awful interview, WIBU to have ended it early?

[cigarsmokingwoman]

I had an interview this week for a fixed‑term maternity cover role in a field I’ve worked in for years. On paper, it looked perfect — but it turned into a complete nightmare.
The current postholder is full‑time, but they want to replace her with someone part time, on a short contract, no team, and still covering the same massive list of responsibilities. Straight away, it felt like they were expecting one person to do the work of several. Its not a senior role, but sounded it as they kept refering to "supporting our staff of over 2000".
Beforehand, I’d asked for some reasonable adjustments, as I have several disabilities, which they agreed to — but when the interview started, they hadn’t done them. I had to ask twice, which was awkward and made me feel like I was being a nuisance. They did send the questions in advance, again as an adjustment, but then on the day they started asking completely different ones, putting me on the spot and making it much harder to answer properly.
One of the panel was so patronising. They asked me to explain really basic concepts that I’d expect anyone in the field to already know. When I started talking about some of my biggest achievements, they cut across me and actually said they didn’t want to hear about the awards I'd won! The question was literally about qualifications, experience and achievements related to the role.
The whole thing felt off. The tone was wrong, the expectations were ridiculous, and there was no sign of respect for my experience or the effort I’d put into preparing. Eventually, I just said I was ending the interview because it was a waste of both our time. I left the Teams call feeling small, upset, and wondering why I’d ever applied.
I’ve done and sat on many interview panels, but I’ve never had such a bad experience.I've never exited an interview before either and I'm still shaken by it. AIBU to think that whatever the role is, the least you should expect is a bit of professionalism and basic respect?

Thanks again to everyone who replied to my original post – your support really helped me feel a bit more grounded about what happened.

I ended up submitting a complaint about the interview – mainly because I felt so uncomfortable during it and thought it was important to give honest feedback. I wasn’t actually expecting a reply, but to their credit, I did get one.

They acknowledged that some of the adjustments I’d asked for weren’t properly followed through, and they said they’d reflect and make changes to their process going forward, without saying what those changes would be.

They also tried to frame the additional questions as “probing.” I completely disagree — I’ve had probing questions in interviews before. These were completely new questions, and they kept being repeated over and over. No answer I gave seemed to satisfy them. I was interrupted, hands were raised in a 'stop' gesture, I felt put down, dismissed, and honestly, it just felt rude.

The email also didn’t deny or address the unrealistic nature of the role (full-time responsibilities advertised as part-time) or the way I was made to feel during the interview — which was the biggest issue for me.

And just for any interviewers who might be reading this thread:

It appears there may be some misunderstanding around what constitutes a reasonable adjustment under UK law — particularly the Equality Act 2010. A reasonable adjustment should be:

• Effective: It must genuinely alleviate the disadvantage faced by the individual.
• Practical: It must be feasible to implement.
• Cost-appropriate: It shouldn’t be unduly burdensome to the employer (providing interview questions in advance, for instance, is free!).
• Not disruptive: It should not unduly disrupt the process for others — and again, providing questions in advance shoulld not.

It’s not about giving anyone an unfair advantage — it’s about levelling the playing field and allowing people to show their abilities in the right conditions. If you can make an adjustment, and keep making it, then JFDI.

I’m glad I said something, and I do appreciate the employer's response, even if not fully saatisfactory. I feel a bit better now, and will move on.

Thanks again to those who reassured me. You helped more than you know ❤️

No, it’s not. Reasonable adjustment is about levelling the playing field so that an applicants’ disability doesn’t disadvantage them whatever role they are applying for. If they are qualified for the role, reasonable adjustment is designed to remove barriers presented by disability.

Put in your resignation x

A great post OP. And just for clarity if the employer is presenting themselves as a Disability Confident employer then l would consider taking this further. You contacted the employer and the response is nowhere near satisfactory considering their responsibilities under the scheme and you need to bring it to the attention of the DWP. There are details of how to do this on gov.uk.

What resignation ?

I think you handled it really well and you took control of the situation by ending it early. I think you could follow up with a letter of complaint advising them how not to treat people in an interview, how their expectations are unrealistic to replace a full time position with part time hours, and that this is not how to treat a disabled candidate. You could mention discrimination - that should worry them a bit and make them take note. Go straight to the top with your complaint. That's if you want to invest the energy into somewhere you would never want to work.

But on another note you have dodged a bullet. They have shown you who you are and they are not where you want to be. So that in a way is what an interview is all about - them finding out about you and you finding out about them. You have now done that.

