When the clock struck midnight on September 22nd, swimsuits transformed into sweaters, glittering fireflies became screeching bats, and every latte suddenly tasted like pumpkin. I’m just saying maybe Cinderella didn’t really leave the glass slipper behind at the ball – but instead traded it in for a sensible seasonal boot.
At Kinetix, we love these Autumn pleasantries as much as the next the recruiter – but now that we are in the midst of October (or the 31 days of Halloween as we like to call it), nothing thrills us more than a good spooky story.
Introducing our Kinetix Hiring Horror Stories – a series that will touch on real-life Kinetix recruiter tales that are so unsettling, you will need to pull up your company’s careers page to serve as a night light after reading.
We are kicking off with one of our favorite Halloween topics – crazy candidate costumes. Grab a flashlight and a blanket to hide under, because these very real, alarming attire accounts will leave you shaking in your Fall boots.
“I had a candidate who was flying in from Florida – he was interviewing for a Director role at a telecommunications company. When I went to pick him up at the airport, he approached my car in a haunting dark brown polyester suit (it was bad). Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, I glanced over and saw his BARE ankles. It was weird. I’d never met him so I didn’t want to offend him by mentioning his chilling lack of socks. I was nervous – but finally, I just started a conversation about the differences between Florida and Atlanta, the businesses, the culture etc. Then I saw a sign for the mall and took the exit to run by Macy’s so I could get him some socks (my treat).”
What’s the scariest part of this story you ask? The man was hired!
“We had a candidate come in for a face-to-face interview with our one of our hiring managers. The candidate had apparently walked to our office, and of course, it was Georgia weather and really, really, hot out. When the candidate arrived, we immediately had to put him in an interview room with the door closed since he was leaving quite a horrific stench in our lobby. After a thorough interview, our hiring manager politely and candidly let the candidate know that he was giving off some kind of odor that could wake the dead! The candidate appreciated the honesty, but he did not think he smelt bad.”
The lesson we learned from this terrifying tale? Always come prepared to meet your top candidates with some mint gum and Febreeze!