Remote job but employer asking for face to face interview?

[Seawitchandgarden]

I just wondered what are people's thoughts/experience with this.

Due to health issues/a disability I have been applying only for remote roles or local roles that don't require the use of public transport. I made it clear in my job applications/the equal opportunities that I am disabled.

I was offered an interview for a role advertised as remote with a charity yesterday but this is a face to face interview.

The interview is in a random location which I assume was hired for the day and it would take me almost two hours each ways of travel, be costly and they are not offering any support with transport costs.

I am a bit baffled by this. What is the point of a face to face interview when you are not even inviting the candidate to your offices to meet the team or see your work environment and when the role is fully remote?

I have replied to point out my disability and request a Zoom interview instead.

So far crickets...

Again pfft. This all sounds unaware about the negative impact of putting barriers in the recruitment process - the inexperienced candidate is less likely to have the funds to pay the travel. You're restricting your candidate pool to a narrower group, which can never be a positive long term.

If you run the type of place that can hire, fire, replace, on repeat that's fine. That's why shitty companies do lazy recruitment - it doesn't matter to them.

Perhaps this is the case if there is any kind of safeguarding or risk to vulnerable groups in the work she would be doing for the charity - they need to verify the person who’s ID they check and DBS they apply for is the person who will be doing the role?

The truth is there are far more good candidates than there are roles in the current market. The best candidate on paper can also be a dud when they turn up. Hiring is never a precise science.

An employer can pay for travel, flights and taxi and concierge services to present themselves as the best employer in the world to all candidates and still hiring will be hit-and-miss.

It is the screening process, not the size of the candidate pool in the current market.

@InfoSecInTheCity That is terrifying. You must have to be so vigilant.

The interviewees are presumably someone supposed to be in the UK who is not obviously from North Korea. So the interviewees are colluding with agents in North Korea?

Yep and it’s happening a lot and to all kinds of firms. There’s a really scary thing (if you are in the cybersecurity world) called quantum computing / quantum cryptography. The gist is that by 2030 (many are estimating earlier) there will be quantum computers that can decrypt the current common encryption methods. What that means is that stuff that’s currently locked behind password that would take years for a computer to break will be accessible within minutes-hours with the new technology unless everyone ungraded massively their encryption standards.

So a lot of cyber criminals (and some governments) are stashing data. They can’t do anything with it now but if they just store it away they’ll be able to unlock it in a few years. For us as individuals that’s not too concerning, bank details from now, passwords from now are likely to be worthless by the time they can be read, but for companies and government bodies that have intellectual property or restricted information it could be really bad.

So I work hybrid, senior high paid roles. Global companies. I have not had to attend face to face interviews at all for the past three jobs I have had, or my interim contract roles. Even though the jobs included in office time the entire interview processes have been on teams. Even several rounds for some jobs.
I hope they offer you a video option for your interview. It’s absolutely ridiculous if they do not and frankly I would pull out if they insisted on you attending a face to face interviews for a remote job.

No you are reasonable to ask, due to the equality act. 17 years ago I was interviewed and got the job when I lived abroad, as they were not about to pay my airfare to the UK… no disability.

Hello - disabled here and work from home. What was advertised? Did they not specify how the interviews would take place? If not, you should point out to them your association that the interview, like the job, would be remote and you applied on that basis.

I know how hard it can be. Honestly, if I was looking for work, I probably wouldn’t even apply for positions that asked for an in-person interview. It’s not worth the exertion when you’re not guaranteed the job.

How is that possible when the law requires that an employer checks right to work documents with the candidate present?

You must check that a job applicant is allowed to work for you in the UK before you employ them.
You can:

• check the applicant’s right to work online, if they’ve given you their share code
• check the applicant’s original documents

You can also check an applicant’s right to work by using an identity service provider that offers Identity Document Validation Technology (IDVT).

I would say this is standard, online interviews usually are for first rounds and then from then on is face to face. For a remote job surely they’d want to see you at some point for due diligence? You can ask but I think they would need to see you. Good luck.

At my workplace interviews were only done by zoom during Covid, they went straight back to in person as soon as they could. Never heard of anyone having travel expenses for an interview reimbursed, if you want the job then surely it’s up to you to pay to get there.

