It finally happened to me - interviewer told me they don't hire online degree holders

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by apriltrainer, Jul 26, 2016.

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  1. apriltrainer

    apriltrainer New Member

    They why did you call me in for an interview and WASTE my morning? Was I your punching bag?

    I applied for a clinical coordinator position at the university I work for (albeit in another department). Besides having a bachelors degree from an accredited university, I had to have experience with Excel, Word and Powerpoint. Check. Check. Check. I had to have leadership skills. I was a Sgt in the Army. CHECK. Was recommended though not required to have Lpn/RN, respiratory therapist..etc. experience. CHECK!

    Applied. Interview went sour as soon as i arrived.

    "Is Excelsior a legitimate school"

    I answered that it was regionally accredited.

    They said it didn't make sense that I was going to school the same time I was working. I explained that I was a distance learning student. This did not sit well with the HR drone I was speaking with.

    "I've seen Excelsior commericals." (she said this with a smirk) and then said, "Is it like University of Phoenix or those Westwood schools that were shut down?"

    No, no. She hasn't ever seen an Excelsior commercial, I havent' even seen them. If she has seen any commercial it would be SNHU. Anyways, she wasted my time and I snatched my resume out of her hand and walked out. I also thanked her for wasting my time.

    Professional? No. But it was better than me punching her because I wanted to reach across that desk and slam her head in.

    I guess that is the violent distance learning student in me...

    Found out that my coworker applied for this VERY position. He was telling me how they called him back for a second interview. His medical background? NOTHING. He does have his exercise science degree but that isn't at all what the ad stated they wanted. An exercise science degree is a fluff degree and in no way what the ad requested, which was medical experience.

    He did go to the right school though...

    :sad:

    I am good enough for the athletic department but not good enough to work elsewhere on campus. Not even as the clinical coordinator for the student health department.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 26, 2016
  2. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Well, that's certainly disappointing to hear. It sounds like you're the victim of rectal-cranial inversion on the part of the HR person, who really should know better. I'd say that 15 years ago, ignorance of legitimate DL programs was excusable, but not these days.

    I'm wondering if this was just an excuse to hire your coworker? Are they BFF's by any chance?
     
  3. apriltrainer

    apriltrainer New Member

    Woman..or should I say girl interviewing me looked to be about 22. Maybe. I don't think she and my coworker are BFF's. My coworker didn't even know I applied for the same job. I definately was surprised he did though because he isn't qualified apart from a bachelors. He's never worked in a medical office setting. Well, maybe he is a better whiz at Powerpoint. Who knows. The fact is I was brought in as someone's idea of a joke.
     
  4. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Spot-on diagnosis, Bruce. So darn much of that going around, these days. A tragic epidemic with no cure in sight. I used to think government employees (all levels) were most at risk. Not any more, it seems. The malady does not discriminate. :sad:

    J.
     
  5. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    When I got out of the Navy I interviewed at a ton of places for a ton of different roles. One that always sticks in my mind, however, was with this sign company just outside of Scranton.

    I sent them a resume on Monday. I got a call for an interview on Tuesday. The job was "Personnel Manager" and required 2-3 years of HR experience, supervisory experience and a preference for "HR Certifications" and a bachelor's degree.

    I had been a Personnelman in the Navy for 4 years. I was an E-5 and I supervised others. I had my PHR and CEBS certifications and my B.S. from CTU. Easy day, right?

    I sat down with the interviewer. He was in his 60's. Big guy (really tall and broad). He informed me that he was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force and retired twenty years prior. Oh cool, veteran to veteran is even better.

    Then he crossed his arms and began sighing heavily as he read my resume.

    "Says here you supervised five sailors. Looks like you also managed a budget of over $1M. Says you got a Navy Achievement Medal for restructuring the records department in a forward deployed command during Operation Iraqi Freedom."

    Yup

    "Well, I have to say, I think this is all bullshit. I was in the Air Force for 24 years and I can't imagine the Navy would have entrusted so much to someone so young."

