👀What’s the worst or most awkward question you've been asked during an interview?

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I had a manager ask me if I was married and when I said that I wasn't, he asked me why. Said I was pretty and that I should probably be married by now, at 26. It was very weird and incredibly inappropriate and the interview was effectively over when I mentioned how weird and inappropriate it was!

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Couldn't hack it at a Big 4? I was asked after trying to leave EY after only being there five months.

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Hacking it is nothing to be proud of. I spent 15 years there. At BT and another firm I was at, the talent was just as smart and definitely staff who were just as capable as any I’ve seen at B4.

So yes, it is a fair question but terrible approach. Could’ve just asked what normal people ask…”why are you looking to leave?”

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“Do you have any student loans?”

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That one is a touchy one! Are you going to tell me your amazing benefit package that helps with student loans, or are you seeing if my parents were rich and I fit in?

likesmart

Not during an interview but I had a partner ask me if I am married had kids during a lunch visiting the client after which I answered no, and they said boyfriend, husband? The partner was from SF so I guess this is common there..

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I always find those questions uncomfortable. I'm unmarried, I've been with my "partner" for 10 years I guess I'm ambiguous because I don't understand how it is relevant to my work.

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When I was first starting out and interviewing at a couple of the Big 4, one of them asked me why I would pick them over the others. And well instead of lying, I said I love your brand colors. If you hire me, I’ll easily wear your brand colors almost everyday.

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Does this cloth smell like chloroform to you?

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When I (coming from another B4) asked a Big4 partner how the team dynamics work during the peak season when we work across multiple time zone and if the firm have specific timing policy when US persons need to be available during USI time zone? The partner immediately got hyper and yelled “in our firm, we do not APPRECIATE the term PEAK season. Every week is a peak season during the year, we have so much to do, there is always something to do”
FYI: the firm offers “Unlimited PTO” 🫢🤣

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Is it EY or KPMG?

I was offered a director role and interviewer was a director himself told me most of days you gotta work like a staff/senior as this is normal ‘here’. I told him this isn’t normal for me and I didn’t reach this level to go back to do junior stuff.

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“Your English is good. How long you have been here?”

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