Welcome to the haunted house of recruitment! Every recruiter has tales of fright and bewilderment that give them chills down their spines. With Halloween around the corner, we thought we'd share some recruitment horror stories that are both alarming and amusing, highlighting the quirks and unpredictability of the recruitment process. So, light a pumpkin-scented candle, sit back, and let us entertain you with some eerily funny accounts from the FRS Recruitment vault. 🎃
Knives Out
“Imagine getting a call from a manager just hours after your new hire starts, and you're thinking, "Wow, they must be doing an excellent job!" Well, it turned out the recruit for this high-end fashion outlet in Munster had been fired the same day. Why? He brought his own knife into work. It's good to come prepared, but maybe not that prepared.”
Beauty and the Blunders
“We were once hired by a luxury furniture retailer who had very specific prerequisites for a new sales executive—no visible tattoos, bold or flashy piercings, or extravagant hair colours. We found a fantastic candidate who seemed to fit the bill. Little did we know, she had planned a rendezvous with a tattooist and piercer over the weekend! When she walked into the store for the interview, the client was more spooked than impressed!”
A Fly in the Soup
“Have you ever been in an interview where something just doesn't go right? Well, in one particular case, the interviewee quite literally swallowed a fly—mid-interview! While it may have been a source of protein, it wasn't quite the buzz he was hoping for in the meeting.”
Lost in Translation
“Sometimes the stars align in strange ways. We had a French candidate interviewing for a well-known client in Navan. Between my strong Midlands accent and the candidate's French linguistic flair, we had a real 'Lost in Translation' moment. The candidate ended up in Cavan! I guess even Google Maps couldn't navigate that cultural maze.”
A Seasonal Fashion Disaster
“One of our most memorable candidates flew in from Europe for a high-paying role at one of Ireland's largest banks. Everything about him screamed "ultra-professional"—until he walked into the interview. The man was sporting pink flowery shorts, flip-flops, and sunglasses—in November! Needless to say, the only thing he left with was a cold.”
Love and Loss
“A temp once came into our office to tell us he was leaving his job to go back to his home country. His fiancée was getting "too friendly" with the minister scheduled to perform their wedding ceremony. While he did use more explicit language to describe the situation, let's just say, love conquers all—except when it doesn't.
So, there you have it, dear reader—a trip through the shadowy corridors of recruitment that proves sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. At the end of the day, recruitment is a human business, subject to the quirks, oddities, and unpredictabilities that make life interesting. From all of us at FRS Recruitment, we wish you a Halloween that is more treat than trick. 🎃
Happy Haunting!
The FRS Recruitment Team
