Last week, a young Canadian woman named Taylor Byrnes went for a job at a food delivery company.
The Winnipeg resident made it through the first phone interview and was busily preparing for a second face-to-face one, when she dared to enquire what she might expect to be paid for her work, and what the conditions were like.
“If I do end up filling the position, how much do you think I’ll be getting paid and hour? Benefits will also be included, right?” Byrnes asked an HR staffer from Skip The Dishes via email on Sunday.
She then apologised, thanked them for their time, wished them a lovely day and signed the message off with a smiley face. The gall of it.
Understandably, her prospective employer found the youngster's obvious, unchecked ambition so off-putting, they labelled her entirely unemployable and told her not to come in for the meeting.
Over two return emails from recruiter Victoria Karras, Byrnes was told she was"not in sync" with the company's priorities would not be a good fit within its "unique" corporate culture.
"As a start-up company, we seek out those who go out of their way to seek out challenges and new opportunities. We believe in hard work and perseverance in pursuit of company goals as opposed to focusing on compensation,” Karras explained in the second email.
Skip The Dishes wanted "proven self-starters" with "intrinsic motivation", you see, not money-grubbing millennials willing to scoff at invaluable 'foot in door' opportunities.
*ahem*
Byrnes shared screenshots of the responses on her Twitter account with the hashtag #BoycottSkip and people were rather unimpressed.
Her original tweet has now been shared some 4,600 times, leaving Skip The Dishes with little choice but to respond.
In a tweet on their own account, the company offered "heartfelt apologies" and said they'd love to have her in for a second interview, after all.
Skip The Dishes also gave assurances to others thinking of working for them that they would be remunerated and it was OK to ask about it.
Byrnes has yet to reply, but one imagines she'll be seeking opportunities elsewhere.
Top Comments
My personal opinions are: 1.) Taylor should have asked those pertinent questions during the first interview, not waited til after it ended. Those are not "oops, I forgot to ask" kind of questions. 2) The article was not clear (unless I missed it) whether the interview was in person or online. If it were in person, it sounds to me she was hesitant to speak in front of the interviewer about the delicate topic and purposely waited to where she felt more comfortable (online). 3.) The way it was worded sounded disrespectful and immature. Instead of saying, "benefits are included, right?" try probing the question with a statemetn rather a question similar to this, "I am interested in learning more about the company's benefit package." And, by saying "if I end up filling this position", makes the employer feel as though you don't really care about the job just as long as you have one and meaning ANY job. The take away from all of this is that we could all benefit by educating ourselves in emotional intelligence and interview etiquette.
I respect that the company actually wants to hire valuable people who really care about their career and not just there for a paycheck. I am not in Human Resources field, but I can totally empathize with what the receiver felt on the other end.
What a ridiculous reaction from the company. I work in HR and it is always best to be up front regarding remuneration so the interviewer and candidate don't waste each other's time.