The following post on Quora caught my eye earlier where this person asks that their boss purposely makes every candidate wait one hour past the scheduled interview time as a filtering method and if that was legal.
My boss purposely makes all interview candidates wait 1 hour past the scheduled interview time. This is their “filtering” method, as they refuse to consider anyone who leaves during the 1+ hour wait. Is this legal? by Patrick O’Neill
I am pretty sure this is legal but it is extremely unprofessional and a major red flag for people working under/with this boss. They don’t care for the candidates time and wasting it like this doesn’t show/prove dedication. Someone could have scheduled an interview during their lunch hour or they might have booked a babysitter so that they can come in for an interview. By wasting time like this, you don’t know how you are impacting their schedule and plans. Unfortunately, too many people think that the only thing people should care about is working and the more time they spend at office the better it is.
This is especially true in the Startups where people joining are expected to put in insane hours. I have worked with a lot of startups both as an employee and as part of the various incubator programs, I remember one startup owner that proudly told me that they ask their candidates if they are ok to work 7 days a week without exception and reject anyone who says no because they should be as dedicated to the company as the owner was. So I asked them if they are also going to get a part of the profit that the company makes and they responded with an empathetic NO! When you are not going to share the profits the owner is making then why would the employee work the same hours as you? You need to give them the same incentives if you expect the same amount of effort 🙂
For the most of my carrier I have had great managers and bosses who respect peoples time. I have been scolded about logging in during late nights and over the weekend unless there was something urgent that needed to be done. If I was in a situation like this, I would normally ask for a reschedule after about 30 mins, if it was a phone interview I would drop after 15 mins and send an email stating that the panel didn’t join.
People who this kind of screening are the ones who will call you on Saturday at 10pm and expect that you drop everything and come to the office for work. People do have a life outside work and we need to respect that. If there is an emergency, absolutely call me at anytime and I will log in (if I can). But for BAU (Business As Usual) work that can wait, you shouldn’t be calling.
– Suramya