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!

I was actually interviewed for a part time retail job for high end fashion (which I'm glad now I didn't get), I have to say that shop has a more strategic focus on how to interview and the interview process than a lot of places I have interviewed for, and they take pride in the process.
Lots of senior managers saying they invest in people, well obviously not courses on how to interview. Fine if your company is informal, baffling if you say you hold high recruitment standards.

Ironically the industry I work in is retail.

The people you interview aren’t just potential employees, they’re potential customers too.
So I think for that reason we do take a bit more of a focus on the recruitment process, getting it right and ensuring people have a positive experience.

It simply boils down to how would you like to be treated. Then applying that to how you treat others. It’s not difficult, but clearly some companies struggle with that concept!

Yanbu op. Similar happened to me recently (and I had a thread on here about it) - the difference for me being that the interview was only a 45 minute train/tube ride away.

But I knew they were only seeing 6 people and I ended up being really angry about their lack of communication after the interview. They eventually wrote (not one of the 2 interviewers, some other anonymous bod) an email about 3 weeks later.

On the upside - I now have a better job . Shorter hours, more money, 10 minutes walk to work. I couldn't be happier! Good luck to you @Itsmeanttobesummer.

My standard route to rejecting candidates is to call but they rarely answer, then email to say they haven't got it and include a note to say to book a call with me to get feedback. Roughly 90% of people don't ask for feedback. It's really weird, why wouldn't you want it? That's why I don't spend hours individualising feedback in every reject email - I would just be wasting my time. However, when someone books in with me, I will spend 10-15 minutes going through their CV & supporting statement and will give them an overview of what their competition did/had that got them over the line. I would much rather commit a lot of my time to providing proper feedback to a couple of people who ask for it and want it than writing it all in an email that is going to be disregarded and deleted.

You should always ask for this feedback, it is so important in helping you for your next application. Ask for verbal rather than written if you can. I'm sorry you didn't get it, hopefully the feedback will help you for the next one.

I agree. If someone is unemployed as some candidates may be… £78 could be two weeks food shop!

"for the type of junior/entry level role that you've gone for"

Clearly you never quite made it as far as middle management but like to be condescending to the (probably very few) people who are junior to you.

You see how we can all make assumptions.

This is very normal. To be fair its a difficult process and if they have made an offer to a candidate they may be waiting to hear from him or her. Just the admin involved can take quite a while, never mind the decision making. Frustrating but extremely common, even in a normal employment market.

Unfortunately as a PP pointed out we’re not in a normal market: the job market is worse than it has been for decades and employers can take their sweet time making decisions.

I wouldn’t give up hope though. In my experience job decisions are really made to timetable.

Hope is already gone on this one

Just seen, sorry!

The CEO has minions to read his emails, so he/she won’t even see it.

Anyone here who has a ‘very junior position’, please raise your hand! 🙋‍♀️