Most ridiculous job interviews (red flag?)🚩

[Scotch Mist]

I've had some appalling experiences in the past with job interviews and (unless you are desperate because you're out of work) then you should always remember that it's not just about what they want but if you would be happy there.

I've always been someone who would make sure that they arrived early as I hate being late. On one occasion I drove to an interview with plenty of time to spare. When I got near the office I found myself caught up in a one way system and my sat nat wouldn't direct me to where I wanted to go. After a couple of circuits (still with time to spare) I stopped and phoned the company to ask for directions and to assure them I was nearby.

I expected the manager to say something along the lines of 'yes its hard to find you have to do xyz' instead I got berated for being incompetent with a satnav and told that it wasn't their job to help me find my way, the woman finished off with a sarcastic 'when shall I expect you?' to which I replied 'never given how rude you've just been before we even met'. So I just turned the car round and drove home.

 

[Peaches_xox]

if i was hiring i would view that as a total positive, i appreciate honesty. in the same way i think asking about weaknesses is usually pointless "im too hardworking"

Omg my weaknesses in an interview would be ‘sometimes I don’t know when to take a break and I’m too passionate and take too much on myself’

When actually my weaknesses are ‘I’ll probably spend half my day in the kitchen chatting shit, I live for the office drama, sometimes I AM the office drama and I’m only here because you’re paying me’

 

[mcfeez]

That sounds ludicrous to me. I know of a former colleague who was going for a senior position as an experienced hire in another company; got through 4 rounds of interviews, they called him for a fifth and he told them thanks but no thanks essentially. They called him again with some spiel about how he basically almost had the job but by that time he had lost all interest and they were obviously gutted.

It completely puts people off, and rightly so.

 

[lurkingaround123]

I moved back to the UK from abroad as a recent graduate. I had a series of the weirdest job interviews ever it was so disheartening.

One company put me through a series of tasks, an interview, meeting the team, a full tour of the shared office space. Once I'd done all this and 'passed' I got to have an interview with the 'CEO'. He was the biggest gif of all time. The salary was 16k and it was a 40 hour week in the office, but he said you need to be switched on 24/7 and be constantly ready to take work calls, you should do work when you get home too etc. Once you'd worked there for so long and he saw fit, you'd be allowed an hour gym break, he said if you don't use it for the gym and the gym only you lose it. He berated me, and did the standard 'someone from X uni has applied here and they're better than you, why should I bother choosing you?' I shouted at him because that really hit a nerve for me. Then he randomly offered me the job on the spot. I accepted out of awkwardness but in my head I was absolutely fuming. They were all like why aren't you happy you got the job They all went off to do something so I just walked out of the building. The girl who showed me around was texting me like aw we couldn't find you where did you go? I didn't even open the message because there was no chance I was ever going back there and then the next day she text me like we've changed our minds you haven't got it, which was so childish and gave off such 'no I dumped you first' vibes it was hysterical.

I think most dodgy organisations call themselves out when you turn up there and see it for real

 

[Mojojojo67]

Also shows where your charity "donations" are ending up - in tiresome processes rather than on the front line!

 

[lycheemartini]

I would not even give that company the time of day. A 4 to 10 hour written test? Are they insane? I can’t even concentrate for that long.
I once went for a job that was 3 interviews and a role play that I had to record and upload. They made me wait TWO MONTHS for them to get back to me, and then to be told I didn’t have enough experience. It was horrid.

 

[Peaches_xox]

The only reason we do our jobs is for MONEEEYYY it shouldnt be such a taboo subject but it is

I know you know what I hate, when they’re like ‘why do you want this job’ and I always wanna say errrrm cos I wanna get paid bitch

 

[Inforapenny]

Over the summer a guy on LinkedIn posted about his dismay of having to go through around 5 rounds of interviews, over months to only be snapped up by another company in the meantime.
It seems that companies are starting to really make hiring ridiculous. People are calling it breadcrumbing and then ghosting candidates.

