An economy that is turning around means there's more people interviewing for newly-minted positions. Yet even during the worst of the downturn, when people should have known better than to make a bad impression, job applicants were committing mind-boggling, jaw-dropping mistakes during their interviews.

In a newly released report, career website operator CareerBuilder surveyed more than 3,000 hiring managers, asking what some of the worst interview experiences of 2011 were.

"It may seem unlikely that candidates would ever answer a cell phone during an interview, or wear shorts, but when we talk to hiring managers, we remarkably hear these stories all of the time," Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder, said in a statement.

Answering a cell phone, texting, or appearing disinterested seem to be the most serious mistakes a potential employee can do at an interview, with more than three-quarters of hiring managers saying they were "most detrimental" to interview performance.

The CareerBuilder survey also included some truly outstanding anecdotal stories of horrible candidates. Perhaps those coming out crest-fallen after a particularly tough interview can take comfort in knowing they were not as bad as some of these applicants.

Click 'continue' below to read about some of the most egregious mistakes.