It’s inevitable that some interviews must go wrong in order to find a job that is the perfect fit, but did you know it could take a turn afterward? One woman says she failed an interview ‘so hard’ they ‘threaten to take her to court.’
When researching workplace horror stories, YouTube creator Ben Askins discovered that someone interviewed for a job and after the employers realized the candidate was not suited to the role, they not only sent an invoice but also warned of upcoming legal disputes.
Woman fails an interview ‘so hard’ they sent her an invoice
Ben Askins is a social media creator who specializes in providing advice for companies, businesses, careers, and most work related topics.
A YouTube video captioned “I failed an interview so hard, the employer charged me…” shows Askins read out a bad work place experience that involved someone told they’d have to pay for essentially wasting company time.
The letter from the video stated: “On the 20th of October, you applied for a senior developer position involving the following technologies, Python3, Flask, MySQL and Erlang. During the interview, it became immediately obvious that you are unfamiliar with even a junior-level ability, let alone an experienced engineer of distributed systems, as your application claimed.”
As a result of the inexperienced candidate, the employers requested that “the time consumed” by the interview “is remitted in full.”
Ben Askins then alarmingly reveals that an invoice is shown, billing the candidate a whopping $410! The whole point of a job interview is to eventually make money, not lose it, right?
Interview fail resulted in ‘threat to be taken to court’
Not only is it shocking that the employer tried to charge the interviewee simply for the time that it cost them, the statement then continues to explain: “If it is not repaid by the date specified the issue will be taken to VCAT as a matter of principle.”
The VCAT is the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, that resolves legal disputes and cases in Victoria.
Taken aback by the story, Ben joked that he thought this was just going to be a really harsh rejection letter. He thought wrong!
The content creator announced: “That is absolutely mad” and argued that it is on the employer to qualify the candidate, suggesting it is not the interviewees’ responsibility to pay for the cost.
It’s true, you shouldn’t be charged for a job interview. A post shared by an HR leader explains if an employer charges you a fee to apply for an open position, you are most likely not dealing with a legitimate employer: “Job interviews are completely free.”
In the comment section of the viral video, one user argued: “No contract was entered into, therefore no costs can be charged.”
Another comment jokingly asked if “that means employees can charge companies for wasting our time too?”
Someone else even suggested that the whole situation is a ploy for the company to earn more money: “Imagine them interviewing 100 people, sending out these fake bills, and that’s how they make their money… This is fraudulent. You can’t request payment when no financial agreement was made.”
If you feel you have been wrongly denied a job, Acas (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) reports that it is reasonable to ask an employer to reconsider their decision if you think they discriminated against you (for example, if you did not get the job because of your sex or race).
You can also ask them to reconsider if they did not apply their rules consistently – for example, if they have a policy on how to undertake job interviews but yours was done differently.
