Unprofessionalism widespread among interviewers, study reveals

Nick Elvin

The majority of UK job hunters have witnessed unprofessional interviewer mistakes during the application process, a new study from CV-Library reveals.

The job site conducted research among more than 2,200 UK professionals to uncover the most bizarre interviewer behaviour from the perspective of a job hunter. Findings revealed that over a third (37%) of interviewers haven’t read the candidate resume, and 41.1% have shown up to an interview late.

Some candidates have been asked inappropriate and discriminatory questions – for example 15% admit to being asked their age, and 8.5% have been asked about their family plans.

Candidates have witnessed some shocking interviewer behaviour: 2.3% have had an interviewer pass wind, 1.5% witnessed their interviewer act drunk and 1.1% actually had an interviewer fall asleep during the meeting.

Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library said: “It’s shocking to see that candidates have to endure such unprofessional behaviour during a job interview. No candidate should ever be subjected to inappropriate or rude behaviour and some of these revelations are unacceptable.

“However, candidates should be understanding of interviewers who are under a huge amount of time pressure, often interviewing 5-8 candidates in one day, and certain mishaps should be forgiven.”

However, despite 91.8% of candidates thinking it’s unprofessional for an interviewer to be unprepared, the majority are still willing to consider accepting a job following interviewer mistakes. 64.8% would consider working for an interviewer that hadn’t fully prepared for an interview. After a bad interview, 35.6% of candidates were later offered the job and a further 55.5% of those who were offered jobs went on to accept the position.

Biggins added: “The recruitment industry has grown into such a competitive landscape and many employers invest heavily in recruitment agencies and job boards to help source qualified candidates.

“To let things fall apart at the interview stage is a big mistake that employers simply can’t afford to make – they don’t only lose the time and money invested in finding that candidate, they could lose the candidate themselves and ultimately damage the business’ reputation.

“It’s essential that businesses provide comprehensive interview training before putting anyone in front of a candidate to ensure they understand what is and is not appropriate.”