{
  "id": 10421302,
  "title": "Job interviews are a weird business – but what’s the alternative? | Emma Beddington",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/28/job-interviews-are-a-weird-business-but-whats-the-alternative-emma",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-28T10:00:31.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Guardian Business",
    "slug": "guardian-business",
    "url": "https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/28/job-interviews-are-a-weird-business-but-whats-the-alternative"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Recently, I had the opportunity to sit on the other side of the table during a job interview, marking the first time in 15 years that I participated in the hiring process. The experience prompted me to reflect on the peculiarities inherent in the selection procedures. The ongoing debate surrounding the permissibility of bringing iced coffee to interviews serves only to underscore the absurdity of these processes: it's possible to bring a live weasel into an interview and still secure the position if the interviewer is favorable towards you. The system is undeniably biased and arbitrary, and interviewers often make swift decisions, with a 2015 study revealing that 25% of them reached a conclusion within five minutes, and 60% within 15 minutes. Sometimes, the final verdict is based on little more than impressions. There are numerous cautionary tales to share: a friend was informed that she was \"perfect for the role\" after barely uttering a word while the interviewer rambled incessantly for 45 minutes, all while vaping directly in her vicinity. Being a competent interviewee does not necessarily equate to being a proficient employee. Every interview I've attended has ended in disaster, even for positions where I am confident I would have excelled. In one instance, my interviewers seemed to be aware of my messy living conditions \"because we've seen your kitchen\" (a direct consequence of the early 2000s blogging era). In another case, a junior team member alerted me beforehand that I had blown the interview by wearing trousers, before the proceedings had even commenced.",
  "summary": "Given the biased nature of the interview process, the recent kerfuffle about taking iced coffee in with you may be the least of our worries I was part of a job interview process recently, on the hiring side of the table for the first time in 15 years, and was instantly reminded how weird the whole business is. The debate about whether bringing iced coffee to interviews is bad form just highlights…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}