Candidate froze after accidentally exposing his interview prep notes mid-call — what the recruiters did next took him by surprise
They shared the entire screen instead of just pulling out their portfolio deck, revealing a doc titled 'Questions to ask [Company Name] interview.'
As much as it may seem so on the surface, an interview is not a one-sided investigation but a mutual discussion and cross-examination where not only the recruiter, but also the job applicant assesses the other to see if the two are fit. One job applicant secured the final round of the interview just because of their thoughtful questions, but it didn’t happen without a lot of hilarity and a “screen share mishap,” as u/MythicSolder7, the job seeker, shared in an April 14 post on Reddit. “Accidentally shared the wrong screen during my interview, and it somehow worked out,” the post title reads.
Accidentally shared the wrong screen during my interview and it somehow worked out
by u/MythicSolder7 in jobsearchhacks
About three weeks ago, the employee was partaking in a regular video interview, conducted for a mid-level marketing role at a SaaS company. They were in the second round with two interviewers, not knowing that the pane of tabs on their browser would astonishingly make this interview unforgettable.
At some point during the interview, the recruiter asked the candidate to share their screen to walk through a campaign in their portfolio. The candidate had six tabs open, and as luck would have it, they accidentally shared the entire desktop screen instead of just pulling out their portfolio deck. The screen revealed everything, especially a Google Doc titled "Questions to ask [Company Name] interview." This one tab, with eight questions, pivoted the whole conversation.
The person froze for "two full seconds" after realizing their mishap, but the recruiters responded in a way they didn't expect at all. "Oh, wait, is that a list of questions for us?" they asked. They burst into laughter and told the candidate, “Okay, let’s just do those first, then.” The two parties spent nearly 20 minutes poring over the applicant’s questions, which were mainly about team structure, the last employee who held the role, and the like.
To their disbelief, the candidate got promoted to the final interview round. Recruiters told them that it was the most “prepared and direct” candidate they had in a while. The simple act of being ready with the questions got this applicant ahead in the hiring process. In fact, an experienced recruiter (ex-Meta) told Fortune that not asking questions in an interview is seen as a “red flag” and can signal disinterest, directly hurting a candidate’s chances. Moreover, a Harvard Business School study titled "It Doesn’t Hurt to Ask: Question-Asking Increases Liking" shows that people who ask more questions are perceived as more responsive and likable and can improve how candidates are perceived.
Several recruiters agreed that the response was perfect in this scenario. One of them, u/Waterlily-chitown, shared an instance from 20 years ago, recalling, "I asked a candidate that I was interviewing if she had any questions for me. She pulled out a little notebook with a bunch of questions written out. They were so intelligent and thoughtful, and I loved that she wrote them all out so she wouldn't forget. She was the best employee I ever had." Another recruiter, u/bmarmich, shared, "I’m a recruiter, and this would be a huge green flag for us! Also, silly mistakes happen all the time. Interviewers make them too, and can be self-conscious, so really don’t sweat it."
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