Job-seeker reveals they cut interview short because HR manager was ‘playing games’: ‘Don’t waste my time’

‘I wished them the best of luck finding this ideal candidate, wished them a good day and hung up’

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A job-seeker has sparked a conversation about hiring practices after revealing that they cut an interview short because it felt like the interviewer was “playing games”.

The individual, who goes by the username u/Xodarkcloud on Reddit, recounted the interview in a post shared to the Reddit subreddit r/AntiWork on Thursday.

In the post, the Reddit user began by explaining that they have been searching for a job after working as an investment representative for a “major Canadian bank for a few years,” which they said is “code for sales and investing”.

After “working conditions [become] unbearable during the pandemic,” they said they decided to quit and “look for something else not related in any way to customer service”.

They recently applied for an “admin back office job” at a company unrelated to banking, with the Reddit user explaining that they had a virtual interview with the company earlier this week.

However, the job applicant said they ultimately ended up cutting the interview short when they realised that the company was “looking for something I am not,” a decision they said surprised the HR manager conducting the interview.

According to the Reddit user, the first issues with the interview arose when they were going over their resume with the hiring manager, with the individual claiming that the interviewer kept pointing out things that they would prefer to see.

“We were going over my resume and whatever I had written wasn’t right: ‘Oh you went to this university, we prefer our employees to be from this other university,’ ‘You have five years experience, we are looking for someone with 10 years’ sort of situation,” they explained, adding: “At one point the HR recruiter said: ‘You have this certification and license but we would rather you have a CFA’ and I replied: ‘I don’t see how having a CFA works for this admin position, can you elaborate how?’ to which they didn’t know they just said the manager for this job likes seeing CFA.”

The interviewer and applicant then discussed salary, with the Reddit user recalling how they had provided a range, which the HR manager said was “too high,” as they said “they were looking for about 70-80 per cent of my range”.

“I replied that the salary range I provided was the same one on Indeed. The HR interviewer replied it was to attract talent but the real range was lower,” they continued in the post.

https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/tt8k5i/cut_an_interview_short_im_not_here_to_play_games/

According to the job applicant, it was at that point they decided to cut the interview short, as they noted that they weren’t “looking to play games”.

“At that point I told him I was cutting the interview short. He was a little taken aback and asked why. I told him I don’t think we are on the same page, your company is looking for something I am not,” they wrote. “I wasn’t looking to play games and stated: ‘You’re looking for someone with a CFA with 10 years experience that you’re looking to pay 70 per cent of my salary range.’”

In response, the Reddit user said the interviewer told them everything was “negotiable” and that they would “be seeing salary increases every year but that they were trying to judge my reactions to criticism”.

Despite the HR manager’s claim, the individual said that they reiterated that they’d had the impression the company was “playing games,” before adding: “I wished them the best of luck finding this ideal candidate, wished them a good day and hung up the Teams interview.”

The job applicant concluded the Reddit post acknowledging that they are a professional and expect to be treated as such.

“I am a professional, you want to have a professional work for you and you want a professional conversation about tasks and responsibilities, don’t waste my time with trying to judge reactions and trying to cut me down,” they wrote.

As of Friday, the post has been upvoted more than 18,000 times, with many Reddit users applauding the individual for ending the interview.

“Sounds to me like they were trying to convince you that you were ‘less qualified’ than their requirements in order for you to gratefully accept a lower salary offer, under the guise that they shouldn’t have hired you at all,” one person wrote. “Good for you for cutting them off, I feel sorry for whoever falls for it.”

Another person said: “Imagine how toxic the environment is when they test your ability to handle criticism in the interview. YIKES.”

“I’m sorry you went through this! Good on you for standing up to their bullsh*t,” someone else wrote.

Others acknowledged that the post was a useful reminder for job-seekers, as it is important to remember that “interviews are two-way” and “you are interviewing the company too”.

“Interviews are a two-way street. They’ll never treat you better than during the interview process. If you’re getting jerked around now it’ll be a sh**ty place to work if you make it through their gauntlet. Good on you,” another person wrote.

The post also prompted many to encourage the job-seeker to leave a review of the interview experience on sites such as Glassdoor so that other job applicants will know the company is lying about the salary posted on its job listing.

The Independent has contacted u/Xodarkcloud for comment.