SINGAPORE: In job interviews, it’s standard for interviewers to briefly review a candidate’s educational background before shifting their focus to professional skills and experience. However, one Singaporean job seeker had a rather bizarre experience when her interviewer apparently couldn’t stop obsessing over her O-level results.
In a Reddit discussion thread, her friend recounted the whole story, revealing that this happened at one of the Big Four accounting firms in Singapore.
“She was scheduled for an interview with the Hiring Partner (HP) for a Senior role after a 3 year stint with a mid-sized accounting firm. So her technical work is strong,” she wrote in r/askSingapore.
“HP proceeded to scrutinize her O-levels results (despite her having qualified for SMU and NTU accountancy but decided to drop those universities and take ACCA instead), emphasizing on her English (I think she got a C5 or something).”
Additionally, she shared that the hiring partner overlooked her friend’s impressive achievements, including winning awards for several ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) papers and completing her ACCA in just 2 years instead of the usual 3-4. The interview, which lasted a mere 30 minutes, was a complete disaster.
“When she came out of it, she broke down crying as she had never felt so insulted in her life. It’s really uncalled for to be honest. The best part was, 15 mins later, the HR called and said the HP decided to give her a chance and offered her [the job]. She immediately rejected the offer and now she’s doing well at an MNC,” she said.
“Seems like HP only zoomed in on the poorly scored subjects.”
Several Singaporean Redditors were completely stunned that a hiring partner would resort to such petty tactics just to make a job candidate feel unworthy of the position.
One Redditor expressed disbelief, saying, “O levels leh. I’m sure if she had indicated her PSLE results in her CV, he would have scrutinised it too. Seems like HP only zoomed in on the poorly scored subjects to prove his point that she did not fit the team’s profile of local uni graduates.”
Another commented, “”HP proceeded to scrutinise her O levels results” Excuse me, I think if like that, I go already. I mean, I have NIE Dip Ed. But because I teach primary sch Math, … Bruh, I didn’t get an A* for math in the old people’s millennial PSLE. Heck, I didn’t even get an A. I got a heckin’ B. lol.”
Others criticized such firms for their narrow-minded approach, questioning why they would focus on outdated and irrelevant metrics instead of recognizing a candidate’s proven skills and achievements.
One netizen stated, “This is funny because those Big 4 partners are so disconnected from the world. Thinking people are begging to join them. Nope.”
Another shared, “Super disconnected in their elitist world. One partner once told the entire group of us in the board room to look outside the glass window towards the pantry area where the admin staff was taking extra biscuits for herself, “look how they have to scramble for such tidbits” and proceeded to mock her behaviour.”
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