CyberFootprint

Recently, I have had the “honor” to be introduced to a certain Czech insurance company. Being in a “job hunt” mode, I applied for their trainee program in marketing. The series of unfortunate events followed this decision.

The online application of mine was rejected in a matter of moments. On the other hand, I was called in for an interview without any specification of what the interview is going to be about. The situation felt somehow fishy, but I decided to give the company a benefit of the doubt, and scheduled the interview.

Not in my wildest dreams had I imagined the utter lack of quality and attitude of the interview. As soon as I walked in to the manager’s office, I was told that I’m being screened for a field sales position. It was a classic bait and switch. At that point, my interest in the company was over, but for some reason I didn’t leave the room. That proved to be another mistake in the long run.

The interviewer had no training in screening the applicants, so she asked me about my age. This is an illegal question. What was she thinking?! Later on, she even managed to insult my education and profession. Well done!

The point of writing this post is twofold. Graduates and even experienced job hunters should always expect the unexpected and be prepared to deflect the unlawful questions. I will write a detailed post about it later this week.

At the same time, the companies should invest in training their staff to be capable of asking questions and being good interviewers. Otherwise, their reputation will go down the drain.

Image credit: fireflythegreat