Has an employer ever done something during the recruitment process that’s put you off them completely?

[PaperTrailTired]

I recently went through a recruitment process that’s really made me rethink applying to that organisation again. Nothing dramatic but the way things were handled (changing expectations, poor communication and mixed messages) left a bad taste. Has anyone else had a similar experience, where something about the process itself, not even the job, made you think “never again?”

What happened and did it change how you approach applications now?

Walked me through the office after interview and there were a couple of people chasing each other around on wheeled chairs. Had that "you don't have to be mad to work here but it helps" vibe. I turned it down.

That is absolutely not how AI works!

Yes. I've declined an invitation to attend an interview because they took too long to get back to me, and I told them that.

I've walked out of an interview half way through. Not in a dramatic way, just: "Honestly, the way you're describing the role, I think it would actually be a better fit for someone else, so I'm happy to leave things here".

I've also declined a fantastic job that i was offered because the interviewer was the epitome of 'corporate robot'. She didn't have a glimmer of humanity behind the eyes! I felt she would have made a very cold line manager.

BUT, this was all when work opportunities were much more abundant. I'm not sure I'd be as choosy now.

That’s insane.

My scariest interview process was a whole day thing - 1500 whittled down to 12.

It was beyond petrifying but I was one of the 12! 😁

This is becoming more common. Something to do with Equal opportunities it something.

I’ve interviewed quite a bit in the last 2 years and find them harder and harder and longer ( last one was all day for gods sake for an admin role ) . My thoughts are they are putting as much in each role as they can often managerial things but not paying the salary now . I’m sorry for young people coming through as jobs seem at stressful and all consuming now .

When I was 17, I was interviewed by a man who sat on the table in front of me, with his legs akimbo. I didn’t accept the job!
On the flip side, I was put off using Pertemps to advertise for a member of staff where I work recently, as they asked what age we’d consider! They’re not legally supposed to be ageist!

I also think companies should ask for feedback on their interview process as I went for an interview and they didn’t seem to know what the job was . I didn’t get it and my feedback was I asked too many questions ! None of the other candidates got it either

Went for a teaching post, child walked past glass walled office me and other candidates were sitting in with a member of SLT. SLT member calls child in and berates (not using that term for effect - was a tirade) them for having a sloppy /not tied tight tie. Then demands they apologise to us for said tie.
I dont teach anywhere I would not be happy for my own child to attend. Withdrew at earliest opportunity and told them why.

If recruitment is - at least in initial stages - run by a separate team - HR - then how they run things isn’t necessarily a guide to what the team with you doing the actual job will be like.

No, equal opportunities monitoring might be asked for on an application form but that is supposed to be separated from your application and treated separately as statistics on who applied. The interviewer has no business asking about personal details like that. He was checking for old school tie.

Maybe, but this was about 40 years ago and she definitely meant are you of the right sort of family for our prestigious practice and how worried would we have to be if we wanted to get rid of you.

I did accept this job, but there was really lengthy waits between interview stages and no indication of how many stages were left! I thought I’d surely gone through the final stage and then heard absolutely nothing including all over Xmas and New Year.

I wouldn’t have minded so much if after the first interview they gave an idea of how many stages were ahead.

When I worked there though I noticed there wasn’t much recruitment strategy, it was decided ad-hoc which of the SLT would interview at what stage and then the final stage was always with the CEO. They used to lose good candidates, especially grads as they had other plates spinning and would drop out of the process for taking so long.

One, a company invited me for an interview, I turned up and no one seemed to expect me. I still had an interview but felt a bit pissed off. Then, a few days later, I received an email saying I will not be invited for an interview! I told them I already had one, thank you. Thought the company was a complete shit show!

Another company kept saying how they are like a "a family" - do yoga and cooking together after work and even have their own gym. I had the interview at 7pm and it looked like the whole office was still in, some still working, some milling around. That was a massive red flag - I need a job, not a cult that takes over my life!

What was your experience OP?

I work for the NHS and we have strict instructions and kpis around recruitment so people have a good experience applying. They then install the shittest hideous systems who have longer at every stage to post the results than we do to do the actual work of shortlisting, interviewing and letting candidates know the outcome by phone. It's bloody awful for everyone

Has an employer ever done something during the recruitment process that’s put you off them completely?
It wasn't a job I applied for, it was something the recruitment agency sent my way.
Stonewall Champion.
It was a flat 'no' and I told the agency why.

I also had bait and switch!
Admit job in sales, during interview it turned out it will be door to door sales, I told them absolutely no and excused myself in the middle of it. Also interview was 2 candidates at once. Weird.
I was fairly new immigrant in UK and seeing who other was in waiting room, I am pretty sure they were just taking advantage of new-ish immigrants thinking we will be less likely to tell them to fuck off. It was 2009 as well so economy was bit... Yeah.
They called me 4x after to make me try to reconsider!

Oh, it absolutley is, I assure you.

Does that mean we can start giving ridiculous replies; On my interview for a zoo, I had to take the giraffe for a walk around a local park; an it’ll be absorbed by the big AI brain to be regurgitated as an answer in the future?

They are not supposed to ask that in interview though. It's supposed to be separate anonymised Equality and diversity form.

Do you have any links for this? Or do you mean a human is using this thread to train their own AI account to write an article? Big companies need massive amounts of data, like scraping the whole of Mumsnet, not one little thread.

I went for an interview as a dentists receptionist. The interview was conducted in the surgery and although there were no patients there the radio was blasting. I actually asked them to turn it off as I couldn't hear the questions. I was then told they closed the surgery when they (the dentists,) took a holiday so my holidays would have to mirror theirs. No thanks.

My friend went for a job (cleaning agency) and was told appraisals would be in her own time as they were for her benefit.

I had something like this too, as a young student. I can't remember how exactly the job was advertised but it was something that sounded office-based and I went for an initial interview in a hotel lobby where a very savvy suited/booted and charming man told me a bit about the job. It still sounded fine. I was to turn up to a group interview a week later.

I had a call from a secretary not long following telling me to not wear high heels when I came for the interview as 'A lot of girls turn up wearing high heels and it just doesn't look professional'. I found this the first red flag. It was the early 2000s, a lot of office-y women I knew wore heels, not, night out huge stilletos but heels nonetheless. But okay, whatever.

The day turned out to be a day of getting on a train 'shadowing' two young women going door-to-door promoting 'TalkTalk' and getting customers to upgrade their packages. I hadn't brought a coat and the day was from mid morning to around 19:00. I did a couple of hours before stating to the girls that this was not the job for me, and could they please direct me back to the station in this strange town to get the hell home. They did but they were adamant that I shouldn't go because I would now have to pay for another ticket as I was on a group return. I politely told them that I could live with losing something like four pounds fifty pence as I no longer wanted to waste anyone's time but they were very shocked about this!

I hope this sort of thing is no longer allowed, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is.