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Have you ever had red flags from an interview?

Started by dead-ced-dead, September 13, 2021, 10:03:35 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

dead-ced-dead

I had an interview for a writer/editor position at an industry magazine for hospitality. I don't know anything about hospitality but I am a good writer, but there's something niggling me about the guys who interviewed me and I can't quite put my finger on it.

They seemed nice enough, but they mentioned that after their longtime editor had left after 8 years that they'd had trouble holding onto editors, and they mentioned that the sales team might be very un-PC (they had clocked me as an introvert during the interview) and asked me if that was an issue.

I'm not sure if it's old imposter rearing its head, and I shouldn't be so critical. Or if I'm just so desperate for a paid writing position that I'm ignoring something that doesn't sit right with me.

Zetetic


Zetetic

Hang on, why does a industry magazine for hospitality have a sales team?

Zetetic

Wait a second, why is there an industry magazine for hospitality at all?

Zetetic

Think this is just an elaborate front for some lads to be racist together for a few hours a week.

dead-ced-dead

Quote from: Zetetic on September 13, 2021, 10:07:41 PM
Hang on, why does a industry magazine for hospitality have a sales team?

To sell advertising, which is how they make their money. So the issue they had in front of me, the front cover had been bought. Which, whatever, writing puff pieces isn't the end of the world.

dead-ced-dead

Quote from: Zetetic on September 13, 2021, 10:06:47 PM
"very un-PC"?

Yeeeeaaaah that was the biggest one. Also, I come from film and academic writing and they've given me a brief before the next round of interviews to write a test piece. Apparently I'm one of two people they're looking at. I'm going to write the piece and just be honest and say it's not coming naturally to me and I don't want to be hired only for them to realise I'm a square peg in a round hole.

The Culture Bunker

Years ago, I worked for a small publishing company that put out an industry mag for the Facilities Management industry and on occasions I'd be roped in to tidy up some copy about how exciting a new kind of fire alarm was - hospitality sounds exciting in comparison.

madhair60

i interviewed for a company that made red flags and while i was unsuccessful they did hand me some complimentary red flags. so yes

dead-ced-dead

Quote from: madhair60 on September 13, 2021, 10:15:46 PM
i interviewed for a company that made red flags and while i was unsuccessful they did hand me some complimentary red flags. so yes

Booooooo!

Just focus on the constellation of possibilities – what brand of "very un-PC" will you get? It's exciting! Spin the wheel!

This crack sales team could be 'a gaggle of outrageous but golden-hearted drag queens who teach you how to not sweat the small stuff', could be 'retro 70s NF doorstep shitters'

The Ombudsman

Get the job, get evidence on the cunts then bother them with tribunals.


Dusty Substance


I got red flags during a job interview once where they spoke about how often the team (a small team of six) go out to dinner after work on a Friday, or will go on monthly nights out for team bonding exercises. This idea was completely mortifying. At previous jobs I could just about handle a work Christmas do once a year and maybe the occasional leaving drinks. Weekly dinners and monthly nights out??!! Fucking hell, no. I'm feeling nauseous even thinking about it right now.

Luckily, I didn't get the job.

checkoutgirl

I did an interview where they asked me how I'd feel debt collecting (over the phone) on Christmas Eve. I'm annoyed that rather than telling them to stick their job up their hoop and ending the interview I proceeded to do a completely shit interview and not get the job.

Goldentony

this sounds like magazine for planes and you're being mysterious because its a high end society thing

holyzombiejesus

On one hand, it sounds like you'll be doing a soul-destroying tedious job where your colleagues are homophobic mysoginist racists. On the other, it'd be ace to read about it on here, so go for it. Not been so excited to see how something pans out since that poster asked a colleague out for a drink.

DrGreggles

To be fair, an old project manager of mine once described himself as "un-PC", but it turned out that he meant he wasn't very computer literate.

Which was even more concerning, as this was an IT project.

buttgammon

PC sounds like a dated, almost quaint term these days. If they said "the sales team aren't woke" then that would've been the cue to do a runner.

seepage

Quote from: DrGreggles on September 14, 2021, 08:44:32 AM
To be fair, an old project manager of mine once described himself as "un-PC", but it turned out that he meant he wasn't very computer literate.

Which was even more concerning, as this was an IT project.

Mine once "had a tidy-up" by deleting all the files in their WordPerfect installation directory, then wondered why WP would no longer start. They also must surely have been the prototype for David Brent, which really should have been a red flag at my interview.   

Cloud

What an odd thing for them to ask.

I see two possibilities
1) 4D chess: They are actually very PC and it's a test to see if you'll stand up for what's right even if it puts your prospective job in jeapordy and would actually hire you for saying no it's not okay
2) They actually are a bunch of racists / homophobes / misogynists / transphobes / etc

Either way they sound like hard work to deal with

Hat FM

'we're not very pc' sounds like something a 15 year old might say about their company if they were doing interviews. was the interviewer 15?

