I was shortlisted to attend the first interview at SDC for their Graduate Development Programme, I applied end January on Jobstreet by attaching my CV and a short video of me answering to the question on which attraction I would be in Sentosa. I received an email mid-Feb to keep some of my dates free for the three rounds: (1) Interview with HR; (2) Assessment Centre; (3) Panel Interview with Senior Management. I was subsequently shortlisted for the first round beginning of March and went for the interview with HR in mid-March.
My interview was scheduled for a mid-afternoon timeslot so I arrived about 10-15min earlier on my scheduled time. However, I only went up to the interview room 30min past my scheduled interview timing as their interview sessions for their previous candidates overran. During the time I was waiting at the lobby, the HR person who coordinated and arranged the interview was clueless about the number of potential interviewees waiting in the lobby. The receptionist also seemed frustrated by the number of candidates waiting at the lobby.
I was very restless by the time I got to be interviewed since I waited for 40min in the lobby and I arrived early as well. Initially it was fine, but the interviewer did not apologise for the delay at all - very poor organisation and time management on their end for scheduling interviews. Throughout the interview, one of the interviewers kept looking at the clock and was a bit disrespectful. Halfway through the interview, he used his phone--showing disrespect towards me as a candidate. The interviewer said to me in my face that I don't seem to be interested or passionate about this job after I answered some of the questions and he was not getting a sense of why I applied and that he was being 'honest'. This is extremely unprofessional. As a HR personnel, should you really be telling your candidates in their faces in the middle of the interview this? This is something to be discussed internally among your other colleagues. I lost my mood to continue the interview at this point since I was already put down by the interviewer and it was probably made clear that he wasn't going to select me. As I answered the remaining questions, the interviewer told me not to be so confident in my answers. I was not sure what the point of that statement was.
The interviewers asked whether I have any questions towards the end of the interview, I didn't bother to ask too many cause there were two other interviewees waiting downstairs (so I felt a bit stressed) who probably also waited 30-40min for their turn since they arrived on their scheduled timeslot or slightly earlier.
Don't forget that candidates are also interviewing you and the organisation as well and it would be much appreciated if you could treat the candidates with respect as much as they have given you.
