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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Recruiter didn't tell interviewer I'm autistic...

35 replies

WeeWelshWoman · 27/10/2020 14:27

... so no reasonable adjustments were made for my interview. Despite being requested. It was awful.

AIBU to be disappointed and annoyed?

OP posts:
AmIAWeed · 27/10/2020 14:36

Absolutely not being unreasonable.
Being autistic means you are protected by the disability discrimination act and by them not making a reasonable adjustment they have discriminated against you.
Please do contact them and complain, but bare in mind the interviewer may not have been told. Fault may be with the recruiter and they need training to understand how not making a reasonable adjustment can disadvantage you.
It could be the fault was somewhere else along the process.
It could be that someone in the process knew, but didn't want to disclose a disability thinking it needed to be kept private, unaware that by not sharing this information, in the mistaken belief they were 'protecting' you they actually caused a disadvantage.
I wish more employers and recruiters would ask for help and support so they know how to be inclusive to avoid interviews like yours.
You are right to be annoyed.
Hopefully this can be turned into a positive

user147425843578 · 27/10/2020 14:37

Absolutely not. Failing to make reasonable adjustments is unlawful.

I'm sorry this happened to you. It's not good enough.

Dinosauraddict · 27/10/2020 14:41

What reasonable adjustments did you request? Did you highlight at the start of the interview what should be in place? Were the interviewers given a chance to rectify it, and did they? Most (decent) interviewers will give you a chance to clarify/ask process questions before getting stuck into the questions (and before the broader 'do you have any questions for us' bit at the end). You could always ask for an interview to be rescheduled to allow them time to implement the adjustments if they had (for whatever reason) not been given advance notice (of course they should've been told by recruiter).

pigcon1 · 27/10/2020 14:42

I’m sorry that happened. Can you ask if you can do this interview again with adjustments in place. If this is for a larger employer there may be flexibility. Also ask the recruiter how they will plan to ensure this is communicated next time. Good luck with your search WWW.

missbipolar · 27/10/2020 15:23

Was it an external recruitment agencies? If so they might not be dealing directly with the interviewer so may have passed it on to person A but then it didn't get passed on to person B who's the intviwer. If it was an internal team then there's not really any excuse

Dishwashersaurous · 27/10/2020 15:47

What reasonable adjustments would you have expected and did you specify them in advance?

GirlCrush · 27/10/2020 15:49

was interview via zoom?

Leaannb · 27/10/2020 15:51

What reasonable accomadations would have helped you with the interview?

Pumpkinstace · 27/10/2020 15:58

What adjustments did you request?

EmeraldShamrock · 27/10/2020 16:03

They should have been informed of any adjustments required.
What happened? It is probably not as bad as you think.

Original poster
WeeWelshWoman · 27/10/2020 16:08

Extra time as it was a remote interview (audio only) in order to answer questions more fully and to allow me to pause if I needed. I've had this adjustment before with the same employer, and passed the interview for another similar role but they didn't have any available (I'm on a reserve list). I spoke to the recruiter, although I declared the disability and requested the standard adjustment, he didn't tell the interviewer in the mistaken belief that it would help me more if they didn't know I was disabled. I've requested another interview with the extra time in place. waiting to hear if that can be accommodated. Beyond frustrated.

OP posts:
Original poster
WeeWelshWoman · 27/10/2020 16:10

@girlcrush it was on Teams, but audio only. I found it so hard to understand what was being asked and the one interviewer didn't want to clarify questions. He also kept cutting me off mid-answer.

OP posts:
EmeraldShamrock · 27/10/2020 16:15

I'm glad it is rescheduled.

LakieLady · 27/10/2020 16:20

YANBU. What a shit. Very rude to cut you off mid-answer OP.

I hope you get another crack at it.

EpidermolysisBullosa · 27/10/2020 16:30

The agency are bang out of order here - it's not for them to decide not to disclose disability if that is what you have decided to do! They don't get to decide not to request the reasonable adjustments you need.

