Taylor Byrnes thought her job hunt was going well. She had just finished a phone interview with food delivery company SkipTheDishes and was happy with her performance during the call.
But on a whim she sent an e-mail to the company with one simple question, and that may have cost Byrnes the job. The young woman was so shocked that she shared her experience online, where people quickly rallied to her defense. So what did she do wrong?
Byrnes simply asked about wages and benefits for the job, assuming she was a shoe-in for the position. "If I do end up filling this position," she asked, "how much do you think I'll be getting paid an hour?" She also asked about the benefits package, and ended her e-mail very politely.
"Sorry, I just thought I should ask now. Thanks for your time and have a lovely day." But the response Byrnes got back from SkipTheDishes was anything but lovely, and it created a public backlash that the company was forced to address.
The "talent acquisition coordinator" in charge of Byrnes's application had some choice words for the young woman in her e-mail reply.
In an e-mail to Byrnes, SkipTheDishes employee Victoria Karras wrote that her "questions reveal that your priorities are not in sync with those of SkipTheDishes."
"As a startup company, we seek out those who go out of their way to seek out challenges and new opportunities," she added. "We believe in hard work and perseverance in pursuit of company goals as opposed to focusing on compensation."
Karras says that "questions about compensation and benefits" from job-seekers didn't fit with the company's "unique" corporate culture, and so Byrnes had demonstrated she wasn't right for the job.
But after the young woman shared her experience on Twitter, SkipTheDishes co-founder Joshua Simair came to her defense. "We are very disappointed in how it was handled," he wrote. "We reached out to Taylor to apologize for the email and reschedule her interview."
After receiving a nasty reply like that, hopefully Byrnes got the job!
Should her interview have been cancelled? Share this story and tell us what you think!