Economy & LaborJUL 25, 2024

Person Drives 35 Minutes To A Job Interview Only To Get Ghosted, Leaves Boss A Surprise He Didn’t See Coming

Justinas Keturka and Rokas Laurinavičius

Advancing your career means seeking out new opportunities, even when you're already employed. But as Reddit user Dry_Apartment_6037's experience shows, that can be easier said than done.

After finding a promising job offer online and arranging an interview, they drove 35 minutes out of town only to learn that the boss was no longer interested in them.

However, as the candidate explains in their post on r/PettyRevenge, they quickly came up with a plan for how to send the man a message that they're not someone to be messed with.

This applicant went above and beyond to impress their potential employer

But they were met with unexpected rudeness

However, they managed to turn a frustrating situation into a bit of fun, all while sticking it to the man who had wronged them

Image credits:alexlucru123 (Not the actual photo)

Image credits:Dry_Apartment_6037

As this story illustrates, job interviews can be a lot of hassle

Overall, the hiring process is messy, and nearly two-fifths (37%) of U.S. workers say they've had a bad experience when interviewing for a job. The most common reasons for this are:

Not disclosing salary: 38 percent
Constantly rescheduling the interview: 25 percent
Too many personal and/or irrelevant questions: 25 percent
Interviewer disrespecting co-workers: 23 percent
The job role sounds different from what was initially advertised: 18 percent
Not answering questions correctly, directly, or consistently: 18 percent
Interviewer seeming unprepared: 17 percent
If the company seems to have a high staff turnover: 14 percent
Being told overtime is 'mandatory' or being expected to work overtime: 12 percent
The interview started later than it was supposed to: 12 percent

So, as you might imagine, many people are indeed bummed out that job interviews are wasting their time.

Often, it's also due to the number of times companies invite them to come in. "There's no reason why 10 years ago we were able to hire people on two interviews and now it's taking 20 rounds of interviews," says Maddie Machado, a career strategist who has previously worked as a recruiter at companies such as LinkedIn, Meta, and Microsoft. "It's kind of like dating. When you go on a first date, you need a second date. You don't need 20 dates to know if you like somebody."

Machado believes that these things are driven, in part, by pride. "You want to be the most challenging interview," she said. But the reality is that the best interviewers are not always the best people for the job, and setting up so many hurdles can deter those you actually want. "There's too much emphasis on screening people out and not on screening people in."