When the Interview Doesn't Go as Planned
This is a real story that happened to a good friend of mine. He had been wanting to interview at a large tech company for a long time. He registered in the system, but from the very beginning, something was going wrong. His account was blocked without explanation, no one responded to his emails, and the process seemed like an endless maze. It felt like the company was simply ignoring him.
But recently, the situation changed dramatically: a recruiter contacted him directly through LinkedIn and offered him an interview. "Finally!" he thought, unaware of the surprises that awaited him.
A Strange Interview
On the appointed day, he joined the video call. A stranger appeared on the screen. And then things got strange:
— This is my first time, — the interviewer said. — Can you tell me what we'll be doing today?
My friend was taken aback. How could it be the interviewer's first time? Shouldn't the interviewer know what was going on? But he still explained the structure of the interview. The person nodded, said "Okay," and started talking about their experience.
But at that moment, a third person joined the call. A bad feeling arose. It seemed like something unusual was happening. However, it turned out to be even more absurd.
The third participant in the conversation also didn't understand what was going on. He clearly wasn't expecting to see a second person on the call. After a few minutes of complete confusion, it turned out that the first interviewer... was a complete doppelganger! All those emails and invitations had been sent to him by mistake.
The real interviewer quickly realized what was happening and politely asked the second person to disconnect, as the interview was intended for candidates from the UK. Only after 15 minutes of chaos did the actual interview finally begin.
After the Interview
But that wasn't the end of the story. It took several more weeks for the recruiters to sort out the mess and finally register my friend in the system. The most interesting thing happened later: he found his "double" on LinkedIn and wrote to him. The other person was just as shocked. Imagine his feelings: he had been preparing, worrying, and waiting for the interview for months, only to find out that he wasn't even supposed to be there!
Have you ever encountered unexpected or absurd situations during interviews? Share your stories in the comments!
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Reflections by Efim
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