Olivia Bland's Web Applications UK interview 'humiliating' Published duration 31 January 2019

media caption Olivia Bland's tweet about a bad job interview prompted thousands of supportive messages.

A woman who claims she was subjected to a "brutal" two-hour job interview has said the company's CEO "tried his best to intimidate" her and "assert power".

Olivia Bland's account of the interview at a UK tech firm in Oldham, Greater Manchester, provoked outrage on social media.

She made the claims on Twitter after the interview at Web Applications UK.

The firm's CEO Craig Dean apologised and said he had "no desire to see anyone hurt".

On Twitter, Miss Bland wrote she felt Mr Dean "tried his best to intimidate [me] and assert power".

The interview had begun in an "utterly bizarre" fashion, she said, in which he picked on her music tastes before revealing he was scrolling through her Spotify account.

He then asked "a lot of personal questions", she said, before "tearing apart, line by line" everything she had submitted in the written part of the application process.

"Later in the interview he asked me: 'How do you think it went?'

"He said 'I'll tell you how it went' and listed off everything bad he thought I did in the interview.

"He told me everything I did was wrong, everything I said, the way I sat, my body language, everything that he could do to attack me."

She later revealed she was actually offered the position but declined to take it.

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Apologising on social media, Mr Dean said "I have no desire to see anyone hurt; and can only apologise if anything I've done has had that effect."

Web Applications UK said it had conducted an investigation into the allegations and was satisfied "no bullying or intimidation occurred" during the interview.

"Nonetheless, the directors are extremely saddened by this incident and the impact that this has had on the individual concerned, particularly as we are a company that takes great pride in nurturing the aspirations of young people," it said in a statement.

"We will take this opportunity to reflect carefully on our recruitment process and HR policies."