Young Man Who Confronted Manager During Unconventional Interview Wonders If He ‘Let His Ego’ Take Over
He felt like they were deliberately wasting his time.
Mihailomilovanovic / Shutterstock With over 80% of post-graduate students having trouble finding a job, it’s no wonder they’re placing so much value on their interview opportunities. Reaching out to connections, browsing LinkedIn, and scrolling endlessly on job boards have become “free time” activities for this generation of workers.
A post-graduate Reddit poster shared his experience navigating the job market.
Noticing his struggles, his mom decided to reach out to her company for help and they offered him an interview. What seemed like a big win quickly turned sour for a young man when his exciting interview took a turn for the worse.
On a call with his mom's employer, the young man abruptly confronted his interviewers saying, ‘This is the most pathetic interview I’ve ever experienced.’
After the interviewers showed up to his Zoom call over 30 minutes late, this young man was already frustrated. However, things escalated from there. One interviewer asked him questions, but the other kept their head down on their phone seemingly bored with the interaction.
He felt they were disengaged and uninterested in his answers and the tension was only brewing as they neared closer to the halfway point of the call.
The interview was for the same position that his mom was currently in, an entry-level data entry job that had a small amount of client work. In the middle of their interview, one of the interviewers suggested they simulate a client call, which seemed reasonable, but unexpected for the young man.
When they started the simulated call, however, the young man felt like things were inappropriate. “I knew thirty seconds into conversing that he was making this into some pathetic joke for himself,” he wrote. He cosplayed as an “incompetent” older man, who couldn’t figure out how to use his phone or computer, a client that would “never realistically” interact with him in this role.
The interview didn't seem legitimate and he felt they ‘set him up for failure.’
“Obviously I caught you guys at a bad time,” he eventually said to the interviewers, “You’ve been looking at your phone the whole time and you know that I would never deal with a client like this. I’m just going to hang up.”
Photo: AndreyPopov / Canva Pro
Flustered and disappointed, the man decided to end the call. Despite the information and preparation he’d done with his mom, the interview did not go as expected. Always looking for areas to grow in the competitive job market, he recorded the interview to review and take notes on.
His mother was disgusted by his behavior and worried about her job security after the failed interview.
“I thought [my mom] would take my side,” the man admitted after showing her the interview video, “but she got angry. She said this was her place of work and [he] shouldn’t have spoken to her boss that way.”
Regardless of how bad the interview went, his mom told him that he needed to “let go of his ego and emotions and suck it up.”
Many commenters didn't agree with the mother. While they may have only scheduled the interview due to this young man’s connection to the company, he deserved their undivided attention as much as the next person. “It seems like they offered you an interview in bad faith with no intention of actually hiring you,” one commenter suggested.
While the majority agreed, some comments empathized with the mom saying that his interaction with her bosses could make her work-life uncomfortable.
Photo: AndreyPopov / Canva Pro
This experience is an unfortunate depiction of the current job market, especially for new graduates looking for their first career. While many people apply to hundreds of jobs, the chances of getting an interview — much less getting hired — are slim.
So, while this young man might’ve been discouraged by his unsuccessful job search, it’s important to have empathy for both sides. Many people struggle to get hired and maintain their job security. Managers should respect their time, show them kindness, and provide helpful resources, whenever possible.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a news and entertainment writer at YourTango focusing on pop culture and human interest stories.