‘Sick of these punks’: Auctioneer ends job interview with young applicant after 12 minutes

A real estate coach has slammed a young job applicant he called a “punk” revealing the question the man asked that saw him call off the interview.

Real estate industry coach Tom Panos has slammed an entitled young job applicant, revealing the question the man asked that saw him call off the interview after just 12 minutes.

But the prominent auctioneer’s TikTok video has been mocked by many online, who argued the young man’s questions were perfectly reasonable.

“So I wasted 15 minutes today in an interview, interviewing an associate to join one of the real estate teams,” Mr Panos said in the clip last week, which has since been viewed nearly 460,000 times.

“The guy’s never worked in real estate before, early 20s, asked me what commissions he’d be paid, asked me what hours he’s expected to be there, asked me what days he’d have off during the week, and then went on to say — this is the one, this is the question — ‘give me three reasons why I should pick this employer versus someone else’.”

Mr Panos continued, “I just said to the guy, ‘I can’t think of one’. I said, ‘Mate, let’s just finish this off — this is not for you, this is not for me, this is not for us’.”

The video was captioned, “Get in line. Stay in line”, while the text overlay read, “Getting sick of these punks. I just terminated the meeting after 12 minutes.”

Tom Panos slammed the young job applicant. Picture: tompanos/TikTok

The post has attracted more than 4900 comments, with many defending the interviewee.

“Yeah you did right to get rid of him, he sounds like he has integrity!” one person wrote.

“All reasonable questions,” another said.

“If he has the guts to ask those questions then I imagine he‘d be a good real estate agent,” a third wrote.

“How dare he have some common sense, professionalism and integrity! Sounds like he is light years ahead of you even with no experience,” a fourth added.

“Sounds like he dodged a bullet. Good for him. Hope he finds the job he deserves and a non-toxic boss,” a fifth agreed.

Some argued interviews “work both ways” and the man was entitled to ask questions, while others said times had changed and “employers are no longer getting away with you working extra hours for free”.

“Old cats are used to being worked to the bone, they can‘t fathom why younger people [are] only wanting to work what they’re essentially hired for,” one person wrote.

But a small number of commenters defended Mr Panos.

The auctioneer’s video sparked backlash on TikTok. Picture: John Appleyard

“You can ask those questions once you have sold yourself and your value to the business … your skills are transferable, make them want you first,” one person wrote.

“It’s like he has to sell his company to get an unskilled worker. Usually it’s the employee saying what they can offer the company,” another said.

“An employee must have credentials to prove worth. This kid sounds like he had demands,” a third said.

Australia’s unemployment rate fell back to 3.5 per cent in February, with around 65,000 more people in work and the number of unemployed falling by 17,000, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The lower-than-expected number came ahead of the Reserve Bank’s decision to pause after 10 months of consecutive interest rate rises at its April meeting last week.

“The labour market remains very tight,” RBA governor Philip Lowe said in his statement.

“The unemployment rate is at a near 50-year low and underemployment is also low. Many firms continue to experience difficulty hiring workers, although some report an easing in labour shortages and the number of vacancies has declined a little. As economic growth slows, unemployment is expected to increase.”

Originally published as ‘Sick of these punks’: Auctioneer ends job interview with young applicant after 12 minutes