To think you don’t take your child to a job interview?

[Caulk]

I was leading some interviews this afternoon. One candidate arrived with her 13yr old son. She said she’d brought him so he could get an idea of what an interview was like.

I said he couldn’t be part of the interview, needed to wait in reception or she could arrange childcare and we would interview her at the end of the day.

She said no one had said she couldn’t bring him, it’s good life experience etc. I said no and she agreed (eventually) for him to wait in reception.

When I called her to say she hadn’t got the job, she said we were discriminating against her because she had a child.

I don’t think I was unreasonable but no one ever does. What would you have done?

Oooh, I am going to wear a penguin suit to work tomorrow...

Nobody's ever said I can't, so...

Well she succeeded in showing him how NOT to do an interview! Batshit as fuck.

Childcare when he's school age makes it sound more like he's been expelled/suspended from school!

lol at taking a ferret to an interview...

Did you discriminate OP? Or did you ask the same questions and rate her answers in the same way you did for everyone else?

It isn't your fault if her answers were rubbish because she was angry her son couldn't attend.

Your first time as interview lead, are you sure she wasn't a plant to see how you handled it?? Like a test?? Surely nobody could be that thick to think bringing your kid was ok

Wow. This is one of the oddest things I've ever read.

She wonders why she didn't get the job after essentially arguing with an employer BEFORE the interview even started?!

She sounds unhinged.

She's been told to attend a certain amount of interviews a week by the job centre but doesn't actually want a job so she did this.

Brushing hair during the interview is another classic.

My 13yr old would be mortified!
But then he wouldnt have came in the first place.

She is a loon

You dodged a bullet there op god knows what else she would have considered discriminating at work!

And no-one said she couldn't bring a ferret....

Hang on. Wait wait wait. Are you saying I shouldn't have taken my beloved Bitey Von Stinkypants to my last interview?

I’m usually asked to take my toddler with me to interview, but i’m a nanny and she comes to work with me . Definitely wouldn’t take a child with me otherwise, interviews are stressful enough without them.

Are you sure it wasn’t a wind up/hidden camera by colleagues?!
I would possibly my take my DS with me to an interview if very desperate but would call ahead to explain and ask if he could wait in Reception quietly - no way would I expect to take him in.
Claiming discrimination- CF!!!

She sounds like a twit and you were right not to offer her the job. And in any case interviews are confidential and I wouldn't have thought you could just have somebody sitting in because you felt like it. No one has ever said you can't bring your pet ferret to an interview. But presumably you wouldn't.

And I thought I'd heard it all....!

I was interviewing for a middle management position (salary around 40k about 1998) and one candidate came in to reception with his wife. I asked our reception team to look after her with coffee, biscuits etc while he was interviewed and she insisted she had to come in too because her DH "didn't present well and was too modest and she was much better at talking through his skillset" !

Bizarre!

If i squint really hard i can sort of see where she is coming from.

My ds is the same age and does not live in the real world. He thinks that he can lie in bed all day and get everything handed to him and thinks money grows on trees. I would love for him to see how hard the real world is.

However i am not insane and would never do what this woman did.

Surely, it's not take your child to an interview day again

Had a graduate interview once where the graduate’s mother turned up with her. She was quite put out when told she couldn’t come into the interview room.

I once interviewed someone who brought their weekly food shop in and then another person turned up for an ‘informal chat’ and brought their friend with them. She was a bit incensed when I said she wasn’t coming in. Another person turned up in wellies. People are weird!

I thought this was going to be about some poor single parent on Jobseekers whose childcare had let them down and they faced being sanctioned if they didn't attend the interview.

You are obviously NBU. For your sake though, I hope she simply didn't want the job and isn't a professional ambulance chaser.

Definitely dodged a bullet

Just a thought....most people would leave a 13 yo at home whilst they nipped out for an interview OR leave them in a car or nearby cafe, right? Do you think the DS actually might have a special need that she didn't wish to say? It's just such a very odd thing to do!?

If she had been unable to get childcare or her care had bailed then I would be on her side ... but no, it is not a life lesson. He gets that when he interviews for his own jobs ... how unprofessional. Nobody has ever told me I can’t bring my dog to an interview but that doesn’t mean I should ....

Was it a low skill job? Maybe she wanted to blow the interview?

Nobody has ever told me I can’t bring my dog to an interview but that doesn’t mean I should ....

Nobody ever told me that I couldn't take my emotional support peacock on American Airlines and look how that turned out... 😥

That is wild OP!! She surely can’t have had many interviews..

Don’t worry about the discrimination accusation, as long as the panel can vouch that she wasn’t the best candidate for the job due to her answers then you’re fine and dandy.

I want an emotional support peacock...