    At this he flipped my resume on the table. I picked it up. I stood up and I said something to the effect of:

    "If you were really in the Air Force for 24 years then you'd know that responsibility is assigned based on rank and not age." I turned and walked out mid-interview.

    He was sputtering with rage. He hit the table. He was yelling at me to come back because he wasn't "done yet." Followed me out to the front door cursing and insulting me.

    Worst.Interview.Ever.

    The moral of the story is that crappy interviews happen. This is because sometimes crappy people wiggle their way into positions where they get to interview you. It sucks. And they can latch on to something meaningful, like a gap in employment, or something silly, like distance learning.

    I had another interviewer tell me that people who served in the Navy weren't veterans. And you only got to call yourself a veteran if you were in the Army or Marines and saw combat. (Sidenote: He never served but his brother was in ROTC for three years during Vietnam, so take that pogues.)

    I'm sorry you had a crappy experience. My professional HR tip (if you care) is two-fold:

    1. Don't put dates of attendance on resumes. It causes confusion and is completely irrelevant. A degree earned in 2002 is just as valid as a degree earned in 2010. For traditional (and older) students this can also lead to age discrimination. You might have a fantastic resume but the "Graduated Cum Laude Class of 1972" reveals more info than an interviewer rightfully needs for the screening process.

    2. Soldier on. I'm not sure why people call people in for interviews when they clearly have issues like this. It would be easier, and more humane, to just pass a person by. But one day this will be a funny, even if not "haha" funny, story as you look back.
     
  6. 03310151

    03310151 Active Member

    Damn, you all have run into some real assholes when you do interviews.


    And this is why I no longer tell anyone to get a degree at any online university. No matter what. There are too many options at B&M schools to go with an online only school. Wish I would have figured this out years ago.
     
  7. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    A lot of these issues aren't even caused by delivery method but by things like dates of attendance overlapping with dates you worked somewhere.

    Plus there are relatively few "online only" schools out there. You can physically attend classes at TESU, for example. I visited the CTU campus (office building). It isn't much to look at or experience but you can physically attend classes there. But people like this will find fault in something. There is no way to make yourself bulletproof to schmucks.
     
  8. Davewill

    Davewill Member

    Didn't make sense that you were going to school at the same time you were working? People have been doing that forever. Especially with Master's degrees, but often enough with Associate's and Bachelor's degrees. You just got someone who was full of themselves. That said, it's always good to be ready to answer the question. Sometimes a forthright response to a rude question like that is enough to put someone in their place or even impress them enough to overlook their own prejudice.
     
  9. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    That's a bummer- there are ignorant people everywhere.
    Keep going- I landed a job at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, it's the flagship in our uni system- they knew my degree was done at a distance. It's your HR gal that's uninformed, and it's showing. It will catch up with her.
     
  10. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    I'm reading a FANTASTIC book right now called Brag by Peggy Klaus and it is really really great. She coaches fortune 500 people how to present their best self in interesting ways.
    I think this situation calls for you to look up chapter 2- and be ready when this question gets dropped on you in the future. You need to spin it that not ONLY did you go to school and work simultaneously, you kicked ass doing it. :AR15firing:
     
  11. decimon

    decimon Well-Known Member

    Or the interview is pro forma. Interviewing potential hires, especially among current employees, may be mandatory and so adhered to despite predetermined outcomes.
     
  12. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    The HR person just sounds ignorant and doesn't know any better. It worries me that it came from someone so young as I figured the younger generation would be more accepting of online education, but some polling I've seen and then this situation shows me an outlook much more grim.

    I'd probably start looking for another job elsewhere, because with that issue in place there doesn't appear to be any chance of future advancement any time soon. I'd wait until I'm hired at the new job, and on the way out send an email to everyone who would be concerned, letting them know exactly why you left, mixed with some needed education about online learning.
     
