When Not to Get Hired 101

[catcul]

Forbes recently had a contributor, Liz Ryan, give advice on when to walk out of a job interview.

My story:

I was invited to an interview for an insurance company that is endorsed by an older celebrity. I thought that they would be looking for salespeople, but I had high hopes that they might have other job opportunities. It turned out they were looking for salespeople only. This was after I failed at two commission only sales jobs. I didn't know what I was thinking, but after they said, "If this job doesn't interest you, you may leave now." So I left.

Feel free to share your story when you left (or should have left) a job interview early.

[Trixie]

I have a few of those stories.

One was for a door to door vacuum sales job. Stupid me thinking they were actually hiring for administrative type jobs. Walked out of a sales pitch for the job. I knew I sat in the back for a reason.

Then I had one for a Christmas job in a department store. The place was filled with people like this was the hottest job in the world. I remember there was one woman sitting there wearing a business suit and bitching about how she lost her job and had to collect unemployment! Oh the shame! Then made it sound she had to stoop to this level of taking a job in the mall for Christmas. The interview was just as bad. I understand a company wants good people but come on it's just for Christmas. It was a full fledged interview. I didn't hold my breath on that call back. I ended up getting a job at the big candle store where the interview was much more laid back.

And lastly I had one at um, let's call it Ears. This was just for part time. I already had the job and was in the process of the new hire stuff when I left, as in I was sitting in the office filling out papers left, to go the interview for the job I have now. Keep in mind this was before they raised the minimum wage but the pay was $6.25 an hour. I mean it would've been better than nothing but even if I did take it I wouldn't have stayed long because I would've looked for something better soon after. The only other thing I remember about the interview was that the lady reminded of Jackie, the sister on Roseanne.

[Aragarthiel]

Hubs didn't show up for training once. He had been contacted for an interview at a door-to-door knife sales company. They got as far as telling him he was hired and to show up on X date at Y place for training. Then we went online and discovered that before you ever got paid, you had to shell out $300 for the sample knife kit you needed to perform your job! Not to mention, they had rather unsavory sales practices, and it was on commission. Raise your hand if you'd open the door for a salesman carrying a load of knives.

[cindybubbles]

One time I interviewed in the basement of a carpet shop. The guy automatically offered me the job, but it gave me so many bad vibes, that I had to end it just like any regular interviewer would (but with a job-seeker twist):

"Thank you for your time. I'll consider your offer and if it checks out, I'll get back to you."

Obviously, I didn't get back to him!

Basically, be wary of anyone who offers you the job on the spot, no questions asked! A good interviewer always asks questions.

[NecessaryCatharsis]

I applied for a job as a 'personal assistant'. As I had previously worked both property management and office management the tasks sounded ideal: correspondence, payroll for groundskeepers and housekeepers, hiring and supervision of contract workers, purchasing for the house etc. Furthermore it included a private apartment on the grounds, which I loved when I was single, because I'm a really cheap person. I interviewed with the daughter, she seemed very nice, efficient, gave me an idea of what my budgets would be, who to report to, job seemed perfect, then I met the father. I still shudder when I think of him. He gave me every impression that he enjoyed the 'perks' of getting to know the 20something year old woman hired to run the property, and that the current assistant was leaving because, at 32, she was too far past her sell by date.

I couldn't run out of that place quick enough.

[Android Kaeli]

Back before I worked for the Warehouse I was looking for a second job since I wasn't getting any hours at my first (start of the Christmas season, I was getting 15 hours at the most) so I was putting my application in anywhere and everywhere. I got a call from a big box toy store (BBTS) that wanted to do an interview so I jumped at the opportunity to do so, walked in on the day of the interview and was told to grab a toy, any toy, in the store as it would be part of the interview (I think I was going to try and sell it to the interviewer?). So I got my toy and browsed the store since I was still pretty early, I bumped into a few other people who were holding a single toy and talked to them; they were here for an interview. It should've clicked then that BBTS was conducting a group interview.

The worst mistake I made was actually going through said interview and was told in the end I wouldn't be a good fit because I didn't seem like the type of person who would stay in one job for a long period of time. Never mind the fact that I had spent many years at Random Craft store and was still working there. I think the issue was that I wasn't looking to quit the craft place, funny how the Warehouse had no problems with it.

[EricKei]

I do have one good "hired on the spot" story with a bad ending -- it was for a pizza driver position at a place that hadn't opened yet, so they were taking all comers. I was able to show knowledge of the area, of the product in general (was a new brand/company), and knowledge of prep, so it was quite easy to get in. They had me training half the store on prep, and showing most of the drivers the best way to navigate the delivery area. Plenty of hours, etc.

