‘No sorry, no thanks for waiting’: Singapore jobseeker calls out interviewer for arriving 45 minutes late

SINGAPORE: Turning up late to a job interview is hardly the best way to make a first impression. It can make a candidate look disorganised, careless with time, or simply uninterested in the role.

However, surely, the same rules apply to the person doing the interviewing?

One Singaporean jobseeker has sparked a discussion on Reddit after she claimed that an interviewer arrived 45 minutes late without offering an apology or even acknowledging the delay.

The woman said the incident happened about a month ago, and while she ultimately accepted the job, she now regrets ever setting foot in the company. 

She has since handed in her notice.

Recalling the incident, she wrote: “On that day, their HR came up to me, passed me a form to fill in (personal details etc etc) and then just left. I had to email them afterwards when I was done with the form, then they said, ‘Okay, hang on’ after they collected the form – only for me to sit there for 45 mins without an update, like the interviewer would be running late.”

“45 minutes later, the guy walks in, says nothing about being late (no sorry, no ‘thanks for waiting’) and just starts the interview as nothing happened. Is this normal?” 

The woman added that when she told the managing director about the whole incident, she was simply told: “We don’t have to sell ourselves to you.”

‘You should avoid such companies’

In the comments, many Singaporean Redditors criticised the interviewer’s behaviour, with some saying that leaving a candidate waiting for so long was a clear sign of poor professionalism.

“That’s not normal and is extremely rude,” one commenter wrote.

“If they won’t respect your time at an interview, they won’t respect it at work,” another chimed in.

“During an interview, if you notice any abnormalities, it is already an early indication of a telltale sign showing how their staff behaves in a company. So you should avoid such companies. If not, once you start being employed, you will regret it,” a third added.

Meanwhile, others shared their own less-than-pleasant interview experiences.

“I experienced a similar issue with an SME. I left 30 minutes after waiting in a room. Today I’m working at a big tech company,” one commenter said.

“I once waited for 2 hrs for HR, and they had the audacity to say that they didn’t know I confirmed my attendance. I even sent them my application form! Wasted my time travelling lol,” another shared.

A third recalled, “I had once gone for an interview as per the time indicated in the email. When I was there, the HR was sitting in for the receptionist because she was out to lunch. This woman sat me in a meeting room, then after 30 mins came in and asked me, ‘Isn’t our meeting at 2.30 and why did you show up at 1.45?’ Then later the interviewee was also late, so I ended up waiting for them for 1 hour. In the end, I didn’t get the job.”/TISG

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