Interview

I had a job interview on Thursday. I know I’ve ranted about job searches before, but this is an entirely new rant.

The job was in a call centre which isn’t something I was particularly enthusiastic about, but it’s a job I could do.

I arrived for my 10am interview at 9:45 to show I was keen and they still made me wait until 10. That’s fine, I imagine there was important stuff to be done before they talked to me.

I was escorted in and offered NO REFRESHMENT WHATSOEVER. This has never happened before, possibly in the history of this country. Every interview I’ve ever attended has involved being offered tea or coffee the minute I arrived. This lot obviously meant business, I thought. No tea and niceties, just straight to the point.

The guy interviewing me was clearly more nervous than I was. He had a list of questions and he had no intention of deviating from them in any way. He also clearly had a phobia of making eye contact with anyone.

“I asked you a question and you gave a very detailed response. So detailed, in fact, that you’ve answered the next question I was going to ask. Of course I shall ask you the next question anyway and you will have to pretend that you aren’t repeating yourself because I have an order to stick to and if I don’t stick to it the world might end. As you tell me the same things I should have noted down two minutes ago I shall nod and make appropriate listening noises while I pretend to make notes on this sheet of paper. I’m actually just drawing a picture of a cat, but you can’t see what I’m doing,” is what he might as well have said to me during the interview.

The standard questions were all asked, but I have a problem with the marriage and kids question. My marital status and whether or not I have kids (I don’t) or decide to have kids in the future (I won’t) has absolutely nothing to do with my ability to do any job. The implication was that they wanted someone who didn’t have kids as they are less likely to take sick days. I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to employ someone on that basis. I was interviewed while they were still advertising the position too, before the closing date for applications. That’s illegal too. They haven’t acquitted themselves too well, have they?

The final nail in their coffin was the “we’ll phone you tomorrow and let you know either way” promise. Tomorrow came and nobody phoned me. I actually phoned them at 5 o’clock to ask if they’d made a decision, but there was nobody there to talk to. Thanks for making me wait all day, I really appreciate that.

If you’re reading this after Monday then they still haven’t been in touch or I didn’t get the job. I won’t tell you who this company with such a slapdash attitude to recruitment and the law is though.