She Made Brunch During My Interview... WTF?!?!

A hiring manager was late to the interview then did everything but pay attention. What should interviewers actually be doing, what candidates can do when things go sideways, and why the interview process has real legal stakes. Let’s talk about it. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome back to We Lead Anyway. I'm Noelle, senior leader, career coach, and your host. Pull up a chair, get comfy, grab a snack, chop some vegetables, drive around in your car. You know, whatever you feel like doing, because apparently that's what we do now during important professional meetings. Well, what what do you mean no it's not? So I recently had a job interview. A real one. A big girl job interview. Six rounds. I had to present a full 12-month roadmap. You know, one of those things that takes actual time and effort and brain cells and preparation to put together. I showed up on time, I was at my desk like so, camera on, professional, ready to go. So I knew I was gonna have two interviewers, one I had already met. The second one was late. Fine, that happens. So I chat with the one interviewer, I'll bet awkwardly, but we chatted. But then finally the person we were waiting for joins from her car. She's off camera, no bit. Then she turns the camera on, still in her car. Cool, cool, cool, cool. Now we're rolling. I'm getting into it. I'm getting smiles and nods. I'm like, this is about to go down. Wait till she's actually sitting down and focused on me. I'm really gonna dazzle her. So she gets out of her car and she walks into her house. And she does not go to her desk so that I can dazzle her. She does not sit down. She goes on a walkabout through her entire home while I'm presenting a 12-month roadmap. I watched this woman dig through her purse. I watched her eat. I watched her check what I'm assuming was her email. I watched her chop vegetables, chop vegetables, dicing carrots while I'm mid-sentence talking about Q3 deliverables. And that's when I started to wonder, if I'm invisible, I wonder what other superpowers I have. Because what, y'all, this was a formal interview. I had prepared. I had sli nice colorful slides at a roadmap. I showed up as a professional and I was treated like a salesperson knocking on someone's door during meal time. So let's talk about why this is not just rude, because it is. It's actually a problem with real stakes. So here's what I need hiring managers to realize or choose to think about because I'm not sure if they do. The interview process is a legal process. The EEOC, which is the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, they enforce laws that prohibit employers from using practices that have disproportionately negative impact on candidates based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or disability. I think I got them all. I got them all. And while the law doesn't implicitly say thou shall not top vegetables on camera, the spirit of these protections is that every candidate deserves a fair and consistent experience. Many organizations are required to use standardized interview questions and consistent evaluation criteria to ensure that every candidate is assessed the same way. And the reason for that is simple. If you show up distracted, disengaged, and wandering around your home for candidate A, but you are sharp, focused, and fully present at your desk for candidate B, you have not given those two people the same interview. And unequal experiences can open the door to claims of discriminatory treatment, even if that was never the intent. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, yes, I'm going there, this is my serious face, is a core protection for job seekers, and federal and state law protects candidates from discrimination throughout every stage of the hiring process. Yes, that includes the interview itself. The interview is not exempt from scrutiny just because sometimes it feels casual or conversational. Federal law also requires employers with 15 or more employees to keep interview notes and related hiring information for at least one year after the hiring decision is made. Which means there's documentation, which means there's accountability if you need it. Which means I was wandering around my kitchen is not a good look. And honestly, beyond all the legal stuff, it was so rude. You are representing your company. Candidates talk. Glassdoor exists. The internet is forever. And so is your reputation as a hiring manager who interviewed someone while making brunch. All right, so I'm a constructive chick. Let's be constructive. Here are three things interviewers should absolutely be doing for best practice and to give each candidate the interview experience that they deserve. Number one, be present. Actually, genuinely present. That means you are at your desk or table with the camera on, with your notification silenced without a chicken sandwich in your hand. You scheduled this. You picked the time. The least you can do is show up for it. And if you cannot give a candidate 45 to 60 minutes of your focused attention, you should not have booked this interview. Reschedule. People will respect you more for it than just showing up distracted. All right? Okay. Number two, standardize your process. Use the same format, the same questions, and the same level of energy for every candidate as best as you possibly can. No, not just because the EEOC guidelines encourage consistent evaluation criteria. It's the only way to actually compare candidates fairly. If you're checked out for one person and fully engaged for another's, your notes are not comparing apples to apples. And number three, communicate, especially if something comes up. If something happened before the interview or you're running late, your head is on fire, just say something. A two-minute sentence that says running about 10 minutes late, looking forward to our conversation, have fun talking with Teresa. It costs you nothing. But what does cost you something is making someone sit there, either in silence or making horrible small talk with the other interviewer, wondering if this is the right place for them. Now, for my people on the other side of the camera, these are three things that you can do as a candidate if the interview fills off. Because sometimes you're in that interview and you realize very quickly some don't feel right. And maybe the interviewer is distracted. Maybe you're just getting a completely different experience than something that you read on Reddit or something your colleague said. Maybe someone is literally chopping vegetables. But here's what you can do. Number one, just ask politely if you can reschedule a restart. If the interview begins and it's clearly not the right conditions, you are allowed to say something. You can say, I want to make sure I'm giving you my best and I'm also mindful of your time. Would it make sense to reconnect when you're in a better spot? Said professionally, this is not a confrontation. It is a perfectly reasonable ask and you're entitled to that. The worst they can say is no. And if they say no and continue to be checked out, now you also have information about the company's culture that you can factor into whether or not you actually want the job. Number two, give yourself permission to ask clarifying questions. If you're getting the sense that the interviewer has absorbed approximately 0% of what you have said, it is completely okay to just pause and check in. You can say something like, hey, I want to make sure I'm hitting what's most important to you. Is there a specific area you'd like me to dig deeper on? This does two things. One, it re-engages them and it signals that you're paying attention, even if they're not. And it also subtly reminds them that there is a human being on the other side of this call who is prepared and would like to be taken seriously. And number three, trust what you learned and factor it in. Look, at the end of the day, a chaotic, distracted, disorganized interview, it's data. It's telling you something about how this team operates, maybe how they value a candidate experience and what it might feel like to actually work there. You don't have to read too much into it. It could just be off day. But you also do not have to talk yourself out of what you clearly observe. If it felled off, it fell off. Note it. Ask your recruiter a pointed question about the team culture or make sure you take that survey that they send. And if you have a real reason to believe that the experience was unequal because of who you are rather than just a bad day or off circumstances, the EEOC exists exactly for that reason. And so does Glassdoor for everything in between. All right, so let's land this plane. Listen, interviewing is stressful for everyone. Okay, hiring managers are busy, candidates are nervous. I am not here to say that every imperfect interview is a scandal. But there is a difference between an interview that is slightly awkward and an interview where someone is doing everything but parasailing while you're presenting a 12-month strategic roadmap. One of those is human. Respect is not a bonus feature in the hiring process, it is a baseline. And whether you are the one asking the questions or answering the questions, you deserve to be treated like your time and effort actually matter. And you should be able to do that without having to witness someone chopping broccoli. Listen, if you know, you know. If you have a topic you'd like me to discuss, email me at noelleleadsanyway at gmail.com. And if you're interested in personal or professional development, please visit leadwithnoelle.com. And until next time, go take up space while chopping vegetables.