SINGAPORE: A female engineering student took to social media to share that an interviewer had undermined her abilities and implied she was less capable simply because she is a woman.
In a post on r/AskSingapore titled “Interviewer being rude, is that normal?”, the woman explained that she was attending her first internship interviews with various companies when she encountered “a rude interviewer.”
According to her account, the interviewer repeatedly emphasised that “if she were male, she would be able to handle certain jobs and tasks”. However, because “she is female”, he suggested that she would not be capable of doing them.
As a woman pursuing engineering, she said the experience made her feel immediately “out of place” in a field she had worked hard to enter.
Things went downhill further when the interviewer turned his attention to her academic background. She recalled him questioning her GPA in a condescending manner.
“He was like, ‘So your GPA… can you explain to me about it?’”
When she asked him to clarify what he meant, he allegedly followed up with, “Your GPA, is it because you’re struggling from ITE to poly or what?”
“Man, I’ve never felt so stupid and less of a human being and felt so out of place as a female,” she said.
“Like okay, I am fine with non-hands-on tasks, but the way he says it makes it sound like females in general aren’t capable of doing certain tasks males can do. I honestly can agree in some parts, but damn.”
“And for people who are wondering about my GPA, all I can say is that if my GPA was low and it was on my resume, I wouldn’t have been shortlisted for that interview.”
Unsure whether this was something she simply had to accept, she ended her post by asking other users if such behaviour was normal.
“Is it normal? Perhaps any advice.”
“Being an interviewer doesn’t give anyone the right to be rude or arrogant.”
The post struck a nerve, racking up 249 upvotes and 150 comments, with the overwhelming majority of Singaporean Redditors insisting that her experience was absolutely not normal and that the interviewer’s behaviour was wildly unprofessional.
“So.. he read your resume, read your grades, decided to call you for an interview just to talk down on you? Damn, that speaks a lot about his company,” one commenter wrote.
“Hi! I’m in HR, and no, it’s not normal. If even during the interview it is this bad, even if offered, I will reject it. Imagine how horrible they will be if you join such a company. Ew. Had a similar experience but not in terms of gender. But rude as well, they offered, and I rejected,” another shared.
“Major red flag. Being an interviewer doesn’t give anyone the right to be rude or arrogant,” a third remarked.
“This isn’t normal and clearly misogynistic. When the companies ask for feedback, be sure to tell them his name and the questions he asked,” a fourth added.
In other news, an HDB tenant, an international student holding a student pass, has allegedly suffered an asthma attack after his landlord repeatedly smoked inside the unit.
Posting on the r/asksg forum on Tuesday (Jan 20), the tenant said he had informed his landlord about his asthma condition early on.
Read more: Foreign tenant claims he suffered an asthma attack after landlord repeatedly smoked inside HDB unit