Job ended 3 months later, because -- as I found out -- the ASM never wanted me hired to begin with because I was/am overweight; no other reason. She quit a month after the place opened because her grueling thirty-hour a week schedule (ON SALARY, mind you) "didn't leave her enough time to be with her boyfriend." Thing is, she was the owner's little sister. She had older bro force the SM who hired me to can me; SM told me the truth right away. He's long since moved on to bigger and better at another company.

Anyhoo -- Bad "interview" quickie: I got an email invitation to some life insurance company asking me to "come to a group session and find out more about our company" -- sounded rather informal but I was out of work and had nothing else to do that day, so what the heck. At no time was there any indication that this was considered to be an "interview" or anything of the sort. Note that this "info session" was being held in a car dealership's spare office, so, again, no reason to suspect it might be something important.

I went to check it out wearing pants and a polo shirt. At the first break, about an hour and a half in, one of their reps quietly took me aside and asked me to leave, basically because I wasn't wearing a suit and tie...for what he now admitted was a "preliminary interview" that, so far, had sounded much more like a sales pitch for a pyramid scheme ~_~

[MoonCat]

My "first job" (never got paid so does it really count?) was one of those door-to-door magazine subscription things. What did I know, I was 16. I should've walked out when the hiring guy took me along to go pick up his partner at his apt and didn't tell said partner he was bringing his 16 year old female employee with him. Partner walked out of his bedroom still zipping up his pants.

Now, neither of them said or did anything inappropriate beyond that, but that was just a BIT too casual for me. I ended up quitting about three days in because (1) I was a lousy salesperson and (2) I hated the job. Plus the kid they paired me with turned out to be a psycho but I didn't learn that until a few years later.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Never got to the interview for one. I don't even remember the name of the company, because this was when I was a teenager, back in the early days of the Internet, when it was actually a rare thing that companies had websites or information about them online.

I'd gotten a chance for an interview at this place, and the impression I got was it would be office work, administrative assistant type stuff, just from the mail I got about it. Mom and I did some research, still couldn't really figure out anything about them. But it was something, and I needed a job.

We head out (I didn't have a car yet) to the location for the interview, and its door was at the back of, like, a strip mall office park thing. It just looked kinda sketchy, and Mom and I took one look and decided, "No."

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Hubs didn't show up for training once. He had been contacted for an interview at a door-to-door knife sales company. They got as far as telling him he was hired and to show up on X date at Y place for training. Then we went online and discovered that before you ever got paid, you had to shell out $300 for the sample knife kit you needed to perform your job! Not to mention, they had rather unsavory sales practices, and it was on commission. Raise your hand if you'd open the door for a salesman carrying a load of knives.

That sounds like a similar job my neighbor's daughter had taken for a time. Mom and I humored her for a bit (she was still in the training stage) so we let her try out her sales pitch with us.

Those knives were waaay overpriced for us (don't try to sell a working guy a yacht - it's impractical but I digress) and IIRC she gave up that venture not long after. Last time I saw her mom, the daughter was working for the Post Office and doing much better.

Had a few times I refused a job. Let me explain why as quickly as I can.

1) Major check printing company was hiring in the early 90's. Ex-stepdad's brother had started working for them the previous year while he was still a senior in HS (he graduated in 1992 so this was summer of 1993 at this point) and was already making over 10/hr (back then that was GOOD pay.)

Filled out an application that he brought home for me (he was living w/us temporarily at the time) and I filled it out and gave it back. Got a call a short time later to come in for an interview.

Left work early for the interview (was in the process of getting full time at the WD but the paperwork kept getting lost between leaving our store in the mail bag on the grocery truck and arriving at the DC in Charlotte. Twice my store manager and I filled out everything and sent it. Manager was getting pretty impatient at that point and so was I, but I digress.)

Everything seemed fine at the interview until we got to the discussion of pay rates. Interviewer told me that the top pay for the position I was applying for (same one as Step-Uncle had) was less than what he was making.

Bullshit. IIRC, I got up and walked out then and there and didn't go back.

Good thing it was. Got full time at the store that same week.

2) Applied for a position w/the Post Office. They were getting ready to open a remote encoding center in town and were needing help. I got talked into going to a cattle call to apply w/a friend of Mom's. She got hired not long after and was bragging about making over $10/hr working 3rd shift (which was great for her as she was a single mom raising a young daughter at the time.) Yet they weren't offering benefits or insurance.

Flash forward to roughly a year after I'd went full time w/WD. Got letter asking me to come in for an interview and they had enclosed a packet of paperwork for me to fill out and bring with me.

