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?

Well done on terminating the interview

I’m sorry you had a difficult experience and congratulations for keeping your dignity by ending it early.

I understand and appreciate your reasonable adjustment. Can I ask, what happens if the interview becomes more conversational - do you dislike this?

I think you misconstrued "reasonable adjustment" in this case. You can't just say "this is what I need therefore you must provide it"! Rather, "reasonable adjustment" is something that must be carefully considered and the employer /interview panel should be able to demonstrate that they have considered adjustments and done everything possible to implement them.
In this case it's likely they considered your request but then vetoed it as non workable for the scenario.
Giving questions in advance would mitigate against a true picture of the candidate, which is the whole point of an interview, and possibly also introduce unfairness against other candidates.
This might not be true for every interview but it probably was on this occasion.

You are probably very disappointed with how it went, but try not to blame them, and move on with your job search. There are many many reasons for an interview to go badly, but keep going and you'll strike lucky.

Giving questions in advance would mitigate against a true picture of the candidate, which is the whole point of an interview, and possibly also introduce unfairness against other candidates

This! How does an interviewer achieve a fair comparison if they can't ask any follow up questions.

I don't mind a nice chatty interview, and I get that there can be some probing questions, but when they start throwing in different questions altogether without warning, that's just not good for someone with impairments (I have several). I have qualifications, experience etc but it can take me a bit of time to process things, with an adjustment such as questions in advance, I can perform better.

No, it was great that you told them that they were wasting your time. Employers like that would have ground you into nothing within a few weeks with an impossible workload, talking over you and completely ignoring your disabilities.

But you realised it straight away, made it clear that their attitudes and behaviour were unacceptable and stood up for yourself, meaning that you won't be posting in six weeks about how awful it is to be there and how horrible they are to you - you told them 'It isn't me, it's YOU' and rejected them.

You were great.

They advertised themselves as a disability confident leader - highest level of the scheme - so were not following their own processes.
An adjustment is not about fairness, its about removing a barrier. Sometimes you have to treat people differently to get fairness. Do read up on the law.

Thanks OP. As other posters have said, they may have wanted to see how you handle pressure. If that’s not for you, fair enough. Interviews are a two way process and you’re right to walk away if they’re not the right fit.

It’s usual for people with ASD

As someone who understand the equality really well, you are potentially opening your employer up to an ET with that statement.

a reasonable adjustment could absolutely be the questions in advance.

Hah - I've also had a terrible similar interview experience with the National Trust, as has a friend, five years apart. Very odd questions unrelated to the job description/person specification. Wasn't with a man though and at two different NT properties, so there are at least three very strange people working there. When I asked them what they liked about working there, there was a long pause. Never again!

OP - remember that you are also interviewing them, and they failed your interview. I also ask for questions in advance, and it's never been a problem in recent years. They usually share them with other candidates too, which is fine with me. I'm so glad employers are realising that it's not an on-the-spot memory test, but they actually want to hear about your skills and experience, on a more equal basis. To me it should be a conversation, not a test.

Yes you’re right that the adjustment needs to be reasonable

But, an employer has to demonstrate that a request is unreasonable, under employment law I can’t think how this employer would be able to demonstrate that offering questions in advance would not be possible or workable

And the way to ensure fairness to other candidates is to offer the questions in advance to everyone

They really are to blame, not the OP

Well done OP. It sounds awful and I really respect you for just declining to continue to put yourself through it.

Questions in advance is a standard reasonable adjustment and like others have said some places, like my last employer, so it as standard for everyone. It helps remove bias and ensures every candidate is judged on their answers to consistent questions. Probing is okay - if a candidate says something that isn't totally clear or you want to hear more about then you can follow up. But asking totally different questions than they sent you in advance is not okay if they agreed to the adjustment.

If the point of the interview is to test how you respond to the unknown or under pressure then they shouldn't have agreed to the adjustment.

So kind and empathetic.
/s

@cigarsmokingwoman
I’m very sorry - it’s apparent you dodged a cannonball here.
And like others here, I agree - they wanted you in a part-time position to fill a full-time job.
I’m happy you noped out of there.
And as for the disrespect - nobody disrespects you unless you let them, so good on you.
Good luck finding a position where you’re happy and comfortable and well regarded and compensated for the many abilities you have. ❤️

An interview allows the applicant to interview the recruiting team. You did that, and took an informed decision to end the interview. A sensible and confident move in my opinion

I also work somewhere where we provide interview questions in advance for reasonable adjustments. It's good. Personally I think they should do it for all candidates.

I think you dodged a bullet OP. I get that you're disappointed but the sound awful. The full time job in part time hours alone is a huge red flag.

Autism or anyone difficulty processing information benefits from questions in advance. In fact in my work we send them to all candidates in advance. Saves anyone from having to request them.

It's them not you. Sounds like you dodged a bullet, if they're like that at interview imagine what it would be like to work for them. No point wasting your time.

100% this. Don’t feel bad. You were checking them out as much as they were checking you out. And you found that they weren’t up to scratch and so gracefully bowed out.

Well done!

Everyone would perform better if they knew the questions in advance!

Dodged a bullet there! How can they expect you to do all that P/T?!

Well done you for walking out, it takes courage to do that.

Goodness some people are being somewhat savage and ignorant tonight. Well done for asserting yourself and ending the interview early, you did indeed dodge that bullet

Either the candidate can handle follow up questions, or the panel can provide them and the candidate can provide answers afterwards. It isn't rocket science.

I think it was a bit unhinged to leave the interview early, sorry. I know you were surprised by unexpected questions but you may still have done really well. This may not have impacted the decision at all. By hanging up you lost control and lost your chance of getting the job. But as you say maybe you did dodge a bullet, who knows.