Funniest/Stupidest Thing You've Said in an Interview?

[Nat000]

There's a similar thread on TSR which I found quite entertaining, so I thought I might as well start one here and see if it gets off the ground!

I can start with a contribution to the 'stupidest thing you've said' side. Had an interview in January where the partner and I started discussing batteries. He asked me if I knew what they were made from. My mind went completely blank, so he took pity on me and said lithium was a core component, and did I know where it came from.

Me [almost verbatim]: "Well... it's a chemical sort of thing, isn't it... in fact I think it's actually a metal... which means it doesn't grow on trees, and we don't get it from animals like milk, so... I guess we mine it from underground?"

 

[Daniel Boden]

There's a similar thread on TSR which I found quite entertaining, so I thought I might as well start one here and see if it gets off the ground!

I can start with a contribution to the 'stupidest thing you've said' side. Had an interview in January where the partner and I started discussing batteries. He asked me if I knew what they were made from. My mind went completely blank, so he took pity on me and said lithium was a core component, and did I know where it came from.

Me [almost verbatim]: "Well... it's a chemical sort of thing, isn't it... in fact I think it's actually a metal... which means it doesn't grow on trees, and we don't get it from animals like milk, so... I guess we mine it from underground?"

Hahaha that's good what was his response?

 

[Nat000]

Hahaha that's good what was his response?

He took it surprisingly well actually, as far as I remember, just said yes it comes from underground! But that moment was so embarrassing it gave me many sleepless nights over the next few weeks...

 

[Jessica Booker]

I could keep this thread busy with all the things I have heard rather than the things I have said.

Best one (although wasn’t for law) was I asked the question “who do you admire most?” to a candidate. They blurted out the answer “Britney Spears” without really thinking about it (and this was not long after she had a breakdown and had shaved all her hair off - shows you how long ago this was ).

When they realised that it probably wasn’t the best answer, instead of taking time to rethink to change their answer, they doubled down on it and went into this long ramble of why she was a good person. When I then asked about the question from a business perspective, they stuck with Britney and tried to explain how she was a great business woman by launching her perfume brands.

 

[Daniel Boden]

Bit late to this thread, but my personal favourite is when I was asked what skills do you think are important for a lawyer to have, particularly at our firm. Whilst explaining why being very personable is an incredibly important skill for a lawyer both in attracting clients but also getting along with your colleagues, I said that 'because if you are, for want of a better expression, a bit of a dick, people won't want to work with you or for you and you'll struggle to progress in your career'. Needless to say, as soon as those words left my lips, I was mortified and frantically tried to say 'excuse my French, but if you're someone who doesn't work well with others/get along with people...' but the genie was already out of the bottle at that point

Both the partner and the associate laughed and agreed with me, much to my relief and the associate then proceeded to swear in telling a funny anecdote about a similar interaction he had with a partner. Needless to say, however, the head of HR was not amused and later told me that she had never heard a candidate in her recruitment career ever say something like that. That said, I still got the vacation scheme

 

[Jessica Booker]

Bit late to this thread, but my personal favourite is when I was asked what skills do you think are important for a lawyer to have, particularly at our firm. Whilst explaining why being very personable is an incredibly important skill for a lawyer both in attracting clients but also getting along with your colleagues, I said that 'because if you are, for want of a better expression, a bit of a dick, people won't want to work with you or for you and you'll struggle to progress in your career'. Needless to say, as soon as those words left my lips, I was mortified and frantically tried to say 'excuse my French, but if you're someone who doesn't work well with others/get along with people...' but the genie was already out of the bottle at that point

Both the partner and the associate laughed and agreed with me, much to my relief and the associate then proceeded to swear in telling a funny anecdote about a similar interaction he had with a partner. Needless to say, however, the head of HR was not amused and later told me that she had never heard a candidate in her recruitment career ever say something like that. That said, I still got the vacation scheme

the Head of HR is lucky! I have heard a lot worse than that

 

[LegalNim]

I've already confessed this on the Hearing Back thread a while ago. I said "Bank of America Meryl Streep" instead of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Only one of the interviewers noticed my mistake and laughed at me, it was truly awful. I still got the position though!
Not something I said but during a phone interview, I was being interviewed by a very stern woman. Something must've happened on the other end of the call because suddenly she goes "oh poo!". She then apologised profusely and was really nice to me for the rest of the interview. I got that position too.

 

[Ahi88]

During a phone interview, I was asked "what is the most interesting thing you have learnt this month?"

As I sat in my bedroom frantically thinking about what to say with boxes all around me as I was moving flat, I said without thinking "I have learnt that moving flat exposes how much rubbish I can accumulate in the space of one year".... safe to say I didn't progress to the next round.

 

[Nat000]

During a phone interview, I was asked "what is the most interesting thing you have learnt this month?"

As I sat in my bedroom frantically thinking about what to say with boxes all around me as I was moving flat, I said without thinking "I have learnt that moving flat exposes how much rubbish I can accumulate in the space of one year".... safe to say I didn't progress to the next round.

That's such a shame, your response was pretty funny!

I've just remembered that at my TC interview, I was asked why I enjoy listening to true crime podcasts (mentioned it as a hobby earlier). I said 'well, it's a really enjoyable contrast, when I'm out for a walk on a nice sunny day, to be listening to stories of people getting brutally decapitated or vanishing inexplicably.' Both interviewers burst out laughing as I realised in horror that I basically sounded like Ted Bundy...