I think we all have had bad, strange, unnerving interviews at some point and you can chalk this one up to experience. I had one where after a team group working task (at a hotel) we were sent to individual hotel rooms where we had to sit and wait for a phone call. Then the caller was doing I believe psychometric testing with a series of probing and personal questions about me as a person. I was very young at the time and I didnt know what this was (and they had not said) so I answered honestly which was the wrong thing to do it turned out as I didnt get the job. One of the questions was whether i had played a practical joke on anyone and if so what it was. I told her. Her false laugh i can still recall to this day. Another experience was where I had to interview the interview panel in a role play scenario - that was very awkward and I didnt get the job. The worst experience was with a small company when I was early 20's and the middle aged man after some questions about my experience and competence then went on to ask me about my personal life and whether I had a partner and would be having children any time soon as they couldn't afford to pay maternity leave ! I put in a complaint about that one as he made me feel very uncomfortable. The company tried to call me after (probably to apologise) but I ignored all their calls - I made it clear in my letter that they were not the type of company I wanted to work for.

So I think I am saying chalk it up to experience. Consider doing a complaint to their boss and then put it behind you - they have shown you who they are and they are not right for you. Best of luck with your future job interviews :)

You could potentially complain to the Disability Confident scheme, but they don't seem to make it easy.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/disability-confident-how-to-complain#request-support-from-a-third-party

Fwiw the accreditation scheme seems extremely minimal and easy to cheat
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/disability-confident-how-to-sign-up-to-the-employer-scheme#level-3-disability-confident-leader

Don’t feel upset, you should feel proud of yourself! You trusted your instincts. You knew the role was not for you and left the interview early. Well done! Now it’s time to put it behind you and move on.

I feel for you and please try to not stress much either about the interview or some of the posts in here. It is your right to also assess the job and the panel and decide this is not for me, it is a two way street and it sounds like you wouldn't have liked this job anyway given the initial signals.
I have seen many bad practices with job interviews, try to see the whole picture. Some people in interview pannels are very bad at it, sometimes they interview people although they already have someone for the post so they make it occured, some companies have really toxic cultures etc
the job market is very screwed up. I was looking recently in my industry that require min MSc and often PHD and many years of experience, laughable organisations advertising jobs with a long list of demands paying less pwr hour than my cleaner charges. It's a wild west. keep going, trust yourself, learn what you can mostly about yourself through these practices and don't let them bring you down. good luck

Interview questions in advance is quite normal these days (even without reasonable adjustments) but asking different ones is not on. They should have said no if they had some reason they couldn’t send them in advance. The rest of it sounds like you had a lucky break OP.

sorry for your experience. Reasonable adjustments are fine and legal but part of interview is being asked unprepared questions surely as this is something you would experience in the work place and couldn’t expect in the work place for all questions to be prepared beforehand?

Well done you for having the balls to end the interview. Dodged a bullet with that job, methinks.
Good luck for the future 👍

It's an absolute right if specified as a reasonable adjustment for a disability eg autism. I hope your job doesn't involve interviewing people, if it does, you'd be breaking the law with that attitude.

It is not an 'absolute right'. A candidate with a disability has the right to reasonable adjustments. There is no right to receive questions ahead of time, or to not be asked additional questions.

Agree! 😊

That sounds really shit OP, sorry that happened to you. But bullet dodged!

I once ended an interview for a PhD position. I'd driven from Glasgow to Leeds in absolutely horrendous weather and by some miracle, arrived 5 mins early. Woman came out of the room next to the interview room and told me to wait as they were finishing up with another candidate. So I waited. And waited. After 15 mins or so, the Prof who would've been my supervisor came out of the room and barked "so you're here at last!" I barked back "I've been waiting for over 15 minutes actually". It went downhill from there so I called a halt.
Years later in another career I had to work closely with the arsehole Prof. He never did manage to work out where he knew me from. 😂

Sorry you had such a bad experience, but it was their fault not yours and you have dodged a bullet. I’ve found on here good advice and understanding people. However, there are also the ones who just want to be rude for the sake of being rude. Please ignore them as it’s a hobby for them in the evenings.

I interview for positions (senior healthcare roles) and I always send the questions in advance. I find it gets the best out of people and gives them the chance to get the best out of the process, and me see them showcase their skills. It shouldn’t feel like an intimidating environment.

OP- you handled it well. Probing questions should relate to the original question “can you tell me more about…” for example.

Rubbish, the adjustment has to he reasonable for the role you can't just say people with x disability always have the right to y adjustment regardless of what the nature of the job is. Clue is in the name: reasonable

A lot of misunderstanding about the EA on here.

My husband has had a few interviews where he has had the questions in advance. He doesn’t have any disabilities. I think it is increasingly common.

If it was interviewing for a 'think on your feet' role, eg front line sales, i could argue that i wouldn't be able to assess the candidates ability to do this with pre issued questions

@cigarsmokingwoman Youve done everything right and well done with giving them feedback. You have definitely dodged a bullet. Good luck with the job search.

I think with questions in advance, everyone can perform better. I think this should be standard, to find out what candidates really think and want to say, rather than putting people on the spot (including those who will be disadvantaged but don't have a diagnosis), and to encourage hiring managers to use them properly.