I'm a front line supervisor, and applied for a front line supervisor position with a different company. The position was one part of the current job I do and I was really excited about it. Everyone seemed to agree I was eminently qualified, and they wanted to get me into the interview process ASAP.
Then they hit me with the “you have to complete a one way video interview.” This is the first time I had heard of this and had to look it up. This was on Friday night, and they gave me an artificial deadline of Sunday night. I was torn. On one hand I could see why this was more efficient for them, but on the other it felt disrespectful, robbed me of my agency, and lost the critical back and forth of a normal interview.
I finally sent an email Sunday night telling them I'm going to decline the one-way interview, but if they were interested, I'm very excited about the position and would love to still be considered.
I had 3 different phone calls with people questioning why I was declining. The whole time every one of them was heavily implying I should just do the thing because it doesn't take long and everyone else does it. In the last call I was told it's 80% of jobs that they fill use this process. Not every one, that it was based on the position, and the hiring manager's request. So I asked if I could not use this system when I did hiring. Of course that want allowed, so I told them I wasn't interested any more.
I followed my convictions, at a personal loss, and I feel like I did something wrong. This corporate brainwashing runs deep. I'm also super frustrated that multiple people told me repeatedly how this is a small thing I and I shouldn't miss this opportunity because of it, or it's not a “good look” requesting special treatment. Then just completely dismissing me saying it's such a small thing you shouldn't lose a good candidate over it, or it's not a “good look” for the company to start the hiring process by removing the candidates side of the interview.