A recruiter in London has gone viral after sharing a photo of his broken keyboard, claiming he broke it in anger when a candidate rejected his job offer. Ethan Mooney, a recruitment consultant, posted the picture on LinkedIn and explained what happened. 

According to Mooney, the candidate was supposed to attend a second-stage interview at 9:30 am but never showed up. Half an hour later, the candidate texted Mooney to let him know he had accepted another job offer instead. 

Mooney, frustrated by the situation, reportedly broke his keyboard and jokingly said, “In my defence, I couldn’t find the F*** key,” adding, “Who says recruiters don’t care?”

The post has gone viral on LinkedIn, receiving a range of mixed reactions from users. Many LinkedIn users shared their views, with some finding the incident humorous, while others criticized the recruiter’s extreme reaction. The debate sparked discussions about professionalism and emotions in the workplace, especially in recruitment.

“Imagine if candidates posted every time a recruiter ghosted them after an interview. And what about when candidates spend hours applying and never hear back? Respect works both ways,” commented a user.

“That’s life. Most of the time, we don’t receive any feedback about interviews either. Not about what happened or what we can improve. We simply remain in a “dead zone,” wrote another user.

“Care about your KPIs, pocket, and numbers? Sure. But candidates have to look out for number one too. You guys have no loyalty. If the client doesn’t like the CV, or if an informal chat or interview goes poorly, the candidate gets ignored and faces disappointment from said recruiter. So why fuss when the tables are turned? The candidate probably received a better offer that you weren’t prepared to fight for, or your client didn’t value them enough to meet their requests,” commented a third user.