u/Economy-Argument-854

Happy Saturday everyone,

My question is: Is it normal for an organization to ask for your high school diploma?

I wanted to get your thoughts on something that’s been puzzling me. I recently applied for a General Service position at ICMPD and completed my interview with the hiring panel. About five days later, the HR representative reached out asking for my high school diploma, which I currently don’t have on hand, as it’s at my parents’ home.

For context, I applied using my Bachelor’s degree, which they already have on file. The job description also states:

“Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in a relevant field. High school diploma or equivalent with two additional years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the Bachelor’s degree”

Given that I applied with a Bachelor’s degree, is it standard practice for HR to still request the high school diploma? Has anyone experienced something similar?

I applied for a position for an American company with an office in Vienna: Sentry.

The first interview was already sketchy: I met with the hiring manager and he seemed not to care much. During the interview he even asked me: “Are you \*my name \*?”

After that interview I had to complete a take home assignment where they sent me their whole knowledge base and they asked me to construct answers for some customer inquiries. How questions were phrased at this take home assignment was incoherent and weird.

After that I had the third and final interview where I have met 2 employees who would be working with me in the office -none of them would be my direct colleague. A total of 1 hour was dedicated for this third step - however after them asking 2 questions and hearing my answers, only ten minutes had passed. Then they told me I can ask them questions. They did not ask anything about me.

After the third interview I received an email asking me if I can shorten my notice period in my current position. Until this my manager has no idea that I want to leave my current position. I have talked with my manger and conveyed that I would like to leave.

As per the instructions from Sentry: “candidates eligible for an offer will have to undergo a reference check”. When the request for reference check arrived they were looking for reference from two of my managers and two peers. Basically at this time everyone knew that I would leave my current position and hand in a resignation soon.

One week after the references have been submitted I received a rejection letter from Sentry!

ABSOLUTELY UNETHICAL!!!

I applied for a position for an American company with an office in Vienna: Sentry.

The first interview was already sketchy: I met with the hiring manager and he seemed not to care much. During the interview he even asked me: “Are you *my name *?”

After that interview I had to complete a take home assignment where they sent me their whole knowledge base and they asked me to construct answers for some customer inquiries. How questions were phrased at this take home assignment was incoherent and weird.

After that I had the third and final interview where I have met 2 employees who would be working with me in the office -none of them would be my direct colleague. A total of 1 hour was dedicated for this third step - however after them asking 2 questions and hearing my answers, only ten minutes had passed. Then they told me I can ask them questions. They did not ask anything about me.

After the third interview I received an email asking me if I can shorten my notice period in my current position. Until this my manager has no idea that I want to leave my current position. I have talked with my manger and conveyed that I would like to leave.

As per the instructions from Sentry: “candidates eligible for an offer will have to undergo a reference check”. When the request for reference check arrived they were looking for reference from two of my managers and two peers. Basically at this time everyone knew that I would leave my current position and hand in a resignation soon.

One week after the references have been submitted I received a rejection letter from Sentry!

ABSOLUTELY UNETHICAL!!!

I’m going through a weird period right now when nothing is working for me, and this month April has honestly been one of the hardest periods I’ve gone through, especially in terms of self-worth and uncertainty.

I’ve been supporting myself through a low-paying internship that’s now coming to an end, and at the same time I’ve been trying to transition into the next phase of my life. For the past two years, I’ve been preparing for PhD applications, and recently I found out I was rejected from all of them, even the one I thought was my “safe” option. Alongside that, I’ve been applying to jobs and facing rejection after rejection.

Financially, things feel unstable, and emotionally I feel worn down. It’s like everything I was working toward at the same time has fallen through, and I’m left not really knowing how I’m going to sustain myself in the near future.

I’m aware that I still have things to be grateful for, and I know others are going through even more difficult situations. I don’t want to spiral into negativity or lose perspective. At the same time, I also can’t ignore this energy.

I guess what I’m trying to understand especially from a spiritual perspective is how to make sense of this.

I still have a sense that things will work out eventually, but right now I feel lost in the middle of it :(((