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!

It depends on the job and the interviewers needs. Having interviewed a lot, I'd always regard in person interviews as being more effective.

I had a remote interview for a professional job almost 3 years ago now, needed post grad qualifications and experience for it, had to prepare and deliver a presentation, was asked about start dates etc and I was doing the exact same role for another business. Despite thinking it had gone well (and I never ever think that) and them discussing how they’d be able to get me in quicker than notice period, I was totally ghosted following it. I contacted the interviewer and HR (it’s a big organisation) a number of times and absolutely zero response. Every time I see another role advertised my husband tells me to contact them and ask about the outcome since technically I’ve still not been rejected! Really frustrating people think it’s okay for you to give up your time and energy into preparing for something (and in your case money) and not have the decency to tell you the outcome. I hope you hear soon!

Next time ask if they cover travel expenses when agreeing to the interview OP

If I didn't get the job, I'd be writing and sending them my travel receipts as it may make them reconsider their recruitment practices. Remind them of the Cost of Living Crisis and how frivolous it is for them to presume that everyone has £80 to blow on just attending an interview, especially when so many people will be unsuccessful. Copy in the CEO. Also mention sustainability (environmental protection, pollution, etc).

Well of course it's less good on the "gice an example.of...". But if you have technical questions which we do then it is fairly easy to use it.c
It is kind of obvious but it's not easy to mark them down if they answer the question so simpler to bring them to the office

Been going on longer than that. Had exactly this scenario for a big job at FCA. 4 or 5 years ago. Big piece of work to be submitted, never discussed at i/v, then ghosted for outcome. I gave very detailed feedback as I was appalled.

The job market at the moment is SAVAGE!

I work in finance and it's so difficult. I had an online interview for Revolute the other day and the interviewer yawned during the meeting and didn't even apolgise.

I got a rejection but feedback to HR how unprofessional the interviewer was.

A colleague and I were hiring a research assistant a few weeks back and did it on teams, we were just looking for a PGR student to help us. I didn’t care at all if they’d used AI in their application, nor their interview. We sent the questions in advance so they could prepare. I gave the role to the candidate who was the most personable! That’s what mattered to me most of all, can I get on well with them and do I think they’d work hard? Yes and so far so good.

People place way too much emphasis on AI being evil but you have to consider most candidates have applied for hundreds of jobs, why should they individually personalise CVs and cover letters themselves when a bot can do it for them?

Oh god I had this same thing once a few years back now so not even in the current climate. I was applying for a junior lecturer role and the professor interviewing me was an utter pig. He literally looked me up and down as I walked in, kept glancing at the clock, sighing, audibly tutted as I answered a question, would butt in constantly, pulled a few weird faces as I was speaking.

He was the rudest person I’ve ever come across in my academic career thus far. To be honest though, it makes you happy you didn’t get the role because like hell you’d want to work with them!

I’ve claimed travel costs back for an interview before. I didn’t get the job. It was a bit of a faff but worth it as I was skint at the time.

Did they declare that they'd used AI for their form etc? Because if not, you might have a research integrity issue down the line if they aren't transparent about their use of AI...

Eek but surely you wouldn’t want them to be using AI in their research? People still don’t seem aware that what it produces is bullshit and factually incorrect. Maybe it depends on what area you work in but in my area, factual accuracy is paramount so I would be ditching anyone who can’t do a job application or interview without using AI

Definitely! I recently had a PhD student hauled over the coals in her viva for AI use. The external examiner was enraged (student had used fake quotes and references produced by ChatGPT).

Job market is terrible. Ghosting is common, even after interview (though in your case maybe they are still thinking about it). Paying expenses is a rarity. A friend recently had 5 interviews for a single job, and then was rejected (not a senior job) - she got accepted for a different job after 4 interviews. It took her 18 months to get that job.

All of these things are crap.

I'm sure this doesn't help, but you're not alone.

I totally agree. You either submit your authentic CV or you use AI to help and then you review it yourself to make sure it represents you. The expectation for all candidates to be experts in tailoring there CVs for multiple roles and then writing pages and pages of personal statements is mental and exhausting.
And yes interview questions are not meant to be an exam, it's meant to be able to demonstrate what you know.

Are you currently actively looking for work? What you have described isn't even a good comparison to the current messed up situation for AI being used for ATS? Obviously the student should of done her own work, that is pretty obvious. The current situation with CVs being automatically rejected if they don't hit key words in ATS is completely different. And if you are currently hiring and can't understand why this is happening you need to also do some research or go on to linkedin to look at the current chaos there.

Well, I’ve just heard back. Didn’t get it! No feedback though, which I’ve gone back and asked for!

Sorry to hear OP - but at least youve heard back - there are so many who dont even bother telling candidates if they've not got the job...

I got my current role in 2023 and wouldn't have dreamed of using AI in my application (I can't remember if ChatGPT existed at the time). The style of writing it produces is terrible and really off-putting. Having seen many examples of it, I feel it's quite easy to spot, although many people think it sounds better than anything they could write themselves. In my field though, there is an element of people knowing your name and the work you do so that plays a part in being shortlisted. Maybe I'd feel differently if I was applying to huge corporations where I was just one of many people.

Well quite.

I can honestly say in my 25+ years of recruiting, I have never had several back up candidates. I may have one additional candidate that did well at interview and passed but was just pipped at the post, that I can tell that to and offer them another role as soon as one becomes available. But I’ve never had 3 or 4 candidates that I’ll go through if the one before declines an offer.

Where I work, we pride ourselves on ensuring candidates have a good experience and if there’s any hold up in decisions/the process they are contacted by me. But that’s because there is communication with the candidate all the way through the process.

I don’t choose the final interview outcome but I am fully responsible for the entire recruitment and shortlisting process and ensuring Hiring Managers know the process and how to interview. I also challenge my Hiring Managers pretty hard if they’re dragging their feet and tell them to give me something to go back to the candidate with, so they have some communication from us.

And if a candidate is successful and they’ve had a really positive experience, they’re far more likely to refer colleague’s to the business also. Lots of businesses seem to forget how powerful word of mouth is.

Sorry you didn’t get it

Sounds like you’d already prepared yourself for that answer, but doesn’t make it any easier to swallow!

TBF I think three years ago is pretty out of date for the changes in the current market. I don't disagree with AI not being the right way forward but lots of job hunters feel caught in a trap of needing it to hit certain key words and wanting to be authentic. And yes I think you would feel differently applying in the corporate world.

I’ve done a few interviews over teams. There is no reason not to.

Claude is really valuable. I agree that other bots, particularly GPT are way way off the mark but Claude is quite remarkable at writing and also accurate.

I’m always transparent with my students and say I don’t care if they use AI (which is the uni’s policy anyway and always has been) BUT if they give me a shite essay with hallucinated references it’s getting a low grade/potentially a fail in some cases e.g when a student submitted a copy and pasted GPT essay and referred to Miss Lonelyhearts as a female!

Sorry you didn’t get the job OP. I think in future you should assume you didn’t if you haven’t heard back within a day or two.

Copilot (the paid version) is also very helpful as a starting point in my line of work