I filled it out and indicated that (after talking it over with my Mom, who agreed w/me that I was better off where I was) that I would be declining an interview b/c I was not about to leave a full time job where I had insurance and paid vacations for a job that paid more per hour but was not offering insurance or paid vacation or 401K.

Sent that packet back and never regretted it. Good thing too . . . the remote encoding center shut down after only 5 or 6 years.

3) After I was transferred to Cone store, another grocery chain was coming into town and had just opened one store and was prepping for store #2. Two of my coworkers from Phillips Avenue bailed out and got hired on the spot by this Be-Low chain. So I thought I'd try my luck there.

Interview was a bit touchy but I got through it. IIRC the interviewer didn't seem to pleased that I indicated that I had experienced issues w/management at my previous store (and I had went so far as to file a complaint w/the EEOC for violation of the FMLA act due to gender discrimination, which is another post in itself.) He assured me he would call me back as soon as he had something full time.

Three times he called insisting that he had a full time slot for me and could I come by. Three times I went and heard the same crap (Oh, you must have misunderstood. We only have part time right now but if you'll give us about a week or so we should have something.)

Third time this happened, I blew my top right in front of not only him, but IIRC his boss was there as well and I let them both know that I did not want to be contacted by them again. This was the THIRD time I had took the time to come over here only to hear that excuse and that I made it CLEAR from the beginning that it was to be a FULL TIME position, not part time. And if this is how they work w/their employees then I didn't want to work for such shady people who would lie constantly.

I walked out and never went back there. I did stop in once though a couple of weeks after that store opened just to see what kind of pricing they had on their products and it was more like what HT or Kroger or Blowes Foods (ie, they were too damned high for my budget even then.)

And that company didn't last long in the area . . . they were taken over and their name changed around 2005 to Southern Family Markets and that too folded up the next year. Right around the same time WD finally shut down their remaining stores in NC and SC, SFM went under as well. I was already at the Litter Box by this time and ended up at my current store not long after that b/c my job was given away to someone they hired from SFM (and IIRC she had that job only about 3 years or so before they fired her - for stealing cigarettes. )

Oh yeah, there was that Wallyworld interview too that didn't quite pan out . . . they only wanted to offer me less than what I was making then at Litter Box for the same job (DSD Receiver.)

I think I also scared that interviewer shitless as well . . . I explained the situation w/Tarzan and Cheetah I was dealing with (this interview was not long before those two got transferred out of the store for sexual and physical harassment but that's another tale for another time) and I saw the color drain from the poor guy's face and his eyes almost fell out of the sockets.

When I heard about the top pay (which was less than what I was then making) I laughed and left. Not to mention hearing that their full time was in the range of 34 hrs/week (heard that from Poohbear and she's been w/them for 12 years now) I laughed even harder.

I'm not taking a 2/hr or more pay cut and starve, thanks. I'll just stay put and wait for those two clowns to get what's coming to them (which in time they did.)

[ZumZum]

At one point in time I was working at a little breakfast joint, not making any money. Retail/restaurant is all I know. My hubby suggested I look at outside sales, said I'd be great at it.

Part One: Answered an ad that appealed to me. Went to the interview. It was in a new building, still under construction. It was like a maze trying to find the office. It was so weird.

Anyway, get met my Mr. Smooth.... It was not an interview, it was basically him talking up the job and how great it was. Also, could I come back tomorrow and do a tag-along with a seasoned employee? It would be for 8 hours, no compensation for me other than lunch!
I told him I would call him back to confirm, as I had to work at the diner.
Such red flags. I get home and hubby and I google the crap out of this place. It turns out it's one of those shady door to door sales places. They drop you off in a neighborhood and then abandon you till your shift is over.

Needless to say, I didn't call him back.

Part Two: Saw an ad for another sales position. Saw the business name and googled it. No red flags came up at all. So I decided to go to an interview. Get to the place and the reception is filled with people. Receptionist gives me a form to fill out.

It looks EXACTLY like the form from part one. Spidey senses are tingling. I notice at the bottom of the form there is a different business name than the ad had listed. I pretend I'm getting a phone call and go outside, with the form. I call my hubby and he googles the other name.

He says "run away now". Turns out the name he googled was a direct link to the place in part one.
As I'm on the phone with him, I witness a man in a suit and a woman in a skirt suit (and inappropriately high heels for where I know they are going) leave the place. She is there for a tag-along (I can hear their conversation). She is going to have a hard time walking a neighborhood for 8 hours in those shoes....
Yes, I did run away.

Sorry, one more. I was hired to be an assistant manager in a new luxury store opening. I was hired by the DM. I suggested meeting the SM for lunch, since she didn't interview me.
Remember, I already have the job...

