Graduate refuses job, compares CEO's interview to 'abusive ex'

Olivia Bland's tweet sharing her experience has gone viral. Photo / Instagram

A female graduate turned down a job after she compared the CEO's interview technique to that of an "abusive ex".

Olivia Bland, 22, hit out at the CEO of a tech company in Manchester after he allegedy criticised her Spotify account and tore apart her personality.

She went on to say she was baffled to be offered a job after the experience, and turned it down.

The Southampton Solent University graduate, from Oldham, said she was subjected to a "brutal" two-hour interview with the company chief executive, which she said "felt like being sat in a room" with an "abusive ex".

Miss Bland shared her email to the company after the interview on Twitter, writing: "There is something very off to me about a man who tries his best to intimidate and assert power over a young woman and who continues to push even when he can see that he's making somebody uncomfortable to the point of tears."

Her tweet has since been shared more than 28,000 times and received scores of sympathetic replies.

She told the Press Association that the CEO asked "a lot of personal questions", before "tearing apart, line by line" everything she had submitted in the written part of the application process.

She said: "Later in the interview he asked me: 'How do you think it went?'

"He said 'I'll tell you how it went' and listed off everything bad he thought I did in the interview.

"He told me everything I did was wrong, everything I said, the way I sat, my body language, everything that he could do to attack me."

Craig Dean, the chief executive of software company Web Applications UK, who conducted the interview, did not respond to requests for comment but wrote on Twitter that he was "very sorry if anyone has been hurt".

In a message on the site, he described himself as "sleep deprived and anxiety driven". He wrote: "I have no desire to see anyone hurt; and can only apologise if anything I've done has had that effect."

In a statement following its investigation into the allegations, Web Applications UK said its board "was satisfied that no bullying or intimidation occurred."

The statement added: "Nonetheless, the Directors are extremely saddened by the incident and the impact that this has had on the individual concerned... we will take this opportunity to reflect on our recruitment process and HR policies."