This happened at my last job at the cell phone store. One day at about 12:45 PM a very well dressed woman with a folder in her hand walks in and tells me she's here for a job interview at 1 PM.
There are two problems with this:
1) We weren't conducting interviews at the moment
2) We weren't even hiring!
At least as far as I knew, but it's possible manager J could have set something up without me knowing so I went back to fetch him. After that, things got really interesting.
J = manager
OW = Odd woman
J: Hi there, I'm J the manager here and you are?
OW: Odd woman.
J: Nice to meet you now my coworker tells me you're here for a job interview?
OW: Yes, for 1 PM
J: Well there seems to be a problem here as we don't have any interviews scheduled for today. We don't even have any positions at the moment. Are you sure you're in the right place?
OW: I'm positive. I got a message on my voicemail that told me to be here at 1 PM for a job interview.
J and I exchange glances.
J: Do you still have that message by any chance?
OW: Yes, I do.
She whips out a Smartphone and plays a recording of a male who is definitely not J, with this message: "Hi this message is for OW, I'm calling on behalf of <our company>, we're very impressed with your qualifications and would like you to come in for an interview this Thursday at 1 PM."
A few things about this message immediately jump out at us:
1) The voice isn't J and he's the only who does hiring for our store
2) The person who left the message left no name or contact info, pretty odd for someone courting a job applicant.
3) I know how J hires and he always makes personal contact with an applicant before setting an interview time (i.e. he speaks to them first, he would never leave a voicemail telling someone to come in for an interview)
J: I'm not quite sure what to tell you ma'am, but you've been misled somewhere along the line. I'm the only one who does hiring for <our store> and that was obviously not my voice on your message. I always leave a call back number too, that person didn't.
OW: Well maybe it was someone from your corporate HR then.
J: I don't see how that could be, no one from corporate HR has access to the job applications we keep on file here and like I just said I'm the only one who handles hiring at this location.
OW: Are you calling me a liar?
J: Well no, I'm saying there's obviously some confusion here. That message doesn't sound like it was anyone from our company and we aren't doing interviews right now, we aren't even hiring at the moment.
OW: So I got all dressed up and prepared and drove all the way down here and now you won't interview me? That's ridiculous.
J: Ma'am there never was an interview. I highly doubt someone from our company left you that message...say, can you give me the number it came from? I can check to see it if actually was one of ours."
OW: The number it came from is not important. What's important is I came here, resumes, reference sheets and portfolio in hand, fully prepared to discuss how well qualified I am to work here.
J: And I apologize for any confusion but you came down here for nothing. I don't know where that message came from but we are NOT hiring right now.
OW: You won't even consider me?
J: Ma'am, we barely have enough money coming in to keep the staff I have paid, I can assure you we are in no position to take on anyone else right now. I apologize again but there's nothing I can do for you.
OW: I can't believe I came all this way and did all that work for nothing.... (leaves)
After that J and I spent a good 20 minutes discussing just what the hell that was all about. The only thing we could come up with is she's either mentally unstable or she was just someone who used a very bizarre method to try to get an on the spot interview by way of confusion and misrepresentation.
That was quite an interesting afternoon.
There are two problems with this:
1) We weren't conducting interviews at the moment
2) We weren't even hiring!
At least as far as I knew, but it's possible manager J could have set something up without me knowing so I went back to fetch him. After that, things got really interesting.
J = manager
OW = Odd woman
J: Hi there, I'm J the manager here and you are?
OW: Odd woman.
J: Nice to meet you now my coworker tells me you're here for a job interview?
OW: Yes, for 1 PM
J: Well there seems to be a problem here as we don't have any interviews scheduled for today. We don't even have any positions at the moment. Are you sure you're in the right place?
OW: I'm positive. I got a message on my voicemail that told me to be here at 1 PM for a job interview.
J and I exchange glances.
J: Do you still have that message by any chance?
OW: Yes, I do.
She whips out a Smartphone and plays a recording of a male who is definitely not J, with this message: "Hi this message is for OW, I'm calling on behalf of <our company>, we're very impressed with your qualifications and would like you to come in for an interview this Thursday at 1 PM."
A few things about this message immediately jump out at us:
1) The voice isn't J and he's the only who does hiring for our store
2) The person who left the message left no name or contact info, pretty odd for someone courting a job applicant.
3) I know how J hires and he always makes personal contact with an applicant before setting an interview time (i.e. he speaks to them first, he would never leave a voicemail telling someone to come in for an interview)
J: I'm not quite sure what to tell you ma'am, but you've been misled somewhere along the line. I'm the only one who does hiring for <our store> and that was obviously not my voice on your message. I always leave a call back number too, that person didn't.
OW: Well maybe it was someone from your corporate HR then.
J: I don't see how that could be, no one from corporate HR has access to the job applications we keep on file here and like I just said I'm the only one who handles hiring at this location.
OW: Are you calling me a liar?
J: Well no, I'm saying there's obviously some confusion here. That message doesn't sound like it was anyone from our company and we aren't doing interviews right now, we aren't even hiring at the moment.
OW: So I got all dressed up and prepared and drove all the way down here and now you won't interview me? That's ridiculous.
J: Ma'am there never was an interview. I highly doubt someone from our company left you that message...say, can you give me the number it came from? I can check to see it if actually was one of ours."
OW: The number it came from is not important. What's important is I came here, resumes, reference sheets and portfolio in hand, fully prepared to discuss how well qualified I am to work here.
J: And I apologize for any confusion but you came down here for nothing. I don't know where that message came from but we are NOT hiring right now.
OW: You won't even consider me?
J: Ma'am, we barely have enough money coming in to keep the staff I have paid, I can assure you we are in no position to take on anyone else right now. I apologize again but there's nothing I can do for you.
OW: I can't believe I came all this way and did all that work for nothing.... (leaves)
After that J and I spent a good 20 minutes discussing just what the hell that was all about. The only thing we could come up with is she's either mentally unstable or she was just someone who used a very bizarre method to try to get an on the spot interview by way of confusion and misrepresentation.
That was quite an interesting afternoon.
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