Is this unprofessional?

Good for you op! Please update us if they reply. What an ass.

Is it in Cheshire by any chance?

The only time that has happened to me in my very long career, is when the recruitment has required several screenings, so you are prewarned about elimination round sif you like. The first "interview" you are all invited at the same time to undertake some type of test. Those selected from that go through to the next round where you may need to do an exercise and then the final candidates still standing get interviewed 1:1.

I have only ever experience the above for senior roles or mass recruitment, i.e a new call centre opening and the want 20 people.

What you’re describing isn’t a normal interview process at al, it’s either a badly organised mass‑recruitment day or a screening exercise where they haven’t bothered to explain the format. In a standard professional setting, you’re given an individual time slot and seen at that time. If ten people are all told “12pm” and one interviewer is working through them one by one, that’s just poor planning.

Turning up to a mystery cattle‑call with no structure is disrespectful to people who’ve taken time off work or rearranged childcare. As for the trackies and trainers, that usually signals people attending because they’re required to by the benefits system, not because they’re genuinely trying to secure the job. If I’d taken annual leave for something run this chaotically, I’d walk too - it tells you everything you need to know about how the organisation operates.

That's infuriating OP. What a disgusting way to treat hopeful applicants.

I hope a decent opportunity, with a sensible recruitment process, comes up soon.

@Mindthenicedeadpeople brilliant email well done! What an absolute shit show the dental practice is, completely unprofessional and they need to be told.

At least we know why the UK has such pisspoor productivity.

Omg it's definitely a test 😩 and probably an indication of the current job market, I fear.
It definitely has a feel of one of those group interviews for canvassing gigs where only the absolute desperate stick with it until the bitter end.

There's definitely no HR department.

I would totally say why you left! You sound like a great catch.
Bonkers to give everyone the same time and not see in the order arrived!

15 candidates?! We're lucky if we get one bother to turn up.....

So disrespectful of your time

And the interview are 8 minutes long it definitely sounds like the sort of thing where they literally just check if the face fits and if you will fit into the team rather than discussing experience etc

I doubt it. No decent, well organised company would conduct interviews this way.

They are being disrespectful and arrogant.

OP, I would have just walked out.

This is just a giant red flag.

Unlikely to be the same for the OP, given the scenario.

I've seen accounts on social media (LinkedIn etc) claiming that they run businesses and they interview this way. Apparently the idea is the last person standing gets the job, having proven that they are so desperate for a job they will submit to workplace mistreatment have the most patience and endurance.

All it would prove is the people who left first had self-respect and/or other commitments that day.

Pretty stupid time for an interview even if there's only a couple of candidates. When are people supposed to eat??!

Not in any professional workplace

Can I just say this happened to me years ago.
I was just made redundant and desperately needed a job. I went to an interview which turned out to be an open evening kind of thing (no prior warning), they were recruiting for a lot of roles (again no prior warning). I had to wait around 2 1/2 hours, I nearly walking out a number of times. But I stayed in the end I got the job, they were bought out a few years later, I continued to work for the parent company and gained promotion after promotion, working for a total of 18 years. Started on £30k left on £115k. Sometimes it is worth hanging around, I wonder where I would be now if I hadn't stayed. Right place, right time sort of thing.

Wait, what? You’ve all been given the same interview time of 1200 noon, but he then randomly called people in? And didn’t even interview in the order that people arrived?? Just what kind of rude and disorganised person does that?

Definitely wouldn’t be a dentist I’d want to be seen by.

Edited to see that it was the age / appearance of the interviewee that determined the order that they were called in for their interview. My god how creepy of the dentist. Like every bad dentist ‘hitting on young women in their chair’ story going.

oh yes, my son nearly fell for something similar, straight out of university, thought he was going for an interview for a sales job. they bought him breakfast and tried to give him the hard sell to accept the 'job' selling gas and electricity supplies, persuading customers to switch. No salary, just some commision if he persuaded anyone...

Huh? For what? That the interview process isn’t done very well?🤣

That will be someone on jobseekers, not wanting a job, but having to apply for them to keep their JSA.

Professional body won’t give a toss about someone wasting an hour or two of peoples time during interview process.

I don't think its matters if its Dentist or Cleaner you don't waste that many people's time for interviews or tell people to all come at the same time.
Even if its a cleaner narrow it to 2 or 3 people with 15min between them