The fatal interview,

I’ve done many interviews this year, good and bad interviews. Human resources is a kind of thing, is like a subject that, from my point of view, is personal, I mean, there is no a science to define a recruitment process, and as a human being, there are mistakes.

Last Friday, I went to London for an interview. I went into the office, and while the interviewer and me were waiting for a third person, this person started to speak about typical things of my country.  “Are you going to cook a paella for us” or “ why are you in England? In Spain is warmer.”  I had lived in Scotland, so I replied: “At least is warmer than Scotland” and he insisted,.. and insisted,.. about the same issue, until this third person came.

The point is, this man wasn’t originally from England, he came from abroad and I didn’t ask him, if he ate curry every single day. Is like you are interviewing a Chinese person and you ask something like “Is true do you eat dogs?”. That’s is inappropriate for an interview, especially in London, where lots of different people from different countries are living in the same place.

As I said before, the girl came into the office. This girl, shook my hand, but she touch my hand lightly, avoiding the contact. That gesture, warned me. The interview wasn’t to be, an easy one.

The asked normal questions and after that, he explained the job conditions. This company would offered me an internship which payment just covered the 80% of my travel expenses and after 3 o 4 months, I could have a possibility to have a job. His final question was: “Could you move to London?” My mind was working at 80 miles per hour, trying to process all that information. This man was offering a really low salary and he was asking me to move to London.

My answer was clear: “I live in my town because is cheap. You’re are offering an internship of 3 months which just cover the 80% of my travel expenses. I have to pay bills, food,… After that period of time, you don’t guarantee me any job position. I don’t want to waste my time, sacrificing myself, if I don’t have a reward after, and well, you didn’t say anything about my salary after the internship”.

This man lost control of himself, his reply was something like “ I’ve trained more than 600 people in my life and the job position depends on you”. The tension was in the air, I could smell it. Then, I decided that it was enough so finally I told him that I would think about it.

On the street, after leaving the company’s office, I felt that for once I’ve won a small battle, but on the other hand, I am sure another desperate person would take the job offer. What a shame!!, this kind of people exist because other people allow them exist.