What you claim is simply not the case in many sectors.

Plenty of sectors have an issue of a shortages, sometimes severe shortages, of suitable candidates.

Edited to add: plus shortages vary considerably between regions, even within sectors.

UPDATE from OP:

So I heard back from the employer yesterday (new user name as I briefly deactivated my account yesterday because I found some of the ableism hard to deal with...).

The answer was equally baffling as they said that although they would allow a remote interview but that one of the requirement of the role was to have a car and driving licence. I went back to the job ad to see if I had applied for a non-fully remote job by mistake but no, the job ad clearly said this was a remote role. It is a desk job as well with no contact with clients so no idea what a car would be needed for. So I am even more baffled now.

I am just letting this one go as I assume they either have a completely disorganised HR/Job ad system and posted the wrong requirements or they are the (all too common) type of charity who take advantage of staff by promising remote role then changing the goal posts and expecting them to travel, go to/organise events and so on.

I have had a few issues with similar cheeky F... charities recently when applying for jobs which is why I am extra careful when it comes to spotting red flags early on and avoiding time wasting including:

• applying for a job with a well known mental health national charity that was advertised as covering my local town (helping clients with mental health issues into work). I was offered the job but then when the written offer came in the job was supposed to cover an entire county with extensive travel so I had to turn it down. They are still trying to recruit three months on for that post
• going for an interview at a local community centre for a managerial role advertised as part time/21 hours. Only to be told when I ask how the hours would be set up each week that 'it always changes' and 'how long is a piece of string'...and that the role also included running toddler groups (which was not in the JD and is not something I have any experience of or aptitude/interest in doing). So again a waste of time.

As for people who mentioned that face to face interviews are used to avoid fraud: the type of jobs I am applying for almost always involve doing a DBS check, often an enhanced one, so everything (identity, address) would be verified by the employer before start and there is no danger of that.

This is what I am talking about when mentioning ableism...

This type of comment is absolutely pathetic and says more about you as a person that it does about my commitment to 'being arsed' about finding a new job.

You really lack basic comprehension.

I don't have a car and I am looking for a remote or local role.

So obviously a job that is not remote and requires a car is not for me.

Gosh, it must feel so empty to live with that amount of hatred...

DH works remotely.

His company have had lots of issues with foreign nationals and this is potentially a security risk / fraud risk.

A face to face meeting helps to stop such problems.

I think you should tell them that you’re asking for a reasonable adjustment under the disability discrimination act. A zoom call would allow you access to this interview as you are not able to physically travel there.

You obviously can't read or understand posts.

There is no arguing with someone who think that a disabled person who can't physically drive and does not have a car should go for a job that requires having a car and driving.

There really is not much more to say at this stage.

FFS, @Jollyhockeystickss, I really hope you're not in a management position because your views are a liability to your employers.

You're saying you only want able-bodied staff (with spare train fare money) for any position, even roles that don't require the person to leave their home. How could you justify that - do you need them to take train journeys all over the country while working remotely? Or you just want them to run and jump when you say so?

You only want able-bodied staff. For no good reason. It would be very unwise to say that out loud.

And there is a massive difference between asking for a face to face interview and then parlaying that onto requesting regular days in office. I am a remote worker but occasionally have in person meetings- I wonder how many remote jobs are totally remote 100%.

I think it’s very normal to have to be face-to-face in an interview.

My DD is disabled and works fully remote, but her interviews have always been face-to-face.

The last one required an taxi costing over £100 to the final interview (and the travel and interview absolutely shattered her so required two days in bed after), but she desperately wanted the job so went for it. The company did then offer her the second interview via Zoom as they’d already met her, and witnessed her efforts in getting to the first one. She got the job and they’ve never deviated from the fully remote.

Her previous job where the interview was on zoom really didn’t grasp her condition and regularly asked for meetings miles away and at short notice. After she handed in her notice HR met her for an exit interview and it was only at that point they fully grasped her disability properly.

Yes, she does. She thinks the world owes her basic, upfront information about job requirements. And rightly so!