Anyhow fast forward and I'm applying for jobs. I got an email from head of said company asking for an interview in the new year. Great. However I now believe this 'interview' to be an interview for the interview
They sent through their interview process and I'm now really unsure about the company and if their recruitment process is a piss take??? Is it a massive read flag???
Have they just got a shit policies, is this a bad sign?

I've been told after the first interview I need to expect up to 6 interviews plus interviews in between at their discretion.
If I get through all of this I have to have a written test that is between 4 to 10 hours long.
(I went to uni/I studied at Cambridge uni,that's on my CV so I'd like to think this makes the above slightly redundant).

On top of this they have not disclosed the salary and their policy is that they will decide on a salary depending on experience and this is no negotiable. I found the wording quite spikey and aggressive.

Has anyone else had this experience? Some of my friends have had a few too many rounds of interviews but this seems ridiculous? Am I right to be thinking this is a red flag?

PS it's NFP charity.

 

[JulieScoobyDoo]

Without salary information you can't know if you would even be able to afford to work for them / apply for a mortgage in the future. There is clearly a huge difference between £19K a year and £190K a year and I would want that information, as a minimum before I invested any time in the interview process.

 

[wearedoomed]

A recruiter once sent me to an interview without actually having one arranged with the client. He must have been hoping they'd just take me on anyway but they didn't even have any open positions. To their credit, the client made time for a chat but admitted they couldn't offer anything.

Worst thing was it was 150 miles from home in an area I was considering relocating to. A very long and wasted day.

 

[Rxt156]

I hate the weaknesses question. If I told the truth that I will do the absolute bare minimum without making it look like that way, there’s no way I’d get the job .

 

[Inforapenny]

Can we talk about stupid application questions too? I had one recently asking "if you were a biscuit which biscuit would you be", I mean, how is that relevant to any professional job?

I answered digestive - considered a bit boring maybe, but what you see is what you get. I didn't hear anything from them, so I guess they were looking for more of a hobnob or party ring .

The same application also asked "if you could have any super power what would it be", again pointless and irrelevant.

Fucking patronising bollocks.
Makes me made. These companies are just taking the piss.

 

[Inforapenny]

Last Friday I got a rejection email for a job application. I'd actually forgotten about it and didn't give it any thought.
Monday get a phone call asking to come to interview and that they now want to interview me. I asked was it because a candidate had dropped out and they said yes. So I'm making up the numbers then.
It was 2 days notice whereas other candidates I'm sure had 5 to 7 days to prepare.
Knowing that this isn't great and considering they really apparently wanted to interview me they didn't exactly go out of their way make me think I should bother.
Any how I said I can't do 2 days time unfortunately I have meetings all day. They were very put out by this so I suggested Thursday instead.
They got back to me with a turse email saying nope it has to be Wednesday you do realise we're very busy.
So I just said no thanks.
What I concluded was they're an entitled organisation who can't be flexible so I wouldn't want to work for them and if they had a specific interview date in mind they should have clearly stated on the job application a few months back.
It was also very clear that they were simply making up numbers and keen to tick a box and if that was their only day they were more interested in filling a role ASAP than having a few dates for interviews to get the right fit.

Anyway on the same day as that shit show my director approached me and offered me the role of acting head of my department. So screw all the shite companies who treat candidates like shit.

I've come to realise it goes both ways.

 

[Inforapenny]

Thought I'd give an update.
The interview was intense and the interviewer was absolutely lovely to me which I suppose was a positive I ended up sharing loads of strategies of how I currently run things in my current company with the interviewer saying at least 3 or 4 times "oh wow that's a good idea, I'm going to use that myself" (which I was a bit fucked off at).
Got to salary and I said I needed to think about this due to the conversation (we'd just had about the set up of the role etc).
So apparently their talent team are going to email me the salary band for the role.
Haven't heard anything yet. I have an overwhelming gut feeling I'll never hear back.
I should be charging by the hour. I'll invoice them the bill.

