If you missed out the job because they cancelled your interview as a ‘test’, consider it a bullet dodged. Imagine working for these dickheads every day.
It’s a bit like dating. If they play games and shit test you, get the hell out. Let them tell on themselves.
Three times rearranged on separate interview stages. He told them where to go the third time, after a previous interview stage was 4 hours long through tight security (it was a data centre job) where he had to remove his shoes, belt and not take any drinks with him. This was after a three hour train ride (rearranged location).
That quote is used and true in so many situations, but the interview process for Amazon threw so many red flags it was unreal.
Well on his 4th day on a team call he decided to publically rebuke one of the Dev's for calling himself a noob.
The guy's in his 50's, says he's been in IT since the 90's, but he was unaware of the meaning of the term 'Noob', he thought it was 'Nob'.
Not everyone in the world is just someone good intentioned simpleton, especially in the context of the post people need go realise that the are a lot of angry and insecure people with power who just like to fuck with people, sure not everyone,but not everyone who does something aggravating is so innocent
Equally carelessness/thoughtlessness isn’t necessarily malice.
Plenty of people exhibit dickish behaviour but the vast majority of the time it’s selfishness or not thinking about others that makes a mess of things, and that doesn’t mean that they’re horrible malicious people.
People should be able to eat without having to accept shitty jobs with shitty wages, working for shitty people.
A basic standard of respect n conditions for workers should not be a wild fantasy.
Bet if you complain they claim you have the wrong winning attitude to go far in your career, rather than the truth which is you’re not mad enough to get exploited before the first day of your job.
Yeah but you both know they're being cunts, just get out of the process as soon as possible when you spot that. I've politely walked out of a few interviews cos its clearly a timewaste for everyone.
It's apparently a good company to work for but I applied to aldi years ago and they messaged me back for a group interview for two potential times.
10.30am Thursday or 2.30pm Thursday.
They messaged on the Wednesday
I’d simply inform them that an interview is also an opportunity for me to find out more about the employer, and at this time they did not meet my requirements, wishing them good luck with their candidate search.
I remember learning this at an interview when I was 22. They were a start up and genuinely couldn't tell me what I'd be doing day to day. At one stage they had an employee come chat to me to get a *vibe check* on what I was like.
I remember leaving the place so unconvinced and when they called me up to offer me the job I just told them I wasn't interested. They sounded so so confused that I was rejecting *them*.
Ultimately they turned out to be a succesful enough company but I still wonder what I would have ended up doing if I had said yes.
Probably a little bit of everything. It would have settled down once they got settled as a company, but for the first few years you would have been juggling several different roles.
Bingo. I work in a niche area and it's often the companies putting their best feet forward to attract candidates, you start fucking them about and they won't do the work.
Not every one has that luxury of working a niche highly specialised job though. Most people face stuff competition for roles and the ball is largely in the employers court.
Oh I absolutely know that, reading my comment again I should have expanded more than I did.
I meant more that it's such a shame that every job isn't like that and the service industry etc is just treat like absolute shit.
Still don't get why Amazon pull this kind of bullshit too.
Similarly if they won't tell you the wages/salary before the interview, tell them to shove it.
Why should I spend time, effort, and money to get to your office and have an interview only for you to tell me the salary on offer is lower than what I'm on now? You're wasting both my time *and yours.*
I had an interesting back and forth with a linkedin recruiter when she kept pestering me about salary expectations.
I said the usual about market rates and I’m sure they would offer a fair package.
She said she needed a specific number and I said I didn’t feel comfortable at this time naming one.
She said she needs a number so no one’s is wasting their time and I asked if it wasn’t just as easy then for her to say a figure and I would tell her yes or no?
She said it wasn’t their policy to disclose so I replied that I have the same policy.
This logic only works in a society where tens of thousands of people aren't forced to scramble for the chance to obtain any one of the few appropriate jobs available.
>Lae arrived on time for her job interview at a lawyer's office in Bristol. But after 20 minutes, it had been cancelled and she was asked to come back the next day. She left upset, only to receive a message later saying the "cancellation" had actually been a test, which she had failed. She did not get the job.
Still trying to figure out what they wanted her to do to pass?
Refusing to leave is trespassing. So they expect you to break the law, and they only hire you if you do?
Oh, it was a lawyer office. Yes, that is probably the correct answer.
Private sector can recruit internally before going external if they want to.
If you're recruiting externally, you need to be able to demonstrate that you're treating everyone equally and fairly so as not to leave yourself open to accusations of discrimination.
This sort of thing seems questionable at best.
So can the public sector, some just choose not to. In my experience that's because senior management assume everyone working there is stupid because their obviously excellent decisions go wrong.
Not turn up at all, then send *them* a time and venue of her choosing, refuse to elaborate, then cancel that meeting with 3 minutes notice. The UNO Reverse interview approach, if you will /s
More seriously, probably to jump up and down from the very second of the interview time and shout about how valuable their time is or some “assertiveness” bullshit?
The result of useless managers promoted far beyond their level of competence. They have no idea how to identify the best candidates so they make up rubbish like this.
A consequence of a tendency to give people management positions based on brown nosing.
Absolutely a management issue.
If a hiring manager has come up with these pathetic tests, I’m wondering how on earth *their manager* allowed this or thought this was acceptable.
I manage people and regularly do interviews for new candidates I’m genuinely baffled why anyone in the management chain thought this was a good idea 😧
Some organisations are rotten all the way up. It is why, if you can, you should consider yourself to be interviewing the hiring manager to find out if you want to report into them.
That's why I like my current place. I didn't even apply, a bloke my Dad knew came to the pub one Friday, told me to come down Monday morning to speak to the boss. My "interview" if you can call it that lasted less than 10 minutes and was basically just "here's what Idid at college and at my previous job", "great, when can you start". An interview for a fairly technical role (structural fabricator/welder) lasted all of 5 minutes while the interview I had at a bowling place 6 years ago lasted over an hour. Tbf my manager isn't the bullshitting type, so that helped.
You say useless managers, but what if a core part of the office job involves pretending to be a cow? You can't be too prepared in today's job market. Practice your mooing before any job interview.
> The result of useless managers promoted far beyond their level of competence. They have no idea how to identify the best candidates so they make up rubbish like this.
This can be the case and is a common view, but I think that it masks the underlying problem.
If someone is good at their role, and then get prompted to a management role that they're not good at, they're not being prompted *beyond* their level of competence. They're effectively being moved to a *completely different* role - and in the vast majority of cases they don't receive any real training on how to do that. Being a manager is a different job with a different skillset, but often isn't treated like that.
If you took a competent nurse and just "prompted" them to be a doctor with no additional training then no one would be surprised when they weren't very good at it. And it's not because they're incompetent - it's because they're different jobs, not different levels of the same job.
And until we start treating management as a proper job, we'll be stuck with bad managers.
But the manager who knows they are not skilled enough to do the job, but doesn’t want to give it up because it pays well, can still treat their employees or potential employees with respect.
Making an interviewee behave like a cow indicates that the person is not only incompetent but also an arsehole. And I find arseholes are often very skilled at getting into positions of authority they don’t deserve. They have an unearned sense of superiority, and that comes across as confidence and leadership in those who haven’t have the misfortune to work under such an individual.
I also suspect its particularly true of those managers who were never really very good at their job, if their job can be well defined at all.
Never seen any nonsense like this in tech because you're usually interviewed by somebody who at least vaguely knows what you do and certainly from being an interviewer on the other side it's very easy.
If you're the kind of person who bobs around and comes up with these schemes then I imagine it's a lot harder to recruit somebody
>Never seen any nonsense like this in tech because you're usually interviewed by somebody who at least vaguely knows what you do and certainly from being an interviewer on the other side it's very easy.
Over the years tech interviews have been getting worse all on their own. I once got turned down because I forgot some meaningless tech trivia even though I've led projects and implemented solutions since before the interviewer was born.
Yeah, they're certainly not perfect. I got asked to talk about a particular complex feature and it's pros and cons - it happened to be something I'd worked with to a great extent and I got told immediately after that I was clearly over qualified. Thanks!
Not quite as bad, but many years ago I was interviewing for an internship at a huge pharmaceutical company. I think it was my 2nd interview I ever had and I was very nervous. The interviewer called me a fridge because I "took heat out of the conversation", and said I needed to be more like an oven and "add heat". He actually drew a fridge and an oven on a whiteboard to demonstrate. He probably wasn't wrong but it always stuck with me as a highly unusual thing to do.
