To think the interviewer should have put their camera on?

[ytredrfgh]

I had a job interview this morning over Teams, two interviewers joined. The main interviewer and more senior of the two who was leading the interview and asking most of the questions didn't put their camera on during the entire interview, which made it difficult as I couldn't gauge their reaction/expressions. Fair enough if it was someone listening in the background and taking notes, but this was the person asking the majority of the questions.

AIBU to have thought that rude? I'd have understood if they said something like 'apologies for not having my camera on, I'm unwell today/dialling in from my phone/whatever excuse' but it made the interview process a lot more difficult from my perspective

Very rude.

Very rude, if there was a real reason they should explain, but not good.

Blimey, yes that’s rude!

Did you mention it? They might not have realised.

I find it very unnerving and always say something like “oh it must still be loading, I can’t see you yet”. And then the person realises it’s not on. Or says it’s not working or whatever.

Agree that its really rude. I would find it incredibly disconcerting too. It puts you very much at a disadvantage if they can see you but you can't see them.

Yep, very rude, especially with no explanation. A bit like a face to face interview with a person talking to you from behind a curtain!

Rude and puts you at a disadvantage if they do the other interviews camera on.

I think it's really rude and I wouldn't want to work for that person.

Whatever set-up you're expected to have should be expected of the interviewer. If the Teams call is being treated as a voice call only, that's fine for both, but if you're to have the camera on, so should the interviewer.

How did you know to run your camera? Were you asked to?

Unless clear expectation were set, I'd cover it at the beginning of the call. I tend to run mine by default but if others don't, then I would confirm (probably saying something like PP's I can't see your video ...) and turn mine off if they didn't run theirs.

Might have been having a bad face day - flare ups are awful.

Inexcusably rude.

Do you imagine they walked round with a bag over their head, if this was the case?

maybe to help the interview run more smoothly, as less information being streamed, so less likelihood of internet failure

Poke your stupid emoji - if it’s not something you’ve ever suffered from then it’s easy to judge. You do anything to avoid looking at yourself - seeing yersel on a screen makes it looks a million times worse.

'A bit like a face to face interview with a person talking to you from behind a curtain!'

Exactly! The curtain scenario wouldn't be acceptable, this shouldn't be acceptable either

Wow, I would have asked them to put the camera on. In fact I did last week and they said no, so I switched mine off to. Bloody rude. My oh works in Banking tho and they don't switch cameras on.

So rude.

Reminds me of a time I was being interviewed and one of the panel kept yawning and rolling his eyes at me. Like some ridiculous 55 year old teenager.

I put a stop to the interview and said I had little interest in working for an organisation that thought this was an acceptable way for a senior member of staff to behave. He looked a bit startled to be called out.

Later that day I received an email from another member of the panel apologising for his conduct.

Basically, some interviewers forget it’s a two way street and that they’re being assessed too!

Yes, rude.

Nobody's judging you, the thread's not about you. Jesus!

Awa bile her heid min - just giving an alternative perspective as to why someone might not have their camera on. Pipe doon hunny hun.

God love you 😂

Rude.

although, I was asked once to join some interviews for a scenario. I was playing the stressed worker who wasn’t getting everything done to see how they would deal with me. I was doing my best acting, and making faces etc at some of their suggestions and it was going well. On the last one after doing this 3 times I noticed my camera was off. I asked it if had been off the whole time and the interviewers said yes they thought i wanted it that way. I was gutted I probably made it harder for them!

Very rude.

There can be reasons, especially if the interviewer needs to see documents or if they are using a mobile connection but they should explain and apologise. If no one else was on camera at all I think I might have turned mine off on the basis that they were expecting it to be a voice only call.

Crikey, that is most unusual.
Hope the interview went well though!