What is your funniest recruiting story?

I was talking to an old recruiter friend of mine today and he was telling this great story about a hire gone bad, but it was very funny, and I realized that as recruiters we probably see more and hear more than anyone else. So in an effort to lighten to stress of these crazy times I want to here your funniest recruiting story.

I'll start with mine....

In an office in a far far away land there once worked a recruiter who hired an extremely talented and highly sought after engineer. This engineer moved to area for this great position at the recruiters client site. When he arrived it was time to do all the required paperwork, you know I9's, benefit forms etc. During this rather long orientation he started to ask a question about the cost of the benefits the recruiter unsure of an answer came to get me and asked me to help out. I arrived in her office and started speaking to the wonderfully talented engineer when he abruptly stood up and asked where the restroom was. Quickly we pointed and gave directions as he peed his pants. He left to visit the restroom and then returned to office where he proceeded to act as if nothing happened and sat down in the same chair and went right back to work filling out his paperwork. While I felt sorry for the wonderfully talented engineer I was very perplexed at his behavior AFTER the accident. Many years later it's just a funny recruiting story.

Your turn....

Ok keep it clean, keep it funny, keep it confidential.... no candidate names.

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Permalink Reply by Alex on November 6, 2008 at 5:43pm

the funniest one I can think of is when I was pregnant with my second son, I was working in an agency and had to interview a candidate in person. Well, I walked in and sat down and started to speak with him and suddenly my belly went nuts, baby was kicking so hard and so much that I couldn't concentrate. I figured maybe he liked the name of the gentleman, Felix and wanted to be named the same. To this day, that's the only time I've ever had to step out of an interview !!

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Permalink Reply by Vikki Hawkins on November 6, 2008 at 5:44pm

That's great, at least your water didn't break! That would have been way more embarassing. Thanks for sharing!

Alex... is looking for a new gig said:

the funniest one I can think of is when I was pregnant with my second son, I was working in an agency and had to interview a candidate in person. Well, I walked in and sat down and started to speak with him and suddenly my belly went nuts, baby was kicking so hard and so much that I couldn't concentrate. I figured maybe he liked the name of the gentleman, Felix and wanted to be named the same. To this day, that's the only time I've ever had to step out of an interview !!

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Permalink Reply by Becky Metcalf on November 6, 2008 at 5:45pm

Many of my funnies (or at least my "seriously?" moments) are from phone interviews I've done over the past couple years. No doubt that we've all heard about or been witness to someone who flushes the toilet during their phone screening, or the one who decides it is NOT phone interview suicide to begin ranting about your recent employer - expletives and all - or clumsily hitting on the interviewer. One recent hire took the cake for me as we headed into planning for his orientation. As the candidate was being hired into a remote office, he had to travel across the country to the corporate headquarters. I was of course in charge of scheduling said travel. As we began going over some options for his flight, the candidate informed me that his wife was a travel agent and maybe she would have some suggestions. Yeah, okay, whatever.

Next thing I know the wife is emailing me with itineraries for two people, said candidate and a "John Doe". Hmmm, after a bit of head scratching I call to ask about this as I've only hired one person who will need to be making the trip. After hearing from the manager, the candidate and the wife all that they don't know who "John Doe" is, I'm rather confused. The wife tells me that my candidate must know him, my candidate says that the manager must know him and the manager doesn't have a clue. Although no-one knows who "John Doe" is I continue to receive communications from both the candidate and the wife including him on the itineraries. I finally end up going with my own travel arrangements for the candidate, MINUS "John Doe" and to this day I have to wonder who the imaginary "John Doe" was who was trying to hitch a ride to orientation!

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Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on November 6, 2008 at 6:43pm

Co-op recruiting back in the 1980's at Cornell when I was with Pitney Bowes. Had a bloated slate of 23 interviews to conduct and just around 2 PM I wasn't feeling the love. Thoughts of aliens and puppy dogs danced in my head as this fellow was describing...something. All I could fixate on was at first what I thought was a piece of lint on his suit sleeve. Cocking my head sideways, I inched closer and closer to the guy as I noticed it wasn't a piece of lint at all.

