Is this worth a complaint, or chalk it down to bad luck?

[CrumbsInBed]

Dh had an interview a week ago.

He uploaded his CV onto CV library, and a short while later, somebody rang him up to say his skills matched up exactly with a job advertised in the local area. Good start.

Anyway, he was then invited to an interview for that particular job. He was advised that there would be two people on the interview panel, the line manager and an external sales engineer (the post was for an internal sales engineer which is what dh skill is).

He went for the interview to find that the line manager wasn’t available, so was interviewed by the external sales engineer, let’s call him Bob.

Throughout the interview, dh felt that Bob only picked up on things that dh hadn’t done rather than what matched the job description, saying every now and again that he didn’t think dh would be suitable for the job.

On top of that, Bob spent much of the interview talking about himself, how he started, how much work he does etc. but Bob doesn’t do the same job as dh, he is external, rather than internal like dh.

When CV library rang dh, he mentioned what happened in the interview, but nothing was said, really. I guess their work was done.

Dh is still feeling back footed as it were, a week later. We know the firm had other candidates to interview, but I’m wondering whether dh should write to the line manager requesting another interview with him present, or just leave it?

We understand that they have to employ the right candidate, btw, but the interview didn’t match the job he applied for.

Sorry, my thread title didn’t match the last part, would a complaint or another interview be worth pursuing, or leave it alone?

I'd leave it. Exactly what would you complain about?

That his skills for the job were not really talked about that much, which we thought was the whole idea of an interview. Just what he can’t do.

I know, it’s daft of us to be bothered a week later, but it went from exact cv match, to picking out what he can’t do, rather than what experience he has in relation to the job.

A bit like meeting all the essential criteria, but failing on a minor desirable criteria that Bob kept picking up on, is the best way dh can describe it.

Sounds like Bob might have felt a bit threatened, if he is an engineer and your DH has better skills and experience than him. He wouldn't want to be upstaged by a new shined pin like your DH so he made sure he knocked him back at interview and talked about himself to pad out the time.

Your DH has probably dodged a bullet, imagine having to work with Bob. Nothing worse than a defensive colleague who would try to downrate his performance to their manager!

There's also nothing more tedious than an interviewer who doesn't have interview skills.

Interviewers are entitled to carry an interview as they wish as long as they don't ask questions in regards to protected characteristic. The company clearly trusted him to carry them out alone so that's that, there is nothing to complain about.

Thanks @daisychain01, good point 🙂.

I’ll pass on the new shined pin bit to dh, he’ll be chuffed 😄.

The thing is, somebody else could miss out on a job opportunity due to poor interview skills.

I feel sorry for whoever will work with Bob.

@swingofthings.

I’m sure interviewers are entitled to carry an interview the way they want to, but if they concentrate on the one bad desirable thing, instead of the 10 million essential things about the candidate, then that makes an interview a less than pleasurable experience on top of the nerves felt by the candidate.

Maybe interviews should be recorded and used for training purposes..

Im sure in large, professional practices reviewing standards in interview would be done - this doesnt sound like one of those places!

It doesn’t, does it @Timeforabiscuit.

Maybe he has dodged a bullet.

They don't carry out interviews for the benefit of it being a nice experience to the interviewee. They would know who he is like yet they've picked him to carry it out.

Either it was indeed intentional or they made a mistake but that's their to reflect on. Complaining is not going to change the outcome.

The thing is, a lot of interviews focus on what you can't do/the ways you don't meet the spec. It sounds like your DH met 90% of the criteria so the interview focused on the 10% he didn't. That doesn't seem so unusual: I assume your DH would have prepped ways he could meet it in other ways/ways his skill set meant those omissions didn't matter.

I've never worked for a company that interviews in a negative way but I know a few that do on purpose: their style is to try and put the candidate under pressure to see how they react. Given you say it's a sales role, it wouldn't entirely surprise me if it was a tacit to see how your DH responded.

But even if it was just a crappy external interviewer, what would be to gain by complaining? The process will almost certainly be complete by now, they obviously value Bob is some way, so you'd just be the person who bad mouthed good client/contractor Bob. He could go back and ask for feedback and maybe say he felt he didn't get a chance to highlight as many of his experiences as he had hoped, I definitely think feedback would be valuable, but I don't think you'd get much else out of it. At least by not complaining he can always apply for another role there again.

@swingofthings

We wouldn’t have expected it to be less than formal. Dh has had interviews before ( 32 year work history) but nothing like that.

He could go back and ask for feedback and maybe say he felt he didn't get a chance to highlight as many of his experiences as he had hoped, I definitely think feedback would be valuable, but I don't think you'd get much else out of it. At least by not complaining he can always apply for another role there.

Yes, that’s what we mean. He didn’t get the chance to highlight his experiences.

Bob is an external sales engineer, the job is for an internal sales engineer which is what dh does. Would the tactic to see how dh reacted still apply, seeing as they are different roles?

@reddressblueshoes..

We will ask for feedback, not a complaint. Feedback I think is what we meant, but hopefully it won’t be too late to ask a week on from the interview?