AIBU to think this is pretty poor form (job interview related)

[Itsmeanttobesummer]

Went for a job interview last Tuesday. Bit of a long story but the interviews were being held in central London, despite the role not being located there.

I know from where the role is located that none of the candidates, including myself live in or near central London.

For me, it was 3 hours on a train each way which cost me £78 return. All day travelling, days preparing for the interview etc, time off work.

I’ve heard nothing so I’m assuming I didn’t get the role, which is fine but AIBU to think it’s really poor form dragging people down for an interview (which in hindsight, they really could’ve just done over Teams) hours from where they live, knowing that it would’ve cost them a lot of time and money, only to not even be bothered to tell them they haven’t got the job?

I chased yesterday and haven’t heard anything.

Is this what the job market is like nowadays?! I wouldn’t be bothered if it had been a local interview that was an hour of my time and a fiver in fuel or whatever, but this really wasn’t and it makes me angry they can’t even be arsed to email and say ‘sorry, you’ve not been successful’ over a week later!

We are pulling back from Teams interviews due to candidates using AI to answer the questions.
It's a retrograde step as it used to be very convenient to do by Teams but now candidates just have ChatGPT listening to the question and prompting the answer. **

All my interviews are Teams, I even send the questions out beforehand - it’s ab interview, not a memory test. For me it shouod be much more like a conversation, you find out much more about people if they are at ease.
As for A.I, I would love someone to work for me who was so skilled with the Tech that they could hear a question, wait for the A.I. response, filter the A.I. response to get rid if false positives, and present it to me in natural langague, all in seconds

YANBU. I heard back same day when I got my job. I’d imagine you’ve been unsuccessful if it’s been that long and you’ve not heard anything

Such a condescending answer.

I was asked to travel to the north of Scotland for a face to face interview a couple of years ago, despite the job (and company HQ) being located a 15 minute walk from my current office in central London. I was havering on the role anyway and decided to politely decline but I’d have been really narked if they didn’t then send a “sorry, not this time” email to their shortlist.

Exactly. Almost all law firms interview over Teams.

Internal Recruiter here 🙋🏽‍♀️

Just to say, it’s fine if you want to get an offer in the bag before declining the other candidates.

However, if you don’t give some kind of communication to the other candidates you’re keeping waiting, then that is a poor recruitment experience for them and you lose good candidates this way.

At the very least, they should be sent an update email or given a phone call to just say that you’re still shortlisting etc and that they will be contacted with an update in the coming x amount of days/weeks. They don’t have to wait around and may get offered elsewhere, but at least you’ve not completely left them hanging.

@Itsmeanttobesummer If the job is one you’re keen on, I would give them a few more days, as there could be a hold up on the decision. They could be torn between you and another candidate. They could be waiting for input from someone else etc. There are sometimes things that can hold up the recruitment process a bit.

But if you haven’t heard anything by say Tuesday of next week (so giving them a week past the date they said you’d hear), I’d probably cut your loses. The lack of communication after asking you to travel that far at your own great expense, is a not a great look for them to be honest.

Sorry to hear that OP. I can confirm after recently securing a role, after my second period of unemployment in the last couple of years (for the first time since 2014), that the job market is an absolute state and your experience although pretty rude is not uncommon, sadly. I have applied for several hundred jobs over the last 18 months and can say probably only 20-30 got back and less than 10 offered interviews. I also had this when interviewing for a role at the beginning of 2025 and was completely ghosted after the interview and it took 5 weeks of chasing up before someone bothered getting back to me. I was also ghosted again at the end of 2025 after another interview, and by a recruiter.

On the flip side though, I have recently secured a role after applying and submitting my application on a Wednesday and receiving an interview offer on the Friday, interview the following Wednesday and offered the role the next day. I started this week and love it. It has restored my faith in the process and I really hope you have a similar experience.

How on Earth does this work?! So within the few seconds that the interviewer asks the question and they answer, they have time to ask ChatGPT and then read the response out all while looking straight at you on Teams? I've never heard of this happening and wouldn't even know how it would work. All the interviews I've had have been conversations that flow. How would anyone have time to consult ChatGPT?!

Agree. I think it's fairly normal now just to leave people hanging. Years ago, they always phoned you up whether it was a yeah or a nay. Just part of the discourteous , shitty times we live in now I'm afraid. Too many ignorant twits with no manners in positions of influence these days.

