'Dodged a massive bullet': Job seeker's interview cancellation gets defensive reply from business owner
A post on Reddit’s r/recruitinghell has gone viral for a reason that may be immediately familiar to anyone who has ever done their homework before an interview and not liked what they found. The post has been upvoted over 3,200 times, with over 200 comments reacting on the thread.
The original poster had applied for a Senior Property Manager position and, before the scheduled interview, did a deep dive into the company’s online presence. The red flags were significant enough that they decided to withdraw.
Their cancellation message, visible in the screenshot, was polite and professional: They thanked the company for scheduling time, explained that after reviewing the company’s online presence and management responses, they had concluded the culture did not align with what they were looking for, and wished them well in their candidate search.
The owner’s reply: “That’s a shame that you made that decision, shows that you also don’t align with my goals and my company values. I just purchased the company a few months ago.”
“Throwing in ‘I just purchased the company a few months ago’ as an excuse for throwing a defensive tantrum to an applicant tells me everything I need to know about what working under them would have been like,” the original poster wrote. “Dodged a massive bullet on this one.”
Reddit chimes in
The thread was largely in agreement, with several commenters pointing out exactly what the correct response would have looked like.
“The correct response was: ‘Yes, I am aware of the previous management’s culture. I have recently purchased this business and am trying to change course. If you decide you want to revisit, our work culture values might align — the door is always open,’” one commenter wrote. Instead, the owner chose defensiveness.
One commenter described a similar experience. “Once a recruiter reached out and offered me a position with a really high salary. I checked the reviews on Glassdoor and others; one review after another described the bad conditions and a choleric boss. Under each comment, the boss threatened to find out who posted this and fire the employees and sue them. I politely told the recruiter I had a different offer.”
Others kept it sharp. “Bro pulled the ‘no you’ uno reverse card,” one wrote. “An interview is a two-way street,” said another. A third noted the lesson for future applications: “This is why I research a company before I even bother applying.”
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The owner’s response to a polite cancellation message is precisely the behaviour the original poster’s research suggested they would find. The new owner may have purchased the company recently, but the communication style on display in that reply is not something that inspires a lot of faith in how the job would have looked if they were hired.
For job seekers doing their own pre-interview due diligence, the exchange shows that the way a company responds to public criticism may be a reflection of their values. Doing your own due diligence before applying and accepting interviews may be beneficial to avoid similar encounters.
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