'I'm the one who ended my own interview': Recruiter lowballs job candidate and demeans their resume over zoom, so candidate wishes them ‘good luck’ and abruptly ends the call

A job recruiter was flabbergasted recently after getting abruptly hung up on by the interviewee. Why? Because he was treating his potential job candidate like they were below him and playing games instead of being professional. 

It's rare that you have a first interview in-person these days. With sites that can let you video chat from anywhere in the world at any time of the day, most companies are opting for that. After a few interviews, you might end up being asked to come in-person for a chat, but nowadays, that first interview is rarely face-to-face. That means it's a little harder to portray your professionalism through the screen. Emphasis on a little. Because it's not that hard. You don't even need to wear pants technically to still appear professional during a video call. And yet, there are still people who are able to come off completely wrong…

This tends to happen when the person is oozing with entitlement, like this job recruiter. He may have been dressed appropriately and made the video chat call on time, but the way he talked to this candidate was unacceptable. He not only completely demeaned her resume, he admitted to lying about the salary they offer on the job listing. He said they just say that to attract better candidates, but then they lowball them. Of course, he didn't say lowball, but it was obvious. 

So obvious that the interviewee cut the chat short. They did not need to waste their time any longer. Sometimes entitled companies seem to forget that a job interview goes both ways. 

Author image for Elna McHilderson Elna McHilderson
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  • businesswoman having a video call on laptop arguing, job interview
    via Unsplash+ (and Getty Images)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • The corporate world truly does not have a good reputation, especially according to many horror stories online of employees and interviewees. It's like their hubris has simply grown too big for this world. And yet, we are still giving them our time. Not anymore! If the person interviewing you rubs you the wrong way, gives you the ick, or whatever, hang up on them. Heck, walk out if by some crazy chance it's in-person. You don't deserve that kind of treatment. Your time is valuable and they are wasting it. Move on to the next! 

    We applaud this interviewee. Times are tough out there and companies think they can take advantage of that by lowballing pay. This person said absolutely not and shut it down asap. Good for you! 

  • "I'm the one who ended my own interview today. Some companies are just all about playing games."

    Two days ago, I had an interview on Zoom. The whole time, the recruiter was picking apart my CV and making strange comments.
    via haristable
  • Things like, 'Oh, you graduated from this university, we usually hire from the other one, and 'Your CV says you have 6 years of experience, but honestly, we're looking for someone with 12. Then suddenly he says, 'You have this license, but we would have preferred if you had a PMP. I asked him straight to his face, 'What does a PMP have to do with this administrative role?
    via haristable
  • Can you explain?' He couldn't answer and just mumbled something about the hiring manager liking to see it.
    via haristable
  • Okay. Then we got to the salary. I told him my range, and he said it was too high and that they were thinking of about 60-70% of what I asked for.
    via haristable
  • I told him that the number I mentioned was exactly what was written in their job posting on LinkedIn.
    via haristable
  • And his response? 'Oh, we put that number to attract better candidates, but the actual budget is lower.' At that point, I had reached my limit.
    via haristable
  • I told him I was ending the interview right now. He seemed genuinely surprised and asked me why.
    via haristable
  • I told him it was clear we weren't on the same page and that his company was looking for a candidate who wasn't me.
    via haristable
  • I told him I wasn't interested in playing games and said, 'You're looking for someone with a PMP and 12 years of experience, and you want to pay them 60% of the market rate.' Suddenly, everything became 'negotiable,' and he started talking about annual raises and how they were just trying to gauge my reaction to criticism.
    via haristable
  • I don't buy that at all; those small year-end raises never even keep up with inflation.
    via haristable
  • All I told him was that I felt he was being ridiculous and wasting my time.
    via haristable
  • - MacBook Pro
    via Unsplash+ (and Luis Quintero)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • I wished him good luck finding their unicorn candidate, told him to have a nice day, and ended the Zoom call.
    via haristable
  • Seriously, if you want to hire a professional, treat them like a professional. Stop wasting people's time with power plays and weird tests.
    via haristable
  • Just be honest and respectful. Edit: That's sleazy. Why work for someone when their first interaction with you is to lie to trick you into doing something?
    via haristable
  • Not worthy of your time. I know there are many Al tools that can give me better responses during an interview.
    via haristable
  • Based on my experience, I believe I will rely on it in any future interview. It sounds to me like they were trying to convince me that I was "less qualified" than their requirements, so that I'd gratefully accept a lower salary under the excuse that they shouldn't have hired me in the first place
    via haristable

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