Woman’s 'abusive' interview at UK tech company sparks outrage - Sensationalist Headlines

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-47071423 The interview had begun in an "utterly bizarre" fashion, she said, in which picked on her music tastes before revealing he was scrolling through her Spotify account. He then asked "a lot of personal questions", she said, before "tearing apart, line by line" everything she had submitted in the written part of the application process. "Later in the interview he asked me: 'How do you think it went?' "He said 'I'll tell you how it went' and listed off everything bad he thought I did in the interview. "He told me everything I did was wrong, everything I said, the way I sat, my body language, everything that he could do to attack me." She later revealed she was actually offered the position but declined to take it. Apologising on social media, Mr Dean said "I have no desire to see anyone hurt; and can only apologise if anything I've done has had that effect." https://twitter.com/oliviaabland/status/1090281095805980672?s=09

The interview had begun in an "utterly bizarre" fashion, she said, in which picked on her music tastes before revealing he was scrolling through her Spotify account Fuuuuuck that. That's a good enough reason on its own to walk out of the interview.

Some people need to tear other people down in order to make themselves feel big. Nobody should want to work for somebody who encourages this kind of office environment.

I didn't know this was Mitchell and Webb sketch was a documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRtBvo9grLw

I used to work a year and a half for an abusive manager in a restaurant, the way she describes how they abuse you, break you down, use and then offer you gifts and shit to make you feel like you're valued gave me a flashback - and I would say that she made the right call not to pick the job. No amount of pay or praise is worth working for that kind of person.

I feel companies often forget that a Job interview is also an interview for them. No matter how desperate someone is for a job, the interview process is a first look for the interviewee of how their experience will be at that company. Emotional interrogations and cherry picking of personal tastes and pivate information would tell me I wouldn't want to work there. I feel more and more companies are trying to do these more aggressive interviews because they want to see candidates with "grit," but often go way over the line and are just excuses by HR and higher ups to bully people.

Oh this is in Oldham, always good to see the local big town getting on the news for something!

Last year really made me realize that interviews are not just about the company testing me, but me testing the company. One of the more memorable ones was where the guy interviewing me was late, the receptionist didn't know what to do and spoke to the management team having a meeting, the management team didn't want to interview me, so the receptionist had me fill out an application and just wait for the guy. Then, the interviewer came in with Starbucks and apologized, saying that traffic was crazy. I then found out that it wasn't a simple office job, but replacing the head of a department I knew nothing about. When the guy offered me the job, I told him I had to think about it for a while so I didn't deal with the awkwardness of saying, "no, this is obviously a god awful company, bye."

Yep, I had one of those "interviewed the company" experiances. I had an interview for an entry level position at an engineering HVAC company some years ago. The first guy was nice, but after the interview said his department was full, and "liked" me enough to pass my resume to a different, but similar department. After that second interview, that second guy wanted to hire me on next week, but that week came and went and they filled the position internally. Then HE passed my resume to a third department which at this point had absolutely nothing to do with my field of expertise and aspirations of a future career therein. I had wasted nearly a month during this whole process and it taught me that although those individuals were fine people, the company would toss me around with no problems at all for what I want to go for a career, and waste my time with indecision all the meanwhile.

There is nothing wrong with background checking potential employees with their public social media. Bringing it up in the interview is not acceptable, however, and is a sign of a shitty company. Unless its something important to the job then something may be brought up. You make your personal life public, expect people to look at it.

I was asked why all of my social media was set to private in an interview, they acted like I was trying to hide something. I merely stated that I keep my professional life and personal life separate. I left that interview and never followed up. This is sort of a fine line, some corporations try to enforce there brand of censorship by stalking employees on social media, I don't approve.

A couple years ago I went into an interview at a Dunkin Donuts of all places after a few months of being unemployed and getting absolutely no responses to my job search. When the interviewer sat down with me, they asked why I hadn't been working for that time in an accusatory tone and started going off on a tangent about how I'm supposedly a "spoiled rich kid" because I "must not really need the money" before I could even open my mouth. I damn near walked out at that very moment but I couldn't afford to take a gamble on how long it might have taken to get another interview. I didn't get the job, but luckily managed to get hired shortly afterward somewhere else.

I really fail to see how this is news, it’s their company and they can interview however they want. It’s as much about interviewing them as it is interviewing you, if you don’t like it or feel the interviewer is asking inappropriate questions. Leave. They aren’t in a “position of power” if you don’t even work there, you can leave at any time and reject their offer if it is a shitty place to work. Seems really silly to vent on social media/news and sounds exaggerated.

Thank you for just waving it off like it's nothing, that's very helpful. Feel free to come back when you have something of substance to add instead of belittling the victim.

Interviews are supposed to be professional, not a one sided tirade with the intention to break down the interviewee in order to get them to join your company.

Because not everyone has the opportunity to turn down a job, and so it's important to highlight and be critical this kind of heavy handed approach lest it become the norm.

"your spotify list is worse than your pointy elbows" But seriously now, even searching her spotify list? What the fuck.

Spineless "It's their company and they can do what they like!" ideology is just another contribution to modern corporations being allowed to tread on the working class and treat workers like shit in increasing amounts over the past few decades. Hold companies to higher standards and stop defending them over the struggling working classes just to have a contrarian opinion. Workers need defending, not companies.

You think they deserve no blowback for treating human beings shittily in a professional setting? That's the alternative if you think this shouldn't be publicized because it isn't "news". On the other hand if you simply don't care, why comment?

The stressy thing I can't help but think about is how if it's a job that requires an interview in the first place, its probably a job that pays what you need and thus is a bit harder to find/get into. Then you're faced to choose either more financial struggle or the shit abuse.

If anyone reading this is going into employment and you find out that you're being offered a higher role than expected out of nowhere, especially around layoff season, or you're offered a higher role when people know you are leaving, never take it.