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?

She's right in that it would be good experience for a 13yo. That’s why recently, I was at a school running mock interviews with them (which was fascinating - IRL, a lot of them wouldn't have made it to interview, so it was probably a greater range of people than you'do normally see in real interviews - though other posts above suggest perhaps not...) It's why we occasionally run "bring your children to work" days.

But we don't allow people to just turn up with their children for the day, without clearing it. There are insurance implications and all sorts, especially in these days of DBS checks and so on.

She was trying it on.

She either thought you would give her the job 'because I have a child to fend for' or she would threaten to use him as a bargaining tool in a possible discrimination claim if she didn't get the job.

She's just a cunning tart!

Hah! you dodged a bullet there!

WTF she is bonkers!!

Son. This is how NOT to get a job.

LightDrizzle Brilliant story and what a wonderful outcome. Kudos to your father for looking past the outward appearance/behaviour.

She didn’t get the job because of her bad attitude! 🙈

These are hilarious!

It's slightly unprofessional. And her answer of "Nobody said I couldn't" sounds cheeky. I'm not surprised she didn't get the job.

I can sort of see how she thought it would be good life experience to let her son be a fly on the wall at an interview but again it's so unprofessional. There are a thousand other ways to show your kid good life experience hacks and advice.

This could be a new test for interviews, offer us a list of things not to bring and see how we react.

I once interviewed someone who turned up in his motorbike helmet. When I asked him to take it off he said the straps were too fiddly, so he wouldn't. Didn't get the job.

Another candidate for the same job turned up with a shopping bag. Seemed ok, until he took a flask and a mug from the shopping bag and poured himself a cuppa. Didn't get the job either.

Candidate for a senior management role, CV read ok so we asked him in for an interview. We asked him to tell us about himself - he fished out his cv and read it out loud, work for word, with his finger under the line. Couldn't answer a single thing throughout the interview without looking at his cv and saying 'I refer you to paragraph 2 on my cv for that answer'. Didn't get the job either.

Some of these are brilliant!

I have to admit I took DD1 to an "interview" when she was 5 months old. It was the day after I had decided to be a SAHM and the Head of the local school rang me in a panic because a key member of his staff was on long-term sick leave and he had GCSE students desperate for a subject specialist. He knew I had no childcare at the time and suggested I brought her in. He then carried her round the school on the tour! I got the job - DD and I are still on very good terms with him even though I quit the job 14 years ago and he is now retired.

The group of people (service users) I have worked with have tried all kinds of stunts to not be offered jobs, but they know they have to go to interviews or benefits get cut. I heard one last year, who doesn't have a drink problem, tell about service user a good tip is to soak some of your clothes or socks in special brew because they'll think you're an alcoholic and not hire you. Sometimes I wish they'd focus their creativity on other things!

FASH that reminds me of a good tip I once heard in the high court (where I was dropping of documents that needed signed for so there was a lot of hanging about). Pour nail varnish remover over your clothes, tell ‘them’ is was an accident and they’ll not be able to smell the alcohol on you. Not a good tip at all.

She sounds like the type that would constantly be accusing people of bullying, harassment, discrimination etc if you employed her. And who would constantly be off on 'work related stress'.