They have it on audio mode so it's listening to the question and then prompting the answers. Candidate then reads out the answer. We can spot it when they keep looking away from the camera and are clearly reading out something
Eta: these are typically more junior interviews so less flowy and more structured questions.

They may genuinely have not made a decision yet but they have shown you how little they consider employees circumstances by not even sending you a message saying "due to X we have yet to make a decision, we will get back to you by Y". They don't even have to give a genuine reason for the delay (you wouldn't know if it was true), but acknowledging it would show they care about the effort and expense you went to. I wouldn't have a good feeling about the employer and would be increasingly reluctant to accept the job or apply again in future the more they delay.

Good point.

Bloody hell, I work in the public sector and paying for travel expenses for interviews was being phased out thirty years ago! Surprised academia still pays this considering they constantly complain about having no money.

Yes i agree.
And I think this firm has treated you very poorly @Itsmeanttobesummer, although sadly with the job market in such a bad place, this seems to be the norm now.

The most likely reason is that the preferred candidate has asked for a day to think about it. You can’t really send an email saying ‘hey, the person we really want is thinking about it, but if they sadly turn us down we will be forced to consider one of you lot. We’ll be in touch when the best candidate has decided. Have a nice day!’

Or none of the candidates are outstanding and the panel is taking an extra day to sleep on it. You can’t really send an email saying that either.

We do in-person interviews, because the roles are office-based, no WFH, so if people aren't prepared to travel to interview, then they won't want the job anyway. We have had interviewees over 3 weeks, but I made it clear to candidates this was the case. We also have a policy that all interviewees must have a response and feedback. Internal candidates get feedback even if we don't interview them, which a couple of times has been a challenge to my diplomacy skills.

We knew at the end of the interview whether someone was likely to be offered or not, though we still had to go through the rest of the interviews in case there was an even stronger candidate in the potential yeses. But even once our decision was made, others had to sign off on the decision, including HR, and if a key person is on leave, that can delay things. It can be really annoying from the hiring side when we've made the decision and it then doesn't happen as quickly as we'd like, either.

Lol “very junior”, nice and condescending. I will tell you one I would expect and that’s reimbursement of travel expenses if the interview was in person. Very poor form not to offer that.

I assume it's a very junior role that you're in for as for senior roles you'd expect face to face, to travel and for the selection panel to take their time.

love that this person didn't even read or understand the OP, who quite clearly said that she'd traveled, interviewed face-to-face and the selection panel was taking their time....

It’s not respectful or polite no. Even if it is taking a while they could at least let you know that. What is becoming bad as well these days is the demands for interview - big pieces of work which often add up to significant pieces of consultation that can take days of your time. Then not hearing back - or asking for the work and then choosing an internal candidate - so they get a piece of free consultation - is happening a lot more now IMO. I have been interviewing for about 4 months now and it’s a trend.

Condescending and superior, much?

OP I would question the wisdom of a company that requires candidate to travel to a random city without offering to reimburse expenses and then fails to get back to candidates within a reasonable amount of time.

Potential red flags and signs that the organisation won't be great to work for.

Yes by "where everyone lives/ has access to" I meant the candidates not just OP, as it's not local to OP at 3 hours away.

When I've put on events for people all over then London or Birmingham is usually where it ends up due to travel connections.

As someone who was offered a job yesterday after being made redundant 6 weeks ago I can only agree that its a really poor experience to leave people hanging on while you fire through your preferred candidates and then expect the 3rd/4th person to still be engaged in the job application. Most candidates will keep there options open and carrying on applying for other jobs.

The other thing I am finding baffling at the moment is the amount of senior managers who can't interview and give poor interviews that it's either not a great experience as a candidate or it puts you off the whole company. If you have to go to your 4th option because none of the other candidates want the job there is either something wrong with the way the interview was conducted or something wrong with the job description or perhaps even the way candidates were short listed.

I find this baffling as employers use AI to screen CVs in the first place. But any how, the last teams interview I had I had my CV open with notes on it and my Linkedin profile on my other monitor. I know them both really, i can't imagine how I would just stop and read chatgpt without looking obvious in an interview or what chatgpt could actually answer given my competencies are either in my notes or my head.