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?

I’d be so annoyed if this was my son because the feedback was unprofessional, is that the standard of m and s management? It’s very low so I actually hope it wasn’t someone in a management position doing the interviewing. Saying they are looking for ‘tutti fruity’ is just bizarre, something a child would say. Your ds has dodged a bullet there.

Store management at M&S is graduate level. Managers of large stores will be earning £80k+ and decent bonuses. The people interviewing are just above the shop floor staff themselves.

Does he definitely want a job? When I was a teenager I came up with a similar tale of an interview, I'd actually sacked it off as I didn't want a job. I was much younger than your DS but I was convincing, my parents were furious on my behalf!

Thank you for all of your comments - I know he is fine and he has been able to contribute to the catalogue of family jokes (neither of my dc's had heard of "tutti frutti" before).
My main issue was that the interviewer behaved poorly and the thought that future interviewees would have to put up with it completely pissed me off. It is unlikely that young folk would walk out on it or challenge it.
Thank you for responding to my "venting" - always good to get stuff back in proportion. Meanwhile I'll start an online search for a tall person's spangly leotard.

Good call, OP.

Also -- your DS should practice jazz hands for his next interview. As well, obviously, as buying a spangly leotard.

Is he getting out there with his CV or just se sending in applications to advertised vacancies? It might be worth him printing some CVS off and approaching shops directly - plenty of smaller shops don’t advertise online. I’d also call in any favours from friends parents or other contacts.

It’s embarrassing really isn’t it.

Would he be up for hospitality work? Everything I read seems to suggest that they're desperate for staff.

Bloody hard work though

Well said OP.

However, if he has managed to get to 20 years old without ever being interviewed, then maybe getting some interview practice in might not be a bad idea for him ?

Looking for jobs and doing interviews is a job in itself, which has to be learned. But I agree that's a stonker of an interview, and he should report, but also put it down to experience

Wonder if "tutti frutti" appeared in the job description?

I've had a couple of rude interviewers over the years.

Years ago, a special team used to deal with recruitment, who were specifically trained to do so. Now, a manager does it, who hasn't been trained. Sometimes it shows.

Anyway, as pps have said, he dodged a bullet.

No you should not report him, they'll laugh at you.

What is? Sorry genuinely don't understand.

I don’t think I have ever been served by a tutti frutti cashier with wow factor. And I’m not sure I’d want to be 🤨

Well, the OP shouldn't, it's up to her son.. But if he did, and I worked in recruitment in M and S, I wouldn't be impressed to hear that an interviewer was 20 minutes late, didn't apologise, and gave an interview candidate frankly batshit post-interview feedback about 'wow factors' being and 'vanilla'

I meant 'stinker' not 'stonker' !

Spoke to my family member who works for M&S they said if it were their line manager they can believe it his incompetent behaviour is legendary shop floor staff are convinced he blackmails the higher ups into keeping his job because no-one can get that lucky the amount of complaints that have gone through about him are insane

The interviewer sounds very unprofessional, but there may be something in the feedback.

You say he was very nervous, and it sounds like he repeated answers friends had given him. If he mumbled stock answers, I’m not surprised he didn’t do well. It’s not about a sparkly leotard, it’s showing willingness to learn and speaking confidently and enthusiastically.

We’ve had two 17yr olds in work experience recently. One mumbled his way through the whole week and looked like he’d rather be anywhere else. The other spoke confidently, asked lots of questions and got on with it. I know who’d I’d offer a job to.

That said, I wouldn’t want to work for the manager your son met. But he should take this as a learning experience and work on his interview performance for next time. Good luck to him 🙂

Just to add - the experience does sound pretty brutal.

Perhaps it’s the norm in retail to get immediate feedback, but in my experience you’d get constructive feedback from recruitment following the interview.

That interviewer behaved atrociously, but hopefully your son is sufficiently resilient to shake it off and eventually laugh about it. 'Hey, apparently I'm not tutti frutti enough to work in M&S!'
In the meantime he could consider charity shop volunteering to get a bit of retail experience. He would be an asset especially during summer helping cover for holidays, and it should help build confidence.

That's really sad to hear, was always going to go badly with a start like that.

Your Son should definitely raise it with their HR, not you.

Direct your son to write a GlassDoor Review but otherwise stop babying him FFS

but I wouldn't expect an interviewer to be going to any particular lengths to put someone at their ease

I would - it’s just good practice, isn’t it? Certainly it’s something that was taught in the course I had to attend before being let loose interviewing people.