He started stuttering a bit and his train of thought was obviously derailing. Pretty soon I was up on his sleeve and he had stopped talking. As the silence passed 10 seconds, I blurted out, "You paid HOW MUCH for that suit?!?!?" and looked up at him as if he had several different heads on his shoulder.

As it turned out, he described for me the "common" practice of buying an interview suit then returning to the store the next day. No inventory to manage, no worry about turns. Very clever indeed.

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Permalink Reply by Stephanie Yatchyshyn on November 6, 2008 at 7:19pm

I was interviewing a candidate over the phone for a travel assignment. As we were talking, I noticed that whenever she spoke there was an echo. Then suddenly, I heard some water splashing. Finally, I asked, "Are you in the middle of something?" and the candidate answered, "Why yes, I'm taking a bath!" So, I asked her to call me back when she was done bathing!

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Permalink Reply by Vikki Hawkins on November 7, 2008 at 9:23am

Hey at least she won't be smelly when she shows up for the face to face interview! GREAT story!

Stephanie Yatchyshyn said:

I was interviewing a candidate over the phone for a travel assignment. As we were talking, I noticed that whenever she spoke there was an echo. Then suddenly, I heard some water splashing. Finally, I asked, "Are you in the middle of something?" and the candidate answered, "Why yes, I'm taking a bath!" So, I asked her to call me back when she was done bathing!

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Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on November 7, 2008 at 9:45am

Resume Faux Pas sometimes don't make a difference...

Had moved a company from Norwalk, CT to York, PA and had to literally rebuild 85% of the corporate structure when management seriously underestimated how many would relo. Given the rampant raiding within the industry, had to do the same for the national sales team.

One night out, met a hot-shot sales rep who impressed us enough to bring him in. He emailed me his resume the next day; taking a read of his resume, I chuckled at a "spelling" error. Right then I knew I had to test him.

Sitting down at in my office, we chit-chatted for a while and then it was time to get down to business. So I asked him a question I never ask anyone: "Do you consider yourself to be detail-oriented?"

He paused and then offered, "Well, I'm the most detail-oriented person I know."

Gotcha.

"Fine. So let's start with your current situation; I see you're an Account Manger - do you consider this to be a religious experience?"

The color left his face as I showed him his resume with the unfortunate spelling error. He waited a few seconds and then offered...

"Wow, I certainly [effed] up. [pause] No excuses at all, just plain sloppy. I can assure you it will never happen again."

For me, this was the only response I would accept.

Hired him and he, in fact, was a killer.

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Permalink Reply by Vikki Hawkins on November 7, 2008 at 10:01am

You're totally right any other response would have lost the job for him. Do you still refer to him as an Account Manger?

Steve Levy said:

Resume Faux Pas sometimes don't make a difference...

Had moved a company from Norwalk, CT to York, PA and had to literally rebuild 85% of the corporate structure when management seriously underestimated how many would relo. Given the rampant raiding within the industry, had to do the same for the national sales team.

One night out, met a hot-shot sales rep who impressed us enough to bring him in. He emailed me his resume the next day; taking a read of his resume, I chuckled at a "spelling" error. Right then I knew I had to test him.

Sitting down at in my office, we chit-chatted for a while and then it was time to get down to business. So I asked him a question I never ask anyone: "Do you consider yourself to be detail-oriented?"

He paused and then offered, "Well, I'm the most detail-oriented person I know."

Gotcha.

"Fine. So let's start with your current situation; I see you're an Account Manger - do you consider this to be a religious experience?"

The color left his face as I showed him his resume with the unfortunate spelling error. He waited a few seconds and then offered...

"Wow, I certainly [effed] up. [pause] No excuses at all, just plain sloppy. I can assure you it will never happen again."

For me, this was the only response I would accept.

Hired him and he, in fact, was a killer.

