Work-from-home has in many ways broken down the barriers between the workplace and free time. The upsides include better work-life balance, skipping a horrible commute, and sweatpants whenever one feels like it. Critics of the concept tend to be bosses that hate paying for offices that now lay mostly empty, but there are a few, less visible downsides as well. For example, some people have gotten perhaps a bit too comfortable ‘working’ outside the office.

One recruiter shared a story about a candidate who decided to not let an interview get in the way of her desire to pop into Starbucks and go to the beach. So get comfortable, preferably at home, and read through this harrowing interview tale and the other, similar stories shared by people in the comments.

More info: Reddit

Remote job interviews make recruiters talk to candidates in the most bizarre circumstances

Image credits: 9_fingers_ (not the actual photo)

A woman decided that a job interview was the best time for her to go out for coffee and then to the beach

Image credits: StudioVK (not the actual photo)

Image credits: aQuarterChub

Most agree that professionalism is good, but modern standards have changed so much that there isn’t a consensus on what it actually means

Image credits: Jopwell (not the actual photo)

To take a step back from the silliness of this particular candidate, not all job interviews are necessarily heavy on technical skills and hard questions. 21st-century recruiters love long, stretched-out processes, with multiple rounds of interviews, tasks, and assessments. It is possible that this young woman thought it was just a ‘getting to know you’ conversation with HR. After all, standards of professionalism are changing and there isn’t one unified template for what it looks like anymore. While it’s not unreasonable to be able to move around and maintain a conversation, it’s still strange to not postpone your daily coffee for what was probably less than an hour-long conversation.

Many businesses are trying to keep up with the changes, with more lax dress codes, forms of communication, and workplace culture. Specialists suggest this also has the benefit of attracting a larger pool of candidates and lowering general recruitment costs. Just because a person doesn’t necessarily appear, outwardly, to represent certain norms of professionalism, doesn’t mean they aren’t a good candidate. Universities and tech companies alike prosper when they can attract people who think outside the box and prefer to do things their own way. This is the part where I say “However,” since going to the beach isn’t really correlated with knowing how to work with special needs children.

Weirdness aside, free thinkers can still contribute a lot to a company

Image credits: fauxels (not the actual photo)

Now, there still are some edge cases where a company or organization could still benefit from an employee outlandish enough to take interviews in a bikini or a tank top, as others shared in the comments. It’s not like most of us wear professional attire when at home. In many cases, these candidates aren’t even working at the time, so why should they be dressed up for work on what is effectively a day off? To stretch this idea even further, some research indicates that a diverse workforce, not even necessarily one that is demographically diverse, tends to produce more new ideas. It can be stimulating to have people around you who are simply different, whether it’s race or just general mannerisms.

So, OP was not wrong to express some surprise at this candidate’s attire and behavior, but in the long run, her desire to just go about her life is somewhat compelling. After all, she isn’t on the clock when interviewing, why shouldn’t she do what she wants during her time off? And while a bikini is particularly unusual, no doubt many have been turned down for much smaller “infractions” that mostly just exist in the recruiter’s head. A candidate’s cats meowing loudly in the background does not really reflect on their ability to code and a person might not have a desk to zoom from, only their bed.

Others shared their experiences with candidates who decided to not let an interview interfere with their free time activities

Commenters expressed their mirth at the combination of high demands and poor decisions this candidate made

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