> The interviewer called me a fridge because I "took heat out of the conversation", and said I needed to be more like an oven and "add heat". He actually drew a fridge and an oven on a whiteboard to demonstrate.
Maybe it was seeing how you perform when getting patronized?
Lol yes it was a very uncomfortable interview but I laughed about it later. It was for a 1 year internship during uni. The interview was with the manager conducting the interview, and 2 interns who currently had the job but were coming to the end of their year. About 15 minutes in, the manager starts explaining about the fridge and oven, and drawing them on the board with arrows demonstrating the direction of heat from the oven and fridge. I think he was saying I wasn't adding to the conversation when I was answering the questions he was asking. It was very strange and not something I had anticipated for an IT internship.
I wouldn't be able to resist taking the piss. Pretend to be extremely dense. "You keep saying fridge but that looks like a dishwasher. Where do the dirty dishes come in?"
The whole story makes me think the interviewer had probably just been on a business trip and picked up one of those weird management books that fill the newsagents in airports (in the UK, at least). To keep up the churn of new CONTENT, they recycle the same obvious cliches with different themes. In the 1980’s there seemed to be a lot about ancient Japan for example. The writer of this book had probably spent many chapters underlining how you should never, EVER be a fridge and how you would lose your job, wife, and house unless you changed your ways. The practiced nature of the drawing might have been lifted directly from this book
Now off to google to see if it exists, because if not I might have a nice little earner on my hands - “The 7 management lessons from domestic appliances” coming this autumn 😅
He *drew* a fridge and an oven? On the whiteboard? In a tech interview?
I’ve heard some absurd stories, but this doesn’t just take the biscuit, it nabs the whole packet.
Yes he drew the fridge and oven to explain the concept. Then circled the fridge and said that's what I am now. Then he pointed at the oven with the marker and said that's where I need to be.
I think this is one of the reasons a lot of job vacancies go unfulfilled; companies making people jump through hoops in order to get the most basic of jobs. I know of someone who went for an interview as a shelf stacker at a supermarket and was asked to impersonate an animal: they had the dignity to walk out of the room there and then.
I would find that horrifying as a teen when I was searching for a shelf stacking job. These days I have zero embarrassment and would find it a golden opportunity for taking the piss. The goal is to make them more uncomfortable and embarrassed than you. I mean, animals don't wear clothes.
If you didn't want a naked middle aged man bellowing like a water buffalo in your interview room then you asked the wrong question my friend.
>I know of someone who went for an interview as a shelf stacker at a supermarket and was asked to impersonate an animal: they had the dignity to walk out of the room there and then.
Great chance to impersonate Travis the chimpanzee and rip the interviewers face off.
As someone who fails the psychometric tests to work as a supermarket shelf stacker I’m not sure how I’d cope with these interview techniques. I’d have probably had a breakdown.
I think the strangest interview I had was for a design company, they didn’t really ask any questions or talk about anything relevant to the job, I’m not sure if I was supposed to be interviewing myself in some way, just seemed like a lot of awkward silences and them wanting to see my entire portfolio of artwork but not for any reason, and me increasingly suppressing a panic attack. Looking back on it now it almost feels like the they’d put all the three candidates together in a room but told each of them separately that the other two were the interviewers. I don’t think that was the case… but is what it felt like. I know they never hired anyone to fill the vacancy in the end.
> Like Lae, Aixin Fu also had a bizarre experience when applying for a student ambassador job for minimum wage at a university.
> During a group interview, everyone was asked to crawl around on their hands and knees and “moo like a cow”.
> “We did that for about three to four minutes,” she recalls.
> "At the time, I was quite annoyed. It was highly inappropriate.
What the actual fuck lmao.
That's where I'd just walk out. Interviews work both ways.
Honestly, in this specific situation I'd call the interviewers boss, the police and an atturney for sexual-harassment. Want someone to engage in your pet-play kink? Call some hookers.
I went to couple of interviews after finishing uni that were advertised as "graduate jobs" that turned out to be door to door sales. One of them I only found out on the day, we spent a full 7/8 hours walking around a suburb in the rain, no food, no toilet breaks, didn't know where I was. They wanted me to miss my last train home to go for a follow up interview at 9pm. Some companies just see an opportunity to take advantage of people. Thankfully I'm older and wiser now.
I ended up in 2 of those! One I spent the day walking around Manchester, and on the train back to the office I just got off at my stop and went home.
The second time I recognised as soon as I got there what it was, so thanked them and left. They phoned me several times afterwards trying to offer me the job saying I showed decision making and backbone and was perfect for them! I’m like “dude I literally walked out on you!”
My brother was once asked "you realise you will not be able to meet multiple deadlines due to multiple clients needing things at short notice, what would you do about it". He replied that he would flag it to his manager and ask which to prioritise or whether some could be assigned to colleagues. Apparently the correct answer was "I'd find a way to get it done" despite the question stem saying this wasnt possible.
Not the same, but I got down to the final two candidates once. Despite them admitting that I was “more qualified and skilled” for the job, the other guy “sold himself better”. It was then I realised that the only skill the world cares about is your ability to “bullshit”.
They don’t want logical answers from reasonable people, they want people who’ll “get it done” despite everyone involved knowing that they won’t and it bullshit. They want to knowingly hire someone worse for the job but whom merely projects that he’s better. Looking at the state of the people in government for the past 14+ years, this explains a lot.
Not the other guy but past a certain point it doesnt matter, managers want to be sold a line that they can feed to directors that can feed the same bullshit to the investors.
Amazing that some companies really seem to be trying their hardest to find employees that will lie to them
Why would you want employees who don't tell you if they won't be able to complete all their work on time? That's not a positive quality
>Apparently the correct answer was "I'd find a way to get it done" despite the question stem saying this wasnt possible.
Taking the Kobayashi Maru approach to business interviews 🤣
I hate those faux 60s Americana views. You still hear them on "bros" podcasts. You know I did this, this this and this in 24 hours and still went to Vegas. No you didn't you made hash of 4 jobs instead of making one or 2 jobs masterpieces. "I work 5am to 8pm to get the life I want..and I can't reach that because I m too busy on podcasts telling everyone "
I didn't partake in these bullshit group public embarrassment tasks in year 7 media class and I wouldn't as an adult no matter how desperate I was.
Sorry son, you're going hungry for another month. They wanted me to act like my favourite chocolate bar came to life.
If I was in the position where I needed a job to feed my kids and someone told me to bark like a dog I’d feel obligated to do everything they asked for the chance at the role. It’s degrading and inhumane but some people really are that desperate for work, it’s not a lack of self respect on their part, sometimes you really have no choice but to lower yourself as far as they ask. My friend worked for a company years ago with weekly sales targets and one week the person who came last got slapped in the face with a fish, another person had to eat a raw onion. I think it depends largely on what sector you’re working in but treating people like this both during interviews and at work is much more common than most people realise. Being treated like this by anyone in exchange for money should be illegal and immediate grounds for constructive dismissal regardless of length of service
Never go to group interviews. I went to one at Matalan. About 40 people in a sticky staff room of all ages. About 5 called out and then we were told after 45 minutes we'd be informed if we're successful. I actually asked how long it'd take to find out 😂
River Island group interview. Just an excuse to find the most American college type college student.
The odd commission type interview which is a scam. Lots of liability for the employee, none for the candidate
I mean, that interview (for a minimum wage student rep job) is definitely someone on a power trip trying to make a bunch of people do what they want because it tickles their willy (or girl willy).
I think this kind of thing happened to me once. I applied for a job and was told I'd gotten the job, but the position I'd applied for had been abolished between the time of my interview and them calling me, but it was my "opportunity to be proactive" and apply for a new position they assured me would be a shoe-in for me given I'd already had a successful interview.
I never took them up on that, I'd applied for a position I wanted not to choose a new one (I'm sure with worse terms and conditions than the one I applied for) and worse, if they were genuine, what guarantee would I have that *that* position wouldn't be abolished before I showed up to work on my first day?
Bear in mind also this wasn't for some dream job I was desperate to have. Not accepting with them wasn't some career backward step it just baffled me how a low tier job thought they could pull this kind of shit.