 

[Moonflower]

Can we talk about stupid application questions too? I had one recently asking "if you were a biscuit which biscuit would you be", I mean, how is that relevant to any professional job?

I answered digestive - considered a bit boring maybe, but what you see is what you get. I didn't hear anything from them, so I guess they were looking for more of a hobnob or party ring .

The same application also asked "if you could have any super power what would it be", again pointless and irrelevant.

 

[maple1993]

Former HR person here. I used to have to hire for a number of roles in an Irish media organization. My manager told me I wasn’t allowed to disclose salary in interviews/initial phone calls (surprise surprise because it was shite). I swiftly left and have specialized in payroll as I couldn’t bring myself to work in recruitment much longer felt like a conman

 

[Tyla73]

After an initial interview with an internal recruiter I was told I would not be put forward for the first stage interview. Why? She thought my shoes were too expensive and this indicated I wouldn't stay with the company. I was unemployed, on very little money, and the shoes were not exactly Chanel. I certainly told her what I thought of that idea.

An interviewer asked my taste in music (This was a "trendy" PR company with mostly young staff) and then laughed at me when I told him! No, I didn't get the job

This is one of the age old problems of job hunting- you are totally at the mercy of recruiters personal prejudices and life ideas. It’s ridiculous.

Years ago, when I was looking for my second job, I went to an interview that I thought went well. When I spoke to the recruitment consultant afterwards she went mad at me asking what on earth I’d said about my parents. Apparently the person who interviewed me decided that I ‘clearly had a problematic relationship with my parents’ and she wouldn’t employ ’someone like that’. I was furious and didn’t hide it - I replied that I had a perfectly good relationship with my parents, not that it was the business of either the interviewer or the recruitment consultant, and even if I didn’t that had nothing to do with my ability to do the job. Also, there was nothing that had been said in the interview that could have possibly led any rational person to that conclusion. I then suggested to the recruitment consultant that it was her client that had parent issues and I didn’t want to work for someone who behave in such a bonkers manner. The recruitment consultant was stunned when I bit back, I think she thought I’d start crying and begging for her advice. I was feisty as fuck in my 20s.

As if you’d want to work somewhere where some cocky little shit is unprofessional enough to laugh at your music taste in the interview anyway . Clearly not a company where your ability to do your job is what’s most important.

 

[witchofwestbyfleet]

I briefly dated a Korean woman who had recently moved to the UK and was looking for work. She asked for my help on a job application which contained several weird questions. One of them was something like "you have to take some international students on a trip but they've been to London, Bristol, Bath, Cardiff, Oxford, Manchester, Liverpool, and Edinburgh so you can't take them back there. Where will you take them?" How was she supposed to answer that?

 

[Snippysnips]

For me personally if they didn't want to disclose the salary I'd have been like bye, to me it sounds ridiculous expecting you to go through all that an they aren't even going to disclose everything about the job including the most important part which for most people can be a huge decider

Honestly unless it's a top CEO position that's paying over 100k a year I think they are asking way to much, surely your CV an a good hour long interview is enough to decide if you are good enough or not, I'll never understand why companies want more than one interview when you should be learning everything about the person an if they are right or not inside the first interview

I'd maybe go for the first interview, it will let you see the place an met them, an take a notepad of questions you want to ask, you can usually get a vibe off people when you first met them an just follow your gut feeling, how they approach you, how they greet you, do they look you up an down, are they genuinely intrested in YOUR questions, do they seem interested or are they just sounding bored, do they keep eye contact or look around the room, will they give you a date they will contact you back or just give the "I'll talk soon" bs which means they couldn't have cared much, how a person reacts around you tells a lot, also its important to take in the surroundings, do you sense uncomfortableness there or does it seemed relaxed, how are people working, do they seem tense or speaking with others, observing everything can speak volumes in knowing if its for you

 

[Kim Mild]

Job interviews are a two way process, they are also to see if the company is where the candidate wants to work .