At least it was an issue with the recruiter and not the firm being discriminatory.

I hope they give you a new interview with the extra time Flowers

About 7-8 years ago I had to speak to an agency after being assured by them that reasonable adjustments (in my case extra time for tests) would be in place for an assessment centre.

When I got there the woman doing the tests told me - in front of the other candidates - that she could only give me the adjustment after she had seen my statement of SEN from school. I explained I was diagnosed at 21 (the agency assured me this was already known) and so had no SEN statement from school. I said I could show my diagnosis letter but the woman said only a school age diagnosis could be counted and that I couldn't be 'that bad' if diagnosed as an adult and therefore didn't need the adjustment. Again, all in front of the other candidates.

I won in the end but it was with bad grace. The woman kept making comments about me having more time than the others including 'time's up everyone, except for Epi who gets more time than the rest of you for the same test'. She did this for both tests.

Afterwards she gleefully informed me that 'despite the extra time you still failed'. I told her there was no way I failed and asked to see my paper. She then looked flustered and revealed I hadn't failed after all, she was looking at someone else's paper 'by mistake'. Turned out I got the highest score. She then begrudgingly invited me to interview.

The agency were apologetic but said they had done their part by saying I needed an adjustment and were assured it would be put in place.

Every other company I've applied for has cheerfully allowed the extra time with no issue fortunately!

OhCaptain · 27/10/2020 16:35

You've already interviewed with this employer? Or the recruiter? Sorry for the confusion, but if it's the former, why would the recruiter think it would hinder you when you'd already gotten through the interview stage with the same company?

Eckhart · 27/10/2020 16:46

he didn't tell the interviewer in the mistaken belief that it would help me more if they didn't know I was disabled

He needs more training. It's really not his call to be taking this responsibility for you. Really really patronising, too. I'd be furious.

Eckhart · 27/10/2020 16:48

@EpidermolysisBullosa

time's up everyone, except for Epi who gets more time than the rest of you for the same test'. She did this for both tests

Wow. That's stunning.

Aesopfable · 27/10/2020 17:00

@user147425843578

Absolutely not. Failing to make reasonable adjustments is unlawful.

I'm sorry this happened to you. It's not good enough.

It is only unlawful if you declare a disability. If the interviewing company didn’t know then the fault lies with the recruiter not passing this information on - possibly because they believed it confidential.
Original poster
WeeWelshWoman · 27/10/2020 17:01

@OhCaptain it's the civil service. I've interviewed with another dept who have in-house HR and they had no problem. This dept has outsourced HR.

OP posts:
ChaChaCha2012 · 27/10/2020 17:02

If the interviewing company didn’t know then the fault lies with the recruiter not passing this information on - possibly because they believed it confidential.

The recruiter is the company's agent. They are liable for his inaction.

Original poster
WeeWelshWoman · 27/10/2020 17:03

@Aesopfable I applied under a guaranteed interview scheme and it was declared to the company by the recruiter at the sift stage of the recruitment process. The recruiter just didn't tell the two people actually doing the interview.

OP posts:
Original poster
WeeWelshWoman · 27/10/2020 17:04

@EpidermolysisBullosa that's horrific!

OP posts:
CoralFish · 27/10/2020 17:11

This is bad. In my department, some aspects of recruitment are outsourced but the hiring manager and panel get the applications to sift, including the page where you tick whether you're applying under the GIS and fill in and any reasonable adjustments you might need. HR will always highlight requested adjustments in addition to this. I'm not sure what we would do in this situation though - it would be really hard to repeat the interview as you would either know the questions in advance (which would be an unfair advantage) or have different questions (which would make it difficult to compare candidates). They should certainly be doing something though!

EpidermolysisBullosa · 27/10/2020 17:14

The best part of mine was that the firm was a law firm who you'd think would realise they needed to brush up on the Equality Act in a situation where a candidate requested an adjustment!

As it's the Civil Service OP I think you'll have a decent chance of getting a second interview once the interviewers realise the mistake which has been made.