How to handle situations when interviewer is not paying attention during the interview?

Question

I attended an on-site in person interview last week and I was seriously disappointed when the interviewer was not paying attention to my problem discussion and solution.

He was doing something on his phone and watching outside and doing something on his laptop. I walked out of the interview immediately.

I understand his work day might have been busy but so was mine. I went for the interview and not to waste my time or his time.

Looking back, I think I might have reacted rudely. Generally, how to handle these situations gracefully?

Answer 1

I walked out of the interview immediately.

Looking back, I think I might have reacted rudely. Generally, how to handle these situations gracefully?

If you were no longer interested in interviewing and the interviewer wasn't paying attention, it's reasonable to say something like "I can see that we don't have a good fit here. Thanks for your time." and then walk out.

If you were interested in continuing to interview, you could have stopped talking and waited for his attention to return to the interview. You could have said something like "Is this a bad time for our discussion? Should we reschedule to a time when you aren't as busy?"

It's entirely your choice. The interviewer acted rudely. And then you reacted. If you don't care to ever interview there in the future, your reaction isn't a huge deal anyway and certainly nothing to worry about.

Answer 2

Assuming you quickly said to him why you did it, you absolutely did the right thing.

Kudos for doing it by the way!

Personally, I would have also emailed the recruiter too and anyone else in the loop and told them what had happened. After all, you've just burned that bridge with that interviewer, but you might as well say why you did it before that interviewer invents some other reason for you.

Then wait for a response, if none comes after one or two of weeks, share your story about the company and the rude interview on glassdoor.

Now it could be that the interviewer decided not to hire you right in the first five minutes, or that he had an urgent private matter that needed his immediate attention, or that he was notified that another candidate accepted an offer 2 minutes before you walked in, but whatever it was, that's no excuse. If any of those things are the case, then he would be the one who should have cut the interview short, canceled it, or rescheduled it.