'She started bleeding.' Women told us about their most cringe-worthy job interviews.

Job interviews can be a truly nerve-wracking, and at times mildly terrifying, experience.

No matter how hard you try to play it cool, the pressure to impress your prospective future boss can you make you do — or worse, say — some pretty awkward things.

Plus, sometimes things happen during a job interview that are completely out of your control, like accidentally rocking up wearing the same outfit as the interviewer, or being on the receiving end of a very sweaty handshake.

Alas, job interview blunders are much more common than you might think.

Everyone has experienced at least one awful job interview in their lifetime, so we asked the Mamamia staff members to share their worst job interview stories.

Watch: Horoscopes when there's a problem at work.

"I went to shake the woman's hand at the end, but accidentally scratched/cut her with my nail and she started bleeding," explained Polly. "Another time, I had a job interview at a tiny little media company. Their office consisted of a single room so I literally sat and waited on a couch opposite while the guy finished up interviewing another girl. When it was my turn, he said, ‘To be honest, I think you’re going to find it really hard to top that.'"

"I had a guy ask me to define the word 'pragmatic' and to this day I find that word very hard to define. I just… couldn't. I knew what it meant and could use it in a sentence. But I'm not a f**king dictionary. I don't know how to define it," Jessie explained.

"The job interview went south quickly when the male manager asked me about my marital status etc and my plans for the weekend and asked if I was a party girl… then when he called to say I didn't get the job, he asked me out," said Deborah.

Yvette said she was asked, "'What's your star sign and do you smoke?' Both were played off as jokes after I answered 🤷‍♀️ Weird guy."

"My friend once had to answer a question about 'what animal would you be and why?' It was for a designer job and there was no relevance," added Melody.

"I was asked, 'Can you spell desiccated?' Admittedly it was a copy-editing job (though... not for a food content-related role) — and yes, I could," said Alix.

Naima was asked, "Whether I had any intentions of having children. Not cool."

Issy said, "My friend got asked if they were a cocktail what would they be? She was very unsure what to say as she felt it was a trick question. I think she said an Aperol spritz, as she's a crowd favourite 😵‍💫"

"I was asked what size my boobs were. The interviewer was a bloke and it was because I needed to wear a lab coat for the job I was going for, but the way he asked... ick," said Ruth.

But as awkward as some job interviews (and questions) are, sometimes they’re just as painful for the people on the other side of the desk. Talent Acquisition Specialist Deborah has seen a few things in her time.

"I've had people disclose crimes in interviews. Someone once farted really loudly and then wouldn’t stop talking about it. I also had someone try to invite me to the gym after I interviewed them for a job."

She’s also been on the receiving end of an "extremely sweaty handshake… like wet".

*Shudder.*

What’s the worst job interview you’ve ever had? Let us know in the comments below.

Feature Image: Canva.

This article was originally in 2020 and has since been updated.