I was at another firm, in private equity, I was interviewing this candidate and one of the questions I asked him was: “Have you ever had a challenging relationship with a manager? And if so, how did you approach that to try to ameliorate the relationship?”
He said that he really didn’t like his current manager—and you don’t want to speak negatively about your manager when you’re in an interview. He told me that his manager was very weight-conscious, always dieting and watching what he ate.
So this candidate decided that he would go to Krispy Kreme every morning and bring half a dozen doughnuts to his manager, as this seemingly nice gesture. And the candidate said he would put the box on his boss’s desk so that he would always have the temptation, and eat them and then be mad at himself.
I just thought that was the most messed-up response ever.
—Allison Rosner, Major, Lindsey & Africa
No filter
I had one candidate who went in for a face-to-face interview and just gave snarky, literal answers the whole time.
Like, they asked him what his ideal job would be. He said, “Well, I would just get paid to do nothing.”
Then they asked what his ideal commute would be like. And he goes, “The office would be next to my house.”
I called him up after and I was like, “What are you doing?” And he goes, “I acted like an
a——, I don’t know what happened.” What happened was, he didn’t get the job.
—Shahan Avedian, Yoh Staffing Services
What’s your sign?
When filling out forms for a client, on every line marked “Sign”—as in for your signature—the candidate wrote “Sagittarius.”
—Matt Wallack, W Talent Group
Wrong suit
One of my former colleagues had a candidate interview for a legal-assistant position at a law firm. That day, her phone rings. All I could hear was my colleague saying, “What? No. Really?!”
Then she comes over and tells me: She told her candidate to wear a suit to the interview. Her candidate showed up in a Juicy Couture sweatsuit.
—Katherine Loanzon, Kinney Recruiting LLC