To think they should pay for expenses

[broichehead748]

I was rejected for a job.

It involved:

a first stage interview made up of 10 questions and a 30 minute presentation (remote on Teams)

a second stage interview that was not mentioned in the original job listing. This entailed:

another 30 minute presentation
with follow up questions

The second interview interview gave me one weeks notice to take a full day annual leave, organise childcare, travel by car then train to a city 3 hours away, stay overnight in advance for an early interview time.

In total the interview prep took me two full days of my time. The original application took a day. Travelling to and from took two days. The cost of travelling and staying over was £300.

I was given the feedback that the successful candidate had more experience in terms of years in the sector then I did. Which they knew before asking me to the second interview. I’m so gutted that it cost me so much in time and money for a no based on something they already knew about me in advance. It would have hurt less to have not made second stage considering the stress and anxiety of travel and leaving my children to do the interview.

There are no expenses refunded. Is this unreasonable of them?

You could have refused second stage and not paid out.

Didn’t you post about this before the interview too?

I’d very politely word this feedback to them so that they can make their ‘company and recruitment process more attractive to future applicants.’ Just thoughtless, really, aren’t they?

Whilst I dont disagree with the sentiment; good luck on getting anywhere with it.

You chose to participate, you didnt ask for expenses prior to the interview and you wouldnt have asked for expenses to be repaid if you had been successful.

I have never heard of being paid prep time. But you should have asked about travel and hotel before interview. It’s a good test on how interested they are and you can make a decision on their response.

@broichehead748 I wouldn't have gone past the 2nd stage if they weren't covering expenses for the in person interview. Doesn't give a good impression of a reasonable potential employer.

My husband just had to travel to an 3rd round interview and his travel/hotel was paid. Given teams/zoom capability I think companies should be paying travel if they aren't willing to hold remote interviews, especially if they interview is significantly further away than the person will be travelling to work if they are successful!

I think they should have paid your travel and accommodation expenses, obviously not preparation time though.. Presumably though you knew they wouldn't before you attended?.
It wasn't a given that they would have given the job to the person with more experience. She might not have been so impressive when they saw her. I expect you both interviewed very well and the only difference between you was her experience. But until they had been through the process they weren't to know that.

They should have offered expenses and you should have checked this before agreeing to second interview. It's a pain but you will know to do it next time.

Prep time is on you. But I have always received travel expenses.

You should have agreed expenses up front.

The time to negotiate this was before the interview I'm afraid.

I think whether travel expenses are likely to be paid or not depends on whether they were held in the location where the job is based, or e.g. head office when the role is based elsewhere. The latter I would expect expenses to be paid, but you probably have to be proactive about asking.

Time off work at short notice is fairly normal for any sort of interview if you work FT.

I think it depends where the job is. If the base if the office you went to then its fair enough not to pay expenses since you wouldn't get expenses if you worked there.

If you're going to work in town A but had to travel to town B. The expenses would be reasonable.

No one is going to pay for preparation time.

That just sounds bitter.

You have to speculate to accumulate. £300 is negligible in the grand scheme of what a new job might have got you.

Just be thankful you can afford these costs to be in the competition. Others couldn’t have afforded them so couldn’t even have tried.

Best wishes with your job search

They should pay for the hotel and travel. You have nothing to loose, Id email and ask.

Travel and acco should be paid, but time off/interview prep etc is on you.

No

I can’t afford them. They are on my credit card. £300 is not negligible to me. It’s a large sum to me.

You could send them an invoice and see what happens. If you don't ask you don't get. Sorry this happened, OP. Horrible for you.

Hello!

Thanks for the feedback so far. To be clear - I don’t expect prep time to be paid for. I have no intention of asking them to pay me anything at all. I mentioned my experience to a friend and they were shocked that I had to travel so far and pay for an overnight stay and there had been zero offer from the company to cover expenses. So it got me thinking.

The general vote seems to be that I should be expected to pay out large sums to attend interviews.

Thank you that’s really kind. I’m not going to ask them but I just wanted to know whether most others thought this was acceptable. Or not.

You do realise that all of this was optional don't you? If you can't afford it then why did you book a hotel instead of just getting up early?

To be honest it sounds like you're just sour that you didn't get the job. Which is understandable but doesn't make this any less unreasonable.

I would have asked beforehand, and said you couldn't attend in person otherwise. You would have had far more leverage before than you do now. Of course be upset / annoyed but all you can do now is ask, be prepared they'll say no, and be more careful next time.