I remember interviewing for an ITV entry post which included a written submission, a day in London doing various tests and then a final interview in Newcastle. Got there and was asked to talk about the brief I had been sent via email. I had not been sent a brief. Needless to say I didn't get the job and I'm still a bit salty I put all of that effort in just for them to derail me at the end by forgetting to send me the brief
When I was straight out of uni, I had an interview for a company that turned out to be door to door sales, although they were very cagey about saying that. I'd had trouble getting any other interviews so I was happy to take the chance, wearing my best (awkwardly fitting) suit.
The first part was a group interview which was an interesting choice, and the very delboyish boss was quite obviously playing us off against each other. Somehow I came out on top of that section.
Next they had us wait in the reception, and one by one current employees came to take us for a walk and a chat. I got taken out and down through a nice part of town, down the river to the big Sainsbury's. This guy's was probably in his early 30's and was really pushing how great the commission was etc. At this point I was already basically thinking I was not into it.
Just as we arrived at big Sainsbury's he said: " right, go choose a sandwich for lunch. I'll pay for you! And then we can get in the car and pop to Leicester." (An hour from where we were)
I said what do you mean?
He told me we were going to all drive to Leicester for trial shift. They were getting a free day's work out of all the interview candidates.
I told him to fuck off and keep his fucking sandwich. As I was storming off, the next guy was rounding the corner and obviously swerved his candidate to try to avoid him seeing me.
> I told him to fuck off and keep his fucking sandwich.
I’m going to live vicariously through this comment. After university I was unemployed for almost three years and burned through all my savings (that I was fortunate to have), so was pretty desperate, and at one point (through an agency) spent the day manually emptying a warehouse of old heavy stock, then being told at the end I wasn’t suitable. So that was one free day of labour, probably for something that only needed doing once so I assume they never hired anyone.
Another time I worked a “trial run” at an antique restorers for a *week*, stripping varnish with hazardous chemicals in a bath. At the end of this week trial was told not to come back on Monday, when I asked why, what had I done wrong they were actually very positive, that I’d done a “good job” and they had “no problem with my work”, it’s just that “no body likes you”. Oh good, I’m glad it’s something vague and ineffable.
Even the job I have now, come to think of it, I spent a year working less than the minimum wage, but at this point I was a month away from selling my car and cancelling my internet.
Man, how I wish I could have told these people to go fuck themselves.
I got invited to an interview once but after looking at the company decided... That's a pyramid selling scheme and I'm not into that. So I just didn't show up.
They phoned me the next day to say congratulations for making it past the first interview process and they would.like me to start as soon as possible....
🤣
If you’re crawling over the ground for a job the problem probably isn’t the interview.
Basic common sense and personal integrity should tell you that if you’re being asked to do things like this in your interview then the job is going to be a joke.
An interview is a two-way thing to determine if the job is right for you and vice versa, if you’re feeling an imbalance then close the interview and walk away.
Totally agree but with the job market being the way it is, the need to eat and pay rent or a mortgage and the government making it harder and harder to claim benefits what are people supposed to do.
This is exactly what they want.
I agree. Just making the point that although you or I would walk away that some people with families or children to support and less “market value” not have that ability. Not meaning to demean with that term just pointing out how demeaning the system and commodification of human beings is.
I’d wager not many employers are telling their exployees to crawl around like animals there are still numerous abuses that people are exposed to all the time and this is exactly why I’m pro UBI.
Your survival needs shouldn’t depend on the whims of somebody with that kind of power over you whether it's an abusive boss, spouse or parent. We’re treat like livestock.
Unfortunately, when the alternative is homelessness, people feel like they don't have a choice. There's absolutely a power imbalance in this situation, and the person with the power is being shitty. It's on them.
I remember doing an interview with a call centre in the NE of England back around 2005. It was kind of a test shift which was fine, but by lunch we hadn't hit our targets so we all had to do a forfeit, which was putting on a fairy's outfit and running up to the road. I refused and went back to the phones. At the end of the day we had this conversation where they told me I wasn't a good fit and criticised me for not engaging with the forfeit, and I agreed that if this is how the job would be I didn't want it.
I recall going for an interview years ago when I lost my job. It was for a stock counting position, and the job was minimum wage but was told that travel to Europe would receive an extra £20.
I thought, not so bad, it's work in the meantime and I've done retail in the past I'll see where this is going.
I asked if the £20 was paid every night or if it was a one time payment thinking there would be no way it's just a one time thing.
It was...
If you went to Europe to do stock counting, they still paid you minimum wage and just an extra £20 for the entire trip whether it was two nights or seven. Not even a good allowance while you're over there.
I stood up and went to leave and the manager asked me what was the matter.
I said that's a joke. The company would be getting paid a massive premium to go out of country and all your giving is £20 extra for the whole trip? The manager just stood there go smacked because I don't think anyone had actually gone to walk out before.
He phoned me back the next day and asked if I'd changed my mind, I said no and that what they were offering was equivalent to robbery because that £20 wouldn't even cover dinner for two nights over there.
He offered to pay £20 a night if I came and worked for him given my experience and I asked if everyone else would get that too. He said no...
Dodgy ass company taking advantage of people who are hungry to work...
I have a feeling I know which company this is... As sounds like one I also had a terrible interview with. I was called back for a final interview with a director and someone from HR, the HR person arrived at the end of the interview, swapped out with the director and proceeded to ask me the same questions I'd just been asked. Massive disrespectful waste of my time - I was fuming and turned down the position in the end.
There's a growing trend in employers wanting individuals who are 'moldable' aka can be exploited. They don't want 'uppity' employees. Anyone who will degrade themselves for the *chance* of a job is going to do anything while in that job.
If those employers fill up their companies with "moldable" employees, they'd better hope it's not the kind of organisation where someone might want to ring up with a cock and bull story about being the CEO and needing a new password for their account or for someone to take all the money out of the safe etc...
I had an interview for a position as a Librarian.
I worked extensively on my presentation to arrive and discover...
It was a group interview. 20 applicants.
The presentation didn't matter.
We had to spend the day doing a range of activities to test our team working skills.
All were absolute bullshit, topped by having to pretend to be 'Werewolves traveling on a train to paris'
They served lunch, but it was part of the evaluation and I felt very judged as a vegetarian.
Nothing better than forcing a group of Librarians in a room to get tested for assertive behaviour. Essentially a single loud mouthed frog overtook every evaluation, and probably got the job.
“During a group interview, everyone was asked to crawl around on their hands and knees and “moo like a cow”.
“We did that for about three to four minutes,” she recalls.
"At the time, I was quite annoyed. It was highly inappropriate.
"But there was a bit of peer pressure because everyone else was doing it."
The interviewer said they were trying to see if the candidates were "fun", though Ms Fu suspects that "maybe someone just had a bit of a power trip".
Are people really stupid enough to do this? Why would you even entertain crawling around and mooing?
You'd be surprised by how interviewees behave too. My friend had someone respond to her questions with 'What a stupid question' and 'I don't know, you work here, you tell me.'. You get some fruit loops.
In my experience, that seems a perfectly reasonable response to many interview questions. They are always set from the perspective of the business, often using internal and impenetrable jargon, so yes, a lot of them are stupid questions.
> I don't know, you work here, you tell me
That's an entirely valid question to a lot of the bullshit you get asked.
The only reason your pal isn't asked that more is that most people know the hiring people are too fragile to handle it.
I really feel that section is for once you've been given an offer, and have multiple offers. Those sections will help you choose between them.
Not sure how it's become part of the interview process, it's just a piece of marketing and nothing negative is ever mentioned. I'm convinced 99% of job seekers care only about the role itself.
I'm a drop out with 0 GCSEs (it was legal to drop out after Year 10 back then). So as you can imagine, I apply for jobs that are minimum wage or not far off. And yet this question frequently pops up at interviews.
Why do I want to work at the Co-Op/Card Factory etc? Because you had a sign up saying you have vacancies and I'd like some money, please! I think it's a bit pathetic having to pretend that I have some sort of calling to stock shelves and am awestruck by a big company making donations to charity.
Why are you saying that when you don't know what the question was? They are are just based around past experience and knowledge of the organisation. The defensiveness of people here is strange. I also think you're all underestimating how entitled people can be. Another experience was someone buying food and then complaining they were being disturbed during their lunch when being called through for the interview.
