How to Purposefully Have a Bad Job Interview

Please help! The solution here is to move out, not to bomb the interview. Blowing the interview masks a symptom of a larger scale problem, and that is that you live with your parents. The reason you are asking this question is because you feel you are forced into a job choice that doesn't perfectly match your interests. This may not seem obvious, but adults are never forced into jobs they don't want - but their situation may force them to do so. You are an adult, and have been an adult for seven years. The only reason you feel forced to take this job is because you live with your parents. If you don't live with your parents, you can't be "forced" to take any job you want/don't want since your parents would have no leverage over you. So, the solution here is to change your situation. Your situation isn't going to change by bombing the interview. You've already indicated that your current job doesn't pay enough to allow you to leave your parents. You've given an ambiguous timeframe for leaving your parents and have not indicated how your current job allows you to achieve that goal. As a result, I have to conclude that the best solution here is to take the job and use the money to move out. The alternative (not taking the job) is worse. Even if you don't like the job, you can live with it for a few months/years. That's what adults do.

Wow, I can't believe people are advising you to look like an idiot in a job interview. Don't do that, there are a lot of ways it could come back to haunt you. Do the interview, see if they make an offer, hell, it might even be something you would take. Hold off on answering until you've had the other two interviews and then make a decision and tell your Dad why you made that decision. If you can't risk his throwing you out, then you shouldn't be asking this question to begin with.

You're 25 and you are allowed to have boundaries with your father. I'd take this interview as an opportunity to do as well as possible and use it as a practice run for future job interviews. Purposely tanking gets you nowhere, really. Then, if you are offered the job, you can still politely decline the offer.

Go to the interview. Use it as an opportunity to test your interview skills. If you're offered the job on the spot, respectfully ask for a bit of time to decide as you have two other interviews lined up in the next few days. Go to the other interviews. Take whichever job offers the best combination of money and advancement potential. You're 25 and still living with your parents. The best way to get treated like an adult is to act like one. I mean no offense, but this reads more like a teenage question. Move out and get your own place. Can't afford to? Then take whichever job best puts you in a position to be able to afford to.

Honestly... suppose you don't get an offer from one of the other jobs? It sounds like this position may be your best chance to escape. You don't have to work there forever; you also don't have to work there at all if you get another offer. But if I were you, I'd do a good job. No sense in burning bridges you don't need to burn, and no sense turning down good money just because your dad may have helped you get it.

You could ask for the amount of money it would actually take for it to be worth working there. If they can't pay you want you want, move on.

You say the problem is the lack of professional boundaries between R and your dad. Perhaps you can stress to R that you want to have a real professional relationship with him that's not about his connection with your dad and make it clear that of course, even though you have a connection outside of work, you wouldn't expect him to hire you unless you're the best person he's interviewed. That may or may not stop him from offering you the job, but perhaps it can set the tone for a relationship with R that's closer to what you want.

R is in a difficult situation. If you are reasonably competent, and he needs an employee, and he is good friends with your dad, how could he NOT give you a job? Especially since you're a known quantity by being the son of a trusted friend. Does your dad have horrible taste in friends or business partners? Is there anything about R and his business besides "generally weird" that would make it problematic to work for him? Since it's a family business they have likely dealt with situations that had to be handled differently than if it involved a non-related employee, perhaps to the detriment of the overall business. What if you went in, thanked him for the opportunity, and honestly laid out your concerns (well, skipping the "generally weird" bit). You won't be there forever, you don't want to be doing customer service, and when you give notice, especially if it's at a bad time, will it damage R's relationship with your dad? How about proposing a 3 month trial period, contingent on not getting a higher paying job from the currently scheduled interviews? At 3 months you two can evaluate the situation, you may have other job possibilities, and may have been able to move out. Basically you want it to be a win-win situation, and when you do leave no bridges are burned.

I'd go to the interview and be really honest with R. "My dad has put us both in an awkward position. I'm in the process of trying to find work in the X arena, but Dad thinks so highly of you, and he wants whats best for me, that he's thrown us together like this. I am so sorry, but I think you could do much better than hire me for this position frankly." Then chit chat for a bit and excuse yourself by saying, "it's been great seeing you again, I wish you luck in finding the right candidate for the job." When you get home tell your dad, "R and I had a lovely talk but he's really looking for X and I'm just not right for the position." Now, you need to be honest with your parents and establish your boundaries as an adult. First, sit down with them and discuss your plans and timetable for moving out. As much as they love you, they probably want you GONE so that they can get on with their lives. Showing maturity by explaining your plans, sticking by your plans and drawing boundaries for yourself. "Dad, I appreciate that you want me to do well, and I suspect that my plans for my future are frustrating for you, but this is MY life and MY career and I'm pursuing my goals in my own way." I am hoping that you're contributing to the household by paying rent, buying groceries and cleaning up without being prompted. Consider yourself a housemate, not a kid and your parents will treat you with respect as an adult.