Meet the SM and I think things are going well. Until she drops the bomb that she plays favorites. Also, because I was hired her friend didn't get the job. I must mention that the rest of the management team were her friends as well. I should have listened to my gut and quit on the spot.
She most certainly did play favorites. To the point of making my life hell. I always listen to my gut now.

Thanks for reading my novel!

[aqutalion]

A few years ago, I went for an interview for a web developer position, set up by a temp/staffing agency. I'd looked at their website, and it resembled the stuff I'd developed during classes when I got bored with the lectures, 12 years earlier. But maybe they're looking to update, and that's why they were looking for a new developer.

As the office manager shows me to the boss's office, she mentions that my desk might have to be set up in the hallway for a while, until they find an office for me. The hallway was already stuffed with boxes and unused tables and desks.

The boss quotes a salary rate at about 2/3 what I'd been making, less than I'd made as a fresh-out-of-college noob. because "in this economy, he can get someone that cheap". So he basically admitted to knowingly underpaying his employees. Although, given that you can't swing a stick without hitting half a dozen tech firms in our area, I'm not sure how he expected to get an experienced employee for that rate, unless they were otherwise unhirable elsewhere, or were planning to leave as soon as something better came along.

And the nail in the coffin- he tried to cut out the recruiter. He asked me if I had any legal connection to the recruiter that set the interview up, because he didn't want to have to pay her.

Yeah, I ran.

And as an added bit of weirdness, when I called the recruiter to let her know that her "client" was trying to undercut her, I was told she no longer worked for the company. I have no idea what happened there.

[pudddykat]

I think I experienced the same sales pitch for a pyramid scheme that Erikei did. My gut spoke loudly and I ran and never looked back. I may have been naive and straight out of college but I was definitely not an idiot. My mama taught me to follow my gut.

[SongsOfDragons]

I interviewed for a 'job'. Very little detail on the responsibilities other than 'admin'. It was in an unfinished office building where they were still installing the lights.

Slimy git then waxed lyrical about his 'company', without actually telling me what they sold or did. They were so new they didn't even have a website up yet, or any signage. Only that they have seven levels of job role, and everyone - including him apparently, yes, even in a 'new' company - started at the bottom, 'connecting with customers' (read: call centre??), and worked their way up over several years. No actual admin, not even filing, happened until level 4 or so.

Then the kicker. Hours, pay and benefits offered all broke a few UK laws. It was an at least 55-hour-a-week job (here in the UK you cannot work more than 48 hours without signing a wavier, which no-one can - or at least should - force you to do so as a condition of employment) over six days a week with 'special hours' over holiday periods where he assured me that 'everyone was dedicated' (read: no days off permitted over Xmas etc??) all for the grand fee of minimum wage. I told him about my epilepsy, and my need for regular sleep patterns, and he shrugged that off with a 'I'm sure you can cure that using medication'.

I was polite and left at the end. I was already noping - may be the norm for some people but I physically could not do those hours - but I really didn't want to, as I had been unemployed for a long time and interviews were hard to come by. He called later that day to say I had passed to level two, a weekend of further interviews, and after I asked if there was any way I could work part time for him he started to get angry and insulting, calling me lazy, unmotivated, you know, basic Daily Mail benefit scrounger language. I hung up in tears. But the more I think about it the more I think I may have saved my neck and my health from rejecting this callous dicknose.

Good thing too...I don't think anyone actually moved into that building in the end...

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

There were a number of times fresh out of college that I saw flyers for the door to door Knives company around my area. Of course they call themselves something different so you can't figure out what they do by the company name but the promises they were making seemed too good to be true. Eventually I did some research and found out what it really was.

A couple of years after that I applied for an "Office assistant" position. I had clerical/reception experience so why the heck not? I ended up interviewing for it at a shopping mall food court (which I suppose should have sent up a flag). The interview went well and I was told to fill out some forms and report a week from Monday for my first day. During the interview, I confirmed specifically SEVERAL TIMES that this was an "office job".

So I show up that Monday with several other people and what's the first thing they give us? A sales kit and a commissions chart. Walked out at the first break.

Also, several years ago I put my resume up publicly on one of those online job sites. Despite the fact the resume was a professional resume and I was clearly looking for jobs in my field, I still got bombarded with offers to do telemarketing, insurance sales, pyramid schemes/multi level marketing...oh, and commission only sales.

I made the resume private after a few weeks of that nonsense.

There was an expose done awhile back regarding a company going door to door in NY and selling people electricity services. A reporter actually went undercover as a new hire for a few days. It was pretty much what you'd expect. One thing that stuck out to me was how cult-like he said the morning pep sessions were (before the sales people were sent out to the field).