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By Alice Gibbs
Senior Reporter
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A man has shared how he refused to turn on his camera during a job interview because the other people in the meeting refused.
Interviewing for a mobile app development role, the U.S.-based job applicant who wanted to remain anonymous was stunned when he joined the meeting to find the other participants' cameras were turned off.
"This has happened many times before. I used to be naive [and] used to ignore it few years back. With the recent recruiting situation, I am not turning on camera if they don't," angrybird1995 told Newsweek.
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In a post on Reddit's r/recruitinghell subreddit, user angrybird1995 explained: "I just hung up on a technical interview on Teams where recruiters and hiring manager and a shadow had joined.
"They asked me to turn on my camera. I asked if they would turn on theirs, they said they don't," he said.
When he first joined the meeting, his camera was on, but he quickly elected to turn it off again when he saw that the others were off.
When the recruiters and hiring manager asked him to turn his camera back on, he lied and said it was not working.
After refusing to put his webcam on, the recruiters and hiring manager were taken aback.
"Recruiter asked hiring manager if they wanted to proceed, he was like this is unusual request—they never turn on their cameras," said the interviewee. "I told him him that I have stopped doing one-way interviews, I want to look into his eyes and communicate there is body language associated, it can't be that I talk to a wall."
"I am glad I refused," said angrybird1995. "I was under no obligation to be treated like that."
This isn't the first time webcam etiquette has caused an uncomfortable situation. In May 2022, a woman was praised for her hilarious response after her lecturer demanded she turn on her webcam while breastfeeding.
In hundreds of comments on the Reddit post, people praised the man for ending the interview and refusing to put his camera on.
"If I wanted to perform on camera, I'd start an OnlyFans," said one commenter. Another wrote: "Good for you! That is exactly the way. These companies forget you are interviewing them, too."
"In no world is it professional to insist you have a camera on and they refuse. You are in an interview, it's a two-way conversation," said another comment.
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