EFFIE BATEMAN | BRISBANE | CONTACT
When Jim Thornton was growing up, he knew he wanted to inflict the most pain possible on the world.
But considering he didn’t have the grades to be a lawyer or the gift of the gab needed to become a real estate agent, he’s had to settle for the next best thing – a recruitment HR officer.
And no, not one dedicated to making the workspace a better place, but one responsible for writing up job ads and conducting multiple rounds of interviews, only to leave applicants completely hanging.
A proud Jim spoke to our reporter Effie about the process, and why he loves being such an asshole.
“Nothing makes me happier than conducting useless interviews”, says Jim, “especially for jobs that don’t need them.”
“My absolute favourite thing to do is making entry-level employees jump through hoops and then completely ghost them.”
“Had a blast when the pandemic first started, plenty of desperate people who’d do anything for a job.”
Stating that his sweet spot was four interview rounds, Jim says he makes sure to stagger them across two months, to really drive it in.
“It’s a form of breadcrumbing, you need to give them a bit of hope to make them think they’re in the running.”
“If I’m having a particularly shit day, I like to get them to do assignments as well.”
“Advertised a role for a junior creative and ended up getting some pretty good ideas for a client’s campaign.”
When asked why he’d want to do such an awful thing, Jim admits that he’s mostly just bored.
“I don’t know, guess I just lack human decency.”
More to come.
