AIBU - rude interviewer

[babybeets]

20year old son went for interview at M&S store operative post (part-time). The interviewer was 20 minutes late without apology, expressed surprise that he had bothered to turn up, marched him off to the office - absolutely no small talk or attempt to make (by now, nervous) son comfortable. The interview went down the route of lots of questions about customer service but not store operations. Son answered all in the same way friends had discussed. At the end the interviewer told him he had not got the job because he had "no wow factor", was too "vanilla", they were looking for "tutti frutti" and all of his answers were "cheesy". Not sure but I don't associate M&S with tutti-frutti staffing🤷‍♀️. AIBU to report this to their HR?

Why would you report it when it was your 20 year old sons interview?

I think your SON could report this, as it sounds very unprofessional. But there is little to gain from doing so I would think - doesn't sound a good place to work.

Just tell him to write it off and keep trying.

I think your ds dodged a bullet there. I can't imagine working for so ill mannered and ignorant a manager would have been any fun.

There are plenty of better places to work. Definitely one to write down to experience and move on.

Your son should feed this back to their recruitment team, yes.

Sounds like your DS actually didn’t turn up and made up this excuse. I cannot believe this is what actually happened!

Going by your description, I agree the interviewer was rude. I also think your son dodged a bullet.

But more importantly, your son is 20-fricking-years old. He can ask you for advice, but don't be one of those embarassing parents who fights your son's battles for him. Stay out of this for both your benefits. Your son needs to decide what to do with this situation and then do it.

He needs to learn to stand on his own two feet and learn to deal with rude people on his own.

This was his first interview. He had given up last year defeated by no responses. We were relieved that he got back to applying and so I was cross that his first experience was so poor. We had suggested that he contact HR but he won't. There are lots of other jobs which have come up local to him at M&S but he is excluded from reapplying for six months but he has accepted that he can't apply. He is waiting for the next tranche of supermarket jobs. Feel sad and cross that this guy is able to flex his bully muscles without any repercussions.

Happy to accept that it is his fight.

Have advised sparkly leotard, pom-poms and cartwheels next time.

Unfortunately, not getting any or very few responses or pretty standard. It's a pity he never had a summer job. That would have given him some experience.

I'd say that your son could check out this channel. I have always found it very useful whenever I switch jobs. The guys has a paid service too, but I never used it. I found his free advice enough:

What appalling treatment. I know from my own DS how utterly demoralisng it is looking for jobs.
When he left uni he did applications for grad jobs and alongside that applications for local work to tide him over. Multiple applications, no acknowledgements, interviews and tests galore. Some of the supermarkets were the worst, though he did get a job at the local mini Tesco eventually. The recruitment and interview there was done by the branch manager and they proved to be a good employer for the year he was there.
Of course you know you can't complain for him but I know also how it feels when your adult DC is treated unfairly.

Well, the tutti-frutti stuff sounds positively maniacal, so he's probbaly dodged a bullet, but it stood out to me that

Son answered all in the same way friends had discussed

-- what exactly does this mean? His friends who work in the same job for M and S? Or just friends with no experience of retail? Was he just parrotting generic stuff he'd heard from his friends?

Also, lateness is unprofessional, as is expressing surprise that someone invited for an interview had actually shown up (though I imagine it's perfectly possible that they get quite a few no-shows), but I wouldn't expect an interviewer to be going to any particular lengths to put someone at their ease, just to get on with the interview, especially if they were running late because of the interviewer's own lateness...

It sounds awful OP

But if mummy complains about her adult son's interview, they'll just be relieved they dodged a bullet in their eyes.

He had given up last year defeated by no responses. We were relieved that he got back to applying

I'm sorry but I wouldn't give my adult sons the luxury of being so defeated by no responses (completely normal unfortunately), that they stopped applying for work.

Give his head a wobble!

And yes, he should absolutely feedback to their recruitment team, but it's his call. But maybe also reconsider his responses to interview questions, if he's just repeating stuff from friends?

Why do people assume that M and S are good to work for? I’ve worked there and they are awful!!

@Life2Short4Nonsense
this is summer work but he is hoping to do part time work during term-time for the next two years of his degree. We have encouraged him to find part time work for experience and for his graduate applications.

Does your son do proper eye contact, look interested, talk confidently, not mumble? He maybe needs interview practise, it can be all about attitude and perceptions. Unfortunately they probably have lots of applicants so can reject on fairly spurious grounds. Concentrate on preparing for the next interview.

In the meantime, get him to volunteer in a charity shop. Will get him some customer experience that will make him more appealing to employers.

I know it’s tough but where is his resilience? You’ve got to keep trying. Does he volunteer anywhere as that always helps a lot I find.

The interviewer sounds incredibly unprofessional and your DS can put this down to experience. It sounds like he’s better off out of that role if that’s what the manager is like! Something else will come up hopefully.

Sounds like a inexperienced or unprepared interviewer. However he has perhaps given your son some good feedback worded very very badly.

Interviews are about selling yourself and making yourself stand out from the crowd. You say yourself that your son gave all the answers his friends did. To the interviewer this could sound like reading from a script. For customer service roles they are looking for people who can think on their feet and deal with the unexpected.

@NoSnowdrop
He is fairly outgoing and pretty resilient, but to be fair I remember how dispiriting it was - although I don't think he had realised how many you do need to send out. Part of the problem before for him, was the lack of financial incentive to work. Last year he lived at home and had his allowance (parental contribution) from us. This year he is living away from home and his allowance doesn't cover it. Focused his mind a bit.

I think that's good. This means there is far less pressure per interview.

I think he needs to be more assertive though. My secret is that I ask more questions than I anwser. I always have at least 10 questions prepared, but I ask more as I think of them during the conservation.

Basically I am interviewing the prospective employer and many actually seem relieved. I do deliberately pause once to see what questions they ask me, but they are usually stock questions to which you can find good anwers online.

Sometimes my technique backfires, but that's usually with employers of whom I already got a bad impression during the start of the interview, so I am never very upset about it.

Not getting a bad job is far better than working for a shit employer.

Your son could ask them for feedback from the interview. I'd be interested if the flakey interviewee could even remember the encounter. They might 'possibly' provide useful feedback though- although I doubt it.

Has your son ever had a job or this is his first one? If he has really never had any sort of work at age 20, if nothing else, he needs to do voluntary work to get experience.

M&S should not want people to 'stand out', but who can perform the job competently, be professional. They are not particularly good to work for though. My friend worked in the cafe of our local one and staff were cut to the bone, leading to dissatisfied customers as you can't be work the till plus serve food and clear tables!

I can't remember exactly but the people who do the interviews at M&S for store positions aren't very senior themselves. It's probably someone who has worked on the shop floor for a few years and has worked their way up. I'm afraid I don't think M&S as a whole would be that interested in the feedback. Agree with pp that they aren't a great employer by any means (was with them for a lot of years in a salaried role).