However experienced you are at attending job interviews, the chances are you will have experienced at least one bad job interview, which when you think about it, it makes you feel a little sick or embarrassed. I've had at least a couple of those, and I have friends who have to. I know someone who on one occasion had such a bad job interview that they’ve never been for one since, and that was over 20 years ago.

Obviously there are degrees of what constitutes a “bad" interview and some of what is deemed bad depends on your own point of view. However, the most important thing about having a bad job interview is how quickly you recover from it, and what you learn from the experience. The most important thing to remember is having a bad job interview is not a disaster and you should not let it put you off from hunting for your ideal job.

There are many different things that can go wrong and contribute towards having a bad job interview and you should review what happened to identify whether it was ‘just one of those things’. ' bad luck' or 'out of your control' or whether it was within your control and could have been anticipated.

Examples of issues: ‘Just one of those things’ , ‘Bad luck’ or ‘Out of your control’

• Not feeling well on the day of the interview.
• Finding out that when you’re in the interview, that the job isn’t the job that you thought you were applying for because the organisation hasn’t been clear.
• Realising during the interview, that the job or the organisation isn’t for you (even though you did your research beforehand.
• An unpleasant interviewer that makes it difficult to answer the interview questions
• You’re stumped by an unreasonable question.
• There is already an internal candidate who is going to get the job regardless of what you say
• Letting your nerves get the better of you.

Examples of issues : ‘Within your control ‘

• Turning up at the interview unprepared
• Speaking rudely to the interviewer.
• Making jokes that only you find funny.
• Not listening to the interviewer.
• Showing that you’re not interested in the job
• Acting as if they would be lucky to get you.
• Answering inappropriately if the interviewer sounds critical.

These are just few examples of issues that can contribute towards a bad job interview. However bad an interview is, and however much you might be tempted to want to forget it, don’t. Even from the most awful interview, there is always something that you can learn.

Think through the reasons yourself of what went wrong being objective as possible, and then ring for feedback. If the interviewer was vile you might not want to, but if you can you will probably still find it worth it. Always keep in mind, even from an unpleasant experience like a bad job interview, you can learn something positive.

What you do with the feedback is then up to you. Decide what you will take on board, what you will do to improve or change, what you will dismiss or what you'll put down to ‘being just one of those things’