Weird Interview!?

[Daisy4RN]

I have been working Per-diem the last few years here and there. I have also worked per-diem in the past even when I was working full time. I have been to many different interviews in my lifetime (non nursing and nursing). A few weeks ago I was considering a new gig and went to an interview. Here is where it gets weird. I walked in, Manager told me to come into the office and sit down (she motions to a chair that was mostly in front of her desk). I sit down, she pulls her chair from around her desk so now the chairs are directly face to face. I am sitting in my chair with my legs crossed one over the other (ie like a lady). She proceeds to sit down in her chair and puts her legs in a crossed legged position (both up in the chair crossed over). I was kinda dumbfounded. I was thinking what is she doing. Is she just stupid, is she trying to throw me off guard to see how I would react, is she just a free spirit, does she just not care, is this normal now, am I just old, am I overthinking the situation? She sat like that during the entire interview which otherwise seemed like a normal interview. I am around 60 and she was probably early 30's. So my questions is, have any of you seen or heard of this and what is your reaction. I honestly still don't know what to think about this.

[Daisy4RN]

3 hours ago, Emergent said:

I just browsed different how to read body language sites and couldn't even find what you described.

It sounds very calculated to me. Maybe she learned it in a seminar.

Yea, that was another thought I had later. I have never seen or heard that before though, but yea, probably some new management thing.

[Daisy4RN]

1 hour ago, TriciaJ said:

I can't "like" this enough. And I totally agree with the seminar theory. Probably the same company that came up with scripting. ? Now it's "How to Get Buy-In By Being Too Cool For Words".

Don't even get me started on the scripting!!

[K+MgSO4, BSN]

I have had this happen, non clinical job I was applying for in quality. Came in dressed up, the direct manager and another senior team member were seated appropriately but the director of the service was seated with her knees pulled up to her chest and the sleeves of her cardigan pulled down over her hands.

Having been in a management role prior and interviewed multiple people I found this very strange. She also did not write down a single note for the whole interview while the others took diligent notes (i.e. as required by HR if there was ever a question from an unsuccessful candidate why they didn't get the job a senior HR member can review the interview notes).

Anyhow, turns out she was a bit hippy dippy vague type. Would forget to tell you that you needed to present to the board or the CEO until 2 days prior resulting in meltdowns from whoever was supposed to be presenting. Would not action serious issues such as the head of a department yelling at me for asking him to have someone involved in an incident investigation (as required by the Department of Health).

My direct manager was a gem and she was the reasonI stayed in that role plus getting to know the director PA so I could be warned earlier if I needed to present to the board.....

[BeachsideRN, ASN]

If she has a back issue like ankylosing spondylitis or hip joint issue this could be her only comfortable sitting position....

[Emergent, RN]

10 hours ago, Daisy4RN said:

Don't even get me started on the scripting!!

Are you finding everything OK? I have the time. ?

[RNNPICU, BSN, RN]

11 hours ago, Daisy4RN said:

Yea, that was another thought I had later. I have never seen or heard that before though, but yea, probably some new management thing.

11 hours ago, Daisy4RN said:

I just browsed different how to read body language sites and couldn't even find what you described.

It sounds very calculated to me. Maybe she learned it in a seminar.

I too did a semi-intense search for body language such as the one described and couldn't find anything that could justify it. The only other explanation is that the interviewer just doesn't know how to conduct a professional interview.

[DowntheRiver]

4 hours ago, BeachsideRN said:

If she has a back issue like ankylosing spondylitis or hip joint issue this could be her only comfortable sitting position....

This.

I have AS and this is pretty close to how I sit. Not only is my spine affected but my right hip so I sit crossed style with my left leg under my right to relieve some of the pressure of sitting. Or, sometimes I sit with my left leg crossed and my right leg perched on the chair.

I'm also in my early 30's.

[Davey Do]

If there were some condition that would cause her to behave abnormally, in a polite society, it needs to be said.

Proclaiming a deviation from typical behavior would put the other person, in this case Daisy, at ease and open the interaction to a more appropriately humanistic course.

[TriciaJ, RN]

9 hours ago, BeachsideRN said:

If she has a back issue like ankylosing spondylitis or hip joint issue this could be her only comfortable sitting position....

That's a possibility. It might have been helpful to tell the interviewee "I'm not being weird; I have a back issue." That would have put an end to the matter and Daisy could have completed the interview without wondering what to make of it.

[Emergent, RN]

If it were merely a back issue, she would have stayed behind her desk in said posture.

[Daisy4RN]

4 hours ago, Davey Do said:

If there were some condition that would cause her to behave abnormally, in a polite society, it needs to be said.

Proclaiming a deviation from typical behavior would put the other person, in this case Daisy, at ease and open the interaction to a more appropriately humanistic course.

You read my mind!! Yep, that of course was my first thought (pretty much verbatim), then I went on to think of the many reasons why she could possibly be sitting like that.

[Daisy4RN]

6 hours ago, Emergent said:

" I have the time." ?

Yes, my favorite. Said with smoke coming out from the bottom of your shoes.