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Permalink Reply by pam claughton on November 7, 2008 at 10:03am

The funniest stories that I remember happened years ago and were mostly from our temporary administrative division. One that comes to mind was a woman who had just had a baby and was returning to work. She was supporting the CEO as an exec asst, and during her lunch break, while he was out of the office, she went into his office for some privacy, pulled out her breast pump, pumped away. Put the milk in the fridge to bring home when she left. But, she forgot something. When the CEO returned, he discovered her breast pump in the middle of his desk. She'd left it behind! That was her last day on that assignment. :)

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Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on November 7, 2008 at 10:08am

vh-

always. it's like your mom bringing up the most embarrassing story of your childhood in front of your friends...

Vikki Hawkins said:

You're totally right any other response would have lost the job for him. Do you still refer to him as an Account Manger?

Steve Levy said:
Resume Faux Pas sometimes don't make a difference...

Had moved a company from Norwalk, CT to York, PA and had to literally rebuild 85% of the corporate structure when management seriously underestimated how many would relo. Given the rampant raiding within the industry, had to do the same for the national sales team.

One night out, met a hot-shot sales rep who impressed us enough to bring him in. He emailed me his resume the next day; taking a read of his resume, I chuckled at a "spelling" error. Right then I knew I had to test him.

Sitting down at in my office, we chit-chatted for a while and then it was time to get down to business. So I asked him a question I never ask anyone: "Do you consider yourself to be detail-oriented?"

He paused and then offered, "Well, I'm the most detail-oriented person I know."

Gotcha.

"Fine. So let's start with your current situation; I see you're an Account Manger - do you consider this to be a religious experience?"

The color left his face as I showed him his resume with the unfortunate spelling error. He waited a few seconds and then offered...

"Wow, I certainly [effed] up. [pause] No excuses at all, just plain sloppy. I can assure you it will never happen again."

For me, this was the only response I would accept.

Hired him and he, in fact, was a killer.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on November 7, 2008 at 10:11am

Pam, at least the CEO didn't experience a Look Who's Talking moment with their coffee...

James: Mind if I borrow some of this?
[takes Mikey's bottle and pours the milk into his coffee cup]
James: Thanks a lot, man.
[drinks coffee]
Mollie: Hey, you know, that's breast milk.
James: [spits out coffee] Really, now?
[turns to Mikey]
James: Why didn't you tell me?
Mikey: Hey, man, you're on your own.

pam claughton said:

The funniest stories that I remember happened years ago and were mostly from our temporary administrative division. One that comes to mind was a woman who had just had a baby and was returning to work. She was supporting the CEO as an exec asst, and during her lunch break, while he was out of the office, she went into his office for some privacy, pulled out her breast pump, pumped away. Put the milk in the fridge to bring home when she left. But, she forgot something. When the CEO returned, he discovered her breast pump in the middle of his desk. She'd left it behind! That was her last day on that assignment. :)

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Permalink Reply by Dan Nuroo on November 11, 2008 at 7:43am

i had a Graduate I was interviewing, who had come from interstate to interview with me. (IT based role, with my Company, I am an internal Recruiter). An obviously obnoxiously confident young man who made our 30 minute interview into a marathon of hyperbole and self trumpet blowing... When I asked him what he wanted Salary wise, he answered, "I am negotiable, however my starting point is $90,000". After I picked myself up off the floor, I remembered an email I had read earlier that week, and decided to see if it would play out in a real life interview situation... I gave it a go..

Dan : So it Is $90k you are after then?
Greedy Grad : Yeah, that's a starting point.
Dan : Oh, well I had something a little different in mind.
GG : Really? what were you thinking?
Dan: Well I was thinking a base around $100K
GG: Uhhh huh
Dan: We also offer monthly bonuses
GG: OK
Dan: 8 week annual leave, free medical insurance, a car park, the use of our CEO's holiday house every weekend, the use of our corporate box when ever you want for you and your friends, as well as a generous share option plan....
GG (looking initially stunned and then very proud of himself): Wow... you're joking aren't you... that is amazing
Dan: Yes, i am joking.. but hey... you started it.

Now GG did not see the funny side of this as I did, and I'm not sure he really got my message, and i did go through it thoroughly with him to help re-align his expectations for working life.