My weirdest interview was for a senior executive position in an insurance company, the US subsidiary of a Swiss insurer. I already had a job but this one would have doubled my pay so I was interested.
The first day involved an interview with a headhunter. That day focused mainly on my education and experience, the company’s strategy and organization, and my views on prospects for the business. I must have been acceptable because I was invited for a second interview.
The second round involved a full day with a clinical psychologist, with all the crazy personal questions you would expect, like, “Which parent did you love more?” (Typical desired answer: “I loved my mom and my dad, but I would kill them both for the good of this fucking company!”) That got me invited back for a third day.
For the third day, a managing director flew in from Switzerland to interview me. No problem there; it’s standard practice for a bigwig from the “Home Office” to interview candidates for senior positions.
Well, there was no problem until after lunch. That was when the guy said he was really interested in “our compatibility.” He invited me back to his hotel room to provide a “handwriting sample for analysis” so he could make his final decision. All the signals I was getting from this guy told me he wanted to sample a lot more than handwriting.
I was tempted to write, “I think you are a fucking creep!” on a napkin and say, “Here, analyze this!” Instead, I just declined, saying that if the company did not have enough information by this time to make a decision, then maybe they should interview someone else. That brought our meeting to a close.
The company did make me an offer. I turned it down. If I had known up front that the position involved giving blowjobs to Herr Wunderbar, we could have just cut to the chase. Instead, they had to waste three days of my time. That sucked.