An applicant’s unusual interview experience has gone viral online after they alleged that a hiring manager rejected their application because they missed a phone call by one minute.
Questions have been raised about hiring practices, workplace expectations and how much flexibility employers should give candidates during recruitment.
The applicant had a phone interview scheduled for 11 AM. The hiring manager called him at 10:59 AM (one minute before the agreed time). This was posted on Reddit’s r/recruitinghell community: “Applicant had phone interview set for 11AM but hiring manager called at 10:59AM just one min before interview.”
The candidate said they were prepared for the interview but had an automated spam-call screening feature on their phone. The feature took a few seconds to process the incoming call before allowing it to ring normally.
By the time applicant noticed the call and tried to answer it, the interviewer had hung up. Hiring manager apparently never called again.
The job seeker tried calling the number back immediately but it went straight to voicemail. They waited about 15 minutes hoping that the interviewer would try again.
When no further call came the applicant called the recruiter to tell him what happened. He said that he missed the call because of the phone’s automated screening feature and that he still wanted the job in fact he offered to reschedule the interview at a time convenient for hiring manager.
But that wasn’t good enough. A few hours later the recruiter told the applicant that the hiring manager had decided not to move forward with the application.
The reason given by the candidate was that the hiring manager had been put off because the applicant wasn’t available when the interview call was made.
The applicant was annoyed with the decision saying “the whole thing happened because of a delay of just a few seconds” and asked whether rigid behaviour during recruitment could also mean that workplace is equally hard.
The Reddit post went viral immediately. Thousands of reactions and comments followed from users who shared their thoughts on the incident.
Several people criticized the hiring manager’s choice of action: “A reasonable interviewer would have waited a little longer or called back,” one commenter wrote. “Maybe the applicant would have avoided an unhealthy working environment.” Some commenters even suggested that the applicant might have been spared this by taking the job:
Others said that the hiring manager may have already been looking for reasons to reject candidates during the recruitment process.
Not everyone agreed with the applicant. Some users said candidates expecting an important interview call should temporarily disable automated spam screening (especially if they are getting calls from unknown numbers).
The incident has once again shown job seekers what recruitment is like. Punctuality and communication are part of professional interviews but technical problems can create situations outside a candidate’s control too.
For many social media users, it wasn’t so much the missed call itself as the hiring manager who reportedly ended the recruitment process without offering another opportunity.
The discussion has also highlighted that clear communication and reasonable expectations between employers and job applicants are needed. A missed call isn’t always indicative of interest, preparation or professional ability on the part of a candidate.
Comments