Applying for jobs means having to jump through an arbitrary amount of hoops. The most popular and traditional of which is the job interview.
Normally, it’s a conversation between the applicant and a representative of the company that deals with the person being recruited, the job itself, expectations, hopes, all that jazz. This format is so ingrained into our minds that, whenever the recruiter decides to change it up a bit, it feels weird.
So weird, in fact, that one woman just had to share her experience online and ask if it’s normal for a job interview to include an absolute absence of asking anything.
More Info: Reddit
While it's normal to think that job interviews might come in all shapes and sizes, having one with zero questions does feel odd
Image credits: styles66 (not the actual photo)
A Redditor recently went to a job interview and had zero questions asked of her and she got the job regardless
Image credits: strawberrygal16
The entire interview was just the hiring manager talking about the company and herself, leaving "no room" for questions
Image credits: Cytonn Photography (not the actual photo)
A Redditor by the nickname of u/strawberrygal16 recently had a job interview that she just had to share. She was applying for a new fancy hotel in town and, spoiler alert, she got the job no probs. The interesting bit was how she got it.
During her one-hour-and-fifteen-minute job interview, she was kinda sorta expecting to be asked a boatload of questions. You know, the likes of where she’ll see herself in 5 years. But, no, that didn’t happen. At all.
OP explained that throughout the entire interview, the hiring manager talked about how great the company was, her vacation, her teenagers and the like. Anything but the resume or the applicant. OPlicant? I’ll stop.
Not only that, but OP also couldn’t get a word in edgewise. Whenever the recruiter would talk about the company, OP would try to add to the conversation, but would be interrupted and that was that.
What seemed like the weirdest thing ever for OP was the fact that the interview concluded without any “offer” to join per se. Rather, the recruiter told her that she’d send in all the paperwork and she could start on Monday. OP laughed about it with her mother, but couldn’t shake the feeling of how weird it was. Hence, her post on r/antiwork.
Talent Acquisition Expert Ed Han confirmed what many Redditors speculated—the decision to hire the woman seems to have been made prior to the talk
Image credits: 55am (not the actual photo)
Turns out, interviews of such a one-sided caliber are not a rare occurrence. A number of people shared similar stories, whether it was an internal hiring and the applicant caught on really quickly that they were hired, or external, for instance, where this person had maybe 5 interview questions from a panel of 7 interviewers and the rest of the time was spent laughing and bonding.
A lot of folks also pointed out that this is probably the case where the recruiter already knew OP would be hired and simply needed to do a personality check. One Redditor even pointed out how this was common practice in their government institution. The sad part was every other candidate would still have to invest themselves, showing up for the interview, taking time off work and the like, but the die was already cast.
Others were more skeptical, deeming this a red flag. For one, it could be an “open door position” that entails high turnover, quite probably for things like crummy bosses and poor work environment. Others figured they’re desperate and just needed someone—anyone—to fill the position.
However, Han noted that such open-ended job interviews can cause problems like unfair employment opportunities and development of monoculture
Image credits: Tim Gouw (not the actual photo)
Bored Panda reached out to Ed Han, Talent Acquisition Expert and Senior Recruiter at Cenlar FSB, to discuss this no-questions phenomenon. According to Han, it seems that the hiring manager had already decided to hire OP and the “interview” was all about selling the position.
“It isn’t clear if either HR or a recruiter conducted a preliminary interview before the hiring manager interview. If so, then questions like pay and the like should have been addressed already. But if not, then this is indicative of a place that needs to hire fast but has someone entrusted with hiring who is bad at it,” elaborated Han.
He goes on to say that such open-ended interviews intrinsically create different evaluation standards for every person interviewed. So, what if you have equally strong candidates? How do you break the tie in a meaningful way? It gives way for affinity bias and fosters monoculture, a uniform corporate culture where only certain perspectives, values and assumptions go, and it works against diversity in the workplace.
But it works, right!? OP’s example, as well as experiences of other Redditors, are testament to it, yes. But is it a more optimal approach than, say, a 3-level interview process?
“I would find it impossible to hire effectively in this fashion. Absolutely, positively impossible, as would the hiring managers I support. ‘Why did you hire X? What did X say in the interview that made X a better choice than anyone else you interviewed?’” added Han. “Go ahead, try to formulate an answer you can present to your SVP if you only have subjective, open-ended interviews.”
He continued: “Accountability in hiring is the reason why structured interviewing, speaking to the content of someone’s résumé, are absolutely essential. It doesn’t guarantee the best result, but considering this post was in the r/antiwork subreddit, my confidence in this person being a long-term star performer might not be 100%.”
Be sure to give Ed Han a follow on LinkedIn where he shares his expertise and insights into job hunting and everything around it, and you can also read more about him here. But before you do that, why not share your thoughts and stories of weird or easy job interviews in the comment section below!
Here's what folks on Reddit had to say about the story