Inspector Norse

Quote from: Dusty Substance on September 14, 2021, 01:02:30 AM
I got red flags during a job interview once where they spoke about how often the team (a small team of six) go out to dinner after work on a Friday, or will go on monthly nights out for team bonding exercises. This idea was completely mortifying. At previous jobs I could just about handle a work Christmas do once a year and maybe the occasional leaving drinks. Weekly dinners and monthly nights out??!! Fucking hell, no. I'm feeling nauseous even thinking about it right now.

Luckily, I didn't get the job.

I had an interview a bit like that once where they seemed suspiciously keen to sell the social aspect, how they got to clock off a bit early on a Friday and how people hung out for after work drinks and things. I've nothing against that as long as I like the people I work with, which fortunately has been the case in most of the jobs I've had, but the fact they were pushing it so much made me wonder if something else was going on.
Lo and behold when I did some deeper research[nb]Google[/nb] I found a lot of employees and former employees complaining about long hours and aggressive bosses.

I mailed them and said I'd had a better offer from elsewhere. I hadn't, but I did get one about two months later so it all worked out well in the end.
Except presumably for the poor sod who took the job I turned down.

Inspector Norse

Quote from: Hat FM on September 14, 2021, 09:19:48 AM
'we're not very pc' sounds like something a 15 year old might say about their company if they were doing interviews. was the interviewer 15?

It was an interview for Apple

Icehaven

Quote from: The Ombudsman on September 14, 2021, 12:51:11 AM
Get the job, get evidence on the cunts then bother them with tribunals.

Yes if something like this did happen, they hired someone who ended up making a complaint about the "un-PCness" it'd be fascinating to hear their defence.
"Well we did warn Mr. Bloggs at interview."
Judge: "You did what now?"

If they offer you the job I'd ask for some expansion on exactly what they meant by it as it does all smack of "Please don't come running to us with bullying claims if you get teased by our alpha male sales cunts."

"So what does success look like to you? I'll tell you what it looks like to me: 40k a year and a Porsche." (This was the mid-eighties).

I'd been out of work for a year and was getting desperate but thank Christ I didn't get the job as there's no way I could've stood working in Rosie's Traditional Tea & Cake Room financial services anyway.

dissolute ocelot

Every sales team is non-PC, in my experience, especially in anything engineering, technical, or old-fashioned industries. Bunch of middle-aged guys who live for expenses, drink, porn, strip clubs, and sexual harassment. Best way to bond with the middle-aged male company bosses.

Red flags at the interview? When I was just out of uni and couldn't get a job interview anywhere, I got an interview at a company in Rickmansworth that did websites. Greeted by a guy in his 40s with every strand of hair individually slathered in gel and formed into elaborate waves of goo. He used the sentence "we work hard and play hard" a lot, mentioned company weekends in Ibiza which we were expected to attend, and also mentioned there was only 2 weeks holiday a year (which I didn't challenge the legality of). Fortunately, I didn't know anything about what he was looking for, as well as being an hour late due to someone jumping under a train. Probably my predecessor.

Working in technology I also have a lot of experience of going for interviews and immediately realising the company has no business model ("We're going to spend millions of pounds developing something you can already get for pennies!" or "This depends on persuading one of the big mobile phone manufacturers to buy our product despite us being 6 guys in an office in Yoker!") Always slightly satisfying when you hear about them having massive financial problems, even though the staff seemed nice guys.

Had an interview at a magazine publisher a few years back. The whole interview was just the editor and the HR guy making shitty in-jokes with each other and looking disappointed that I wasn't joining in, having only known them for three minutes.


Gurke and Hare


JaDanketies

My former bosses were absolutely terrible at interviewing people and gave off red flags everywhere. They'd ask people if they wanted a tea or coffee, then the bosses would spend an hour talking about how great they were, how great the product is and all the money they were going to make in the near future, and then shake hands and offer the job. A totally pointless exercise. The bosses before that were even worse, if you turned up in a tracksuit and told them to fuck off they would've probably still offered you the job.

imo the biggest red flag is an interview process that isn't challenging at all, because that means staff turnover is a big issue and they need to churn through as many people in as possible. Although I don't 'interview' subcontractors either because interviews are fucking pointless most of the time anyway.

Butchers Blind

Quote from: Dusty Substance on September 14, 2021, 01:02:30 AM
I got red flags during a job interview once where they spoke about how often the team (a small team of six) go out to dinner after work on a Friday, or will go on monthly nights out for team bonding exercises. This idea was completely mortifying. At previous jobs I could just about handle a work Christmas do once a year and maybe the occasional leaving drinks. Weekly dinners and monthly nights out??!! Fucking hell, no. I'm feeling nauseous even thinking about it right now.

Luckily, I didn't get the job.

I had a similar experience to this years back. The interviewers made a big thing about office camaraderie and going out for drinks after work and a big Friday get-together once a month, etc. I got up midway through and said, "Nah, that's not my thing" and walked out. The job market was different back then.