I got woken up this morning at 10.30 by a telephone call from Screwfix. It turned out to be an interview/ screening call for a a job I'd applied for. Is this considered acceptable these days ?

I have never had a telephone interview that was not pre-planned before. Must admit I was a little off guard/ still pissed and it was for a stupid 2x12 hour a week job any way. Probably not a good company to work for if they work like this ?

Why didn't you ask who was calling before confirming who you were? You could then of then said, I'm sorry, Mr X isn't here at present, can I take a message...

No.1 You should have been awake before 10:30 AM. It's normal for a screening to merge into a telephone interview as long as they ask you permission ala "Mr OP do you have 10 mins for a little chat as I know you applied for a position at Screwfix etc/ Are you happy to conduct a phone interview with me today?

Depends how much you want a job, I would happily go along with it

I had a telephone interview about 2 hours after I applied for my current job, wasn't expecting it at all, but once I'd settled down it was fine, glad to get it out of the way to be honest

Their stores had already been open and serving trade for 3.5 hours at that point in the day.

They had probably called you at 8.30 and this was your second chance...

Probably not a good prospective employee with an attitude like this.

What's No.2 and are there others?

Not having clocked diligently into the sweatshop before 6:01 am - unthinkable in new Tory Britain, how could you? Don't you know you should be slaving, not dreaming?

Or simply going to work like most of us have had to for most of our lives. What on earth has Tory Britain got to do with anything in this post?

Nothing unreasonable here except the op's attitude.

How do you know he doesn't go to work or hasn't in the past? You're reading a lot into the fact that someone is asleep at 10:30, when that wasn't the OP's question.

That's what I mean about Tory Britain - people thinking they have a god-given right to dictate what time someone gets up!

Well that escalated quickly.

Lol. Par for the course on here

Nonsense. Giving no notice of an interview for a job is deeply unprofessional. Op shoukd hace requested they call back at a mutually agreeable time.

During my time under the job hunt I had to be absolutely catlike with regard tp phone calls, which could and did come at virtually any hours of the day/night, and I had to abandon what I'm doing there and then to talk with the employer. Whilst some calls came whilst I was sat at 'ome waiting to be called upon, I've also been phoned whilst on the bus, whilst in a library applying for other jobs, whilst in a supermarket running a household errand, and on more than one occasion an employer phoned while I was sat on the bogger. You know you're desperate for work when you're sat holding in half your piss in the hope that your prospective employer can't hear any dribbles... That's why I always got a bit panicky when my then-current phone pavked up - I had to be in reach 24/7 as I didn't know where the next opportunity would come from (or indeed if there would be one) - on one occasion my phone cut out halfway through a tele-interview and when I did finally get bavk in touch with the employer involved, they were quite happy to tell me I'd be going no further...

In all fairness, they do normally give you a date and time for a telephone interview.

It's common for the recruiter to do a preliminary interview call with the candidate out of the blue. They are basically just ringing to follow up on the application and find out a few basic details to see whether it's worth while moving forward with a full telephone/face to face interview.

It is perfectly acceptable when receiving this call to say that you are not able to talk right now - it happens regularly and the recruiter won't think any worse of you. Just as long as you can agree another time for the call.

Whoever's in government has no bearing on a person's attitude to work. All political parties are corrupt- not just the tories who you seem to blame for the state of the country.

People either want a job or they don't.

Well we did manage to get to post #12 - I think that is somewhat of a long run in!

Skype and/or telephone interviews are becoming common practice and the interviewer will undoubtedly ask if it is convenient to have the conversation. Say sorry it is not convenient at the moment and reschedule if it is a problem.

Look at it this way, it is to an applicant's advantage to have an initial telephone discussion to ask questions about the detail of the role and whether it is of interest and/or if they hold the skills, knowledge and experience to carry it out. It saves the applicant and time, money and effort preparing for an attending for an interview for a job they find they do not want. It also breaks the ice for your face to face interview.

All depends if the applicant wants the job or any job .......

It was escalated before that when posters ignored the OP's question and decided to pick on them about the time they woke up, as if that somehow indicated moral terpitude.

Yeah, this was very unprofessional of Screwfix OP, although sadly not uncommon.

You are well within professional norms to tell the person on the phone that you're unable to talk & ask them to call later/offer to call them later. It's also acceptable if you're really unavailable (on the loo or whatever) to just let the phone ring and let them leave a voicemail, or try again later. All but the worst employers understand that jobseekers aren't sat by their phones all day just waiting for their call

Of course, this does mean that occasionally you might miss out on an opportunity, but that's more rare than you might think. But it's up to you - you can answer the phone regardless of where you are/what you're doing and try to give an interview whilst mid-piss. Or you can be a bit more selective about when you answer the phone/not be afraid to reschedule a phone interview when necessary and give a better performance in the interview and a better shot at the actual job.

I've stopped answering a lot of calls because I was getting too many agencies call up trying to match me to the same online job postings. I think it was just a call centre screening droid who called me from Screwfix. I would have done better if they had emailed me first though, even LIDL managed to do that. I just think it shows they would be a crap company to work for IMHO

If the OP genuinely wants to work, 10.30 will not be bedtime. He will be willing to take part in any interview, in any format. If he does not want to be contacted by an agency, why register his details with them?

I put my CV on some online job boards. There seems to be money in matching free CV's to freely available job postings. Once I put 'actively seeking work' they seemed to stop though...

If I'm not being paid by any one to do a job, then surely I can sleep/ get drunk/ do what ever when ever thanks very much !