Jobseeker selects ‘do not contact previous employer’ on application, gets questioned by potential boss during interview; within 3 hours receives a surprise lunch invitation VP

A job interview can tell you a lot about a company. But sometimes, it may also tell you quite a bit about the person who could end up being your boss. One candidate says that after a recent interview, they are now wondering whether they had already spotted some warning signs before getting the job. The candidate, now 44, shared the experience on r/OfficePolitics subreddit after interviewing for a role where the interviewer would be their manager.

Interview starts with a strange comment about the meeting invite

According to the Reddit post, the interview began with the manager telling the candidate, “I didn’t know if you were going to join, you didn’t accept the call invite.”


The candidate found the opening unusual. They said they were experienced enough with Microsoft Teams invitations to know how to accept one and even showed the interviewer their phone, where there was no option to accept the invitation.

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Being called out over something like that right at the beginning of an interview felt a bit odd, the candidate shared. The conversation then moved on, but the uncomfortable moments apparently continued.

Potential boss contacted an employee about the candidate

The interviewer reportedly told the candidate that he had asked one of his employees in Tampa, near a city where the candidate had previously lived and worked, whether she had heard of them. She had not.

The interviewer also questioned why the candidate had selected “do not contact previous employer” on the application.

The candidate explained that their former manager had retired on September 1, but said the interviewer could contact the company’s HR department if he needed information.

Manager reveals there is internal competition

Toward the end of the interview, the manager became more direct about where things stood.

“I’ll be transparent, we’re at the end of our interviews,” he reportedly told the candidate. He also explained that the position had been posted three weeks earlier and that he had already interviewed six people.

He also said there was internal interest in the role and that the company preferred to promote from within. Still, the candidate had apparently made enough of an impression to move forward.

The manager said he would pass the resume to the VP, who might want to meet the candidate. Then came an unexpected development.

Three hours later, the candidate gets a lunch invitation

Just three hours after the interview, the candidate received an invitation to have lunch with the VP on Tuesday. That development seems to have made the situation even more interesting. On one hand, the quick follow-up could suggest the company was seriously considering the candidate. On the other, the candidate was already questioning what it would actually be like to work under the manager they had just met.

The Reddit user summed up their reaction with a blunt question: “Am I wrong for thinking he’d be a pain to work for?”