Recruiter rejected an experienced developer because of the sounds of the kitchen in the background during the interview. A discussion on LinkedIn with 200+ comments

The interview started on time, says recruiter Kateryna Kokhanska, and everything went well until a certain point.

«A few minutes after the start, the wife appears in the background. She’s cooking. She goes out. She comes back. She stirs something in a saucepan. She rustles with bags.
Opens the refrigerator. Chooses products. The clatter of a saucepan. Steam. The candidate speaks English confidently. The wife simultaneously fries something in a pan .

According to the recruiter, the candidate answered confidently until his wife appeared, then began to get distracted.

«Professionalism is not only about stack and skill. It is also about banal respect for the process. The kitchen is not a sentence! But the chaos in the background is a signal,» Kokhanska concludes.

The post has garnered over 200 comments, with IT professionals discussing whether this should be allowed in an interview and telling their own stories.

«Oh my God, in Europe, even if you’re sitting on the toilet, everyone doesn’t care. The problem with our mentality is that we pay so much attention because we shouldn’t be embarrassed,» — Software Tester Mykola Petrych.

«At one time, I connected to an interview with Metro, another time with Dream Town, a third time with Silpo, I connected from restaurants and cafes repeatedly. Because that’s when the disconnections started, and not everything could be managed at home in time. It so happened that most of these interviews were with Poles. Now I’m wondering — maybe some of the interviewers also didn’t tolerate such connection points? By the way, one of the interviews with Poles went well.
«NB, I was bleating, wearing noise-canceling headphones, apologizing to the interviewers,» — Director, software project management Serhiy Maly.

» I had a case where I had an important call in an open space, and behind me a guy (I think he was already an architect at that time) first ate soup from a can, and then fell asleep in his chair. I wouldn’t have approached either, because he didn’t take care of the background? And as a result, I worked on that project for five years and constantly received bonuses and good feedback from the customer. Seriously, lately I’ve been seeing too many completely pointless posts from recruiters who just want to get to the bottom of the candidate. What do you think of that joke: checkers or go?», — Senior Software Developer Yevgeny Lyshofay.

«This is some kind of fucking trash to read. People, come to your senses! Wouldn’t a person choose a quiet place if there was one? I consider such an approach to be snobbery of the highest order. Because of such jokes, I join interviews with cars in the parking lot, but this still does not guarantee ideal conditions.
Let’s do this, if it’s so important to you and you’re determined, offer the candidate a meeting room in the nearest coworking space, paid for by the company. Are you ready to invest?», — Performance Engineer Dmitry Pozdnyakov.

«Noise in the environment during rounds is a sign of disrespect for the interlocutors. Finding a quiet place for 30 minutes is not such a big problem, especially if it’s an interview,» — Senior Software Engineer Ilya Dainatovych.

» Why didn’t you tell the candidate that this was hindering the process?»
Of course, I wouldn’t conduct an interview while actively cooking (because it would bother me), but some people may not understand what’s wrong with it! Like, if I can work while cooking, why not go through an interview? «, — Frontend Developer Oleksiy D.

«Concentration is top. Now the conditions are such that sometimes we had to hold meetings in the basement. And you are the kitchen… Times have changed a bit, upside down,» — Full-stack Developer Vadym Melnyk.

» If the candidate had explained the situation, why he is currently undergoing an interview in such conditions, I would not consider this a negative signal. However, indifference to the situation that is happening on the part of the candidate and including his environment may indicate the level of attitude towards the entire process and interest in this opportunity. Yes, many specialists are now working from home, but this does not mean that we are now forgetting the ethics of behavior in professional situations,» — Recruitment Team Lead Klara Martyniv.

» Well, here it was, it was a mess. One person can’t organize 20 minutes of peace, the other runs around trying to organize as soon as the rally is over. Someone open the window,» — Front-End Engineer Hanna Chashchyna.

» I had an interview naked in the pool, because the recruiter needed it immediately … And everything seemed to go well… About 5 years ago, the interview even started in a tram, they were also fine. I warned them about my location,» — Software & Data Engineer Oleksiy Yesaulov.

» I can already imagine the face of a manager who can’t find a developer for a year, and then finds out why HR is firing them)) It’s not funny at all, we need to evaluate his qualities as a developer, not what’s going on at home. If birds were flying in the background outside the window, would that also be distracting?», — 3D Artist Kyrylo Kabak.

» You know how difficult it is sometimes to find a nice and quiet place to meet. For example, I constantly have to go to the nearest park to be at an interview because you never know what will happen at home,» — Fullstack Developer Vlad Chereshnya.

«I once had a technical interview and the interviewer was smoking a hookah and asking me questions. I didn’t pass the interview, but I asked for feedback. In the feedback, in addition to technical skills, I was told to be a little more serious (despite the fact that this interview was one of the first in my life and I was quite tense). Well, the hookah certainly looks much more serious than my smile,» — SQL Data Analyst Natalia Poladova.

«As both a developer and a developer’s wife, I will say that the situations since the beginning of the war have been different, but the kitchen can wait until the meeting is over. There is such a thing as planning your time. And clearly, cooking is not planned for a time when your husband has an interview in the kitchen,» — Frontend Developer Yulia Khitrukhina.

«This is a stress tolerance test. I had an interview where the recruiter provided the recommended requirements for the interview in advance, one of the points was the absence of unnecessary/background sounds. I reacted normally to the requirements, because recruiters can also be worried. I am for mutual respect, but based on the previous requirements,» — Java Developer Roman Manzhula.

«During the interview, my son ran into my room and stuck his finger in my nose, it was visible on the camera. They took it as normal, I work there now,» — Software Engineer Olga Kolesnyk.

«This is life, especially in the conditions people are in now. He will find his company where work and understanding are important, not a pretty picture,» — Manual QA Engineer Marina.