Narrow escape or did I turn down the perfect job?
Earlier this year a hiring manager at a legal firm reached out to me on LinkedIn and basically said, "Your experience is exactly what we're looking for. Tell me what we can do to get you to come and work for us."
The page looked legit, her details all matched when I did some digging on the SRA website, but when they agreed to part time fully remote (hello unicorn job) I started to think something was up. I did a zoom interview at 4.30pm on a Friday, no red flags other than how perfect it was, then her assistant called at 5.40pm to offer me the job at the salary I'd asked for. I was still suspicious but accepted. This all happened in the space of 3 days.
The new starter paperwork arrived. All normal stuff, except for "what is your mother's maiden name? We need this to set up security questions" and a whole section on my health over the last 6 years, including any illnesses, time spent in hospital, time off sick, therapy I'm undergoing, medications and the dosages...
I'm a naturally suspicious person. It felt too good to be true. I genuinely thought I was being scammed and I also had a lot of other things on my plate personally so I thanked them for the opportunity but said there'd been an unforeseen change in my personal circumstances and I couldn't take the role anymore. They said that's too bad, thanks for letting them know.
It's been a few months now and I'm still job hunting, but I can't help wondering if I was just a little bit TOO suspicious and I walked away from the perfect job. Is it normal for businesses to ask new starters their mother's maiden name and to ask for so much information about medical details?