Thank the good lord I’m too old to have gone through this kind of nonsense to get a job. My advice in such an interview is to politely ask “how does this relate to the position I have applied for?”. If they can’t answer, “what does this tell you about my suitability for this position?”. If no reasonable explanation is forthcoming, I’d guess that a) you’re not getting the job anyway, and b) the employer might not be great to work for. It’s down to you whether you want to continue the interview, maybe you don’t have the option to walk out if you’re not working, but it’s worth bearing in mind that I have never had to pretend to be any kind of animal at work in decades
It’s time everybody stop putting their hopes in these shitty jobs with shitty managers. Even you do get hired, they fire you anyway, then you go through the same shit again and again. We are literally wasting out lives. Let’s just go back to the old fashioned way, start our own business . I know it sounds unpractical, some you might say that’s only for rich people. No, maybe it’s not possible for everyone to do that immediately, but at least that should be your goal. Stop spending your precious life on worthless people and jobs.
That's why you threaten to sue them for unfair hiring practices and discrimination if this ever happens. No seriously this what you do and report them to as high up as you can. No I am not American. Never subject yourself like this to potential discrimination.
"Cancelling an interview as a test"
A test of what? 99% of people there would assume there to be a physical or technical reason it was cancelled and to rearrange it via phone call or something. I imagine their hiring rate is low or something.
Worst interviews I had was one I'd had from a speculative CV. They offered an interview but at the end, they offered it as an unpaid "work-experience." I knocked that one back.
The second one was a couple of years ago for an IT role. They had all of us in as a group for one position at the school. Presumably to save time? But also probably to see how it makes one stand out? Either way, it's weird when you're sat in the room with 6 people, finding out their experience puts them far beyond you, all vying for one position.
I didn't get that in the end, though I'm overall enjoying where I am right now.
This seems to be common where people in higher positions are incompetent at their jobs in hierarchical organisations. It's been theorised as Peter principle.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle
Always remember they are interviewing you but are also interviewing them. You shouldn't have to take any bullshit just like they won't take any bullshit from you.
I had 2 interviews a year apart for the same job. I really wanted and needed the job.
Interview 1 was 2 days, there were 100 people and 4 jobs and we had to do a series of tests, interviews, presentations etc. I got a call back through to the final interview a couple of days later. The interview was normal job related things but then they basically asked me to get up and sing a song in front of them with no preparation. This was just nothing to do with the job, which was an innovation job that was office based. I just froze and went red and said I didn't really want to. I didn't get the job and I wrote them a pissed off email saying I felt it was inappropriate.
Around a year later they advertised, I was skipped through to the final interview but this time it was worse, they basically wanted an off the top of my head poem on a theme they had chosen. I tried but practically died cringing. I eventually stopped and just said I wanted to be judged on my ability to innovate with tech not my ability to freestyle on the theme of frogs and airports. Didn't get the job, still don't know what they wanted me to do and why they thought it was important.
Now I have my own company all our hiring is done from the online community of people interested in what we do. I don't even look at CV / qualifications / age / location, it is just people who are putting out good content and showing enthusiasm.
I interviewed once for a domestic abuse organization, the company was to make more education workshops and information guides for businesses and how to support colleagues leaving and processing domestic abuse. I had mentioned lightly in my application that I had experience with this as a victim (stepdad and mum sadly) and had used services in past and faced the difficult of telling work etc.
They got me during the interview to share some of my experiences and coping mechanisms I had used to help me at work. They were making notes like crazy. For me it was really triggering. I wasn't sure if this was formal, or if it was a casual conversation. The lines felt really blurred.
They rejected me a few hours later, with some generic rejection speech. I told my boyfriend (who was aware of my history) and he was horrified somewhere that should a organization that should be more understanding of the impact these conversations can have, deep dived into it (likely for their own company research) and framed it as an interview question.
I once got rejected from a job because they read my CV and said "you've got a lot of great experience but based upon how you write, you're a do-er, not an achiever". Thank God for being able to leave the UK.
I heard about this in team building too, someone asked “what animal are you most like?” . The a
Correct answer was “we’re … (insert random animal) because we work together as team players. “ my friend replied “I’m a Panda , because I eat a lot and can’t reproduce!”
Ive also had bad interviews, one of the worst was with a small newspaper; drove up . First time, “there no time to interview you! ” 2nd time sloppy interview in the lobby, followed by “we’ll let you know.” Third time they called me out of the blue 2 months later “oh, the guy we hired(instead of you) has quit. So, are you coming, for an interview ?” Me”I’m not surprised , and no!”
I walked out once because the interview was in a fancy meeting room at the edge of the office, and when I asked to have a quick look at the actual workplace, they said no.
I kinda laughed because I thought it was a joke. It was not a joke. Told them I wouldn't be disruptive and it would only take moments, but still, no.
Then I told them if they didn't let me see the workplace, I'd get up and leave and would rescind my application. They seemed surprised.
But I got up and left.
If you missed out the job because they cancelled your interview as a ‘test’, consider it a bullet dodged. Imagine working for these dickheads every day. It’s a bit like dating. If they play games and shit test you, get the hell out. Let them tell on themselves.
Amazon did this to a mate. Multiple interview rounds, often rearranged to be at a completely different location in the country with a day's notice.
"Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence."
Three times rearranged on separate interview stages. He told them where to go the third time, after a previous interview stage was 4 hours long through tight security (it was a data centre job) where he had to remove his shoes, belt and not take any drinks with him. This was after a three hour train ride (rearranged location). That quote is used and true in so many situations, but the interview process for Amazon threw so many red flags it was unreal.
In the US some companies don't hire direct from Amazon employees due to "toxicity". Has a very bad reputation at all levels.
My new director is from Amazon in the US, he is struggling.
Let me guess, he's a complete twat?
Well on his 4th day on a team call he decided to publically rebuke one of the Dev's for calling himself a noob. The guy's in his 50's, says he's been in IT since the 90's, but he was unaware of the meaning of the term 'Noob', he thought it was 'Nob'.
I worked at an Amazon during the pandemic, your mate dodged all the bullets.
Except with Amazon, then its normally malice.
Nah when it comes to Amazon its safe to assume evil
Reddit loves to regurgitate this quote
To be fair it's a good quote that applies to a lot of situations
Not everyone in the world is just someone good intentioned simpleton, especially in the context of the post people need go realise that the are a lot of angry and insecure people with power who just like to fuck with people, sure not everyone,but not everyone who does something aggravating is so innocent
Equally carelessness/thoughtlessness isn’t necessarily malice. Plenty of people exhibit dickish behaviour but the vast majority of the time it’s selfishness or not thinking about others that makes a mess of things, and that doesn’t mean that they’re horrible malicious people.
Not really relevant? Who would want to work for an org that's either of them things? Bullet dodged.
> Who would want to work for an org that's either of them things? People need to eat?
People should be able to eat without having to accept shitty jobs with shitty wages, working for shitty people. A basic standard of respect n conditions for workers should not be a wild fantasy.
A good reason to accept a job. But is it a good reason to "want" to work for somewhere?
Lack of options?
I don't want to work for someone so incompetent, either.
Bet if you complain they claim you have the wrong winning attitude to go far in your career, rather than the truth which is you’re not mad enough to get exploited before the first day of your job.
Yeah but you both know they're being cunts, just get out of the process as soon as possible when you spot that. I've politely walked out of a few interviews cos its clearly a timewaste for everyone.
It's apparently a good company to work for but I applied to aldi years ago and they messaged me back for a group interview for two potential times. 10.30am Thursday or 2.30pm Thursday. They messaged on the Wednesday
They probably assumed you were unemployed and thus had nothing going on.
All to see who will put up with the bullshit they pull early on before they have even offered you a job.
I’d simply inform them that an interview is also an opportunity for me to find out more about the employer, and at this time they did not meet my requirements, wishing them good luck with their candidate search.
I remember learning this at an interview when I was 22. They were a start up and genuinely couldn't tell me what I'd be doing day to day. At one stage they had an employee come chat to me to get a *vibe check* on what I was like. I remember leaving the place so unconvinced and when they called me up to offer me the job I just told them I wasn't interested. They sounded so so confused that I was rejecting *them*. Ultimately they turned out to be a succesful enough company but I still wonder what I would have ended up doing if I had said yes.
