Man failed job interview in 'five minutes' after hiring manager used 'receptionist' trick

When you're in a job interview, it always pays to make a good first impression. But one man messed up so badly that he blew his chances of getting the role within the first five minutes.

Interviewers have developed all sorts of tricks, tests and traps to catch applicants out or get what they believe to be a better judge of true character than someone going to great pains to put their best foot forward.

You can blow a job interview right from the first handshake, and the person across the table from you is going to have their own idea about what makes a good candidate.

There may be questions which are designed to reveal red flags, but there are also some pretty basic errors which lots of people stumble over.

"That was a secret test of character and you failed." (Getty Stock Photo)

At the very least you should endeavour not to be late and strive to do your research on the place that might hire you, as there are some answers which you can't just blag on the day.

But have you heard of the 'receptionist' trick?

That's how one man fell foul of the hiring process which meant his name was struck off the list of potential applicants almost immediately.

This moment made its way onto Reddit, where someone explained that the hiring manager had decided to screen candidates in an unorthodox way.

They wrote: "He was dismissive to the receptionist. She greeted him and he barely made eye contact.

"She tried to engage him in conversation. Again, no eye contact, no interest in speaking with her.

"What the candidate did not realize was that the 'receptionist' was actually the hiring manager."

"I pretended to be the receptionist to see how you'd treat someone not about to possibly hire you. Goodbye." (Getty Stock Photo)

Whoops.

The man was then called into a room and told he wasn't going to be getting the job, with him being described as 'openly rude and treated her like she was beneath him'.

However, the candidate's 'personality totally changed' when he thought he was talking to someone who had the choice to hire him, so they reckoned that they'd seen what he might really be like.

With this matter being thrown out to the internet it attracted plenty of comments from people who'd had similar experiences, including one person who said they'd actually aced the interview but turned down the job offer because they didn't like the way one of the staff spoke to the receptionist.

Someone else said that the 'receptionist will still get her two cents in at the water cooler', so the way you treat people can certainly filter through.

One story claimed that an applicant needed to use the toilet but being unfamiliar with the building didn't know where it was, and thus decided to relieve himself outside against one of the building's walls.

What he didn't know was that he was actually p**sing on the HR director's office windows, whether he ended up getting the job was not part of the story.

I'm going to stick my neck out here and say he probably didn't, just a guess.

Topics: Jobs, Reddit

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker