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Original poster

ds just ruined my telephone interview

253 replies

stuckinthewrongbody · 12/08/2019 11:40

Just had a telephone interview with a job i wanted so badly DS has just ruined it! i put dd in her cot to have her nap and i gave ds some snacks and his ipad.

I go sit in the back and close the door he follows me starts screaming hitting his toy gun up the door i tell her i would call her back which i did and she just didnt seem interested after.

Feeling very crap about myself dont think i will ever get back in to work at this rate.

OP posts:
TheCatThatDanced · 12/08/2019 12:50

To be fair, looking at it from the potential employer's POV if they know you have DC or not, they'd expect you to organise some form of childcare or have plans in place so you could conduct a phone interview in peace and quiet.

It really is bad timing and organisation on your part not to have plans in place knowing your DM/MIL is on holiday etc.

Having said that, if your relationship is also unstable as you say, I appreciate that maybe you're a bit panicked and didn't think things through re needing childcare in place for this interview etc.

Better luck next time, but I'd wait until nursery etc in place before you job hunt and have interviews in the near future.

berlinbabylon · 12/08/2019 12:50

Would you refuse to attend a face to face interview because you had to wait in for the postman? If I heard an interviewee excuse themselves to answer the door I’d presume they weren’t taking the interview particularly seriously

No I wouldn't refuse to go (though I might try to schedule for a different day). But if I was on an important call and the doorbell rang and I knew it was important I would just say I needed 30 seconds. It has happened to me on an interview as it happens, but it was the interviewer who said I am so sorry I need to answer the door as I am having a parcel delivered! I thought nothing of it. We've moved on from 9-5 office lives and flexible working and attitudes need to become the norm. Do you know that FInland is introducing a law where you will be able to choose to work at least 50% of your role away from the office from 2020? Just imagine!

DarlingNikita · 12/08/2019 12:50

Nicknacky, yes.

I wouldn’t expect someone to excuse themselves from a telephone interview because the postman rang the doorbell

I wouldn't expect an interviewer to get judgemental about an interviewee taking a few seconds out. It's much better to get the interruption out of the way and then be able to focus on the interview.

Seriously, if someone thinks I can't do a job because I need to answer the door, then I don't want to work for them anyway. Well said! Grin

LisaSimpsonsbff · 12/08/2019 12:51

Oh for goodness sake, people do conference calls with kids in the house all the time. Have none of you seen that video of the guy doing the interview whose daughter came in?

Have you seen that video? The children are followed by their mum - he wasn't trying to do a conference call while in sole charge of them. Because that would be quite a bad idea.

Teddybear45 · 12/08/2019 12:51

Next time get childcare sorted when you have a telephone interview. A lot of companies do allow some flexibility for parents if they allow work from home, but it’s highly unprofessional to not make preparations for an interview as that’s supposed to be you showing them your best possible ‘face’.

Nicknacky · 12/08/2019 12:51

Darling That is utterly ridiculous and one way to show an interviewer that you aren’t taking the interview seriously.

ShirleyPhallus · 12/08/2019 12:52

Oh for goodness sake, people do conference calls with kids in the house all the time. Have none of you seen that video of the guy doing the interview whose daughter came in?

Well done for picking a fantastic example of how disruptive children can be to conference calls, completely going against your own point.

berlinbabylon · 12/08/2019 12:53

Oh and I've heard dogs barking in the background too. Or had someone say their cat had got in the way of the computer screen.

But of course that is cute too because it's dogs/cats not small humans.

berlinbabylon · 12/08/2019 12:54

Well done for picking a fantastic example of how disruptive children can be to conference calls, completely going against your own point

No, I was making the point that normal people make allowances.

And that it is seemingly ok when it's a man (or as I have just posted, animals doing the interrupting).

Nicknacky · 12/08/2019 12:54

Big difference to a toddler and a cat or dog. Ridiculous comparison.

