Ask anyone who’s had to navigate it recently, and they’ll tell you the job market is a nightmare. Between technology that makes it ever more impossible for your resume to break through all the noise, to the seemingly endless cycle of emails it takes to even land an interview with a hiring manager who’s likely to ghost you, no less, it’s easy to feel hopeless.
And then there are the actual bosses making the decisions, who are often basing them on criteria that are frankly absurd. But one HR professional’s boss truly takes the cake when it comes to hiring standards that are just outright ridiculous.
The internet is full of stories like these about bosses who basically seem to think that hiring is some kind of manipulative game, or just have standards so exacting for so-called “unicorn candidates” that nobody could ever meet them.
This worker’s boss’s procedure, however, is straight-up dumb. He is convinced, they wrote in a Reddit post, that “small details” matter because they often add up and “reveal character flaws that’ll show up later.” And there’s certainly some truth to that.
But he has basically replaced actual qualifications with these “small details” when evaluating candidates, and they’re so arbitrary and petty that nobody can pass his test. “Meanwhile we’re short staffed and complaining about how hard it is to hire good people,” the worker wrote.
Even worse, they said these rejected candidates often have “better qualifications than our current team.” But it’s pretty remarkable they have a good team at all, given how absurd his reasons for rejection are.
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Folks, and especially the gentlemen, this is a very, very basic style faux pas, and it looks ugly and dumb. Your shoes and belt should always match. Please stop doing this! HOWEVER, what this has to do with someone’s qualifications to make spreadsheets all day or whatever is beyond me. But this boss said it “shows poor attention to detail.” Okay, dude, whatever you say.
Oh no! Did someone reveal that they have a life outside the office? Perish the thought! According to this boss, it shows a candidate lacks commitment, and while this is a delicate interview topic that does need to be handled with grace so as not to give that impression, something tells me that was not the problem here.
Um, what? Oops, there I go, guess I’m unhirable! Now granted, poise can go a long way in a job interview, and “um” isn’t exactly great oratory or whatever. But counterpoint: WHO CARES. Everyone says “um” when they’re talking! Not this boss, though. He said it shows “poor communication skills.” LOL, sure.
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Their boss said this shows the candidate “can’t follow basic instructions,” but what it actually shows is that this boss is a control freak. Nobody owes it to you to be early in the first place (though you should still always be early to a job interview, it’s how the game is played), but two minutes early is, wait for it, STILL EARLY YOU LUNATIC. Man, I’m really starting to loathe this guy.
fizkes | Shutterstock | Canva Pro
Ohhhhkay this one … this one, though. I don’t know, man, I’m kind of on his side on this one, even though it pains every atom in my body to say so. He said it’s “unprofessional,” and I have to agree. It’s a level of casual that isn’t really appropriate for the setting. But disqualifying? When everything else is bang-on? That’s just silly.
However, it does point to the likely explanation for all this hair-splitting: he’s jealous. As one Reddit commenter put it, “you say these people were more qualified than the team you do have. Lots of these useless middle-management types know they’d never have gotten so far if it were only down to competence.” Yep, think we’ve got a winner here. Because if this is how you’re evaluating candidates, the dead last thing you are is competent.
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John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