  13. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    As decimon says, it might not have been a cruel joke. Some organizations always interview internal applicants. It's meant to reduce the bitterness internally. Imagine if you apply for a job internally, never get an interview and they hire an external candidate who is equally, or even less, qualified.

    The intention is good. But in practice in means that hiring managers, some of whom see this vacancy as an opportunity to bring in a friend or family member from outside, sometimes have to sit through these mandatory interviews with people they have no intention of hiring.

    FWIW you will land on your feet. Many employers see adult learners as the motivated individuals they often are. This HR person, alas, will still be an asshole a condition for which there is no known cure.
     
  14. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member


    Sorry you had to go through that April! Keep you chin up, it wasn't meant to be, and something better will come along.
     
  15. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    Incredibly annoying, this sort of thing. Back when I was doing marketing for the Edinburgh Business School distance MBA, twelve employees of Ingersoll-Rand in Dallas applied, wishing to work as a cohort group. They were rejected by their HR manager. I was asked to go and talk to said manager. He closed and locked his office door, and said, "I had to work my ass off for two years to get my MBA from Rice. If these people think I'm going to approve this namely-pamby spare time degree, they've got another think coming. And if you tell anyone I said this, I'll deny every word." (Six months later, that HR guy was gone, and most of the original 12 joined the Edinburgh program.)
     
  16. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Out of curiosity, from what school did the successful candidate graduate from?
     
  17. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    He can deny all he wants. We believe you.

    It's a bit like when HR people on the various forums swear that all UPhoenix grads get their resumes thrown in the trash immediately. Does it happen? Oh, I'm certain. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if I, myself, had a resume tossed in the trash because of my CTU degree. But I never know why I didn't get a call for an interview.

    But there are a lot of employers out there who aren't so stuck up.
     
  18. apriltrainer

    apriltrainer New Member

    Thanks Cookderosa for the book recommendation. I will definitely pick that up at my library! And Decimon and Neuhaus, I think you might be right. These people have to interview internally even if they already "know" who they will hire. My fiancee works at this university as a research geneticist and says they also do this. His own lab has had to do these shenanigans. They already knew who they wanted to hire but to keep with university policies they had to post and interview these poor people who already had ZERO chance to be hired no matter where they went to school. I.e. one of my friends who graduated from Northwestern University of all places was actually called back for a third interview for the legal department of U of C's hospital. She was sure she got it. Then crickets. She heard nothing. Turns out someone was hired all right. The fiancee of a person in the law department.

    At least they didn't question her credentials and education, despite the fact they were never going to hire her.

    You always hope though, that maybe the listing is legitimate. BEfore I knew of all these shenanigans at the University, I applied for a position in the Athletic dept. They really had a need and had no one in mind. Plus the person who interviewed me in that dept thought it was great I had been in the Army and I was able to complete my degree while working. That impressed her. Not so for this recent snotty interviewer.

    My coworker who has been called back for a 2nd interview graduated from Western Illinois. A good state school but exercise science degree doesn't mean you can run a clinic. HE just graduated last year for goodness sake with ZERO work experience save for working for the Athletic Department. He probably won't be hired anyways. They probably are going to hire someone's friend or fiancee again. But at least they won't throw his school under the bus. Good news is.. I don't have to waste my time trekking up there for three interviews and wasting additional time. My coworker will. Get his hopes up, and then dashed.

    On a good note..yesterday afternoon I interviewed with a man who had tats up and down his arm. Former Navy.

    He looked at my resume and said...

    "We can offer you more than what you are asking for"

    :)

    Things work out in the end after all.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 27, 2016
  19. Abner

    Abner Well-Known Member




    On a good note..yesterday afternoon I interviewed with a man who had tats up and down his arm. Former Navy.

    He looked at my resume and said...

    "We can offer you more than what you are asking for"


    Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :smile:
     
  20. AV8R

    AV8R Active Member

    Did the school you were interviewing for offer any online DL programs?
     

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