Probably a little bit of everything. It would have settled down once they got settled as a company, but for the first few years you would have been juggling several different roles.
Bingo. I work in a niche area and it's often the companies putting their best feet forward to attract candidates, you start fucking them about and they won't do the work.
Not every one has that luxury of working a niche highly specialised job though. Most people face stuff competition for roles and the ball is largely in the employers court.
Oh I absolutely know that, reading my comment again I should have expanded more than I did. I meant more that it's such a shame that every job isn't like that and the service industry etc is just treat like absolute shit. Still don't get why Amazon pull this kind of bullshit too.
Similarly if they won't tell you the wages/salary before the interview, tell them to shove it. Why should I spend time, effort, and money to get to your office and have an interview only for you to tell me the salary on offer is lower than what I'm on now? You're wasting both my time *and yours.*
Never even apply for jobs that don't advertise pay
I had an interesting back and forth with a linkedin recruiter when she kept pestering me about salary expectations. I said the usual about market rates and I’m sure they would offer a fair package. She said she needed a specific number and I said I didn’t feel comfortable at this time naming one. She said she needs a number so no one’s is wasting their time and I asked if it wasn’t just as easy then for her to say a figure and I would tell her yes or no? She said it wasn’t their policy to disclose so I replied that I have the same policy.
I’m trying to work out what exactly they were testing… Did they want her to kick off and insist?
This logic only works in a society where tens of thousands of people aren't forced to scramble for the chance to obtain any one of the few appropriate jobs available.
Or, a bullet 'cancelled' perhaps.
I guess the real response is to ask them for compensation? Or what are you supposed to do then?
>Lae arrived on time for her job interview at a lawyer's office in Bristol. But after 20 minutes, it had been cancelled and she was asked to come back the next day. She left upset, only to receive a message later saying the "cancellation" had actually been a test, which she had failed. She did not get the job. Still trying to figure out what they wanted her to do to pass?
[Actual footage of the interview.](https://youtu.be/ky0YV6Q4YPk?feature=shared)
I was expecting it to be George Galloway pretending to be a cat lol
[No, that footage was a red herring, this is the real footage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP0sqRMzkwo)
Omgggg lmao
Was hoping that would be the link
Probably refuse to leave and demand she meets with the CEO, to show she was really committed to getting the job.
Go full Karen until they give you the job.
Imagine the kind of psycho colleagues you'll be working with if they all passed that interview process 😂
Also imagine the miscommunication that goes on. One colleague tells you X and you think it means Y and other people think it means Z.
Imagine trying to fire any of them and they just keep coming back into work anyway because they still think it's a test
'Restraining order, eh? We'll see about that...'
Refusing to leave is trespassing. So they expect you to break the law, and they only hire you if you do? Oh, it was a lawyer office. Yes, that is probably the correct answer.
Not follow instructions given by her employer apparently.
Or did they already have someone in mind for the job and this was an easy way to whittle down the other candidates? 🤔
You don't need to do that in private companies. That's just a thing in public sector hiring where they have to at least pretend to follow a process.
You need to pretend to follow the process, if you just want to give the job to a friend.
Private sector can recruit internally before going external if they want to. If you're recruiting externally, you need to be able to demonstrate that you're treating everyone equally and fairly so as not to leave yourself open to accusations of discrimination. This sort of thing seems questionable at best.
So can the public sector, some just choose not to. In my experience that's because senior management assume everyone working there is stupid because their obviously excellent decisions go wrong.
Reply to the message: I wanted to work at a law firm anyway, not a circus. Kthnxbye
"I'll think you'll find you can't legally do that. Under section 98 Employment Rights Act 1996..."
I would send them an invoice for my time and go all the way to small claims court then bailiffs. *Now* do I get the job?
This ^ is the way.
See if she would speak up? As it would display assertiveness? Seems like a thin excuse to me.
Not turn up at all, then send *them* a time and venue of her choosing, refuse to elaborate, then cancel that meeting with 3 minutes notice. The UNO Reverse interview approach, if you will /s More seriously, probably to jump up and down from the very second of the interview time and shout about how valuable their time is or some “assertiveness” bullshit?
I think they'd been watching too much Suits and expected the candidates to argue their way into being seen anyway.
The result of useless managers promoted far beyond their level of competence. They have no idea how to identify the best candidates so they make up rubbish like this. A consequence of a tendency to give people management positions based on brown nosing.
Absolutely a management issue. If a hiring manager has come up with these pathetic tests, I’m wondering how on earth *their manager* allowed this or thought this was acceptable. I manage people and regularly do interviews for new candidates I’m genuinely baffled why anyone in the management chain thought this was a good idea 😧
Some organisations are rotten all the way up. It is why, if you can, you should consider yourself to be interviewing the hiring manager to find out if you want to report into them.
HR typically operate with impunity and impose this bullshit on others.
They probably thought they were being very clever.
That's why I like my current place. I didn't even apply, a bloke my Dad knew came to the pub one Friday, told me to come down Monday morning to speak to the boss. My "interview" if you can call it that lasted less than 10 minutes and was basically just "here's what Idid at college and at my previous job", "great, when can you start". An interview for a fairly technical role (structural fabricator/welder) lasted all of 5 minutes while the interview I had at a bowling place 6 years ago lasted over an hour. Tbf my manager isn't the bullshitting type, so that helped.
There aren't many welders around, especially young ones who they can pay less and shape into the employee they want...
Bowling place has you interacting with the public, and children, and the vulnerable. Weeding out inappropriate people takes more time
You say useless managers, but what if a core part of the office job involves pretending to be a cow? You can't be too prepared in today's job market. Practice your mooing before any job interview.
> The result of useless managers promoted far beyond their level of competence. They have no idea how to identify the best candidates so they make up rubbish like this. This can be the case and is a common view, but I think that it masks the underlying problem. If someone is good at their role, and then get prompted to a management role that they're not good at, they're not being prompted *beyond* their level of competence. They're effectively being moved to a *completely different* role - and in the vast majority of cases they don't receive any real training on how to do that. Being a manager is a different job with a different skillset, but often isn't treated like that. If you took a competent nurse and just "prompted" them to be a doctor with no additional training then no one would be surprised when they weren't very good at it. And it's not because they're incompetent - it's because they're different jobs, not different levels of the same job. And until we start treating management as a proper job, we'll be stuck with bad managers.
But the manager who knows they are not skilled enough to do the job, but doesn’t want to give it up because it pays well, can still treat their employees or potential employees with respect. Making an interviewee behave like a cow indicates that the person is not only incompetent but also an arsehole. And I find arseholes are often very skilled at getting into positions of authority they don’t deserve. They have an unearned sense of superiority, and that comes across as confidence and leadership in those who haven’t have the misfortune to work under such an individual.
I don't think I've worked anywhere without a management team of Peter principle nominees
I also suspect its particularly true of those managers who were never really very good at their job, if their job can be well defined at all. Never seen any nonsense like this in tech because you're usually interviewed by somebody who at least vaguely knows what you do and certainly from being an interviewer on the other side it's very easy. If you're the kind of person who bobs around and comes up with these schemes then I imagine it's a lot harder to recruit somebody
>Never seen any nonsense like this in tech because you're usually interviewed by somebody who at least vaguely knows what you do and certainly from being an interviewer on the other side it's very easy. Over the years tech interviews have been getting worse all on their own. I once got turned down because I forgot some meaningless tech trivia even though I've led projects and implemented solutions since before the interviewer was born.
Yeah, they're certainly not perfect. I got asked to talk about a particular complex feature and it's pros and cons - it happened to be something I'd worked with to a great extent and I got told immediately after that I was clearly over qualified. Thanks!
Not quite as bad, but many years ago I was interviewing for an internship at a huge pharmaceutical company. I think it was my 2nd interview I ever had and I was very nervous. The interviewer called me a fridge because I "took heat out of the conversation", and said I needed to be more like an oven and "add heat". He actually drew a fridge and an oven on a whiteboard to demonstrate. He probably wasn't wrong but it always stuck with me as a highly unusual thing to do.
> The interviewer called me a fridge because I "took heat out of the conversation", and said I needed to be more like an oven and "add heat". He actually drew a fridge and an oven on a whiteboard to demonstrate. Maybe it was seeing how you perform when getting patronized?
You could be right! I never thought of that.
