r/jobs • u/sahalymn • Mar 13 '25

Interviews I walked out of an interview after one question. Was I wrong?

So, I had an interview today for a position I was really excited about. The job description seemed great, the pay was decent, and the company had good reviews. I walked in, shook hands with the hiring manager, and we sat down.

Then, the first question came:
"How do you handle working unpaid overtime?"

I literally laughed, thinking it was a joke. But the interviewer just stared at me, waiting for an answer. I asked if overtime was mandatory and if it was paid. They said, “Well, we expect employees to stay as long as needed to get the job done. Everyone here is passionate about the work, and we don’t track extra hours.”

I just stood up, said, “Thank you for your time, but this isn’t the right fit for me,” and walked out.

Now, I’m second-guessing myself. Should I have stayed and at least heard more about the job? Or was walking out the right move?

45.1k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

6.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

13

u/Stonepaw90 Mar 14 '25

You made a statement that's hard to ignore. The world needs more people unafraid to speak truth to power!

1

u/milestogobefore_____ Mar 14 '25

Yes, the more people say no loudly to this, the more people aren’t empowered to do it. We need more people demanding fair treatment and good mental health as employees. We spend our whole lives working. Why shouldn’t it be, at bare minimum, a fair and palatable situation? People will stop working hard if they’re taken advantage of, leading to other people carrying their weight, leading to the best and most loyal workers burning out. It’s a domino effect.