A Company By Any Other Name… Might Have Resulted In A Hire

The company I work for has a generic name for our industry sector. Imagine a floor-laying company called “Flooring Services”. I sometimes interview candidates for entry-level positions.

In this particular interview, we had just asked the candidate what their experience was in our industry, to which they’d given a reasonable answer. We then asked them what they knew about [Company]. They looked a bit frustrated but then started repeating what they’d already said in response to the previous question.

We thought maybe they had misheard our question, so we asked again what they knew about [Company]. Looking frustrated again, they started repeating their previous answer, rewording it slightly.

Me: “Thank you, but what we were hoping you could tell us is what you know about [Company] specifically?”

Candidate: “That’s all I know! I don’t know what else I can say about what I know about the industry!”

Me: “Yes, but… how about our company? Did you maybe have a look at our website or anything?”

Candidate: “Oh, no, I haven’t had the time for that. To be entirely honest with you, I don’t even remember what you’re called. I’ve sent out a tonne of applications and this is just one that I saw had come back with an interview offer.”

Me: “Ah.”

That was near the beginning of the interview. At least they were honest, but they didn’t impress us in the rest of the interview, either, so it was a no from us!