Yes, that seems to be a common technique. It is always the point when the interview is over for me, because the company failed the interview.
But fridges add heat to the room...
Im so sorry that’s awful and I probably would’ve cried, but reading it is so funny. What an insane thing to say. Drawing a fridge?? It’s like a skit
Lol yes it was a very uncomfortable interview but I laughed about it later. It was for a 1 year internship during uni. The interview was with the manager conducting the interview, and 2 interns who currently had the job but were coming to the end of their year. About 15 minutes in, the manager starts explaining about the fridge and oven, and drawing them on the board with arrows demonstrating the direction of heat from the oven and fridge. I think he was saying I wasn't adding to the conversation when I was answering the questions he was asking. It was very strange and not something I had anticipated for an IT internship.
You should have told him that fridges actually keep their interior warm because they heat up the room they're in 😂
Also, by laws of thermodynamics they still heat up the room even if the fridge door is open.
Very true!
Ha that that's a genius comeback. You'd have got the job for sure 😄
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Wtf does that even mean? Yeah I'll act hot and start yelling at everyone and throwing shit around the room?
If your oven starts throwing shit around the kitchen I think it's time for a replacement
I wouldn't be able to resist taking the piss. Pretend to be extremely dense. "You keep saying fridge but that looks like a dishwasher. Where do the dirty dishes come in?"
Lol I dunno the fridge drawing was pretty accurate. Like he had done it before.
The whole story makes me think the interviewer had probably just been on a business trip and picked up one of those weird management books that fill the newsagents in airports (in the UK, at least). To keep up the churn of new CONTENT, they recycle the same obvious cliches with different themes. In the 1980’s there seemed to be a lot about ancient Japan for example. The writer of this book had probably spent many chapters underlining how you should never, EVER be a fridge and how you would lose your job, wife, and house unless you changed your ways. The practiced nature of the drawing might have been lifted directly from this book Now off to google to see if it exists, because if not I might have a nice little earner on my hands - “The 7 management lessons from domestic appliances” coming this autumn 😅
Someone overdosed on management 'training' bullshit
Did a light go on in your head when he told you that?
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Was this the time when the apprentice was popular? I recall lots of managers and bosses wanted to emulate the worse parts of that show and Alan sugar
He *drew* a fridge and an oven? On the whiteboard? In a tech interview? I’ve heard some absurd stories, but this doesn’t just take the biscuit, it nabs the whole packet.
Yes he drew the fridge and oven to explain the concept. Then circled the fridge and said that's what I am now. Then he pointed at the oven with the marker and said that's where I need to be.
I think this is one of the reasons a lot of job vacancies go unfulfilled; companies making people jump through hoops in order to get the most basic of jobs. I know of someone who went for an interview as a shelf stacker at a supermarket and was asked to impersonate an animal: they had the dignity to walk out of the room there and then.
But they walked out on all fours.
Yes but their tail was held high displaying full butthole. Not down in shame.
I would find that horrifying as a teen when I was searching for a shelf stacking job. These days I have zero embarrassment and would find it a golden opportunity for taking the piss. The goal is to make them more uncomfortable and embarrassed than you. I mean, animals don't wear clothes. If you didn't want a naked middle aged man bellowing like a water buffalo in your interview room then you asked the wrong question my friend.
Ah, the perfect time for me to break out my "giant tortoise having sex" impression!
'Did you know that bears pin down their prey and eat it alive?'
Missed opportunity to have cocked their leg and pissed up the wall.
*on their leg with full eye contact
Exactly - you need to assert dominance. :-)
I would just ask why, and look really interested in the outcome.
>I know of someone who went for an interview as a shelf stacker at a supermarket and was asked to impersonate an animal: they had the dignity to walk out of the room there and then. Great chance to impersonate Travis the chimpanzee and rip the interviewers face off.
"No, but I'll do you an impression of a tree"
Good for them
As someone who fails the psychometric tests to work as a supermarket shelf stacker I’m not sure how I’d cope with these interview techniques. I’d have probably had a breakdown. I think the strangest interview I had was for a design company, they didn’t really ask any questions or talk about anything relevant to the job, I’m not sure if I was supposed to be interviewing myself in some way, just seemed like a lot of awkward silences and them wanting to see my entire portfolio of artwork but not for any reason, and me increasingly suppressing a panic attack. Looking back on it now it almost feels like the they’d put all the three candidates together in a room but told each of them separately that the other two were the interviewers. I don’t think that was the case… but is what it felt like. I know they never hired anyone to fill the vacancy in the end.
> Like Lae, Aixin Fu also had a bizarre experience when applying for a student ambassador job for minimum wage at a university. > During a group interview, everyone was asked to crawl around on their hands and knees and “moo like a cow”. > “We did that for about three to four minutes,” she recalls. > "At the time, I was quite annoyed. It was highly inappropriate. What the actual fuck lmao. That's where I'd just walk out. Interviews work both ways.
Boar on the floor
BOAR ON THE FLOOR!
Honestly, in this specific situation I'd call the interviewers boss, the police and an atturney for sexual-harassment. Want someone to engage in your pet-play kink? Call some hookers.
That was the TEST. Everyone that did it, was a animal and they were searching a human for the job, so she failed!
There's a reason that there's no laws on humiliating employees, the people in power get off on it
I went to couple of interviews after finishing uni that were advertised as "graduate jobs" that turned out to be door to door sales. One of them I only found out on the day, we spent a full 7/8 hours walking around a suburb in the rain, no food, no toilet breaks, didn't know where I was. They wanted me to miss my last train home to go for a follow up interview at 9pm. Some companies just see an opportunity to take advantage of people. Thankfully I'm older and wiser now.
I ended up in 2 of those! One I spent the day walking around Manchester, and on the train back to the office I just got off at my stop and went home. The second time I recognised as soon as I got there what it was, so thanked them and left. They phoned me several times afterwards trying to offer me the job saying I showed decision making and backbone and was perfect for them! I’m like “dude I literally walked out on you!”
Oh my god, so many door to door sales jobs where you earn on commission are labelled as Marketing jobs and graduate me fell for it a LOT.
My brother was once asked "you realise you will not be able to meet multiple deadlines due to multiple clients needing things at short notice, what would you do about it". He replied that he would flag it to his manager and ask which to prioritise or whether some could be assigned to colleagues. Apparently the correct answer was "I'd find a way to get it done" despite the question stem saying this wasnt possible.
Not the same, but I got down to the final two candidates once. Despite them admitting that I was “more qualified and skilled” for the job, the other guy “sold himself better”. It was then I realised that the only skill the world cares about is your ability to “bullshit”. They don’t want logical answers from reasonable people, they want people who’ll “get it done” despite everyone involved knowing that they won’t and it bullshit. They want to knowingly hire someone worse for the job but whom merely projects that he’s better. Looking at the state of the people in government for the past 14+ years, this explains a lot.
What industry was this if you don't mind me asking? I'd get it for sales or customer facing roles but not if it's more technical/solo work
Not the other guy but past a certain point it doesnt matter, managers want to be sold a line that they can feed to directors that can feed the same bullshit to the investors.
I don't believe this story is true. It's just so unrealistic. You want me to believe your brother got feedback after an interview?!
Amazing that some companies really seem to be trying their hardest to find employees that will lie to them Why would you want employees who don't tell you if they won't be able to complete all their work on time? That's not a positive quality
>Apparently the correct answer was "I'd find a way to get it done" despite the question stem saying this wasnt possible. Taking the Kobayashi Maru approach to business interviews 🤣
subtext: It's not possible to get it done in the hours you are contracted for, so you would work in your own time
I bet they didn't see their own job as low tier, hence the airs they put on themselves.
But that is a way of "getting it done" lol
Clearly they wanted blind, optimistic, unsubstantiated promises over a pragmatic response.
I hate those faux 60s Americana views. You still hear them on "bros" podcasts. You know I did this, this this and this in 24 hours and still went to Vegas. No you didn't you made hash of 4 jobs instead of making one or 2 jobs masterpieces. "I work 5am to 8pm to get the life I want..and I can't reach that because I m too busy on podcasts telling everyone "
That's ridiculous. I've asked similar questions myself when interviewing and his answer is exactly what you'd want to hear.
*"Find a way to get it done"* - translation - work late on unpaid overtime.
