creativity

Craft Brewery Business At Risk and Owner Decides to Make an Applicant Looks Crazy

Large brewery soliciting marketing ideas for a few cans of beer? Not cool.

Published on May 19, 2019

It’s not easy to land on a job and it’s even harder to land on one that you really love doing. But it’s certainly not cool when you are made into thinking that you have the job, spent hundreds of dollars to get to a job interview only to be said you don’t qualify for the job.

What’s even worse, one and a half year later with the company at risk of going under decided to tweet something that makes you look crazy. And what’s even worse, they do it on their official account and the picture looks convincing.

Have you ever charged a company for preparing for & attending an interview?
An unsuccessful candidate recently submitted to us a hefty invoice for their time during a job application process.
We refused to pay (other than transport).
The internet went into meltdown. pic.twitter.com/wJTKbS5IY8
— James Watt (@BrewDogJames) May 12, 2019

There is a lot of things we can point out here. First, yes, this is posted from BrewDog Company that specializes in craft beer. Second, @BrewDogJames pointed out that it was ‘recently’ submitted to them and the third, they decided to think that it’s completely normal to let someone spend $4,378.1 worth of time and just accept it. That’s minus the cookies.

Now, this feels like the applicant might have gone out of her mind: it’s normal to spend a few hours on interviews. That’s part of your investment on a job, to show that you are dedicated to it. Not to mention the company has paid for the transport, which is a reasonable cause.

Then, the applicant spoke up.

I submitted this last-ditch-effort invoice in 2017, more than a year ago, to send a message that my time that you wasted and my ideas that I willing shared have value. Since then, I have never pursued legal action. I have stayed quiet for more than a year and a half now. [2 of 4]
— Jenny Frankart (@jennyfrankart) May 13, 2019

I only came forward when what you did to @ManifestLDN surfaced. It was late Friday night when I shared those tweets to support @AlexMyers claims. My typos in them should vouch for the fact that I wasn’t looking to ruin your business. You did that on your own. [4 of 4]
— Jenny Frankart (@jennyfrankart) May 13, 2019

This whole feud started from a marketing concept that BrewDog used which suspiciously looked similar to what Manifest London, a creative agency, has. Here is a tweet by the CEO of Manifest London:

This is a @ManifestLDN concept. We were told @brewdog had chosen a different route. We have not been paid for it. https://t.co/P4DIXqCox8
— Alex Myers (@AlexMyers) May 9, 2019

Jenny Frankart continues to reply to the tweet by telling a story of her own experience with the company.

“I interviewed w/ @BrewDog for a marketing position, I was serving at marketing director of a California winery in 2017 & working to move to Columbus to be closer to family. I was strung along for 5 months, submitted a completed 2018 marketing strategy…

“…upon their request, submitted idea after idea, flew out for my fourth interview, with @BrewDogJames, only to be blown off. I was told I would be reimbursed for my flight, told I was the top candidate repeatedly, submitted countless ideas over five months while trying to move..

“…only to finally be ghosted, not reimbursed, and made to feel like a fool. Horrible man. Horrible company.”

James tried to approach this in a friendly tone:

“Jenny I did not ghost you, but I interviewed you. Sorry that you did not get the role, we had a few outstanding candidates for this one. If there was an issue with payment for flights it was purely an admin one in a new busines,, email us and we will sort it for you.”

As it appears, this is not the first time people are troubled by James’ ‘fake interview’ schemes.

I went for a job with Brewdog in their early years as a marketing director and submitted several ideas. I did not get the job and one of my ideas showed up a year later…
— Fezzles (@Fezzles) May 11, 2019

Alex has since May 15 announced that have “discussed the matter amicably with BrewDog, and there is no longer an issue.” But, now we know what kind of company we will need to steer away from and be very wary of.