A job seeker says she was invited to a work happy hour after an interview, but it turned out to be another hiring test

A rooftop happy hour

Job seekers are no strangers to jumping through hoops for their prospective employers.

But some employers seem to be taking hiring tests to new levels.

A TikTok user named Marissa Marlowe shared her experience in a recent video, saying she’d applied for hundreds of jobs before being invited to an on-site test with a prospective employer. Wecouldn’t verify her identity or the company she applied to.

She said that as part of the interview process, she gave a 75-minute presentation and had conversations with others at the company, then was invited to a work happy hour to meet the rest of the team.

But the happy hour was full of other candidates, she said. Marlowe jokingly compared the process to the reality-TV show “The Bachelor” — with multiple candidates all vying for one job from the employer.

After jumping through the hiring hoops and attending the happy hour, Marlowe said she was ultimately rejected for the job.

Job hunters haven’t had it easy in recent months. While the Great Resignation saw a wave of people quitting their jobs and starting new ones in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the labor market has since stagnated.

We’ve entered what some are dubbing the “Big Stay,” with more people staying in their jobs compared to two years ago. Plus, as many major companies slash jobs, the market has only become more competitive.

Job hunters have also complained of a particularly brutal recruitment market: deciphering fake job ads on LinkedIn, being ghosted by recruiters, and navigating new AI recruitment tools, such as doing first-round interviews with AI chatbots.

During the pandemic, more employers also started incorporating cognitive and psychometric tests to get to know candidates better. These tests can create more stress for candidates who aren’t sure what results the employer is looking for.

Despite low unemployment rates in the US, many job seekers aren’t feeling the effects of a relatively healthy labor market. That’s especially true for higher earners, who are facing a less favorable white-collar job market, and those looking for remote jobs.