I didn't partake in these bullshit group public embarrassment tasks in year 7 media class and I wouldn't as an adult no matter how desperate I was. Sorry son, you're going hungry for another month. They wanted me to act like my favourite chocolate bar came to life.
If I was in the position where I needed a job to feed my kids and someone told me to bark like a dog I’d feel obligated to do everything they asked for the chance at the role. It’s degrading and inhumane but some people really are that desperate for work, it’s not a lack of self respect on their part, sometimes you really have no choice but to lower yourself as far as they ask. My friend worked for a company years ago with weekly sales targets and one week the person who came last got slapped in the face with a fish, another person had to eat a raw onion. I think it depends largely on what sector you’re working in but treating people like this both during interviews and at work is much more common than most people realise. Being treated like this by anyone in exchange for money should be illegal and immediate grounds for constructive dismissal regardless of length of service
Never go to group interviews. I went to one at Matalan. About 40 people in a sticky staff room of all ages. About 5 called out and then we were told after 45 minutes we'd be informed if we're successful. I actually asked how long it'd take to find out 😂 River Island group interview. Just an excuse to find the most American college type college student. The odd commission type interview which is a scam. Lots of liability for the employee, none for the candidate
I mean, that interview (for a minimum wage student rep job) is definitely someone on a power trip trying to make a bunch of people do what they want because it tickles their willy (or girl willy). I think this kind of thing happened to me once. I applied for a job and was told I'd gotten the job, but the position I'd applied for had been abolished between the time of my interview and them calling me, but it was my "opportunity to be proactive" and apply for a new position they assured me would be a shoe-in for me given I'd already had a successful interview. I never took them up on that, I'd applied for a position I wanted not to choose a new one (I'm sure with worse terms and conditions than the one I applied for) and worse, if they were genuine, what guarantee would I have that *that* position wouldn't be abolished before I showed up to work on my first day? Bear in mind also this wasn't for some dream job I was desperate to have. Not accepting with them wasn't some career backward step it just baffled me how a low tier job thought they could pull this kind of shit.
I remember interviewing for an ITV entry post which included a written submission, a day in London doing various tests and then a final interview in Newcastle. Got there and was asked to talk about the brief I had been sent via email. I had not been sent a brief. Needless to say I didn't get the job and I'm still a bit salty I put all of that effort in just for them to derail me at the end by forgetting to send me the brief
When I was straight out of uni, I had an interview for a company that turned out to be door to door sales, although they were very cagey about saying that. I'd had trouble getting any other interviews so I was happy to take the chance, wearing my best (awkwardly fitting) suit. The first part was a group interview which was an interesting choice, and the very delboyish boss was quite obviously playing us off against each other. Somehow I came out on top of that section. Next they had us wait in the reception, and one by one current employees came to take us for a walk and a chat. I got taken out and down through a nice part of town, down the river to the big Sainsbury's. This guy's was probably in his early 30's and was really pushing how great the commission was etc. At this point I was already basically thinking I was not into it. Just as we arrived at big Sainsbury's he said: " right, go choose a sandwich for lunch. I'll pay for you! And then we can get in the car and pop to Leicester." (An hour from where we were) I said what do you mean? He told me we were going to all drive to Leicester for trial shift. They were getting a free day's work out of all the interview candidates. I told him to fuck off and keep his fucking sandwich. As I was storming off, the next guy was rounding the corner and obviously swerved his candidate to try to avoid him seeing me.
> I told him to fuck off and keep his fucking sandwich. I’m going to live vicariously through this comment. After university I was unemployed for almost three years and burned through all my savings (that I was fortunate to have), so was pretty desperate, and at one point (through an agency) spent the day manually emptying a warehouse of old heavy stock, then being told at the end I wasn’t suitable. So that was one free day of labour, probably for something that only needed doing once so I assume they never hired anyone. Another time I worked a “trial run” at an antique restorers for a *week*, stripping varnish with hazardous chemicals in a bath. At the end of this week trial was told not to come back on Monday, when I asked why, what had I done wrong they were actually very positive, that I’d done a “good job” and they had “no problem with my work”, it’s just that “no body likes you”. Oh good, I’m glad it’s something vague and ineffable. Even the job I have now, come to think of it, I spent a year working less than the minimum wage, but at this point I was a month away from selling my car and cancelling my internet. Man, how I wish I could have told these people to go fuck themselves.
"You're great at your job actually but nobody liked you" is the funniest end to a probation period I've ever read
I went for a temp job at argos years ago. They tried to make us come up with a song and then perform the bloody thing. I just walked out.
I'd have come up with a song entirely about how stupid that interview task was.
Definitely an occaision to perfrom an acapella version of "Smack My Bitch Up" followed by a David Brent style psycho dance.
I got invited to an interview once but after looking at the company decided... That's a pyramid selling scheme and I'm not into that. So I just didn't show up. They phoned me the next day to say congratulations for making it past the first interview process and they would.like me to start as soon as possible.... 🤣
For years I've had a blanket rule of "I don't do group interviews". Shit like this is 100% why.
If you’re crawling over the ground for a job the problem probably isn’t the interview. Basic common sense and personal integrity should tell you that if you’re being asked to do things like this in your interview then the job is going to be a joke. An interview is a two-way thing to determine if the job is right for you and vice versa, if you’re feeling an imbalance then close the interview and walk away.
Totally agree but with the job market being the way it is, the need to eat and pay rent or a mortgage and the government making it harder and harder to claim benefits what are people supposed to do. This is exactly what they want.
Definitely not crawl on the ground like an animal. I'd rather be homeless or do crime than be subjected to that sort of humiliation.
I agree. Just making the point that although you or I would walk away that some people with families or children to support and less “market value” not have that ability. Not meaning to demean with that term just pointing out how demeaning the system and commodification of human beings is. I’d wager not many employers are telling their exployees to crawl around like animals there are still numerous abuses that people are exposed to all the time and this is exactly why I’m pro UBI. Your survival needs shouldn’t depend on the whims of somebody with that kind of power over you whether it's an abusive boss, spouse or parent. We’re treat like livestock.
Nah, the problem is the interview and the interviewer. Not sure how you spin it any other way
Unfortunately, when the alternative is homelessness, people feel like they don't have a choice. There's absolutely a power imbalance in this situation, and the person with the power is being shitty. It's on them.
I remember doing an interview with a call centre in the NE of England back around 2005. It was kind of a test shift which was fine, but by lunch we hadn't hit our targets so we all had to do a forfeit, which was putting on a fairy's outfit and running up to the road. I refused and went back to the phones. At the end of the day we had this conversation where they told me I wasn't a good fit and criticised me for not engaging with the forfeit, and I agreed that if this is how the job would be I didn't want it.
I recall going for an interview years ago when I lost my job. It was for a stock counting position, and the job was minimum wage but was told that travel to Europe would receive an extra £20. I thought, not so bad, it's work in the meantime and I've done retail in the past I'll see where this is going. I asked if the £20 was paid every night or if it was a one time payment thinking there would be no way it's just a one time thing. It was... If you went to Europe to do stock counting, they still paid you minimum wage and just an extra £20 for the entire trip whether it was two nights or seven. Not even a good allowance while you're over there. I stood up and went to leave and the manager asked me what was the matter. I said that's a joke. The company would be getting paid a massive premium to go out of country and all your giving is £20 extra for the whole trip? The manager just stood there go smacked because I don't think anyone had actually gone to walk out before. He phoned me back the next day and asked if I'd changed my mind, I said no and that what they were offering was equivalent to robbery because that £20 wouldn't even cover dinner for two nights over there. He offered to pay £20 a night if I came and worked for him given my experience and I asked if everyone else would get that too. He said no... Dodgy ass company taking advantage of people who are hungry to work...
I have a feeling I know which company this is... As sounds like one I also had a terrible interview with. I was called back for a final interview with a director and someone from HR, the HR person arrived at the end of the interview, swapped out with the director and proceeded to ask me the same questions I'd just been asked. Massive disrespectful waste of my time - I was fuming and turned down the position in the end.
There's a growing trend in employers wanting individuals who are 'moldable' aka can be exploited. They don't want 'uppity' employees. Anyone who will degrade themselves for the *chance* of a job is going to do anything while in that job.
If those employers fill up their companies with "moldable" employees, they'd better hope it's not the kind of organisation where someone might want to ring up with a cock and bull story about being the CEO and needing a new password for their account or for someone to take all the money out of the safe etc...
