To feel this was presumptuous?

[HippyHappygal]

In the process of employing a new member of staff and automatically, they say they can't work 23rd and 30th December almost as though they are calling the shots and automatically got the job.

Not presumptuous. They are giving you important information. You factor it in when you make your decision. If it's not something you can accommodate, they don't get the job.

OP, I doubt you'll be back but you're being very coy and avoiding saying whether this was a man or woman interviewee.

I bet it's a woman and you also also describe assertive women as bossy.

Lol yes. These darn entitled employees expecting annual leave and to be treated like a valued employee not a chattel.....

Yabu

When I started my job I had to say that I wouldn’t be able to start until January unless my booked Christmas leave from my old job was honoured!

I agree it shows organisation and forward planning.

@SunbathingDragon l know some employers in my industry ban leave from mid-December to the end of the first week in January. We don’t but not everyone can be off

Wow I Hope for their sake you don't give them the job - you sound like you might be a terrible manager. What's wrong with giving a heads up about pre-existing holiday in the application process that's pretty normal I would have thought..

@Sanpro mental healthcare. Christmas is an especially busy time in our line of work

One of my jobs today is send out an email asking for people’s requests by a certain date. We won’t be able to honour all of them, unless it’s something minor like “please can l not work the 29th”. Everyone has to do their fair share but people are often unwilling to accept that . If they worked all of last Christmas / new year then that’s a different conversation but they never have

I want to go get a job and will be applying to a place that's desperate for staff nearby. My dad is dying and I will need to travel 200 miles to deal with stuff and go to the funeral. I don't know when it'll be but possibly within the next month or so. I will be telling the potential employers that I will be needing time off. I don't know when and I don't know for how long. Much better than taking a job and leaving them stuck having to give me time off they weren't warned about.

That's exactly the time they should let you know!

Now, without being an employer from hell, if it's not manageable for the rest of the team - who frankly WILL be pissed off if their time off is denied because a newbie booked the slot already, employ someone else.

I would be a lot more understanding of an actual holiday than someone booking Christmas Eve (or the 23rd) and New Year's Eve only. It does sound cheeky and it can block the whole period for the rest of the team which is not great.

One of the perks of changing jobs, isn't it? You can reserve the holiday dates you want in the next 3-4 months.
This is always how I have seen it work with new joiners, and how I did it myself.

I think that was honest. They may have something very important booked. I know someone that announced they couldn't be available for a meeting no explanation just said he couldn't change it. Turns out he got married quietly.

Depends on the job though. When I worked in retail there were dates that you could not take time off. You would be given a rota of days on and off and that was it, no annual leave.

If this person had been told in advance of those type of restrictions and has now said they can't work in those restrictions, YANBU. If there are no restrictions and they are simply informing you of dates when they are unable to work, then YABU.

Depends on the stage of recruitment. If they are telling you this before final round of interviews then yes - a bit presumptuous. If they're in the finals or already offered the job - then not presumptuous at all.

I definitely wouldn’t want to work for someone who interpreted a request for time off, as presumptuous or made me feel bad for taking time off that I’m fully entitled to. Which I’m sensing is what happens in your workplace.

It is completely standard to let a new employer know about pre-booked holiday. They are being professional and courteous by doing so. Struggling to understand how you are seeing this as presumptuous.

I’ve never had to do it because I’ve been at the same job for 20 years, but DH has. If you have already booked a holiday or a wedding or whatever, you tell the employer at the interview.

I think letting people know of a hols is normal.
Tellling a new employer you will be off on the two most sought out days isn’t. Esp when it’s those two specific days, not a full week for example

In a new job, I would have expected to be told to rearrange a one day hols tbh.

I’m wondering what of job it is and if their presence would have expected for example.

@gingerwhinger0

I definitely wouldn’t want to work for someone who interpreted a request for time off, as presumptuous or made me feel bad for taking time off that I’m fully entitled to. Which I’m sensing is what happens in your workplace.

It is very unprofessional.

First time hiring ?

I think it depends on when and how it was said.

I have always been asked about precooked holidays when I've been offered a job so have replied with the details.

If nothing had been said previously and it was just stated, that is a bit different.

@Cheesewine

Whenever I have applied for a job there is normally a bit on the form to tell the employer if you have any prearranged engagements or holidays in the next few months, so I'd say totally normal and honest.

I thought that was so they don’t call you for interview on a date you can’t make.

I undertake recruitment and I would think it was a good thing. It looks like the are planning ahead and are considering you.

You can reserve the holiday dates you want in the next 3-4 months
It's that sense of entitlement that is presumptuous.

New employers don't have to honour people pre-booked holidays. They do it because the dates and times have no implications to the business or because they are desperate for the person.

We once interviewed someone who half way through the interview stated that they had booked three weeks around Xmas and NY. Our business, regardless of employer doesn't allow 3 weeks off in one go, let alone during the Xmas period.

His attitude was that because he'd booked it, we had to honour it. He wasn't the best candidate any way but his attitude didn't give us much confidence and someone who knew him on Facebook later said that he'd posted he had given up his previous job because he wanted to go away for three weeks to Australia no matter what and his manager had refused. He was still without a job by the time he went.

@AfterSchoolWorry

First time hiring ?

That's exactly what I thought.