E-mail Interview - feeling disadvantaged

[TsunamiSurfer]

Shamelessly posting here for traffic..

I applied for a job, and received an invitation to interview.

On the day of the interview the potential employer rescheduled from an in person interview to an e-mail interview due to unforeseen circumstances.

id never heard of an e-mail interview but basically they e-mailed me the interview questions at 1pm and I had 1.5 hours to complete.

in one way this was a positive but in another…. I had trouble with google docs which impacted on my time, I had to copy and paste things into a word document and start again so I wound up having to go over the 1.5 hours by 20 mins which I did explain was due to technical difficulties with google docs.

mega annoyingly I noticed the odd typo and extra word after submission - in spite having spell checked.

it was 5 pages of interview and then personal screening questions.

they said in their e-mail that this interview method wouldn’t disadvantage me but aside from not being put on the spot in person I feel as though it has, I wouldn’t have run out of time in a real interview and I wouldn’t have added in extra words.

its a job I have experience of and its minimum wage (I mention this as it felt like I was applying for a job with a much higher pay grade) but has been the most bizarre interview experience….

especially given communication is 80% body language.

my answers were good and I wouldn’t really change them but I don’t think I’m getting the job am I?

the thing is I type bloody fast too so god knows how a slower typer would’ve got on

what are your own thoughts and experiences?

id never even heard of an e-mail interview up until this point.

Yeah, this is precisely it.

All other issues aside, I see an interview as a two way process where I am deciding how I feel about an employer. I certainly can't guage this from an email exchange. I don't understand why they didn't just postpone the interview date!

This made me laugh in a good way - ironically, yes, perhaps it could have lol

Thanks so much for all you’ve highlighted - good point re Google Docs, I never realised they didn’t need a licence, I need to learn more about it all.

at least I’ve had the experience I guess but it does make me wary as you’ve highlighted about things to come if they did offer me the job.

Good point, can’t believe I’d never heard of them but now I know they are indeed a thing

I did fill in an application yes. I submitted a cover letter too.

Yes, me too…

feeling much better about things for all of your responses though

I don’t like the sound of this either. I had a face to face interview years ago & before it finished I’d decided I wouldn’t accept a job offer.

You matter in all of this but it sounds like they couldn’t care less about their staff.
Good luck for the future x

Wouldn't have even filled it out for a min wage job.

Yes on several occasions I have turned down jobs offered because of how I felt the interview went. And equally I have sometimes gone into an interview feeling undecided whether I would accept and then felt a real sense from the interview that the job would be the right fit

I would have left the process at that point too. As others have said, an interview works both ways. It’s your chance to ask questions as well, and get a feel for who you’d be working with.

An email interview is not interview in my opinion, it’s a second application form.

@TsunamiSurfer anyone could have filled in the answers to the email template on the recipient’s behalf - how can they possibly know? They could have a total nutter turn up to the office. The whole thing is mad.

An email interview with that notification I’d see as a huge red flag and say you’ve dodged a bullet. You need at least a day to prepare for these in my experience.

Completely agree with this

Thank you for the good luck wishes

I did feel a bit like that TBH but I was just so keen on the opportunity I guess

Absolutely this hands down I think that’s what’s not sitting right with me

It did feel very much like an unannounced exam in a way - I’m going with the dodged a bullet!

Very true! How do they even know it’s me filling it out?!

Charities get Google Suite for free and it's really useful for shared documents and own 'drive' materials. I am very fond of google docs and google sheets.
There are a few shortcomings between XLSX files and doc editing highlights.

Given the price of Microsoft products it is very useful as it's free for Gmail users to have google docs etc for free.

But an odd way of interviewing for sure.
We've done 5 minute intro sessions before moving to a full interview later in the week. That was really useful as we wanted them to look over some documents and be able to ask questions beforehand for a quick presentation.

There were some shocking AI interviewees in another set. "That's an interesting question" being the initial answer which we assume gave his AI time to produce an answer.

As PP say, it's not an interview. As you have zero live interaction with another person. It's you filling forms/completing a task. Completely unsupervised by them.

That could be part of an interview process. But to me the term 'interview' means a personal conversation or interaction between you plus at least one member of the employer's team.

I am sure you'll find something better! X

Thanks that’s really reassuring and the extra info is helpful too.

It’s all changed days, I guess I’m a bit despondent because I’ve been out of the workplace for a little while and this job touched on previous experience and fitted around childcare and school runs etc for my kids.

never mind, at least I got an interview even if it has been a different kind of experience!

I would really welcome a chat in person but fear I’d be turning up to the set if the krypton factor ha, ha!

Thank you!

you've all helped me to process this so much and you’re right I think when you’ve said it’s not an interview, that’s maybe what’s throwing me off so much as I just don’t feel like I’ve had the opportunity to present myself or do myself justice really but hey ho.

It's not an interview, it's an exam.

God I would bloody love an email interview! I am ND and struggle massively with face to face interviews or even online.

I would be at an advantage being able to do it that way. Sadly never experienced it. Please try not to worry OP, you might still get the job. 🤞