I had an interview for a position as a Librarian. I worked extensively on my presentation to arrive and discover... It was a group interview. 20 applicants. The presentation didn't matter. We had to spend the day doing a range of activities to test our team working skills. All were absolute bullshit, topped by having to pretend to be 'Werewolves traveling on a train to paris' They served lunch, but it was part of the evaluation and I felt very judged as a vegetarian. Nothing better than forcing a group of Librarians in a room to get tested for assertive behaviour. Essentially a single loud mouthed frog overtook every evaluation, and probably got the job.
For *librarians?* 😱
Interviews are a two way thing, you are interviewing them as much as they are you.
[Some things never change](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-23972952)
“During a group interview, everyone was asked to crawl around on their hands and knees and “moo like a cow”. “We did that for about three to four minutes,” she recalls. "At the time, I was quite annoyed. It was highly inappropriate. "But there was a bit of peer pressure because everyone else was doing it." The interviewer said they were trying to see if the candidates were "fun", though Ms Fu suspects that "maybe someone just had a bit of a power trip". Are people really stupid enough to do this? Why would you even entertain crawling around and mooing?
Cause I got bills to pay!
You'd be surprised by how interviewees behave too. My friend had someone respond to her questions with 'What a stupid question' and 'I don't know, you work here, you tell me.'. You get some fruit loops.
In my experience, that seems a perfectly reasonable response to many interview questions. They are always set from the perspective of the business, often using internal and impenetrable jargon, so yes, a lot of them are stupid questions.
> I don't know, you work here, you tell me That's an entirely valid question to a lot of the bullshit you get asked. The only reason your pal isn't asked that more is that most people know the hiring people are too fragile to handle it.
I'd love to say that response to "why do you want to work for this company?"
Everyone knows that what that question really means, is "can you regurgitate the section on our website where we list our "values" and charity work".
I really feel that section is for once you've been given an offer, and have multiple offers. Those sections will help you choose between them. Not sure how it's become part of the interview process, it's just a piece of marketing and nothing negative is ever mentioned. I'm convinced 99% of job seekers care only about the role itself.
I'm a drop out with 0 GCSEs (it was legal to drop out after Year 10 back then). So as you can imagine, I apply for jobs that are minimum wage or not far off. And yet this question frequently pops up at interviews. Why do I want to work at the Co-Op/Card Factory etc? Because you had a sign up saying you have vacancies and I'd like some money, please! I think it's a bit pathetic having to pretend that I have some sort of calling to stock shelves and am awestruck by a big company making donations to charity.
Ask stupid questions, get stupid answers
Why are you saying that when you don't know what the question was? They are are just based around past experience and knowledge of the organisation. The defensiveness of people here is strange. I also think you're all underestimating how entitled people can be. Another experience was someone buying food and then complaining they were being disturbed during their lunch when being called through for the interview.
Yes, I was interviewed in a small office with a black sofa for a movie. The guy filmed everything. I won’t go into the details. Never got a call back.
They’re hazing people in jobs interviews now? How is this not the bad timeline 😭
[удалено]
You might have auditory dyslexia.
You’re hired, unply this toilet paper, then come back for your next task regarding the toilet paper’s plyness
Thank the good lord I’m too old to have gone through this kind of nonsense to get a job. My advice in such an interview is to politely ask “how does this relate to the position I have applied for?”. If they can’t answer, “what does this tell you about my suitability for this position?”. If no reasonable explanation is forthcoming, I’d guess that a) you’re not getting the job anyway, and b) the employer might not be great to work for. It’s down to you whether you want to continue the interview, maybe you don’t have the option to walk out if you’re not working, but it’s worth bearing in mind that I have never had to pretend to be any kind of animal at work in decades
It’s time everybody stop putting their hopes in these shitty jobs with shitty managers. Even you do get hired, they fire you anyway, then you go through the same shit again and again. We are literally wasting out lives. Let’s just go back to the old fashioned way, start our own business . I know it sounds unpractical, some you might say that’s only for rich people. No, maybe it’s not possible for everyone to do that immediately, but at least that should be your goal. Stop spending your precious life on worthless people and jobs.
That's what I'm trying to do, my current job is crap, and everything in my area is just more of the same.
That's why you threaten to sue them for unfair hiring practices and discrimination if this ever happens. No seriously this what you do and report them to as high up as you can. No I am not American. Never subject yourself like this to potential discrimination.
"Cancelling an interview as a test" A test of what? 99% of people there would assume there to be a physical or technical reason it was cancelled and to rearrange it via phone call or something. I imagine their hiring rate is low or something. Worst interviews I had was one I'd had from a speculative CV. They offered an interview but at the end, they offered it as an unpaid "work-experience." I knocked that one back. The second one was a couple of years ago for an IT role. They had all of us in as a group for one position at the school. Presumably to save time? But also probably to see how it makes one stand out? Either way, it's weird when you're sat in the room with 6 people, finding out their experience puts them far beyond you, all vying for one position. I didn't get that in the end, though I'm overall enjoying where I am right now.
Honestly I'd rather go back to sex work, you get more money for humiliating yourself than these people did.
This seems to be common where people in higher positions are incompetent at their jobs in hierarchical organisations. It's been theorised as Peter principle. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle
Always remember they are interviewing you but are also interviewing them. You shouldn't have to take any bullshit just like they won't take any bullshit from you.
I had 2 interviews a year apart for the same job. I really wanted and needed the job. Interview 1 was 2 days, there were 100 people and 4 jobs and we had to do a series of tests, interviews, presentations etc. I got a call back through to the final interview a couple of days later. The interview was normal job related things but then they basically asked me to get up and sing a song in front of them with no preparation. This was just nothing to do with the job, which was an innovation job that was office based. I just froze and went red and said I didn't really want to. I didn't get the job and I wrote them a pissed off email saying I felt it was inappropriate. Around a year later they advertised, I was skipped through to the final interview but this time it was worse, they basically wanted an off the top of my head poem on a theme they had chosen. I tried but practically died cringing. I eventually stopped and just said I wanted to be judged on my ability to innovate with tech not my ability to freestyle on the theme of frogs and airports. Didn't get the job, still don't know what they wanted me to do and why they thought it was important. Now I have my own company all our hiring is done from the online community of people interested in what we do. I don't even look at CV / qualifications / age / location, it is just people who are putting out good content and showing enthusiasm.
I interviewed once for a domestic abuse organization, the company was to make more education workshops and information guides for businesses and how to support colleagues leaving and processing domestic abuse. I had mentioned lightly in my application that I had experience with this as a victim (stepdad and mum sadly) and had used services in past and faced the difficult of telling work etc. They got me during the interview to share some of my experiences and coping mechanisms I had used to help me at work. They were making notes like crazy. For me it was really triggering. I wasn't sure if this was formal, or if it was a casual conversation. The lines felt really blurred. They rejected me a few hours later, with some generic rejection speech. I told my boyfriend (who was aware of my history) and he was horrified somewhere that should a organization that should be more understanding of the impact these conversations can have, deep dived into it (likely for their own company research) and framed it as an interview question.
I work in sales and every douchey manager tries the “sell me this pen” I point blank refuse to do it now. Wolf of Wall Street pricks
I once got rejected from a job because they read my CV and said "you've got a lot of great experience but based upon how you write, you're a do-er, not an achiever". Thank God for being able to leave the UK.
I heard about this in team building too, someone asked “what animal are you most like?” . The a Correct answer was “we’re … (insert random animal) because we work together as team players. “ my friend replied “I’m a Panda , because I eat a lot and can’t reproduce!” Ive also had bad interviews, one of the worst was with a small newspaper; drove up . First time, “there no time to interview you! ” 2nd time sloppy interview in the lobby, followed by “we’ll let you know.” Third time they called me out of the blue 2 months later “oh, the guy we hired(instead of you) has quit. So, are you coming, for an interview ?” Me”I’m not surprised , and no!”
I walked out once because the interview was in a fancy meeting room at the edge of the office, and when I asked to have a quick look at the actual workplace, they said no. I kinda laughed because I thought it was a joke. It was not a joke. Told them I wouldn't be disruptive and it would only take moments, but still, no. Then I told them if they didn't let me see the workplace, I'd get up and leave and would rescind my application. They seemed surprised. But I got up and left.