Dumbest thing you’ve said in an interview?
I’ll start, was maybe ~2 years ago for a summer internship.
Interviewer asked what I was looking to get out of the internship. My response:
“A return offer”
Needless to say I did not hear back
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was asked about my weaknesses for a summer analyst role and i gave a detailed example of how i turned in an important deliverable late
at least u were honest
Don’t think that’s dumb as long as you followed up with what you thought went wrong and what you would do in the future to avoid that same mistake
So, the interview question was something about client relationships or something - convincing someone of buying a product or something like that for a Corporate Banking position.
Are you familiar with Robert California's interview for the Manager position for Dunder Mifflin?![]()
"Everything is sex, he just wants respect" etc etc
I gave a paraphrased answer of that. Something or other about whatever the product, the client upmost just wants respect.
Needless to say, I did not progress to the Assessment Centre.
Interviewer asked me what the biggest tool was in my tool bag. I smirked at her before giving a work appropriate response, but clearly it was far too late.
Easiest trick in the book when an interviewer has another candidate preference - something to keep in mind fellas.
You saying she set you up on purpose?
One of my first interviews ever and the interviewer asked "what are your weaknesses?" Completely normal question but I didn't know I had to prepare this so I laughed and said "I honestly can't think of any but I'm sure my parents could". Did not advance.
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Had a SS ER coffee chat where I asked an MD why he didn't move to the buyside
Did the same thing. Thought it was a completely reasonable question until I had to sit there getting lectured on how I know nothing about the industry and my mentality is going to set me up for failure.
I asked the same question to someone without a stick up their as and they said "restricted stock".
Had an IB Associate ask me what I wanted in a career, and I said “consulting for different types of companies” 🤡
Got interviewed for an economist internship at a bank. The guy asked my what was my favorite asset class and I said "equities because they're more dynamic", when the obvious answer was fixed income since rates tell you a lot about the economy. Would have been my first real internship and saved me lots of headaches.
Had an interview w Morgan Stanley Equities Trading team my sophomore year and the interviewer asked what kind of equities do I find the most interesting. My answer was Fixed Income lmao
That's probably worse than me, thanks for making me feel better!
Interviewer asked whats your biggest weakness? I said my squat currently for my SBD
Not during an interview but a coffee chat kid says “I heard the MDs at your bank are dicks”. Needless to say when he applied for the job, he did not get an interview
I have so many, here's another. I had been watching a bunch of old Norm Macdonald clips and found this bit of his assistant asking guests "where do you get your ideas from" hilariously funny. Seeing the responses from Letterman, Adam Sandler, and Superdave is still so funny to me for no reason. It's such a stupid premise but this was just in my mind so during the interview when I ran out of questions to ask, I asked the MD where he got his ideas from. truly an artistic moment. ended up getting the offer but lol.
Q: what was your least favorite part about your x work experience?
I said: the hours.
LMAO I instantly knew there's no recovery from that
Thanks for the laughter, mate. Honest, but funny reply
I interviewed with BMO and half-way through the interview they could tell I was just mass applying places and I wasn't specifically looking to work for them. Due to this, they asked me, what does BMO stand for? I had legitimately zero idea, I paused, then said "Big Money Organization" as a last ditch effort of a joke. Safe to say I didn't advance.
As a Canadian this is absolutely hilarious
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