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Alexandre De Raemaeker Recruiter Alexandre De Raemaeker speaks about some of the bloopers and bright sides of job interviews.

Job interviews can be a life-changing event. During the process, many nuances can make the difference between securing a bright new future or walking away empty-handed.

While being dressed appropriately and having a well-written resume are musts, the Kyiv Post asked Alexandre De Raemaeker, a Belgian who owns Diamond Recruiters agency in Ukraine, about his worst and best interviews in order to give our readers a glimpse into the hiring process.

Some of the experiences might sound crazy, but they are all true, said Raemaeker, a seven-year human resources veteran who conducts at least 35 interviews per week.

Starting with the bloopers, these five job interview errors topped Raemaeker’s list:

1. One candidate arrived drunk at an interview for the position of sales manager of construction materials. Another candidate added brandy to his coffee during the interview.

2. A potential employee admitted a bogus resume, failed some tests and then offered a 30 percent kickback on the salary during the first year of employment in exchange for fooling the employer.

3. Another candidate refused to answer any interview question, demanding disclosure of the proposed salary first.

4. One job hopeful had his mobile phone on and it started playing a sexist Russian rap song in the middle of the interview.

5. A candidate for an information-technology position threatened to hack into the company database and crash it if we didn’t give him some money.


On the bright side, these are the five most impressive interviewing moments that Raemaeker has witnessed:

1. One sales analyst candidate came with a demonstration of an Excel model he created in preparation for the first round interview with the prospective employer.

2. One woman who wanted to get the job of financial controller asked that we meet at 8 a.m. on a Saturday as she was very busy. She was kind enough to bring some homemade cookies.

3. A sales candidate once talked so positively about the luxury Swiss products that he sold for his employer that I acquired some the next day for trial use. This person is a born salesman.

4. When a 22-year-old candidate claimed to speak seven languages, including Arabic, German and French, I wasn’t sure he was telling the truth. While those languages were not required for the position, we tested him and, to my great surprise, he was fluent in all of them.

5. One candidate for a business analyst position indicated folk dancing as a hobby and invited me to see him perform. I went to see the show and was impressed.

Kyiv Post staff writer Kateryna Grushenko can be reached at grushenko@kyivpost.com.