...to think these job interview expectations are unfair?

[throwawayinterview]

Applied for a job with a government agency - the ad said that they were recruiting 'Nationwide' (I live in NE England). The agency in question has offices all over the country and I confirmed before applying that I would be expected to work from the one in the nearest town to me for a minimum 2 days a week in the office with the rest done from home. All fine by me, quite keen to get back into an office environment as I'm currently 100% WFH.

I received an invitation to interview for the job - great! Except the interview has to be done in person in their offices in London on a specific day next week, and (crucially) travel expenses will not be reimbursed. I have explored with the agency whether there is an option to do the interview remotely via Teams but no dice. I'd be happy to attend the local office to interview in person but from their response I know that's not going to be an option either.

Getting to London at comparatively short notice during peak times will cost me £££ and will be a pain to arrange between putting in a last minute full day annual leave application at work (without it being too obvious what I'm up to) and sorting childcare for the start and end of the day due to the travel times.

I'm not desperate to leave my current job and the money is pretty much the same so I'm probably just going to turn down the invitation, but AIBU to think that, with advances in technology these days, it's a bit ridiculous to expect someone to attend an interview for a job hundreds of miles away from where they'll actually be working and to expect them to fund it themselves?

I interview a lot and very much prefer to interview people in-person, and we always do this now that it is possible again. This is because you learn so much more about candidates. But it's most unfair not to reimburse for travel (or offer a local interview). I'm really surprised OP, especially if this is the public sector/civil service.

I had this too. The role was advertised via my local government.

3 miles away they have an office but told me my interview had to be in London which is 6 hours away. The train ticket was hundreds!!

And gave me 2 days notice. 🤣 I declined and explained why.

I also applied for a similar role at the Local Authority. 3 miles away. Interview via Teams.....

This is totally ridiculous.

I can understand why they don’t want to reimburse people for travelling.

But if there’s really no option for interviews at the job location, and the interviewers have to be hundreds of miles away from the actual job location - then they really should offer candidates the option of virtual interviews via Teams or Zoom or suchlike.

Ridiculous circumstances but it's really discouraged have a mix of in-person and virtual interviews, as the virtuals are disadvantaged so I assume they're trying to avoid that. Good plan, shit execution.

I regularly interview people for teacher and headteacher posts. Candidates are expected to travel ( except during the pandemic) and do, travelling expenses are not paid.

But that's not really comparable. A HT or a teacher is an in person role. So an interview "in person" makes sense. And if they're travelling long distance it's usually a personal decision to relocate.

Totally missing the point 😂

No, I haven't missed the point.

We managed to interview virtually during the pandemic. Now not an option.

Academy schools are located over a large area, some national trusts, but there is never an option for prospective candidates to be interviewed in their nearest school, they would still have to travel to where the interviewing panel are.

Never any travelling expenses.

Yes and no. I get what you mean, however it isn't unusual to need to go where the gaining manager is located. As I said, I've only been in the private world, but this would be the norm. One either wants the job, or not. Local office interview would have been a good thing to offer from an employer point if view (I would have done this), however not a given.

I do agree that there was a lack of notice and expectation setting.

I think you’re being unreasonable to ask them to interview you at your local office, as presumably the staff conducting the interviews work in London and the staff at your local office aren’t conducting interviews. In any job there will be multiple applicants being assessed at interview so it’s important to have the same interviewers and questions posed to every candidate for a fair process. Not all staff will be trained on conducting interviews and preventing bias or scoring candidates accurately etc. I can see why this is an outright no, but would ask again whether the interview could be over teams. I’d also double check the job advert to see if travel to London may be required as part of the role.

I'm public sector and we haven't reimbursed interview expenses for ages (which I think it outrageous considering the salaries offered are all shit), but would generally offer a Teams option for interviews for candidates far away. If you're not desperate to move jobs, I'd walk away if they won't interview remotely.

Actually for mass hiring they won't have the 'same' interviewers, it's impossible. As long as they're all trained to the same standard.

It's also a bad sign to be unable to meet the team you'll actually be working with and get a feel for them. Your immediate colleagues and like manager have th biggest impact on your work life and I personally wouldn't like to be hired without at leaet talking to them .

OP did not state it was mass recruitment anywhere so where have you got that from? With mass campaigns CS tend to use pre-recorded video interviews and assessment centres. OP states the role is hiring nationwide - therefore you can assume the team hired will be based nationally. Therefore OP might merely work in the same office as the staff in the local office and have no direct involvement with them as her immediate colleagues and manager may be based nationwide.

I would expect the interview to be online or at a local office. But I’ve never heard of being reimbursed travel expenses for an interview in decades. I’m in the private sector.

I also think that is ridiculous. Withdraw your application and tell them why.

Do you insist on interviewing in a place hundreds of miles away from the future place of work?

God read the opening post

So? OP is not a teacher and the shitty recruitment practices of the education sector should not be a model for anyone.

Though presumably you are interviewing at, or close to, the candidate's proposed place of work, rather than several hundred miles away?

You're still missing the point 😂

How?

Its a lowish paid office job that's based in location A.

There is no reason at all to send interviewees to distant and expensive to get to location B to be interviewed and is not policy in the civil service. In our department, interviews are done on Teams or at a range of locations so people can choose.

Completely agree, but school budgets have been cut and cut. Any savings that can be made have to be made. Selection processes are expensive.

TBF, occasionally, some schools do include an option to claim travelling, but I have never had a prospective candidate request reimbursement.

@MarnieCres does your academy chain recruit centrally, or do you recruit for a particular school and hold the interview at the place the candidates would be working in?

Crikey...

Recruitment is central to where the panel are, so that more candidates can be interviewed at once. Prospective staff travel to the central place. The school allocated is will be elsewhere in a trust school. Visits to the school before and after also not paid time or expenses.

In fact, even in LA’s, pool applications in some authorities still exist. Interviews held centrally at council offices, employed to the pool and then matched with a school elsewhere. Staff travel from all over the UK and beyond occasionally.

Again no travelling expenses!

My point in line with the opening post was that this isn't unusual in lots of businesses and services.

It's reasonable for them to want to do all the interviews in-person in a single location. In-person interviews are important, need to be done by a set interview panel, and you can't expect the panel to travel all over the country.

However if they don't give enough notice to make travel arrangements easy and don't even reimburse travel costs then they are clearly a shit company to work for and it's best you know this now before you waste any more time on them. Let them know that having carefully considered all the implications of their unreasonable recruitment practices you have concluded that you don't want to work for them after all.