Dog at the interview

Through my years of conducting medical staffing, I have never come across anything quite like this. I’ve interviewed drug addicts and criminals. Single parents and new grads. Some came with their wives or husbands, some with their parents, some just brought a friend. Today I interviewed a woman for an open Art Therapist position at a local hospital. She walked in dressed very casually, looking almost Bohemian, with a long bag over her shoulder. As she’s taking a seat in front of me, out of the bag comes a long Pekingese! I was shocked! And she even brought the dog a bone! While I was trying to interview this woman, her dog sat on her lap chewing the bone, and kept barking at me cautiously to make sure that I wasn’t going for her prize.

I’m not sure what the hell she was thinking – how do you coach somebody on something like that? I mean you can coach on wardrobe, resume, grammar, posture… but you would think that someone with a masters from Columbia would think twice…

At one point, I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt, and asked her if the reason why she brought the dog in is because she is considering using it as part of therapy. The reply I received was, “No. Why, does it pay more?” At this point, my supervisor called me over and told me to send her away – we can’t even have her interview! It turns out that she didn’t have enough time to walk the dog in the morning, felt bad about it, and decided to take it along. To an interview. Hello!?!

Added to by Mr. Fired:

Can a pet get you fired? Not particularly, according to this 2006 FOX News report that claims that as many as 1 in 5 employers will allow you to bring your pet to work. However interviews are very different, and naturally, you want your first impression to be the best one. Certainly, having your pup climb out of the bag and bark at the interviewer doesn’t exactly put the best foot forward. Perhaps bringing your pet to work won’t get you fired, but bringing one to an interview will surely prevent you from getting hired! (which one’s worse?). So unless your pup can rollover and stay mum during the meeting, it’s best to leave it at home – that is, of course, unless you plan on using it as a therapy tool

This post was submitted by Greta.