Unfiltered Story #294824

Years ago, I went through a time of unemployment, i.e. job hunting.

I had little experience and a grade from university, but since getting work was the most important, I tended to get my hands on everything available. One area I tried to get into was what the Dutch call “horeca”: i.e. catering, restaurants, cafés etcetera. After all, this requires little experience or education, so at least it could provide some quick money until I found something better.

On one occassion, I applied for a job at a new restaurant at a nearby town. I got a reply and was invited to some sort of application day, in which a group of applicants was brought together. They showed us a presentation about what the new restaurant would be about and then had everyone present introduce themselves. Afterwards, we got personal interviews. Some questions I remember from it were about my means of transport (which had to be either public transport or my bike).

Some short time later, I received an e-mail telling me I wasn’t selected after all. I asked them for some feedback. Their reply was: ‘As we said, the combination of your experience and age.’

So, I was turned down because of my age (over 25) and my lack of recent experience in restaurants…. which they could have seen on my resume in the first place, so why bother interviewing me in the first place?

Over the years, I have been wondering whether there was something they didn’t tell me. The town where the restaurant was built, was notorious for its university and therefor had students galore, while I had graduated several years before. Also, I lived in a nearby town and did not own a car, so obviously I couldn’t get there as fast as a student. But since they could have found out all of this from my resume in the first place, it still doesn’t add up…