HeadintheiClouds · 12/08/2019 12:55

Wanting to answer the door during an interview while the interviewer twiddles their thumbs waiting for you doesn’t imply you can’t do the job, I haven’t actually claimed it would.
Your arguments (complete with Grin’s) are based on completely irrelevant points which are not actually being argued at all.

Original poster
stuckinthewrongbody · 12/08/2019 12:56

@BangingOn yes sounds like the same place! Thank you i hope you manage to find somewhere ASAP for your son.

@LannieDuck he couldnt he works all over the place he isnt going to drive home in his work truck watch DS for 10 minutes then drive an hour back its not realistic.

OP posts:
DarlingNikita · 12/08/2019 12:56

Nicknacky, great response. Lots of substance Hmm

What do you think to the posters putting the other side –like berlin with the INTERVIEWER who had to answer the door?

Nicknacky · 12/08/2019 12:57

How in-depth do you need me to be Darling?

Would you go into a face to face interview and answer your phone if it rang?

DarlingNikita · 12/08/2019 13:01

How in-depth do you need me to be Darling?

Just beyond shouting 'ridiculous' would give us something to work with.

Would you go into a face to face interview and answer your phone if it rang?
False comparison. You can turn your phone off. You can't do the equivalent so a child doesn't start making noise or a postman doesn't come to the door.

Nicknacky · 12/08/2019 13:03

No “shouting” at all from me Darling

On this occasion the children being present was unfortunate and couldn’t be helped but no one needs to answer the door that urgently that you look unprofessional to a potential employer. Which is on par with turning your phone off in an interview. It’s avoidable.

Is that comprehensive enough for you?

ButiLoveHim32 · 12/08/2019 13:05

If your judgement is so poor to arrange a telephone interview with an unsupervised child in the house, I would not give you a job either.

You are literally just being a dick for the sake of it here. When people talk about AIBU being full of nasty vipers, you are the definition of it. So you couldn't possibly open your narrow mind to think, why would someone have an interview with a small child at home? Off the top of my head it could be because of 1)lack of family or friends to help 2) no formal childcare until a job can pay the bills 3) childcare falls through at last min 4) No other option and that desperate you just wing it and hope for the best. I suppose trying to see things from someone else's point of view can be very difficult for some people. And considering you aren't a recruiter who was interviewing the OP, it's completly irrelevant.

I honestly can't stand it. Why, when someone is clearly down and feeling shit, would you try to put the boot in and make them feel worse, because that is what alot of people have done. Would it be so beyond the relms of ridiculous to commiserate with this women and give helpful advice and feedback, possibly with some manners? I'm sure many of us have been in the position of being at home after kids and trying to get back into things. It's not easy for some people.

youarenotkiddingme · 12/08/2019 13:05

Does anyone remember the clip recent,y of the politician (I think) doing a live interview via camera and the kids running into the room and the mum/nanny or whatever female it was forcibly removing them.

People found it hilarious and chalked it up to kids being kids.

Except it appears on MN it's a reason to kick a mum when she's already down.

Good luck and agree be proactive and email.

DarlingNikita · 12/08/2019 13:05

no one needs to answer the door that urgently that you look unprofessional to a potential employer. Posters here are saying they wouldn't mind/haven't minded that happening.

Which is on par with turning your phone off in an interview. It’s avoidable. But much less so.

youarenotkiddingme · 12/08/2019 13:08

Sorry I hadn't refreshed before posting and I see it's come up already!

BlackCatSleeping · 12/08/2019 13:09

This interview? Yeah, it’s his wife. It was very funny.

MustStop · 12/08/2019 13:09

I'm surprised anyone would expect a 2 year old to be on their own unsupervised, plus anything could have happened.
Find some childcare and then try again.

BangingOn · 12/08/2019 13:09

@stuckinthewrongbody we are all sorted now thank you, he has a school place for September and started their holiday club this week. We are in the lucky minority though, I really hope you get something sorted soon.

BlackCatSleeping · 12/08/2019 13:11

Sorry! I also didn’t realize it had already been posted.

Hellocanyouhear · 12/08/2019 13:12

I am sorry, I hope something else turns up. Keep going.