Would You Disqualify A Candidate Who Came To The Interview In A Competitor's Work Vehicle?

Personally, I would not do this just a matter of professionalism. Doing it during work hours seems highly unscrupulous.  They should not be paid to look for work.  However, with schedules being what they are I suppose being there after hours / at lunch / early morning are probably something I would look the other way on.

On the one hand, your second paragraph is as valid as it gets. On the other hand, a good tech is kept busy. More importantly, how good is your competition and how much do you know about that entity?

It's a case by case basis. You can certainly dock the guy some points at the beginning of the interview for sure for this, but you can also read other cues as far as his apparel, attitude, and attentiveness. If he's a good tech that hasn't gotten his fair due at the other joint, you're probably able to overlook the initial presentation.

I added a poll question. Also, changed the title / question to 'disqualify' because that's what I think you mean, i.e., would that move (coming in a competitor's work vehicle) disqualify him immediately or would it depend on the rest of the interview.

To me, it's a yellow flag but I would want to understand why. Is the person reckless? Is the person simply naive about such appearances and can be coached? etc.

Depends on the competitor. 

Hire him, but make sure his new van has GPS tracking...

There are flags all over this for me personally.  First, if he does it to his current employer then most likely it will happen to you after you hire him.  Secondly, he should be upfront about his inability to meet during work hours and request other options such as over the phone/facetime/skype during his meal/break time.  That in itself would validate his ability to think outside the box and show his integrity at the same time.  Third, the fact that he is wasting employer time and fuel tells me he (or her) does not value his employer's assets. 

I am sure that if his resume attracted you to his skills, then it must worth working out a meeting time with him for the interview.  Overall, his presentation is severely lacking to a potential employer, I can only imagine what he does when no one is looking.  Having said that, I would question him right off the bat about why he showed up in the manner that he did.  At least to hear his side of the story but his actions speak louder then his words already.  I'd pass on him.

There's a whole range of circumstances that could lead to this.

Is the vehicle assigned to him and can he take it home?  I wouldn't know any of this prior to the interview.

Were it me, I'd park the vehicle down the road a little bit.

I would have called him out on it.

His current employer may be slow, he may have asked for the time off, hell his employer may know he went for the interview. I would not assume anything.

I had a guy show up in shorts and flip flops.....

Significant red flag.  I typically hire the most qualified candidate who scares me the least and this would scare me a lot.  

The equivalent would be walking into the job interview wearing a competitor's golf shirt:  either he/she did this on purpose for some strategic reason obvious only to them, or they're a dolt.  Long experience has taught me that someone who is a dolt in one way will eventually prove that they are a dolt in many other ways.    

Campbell Chang has it right:  if driving Brand X's vehicle is simply unavoidable, make an effort to not rub my nose in it.

We're after hours interviews available?

Was it around lunch time or after work?

Would you rather employ someone who doesn't  have a job?

Look at his work vehicle, see how organised he/she is/isn't.

So many unanswered questions why crucify them before knowing the answers.

At least they are trying to advance themselves. Isn't that the type of person you want. Or is you re company a step down therefore not a person you'd want.

Was no other parking available?

Again so many unanswered questions. Give them break. 

Remember they are interviewing you too.....

I'm a little more simplistic in this.  If we are employed and wish to look for other opportunities we do so during week days.   Now should he/she have come in their own personal vehicle instead of the company van, hell yes. 

Honestly, if they are that bad of a candidate it will show in the interview. To make any other judgement without the interview would be like judging the book based off the cover, and I've read some really incredible books with horrible covers!

I would be ok with it as long as the guy was on lunch and he asked me if it was ok that he comes to the interview in such manner. If he is on paid time, he gone.

For me, I wouldn't simply automatically reject someone who did this. But it would definitely be questioned and noted as a flag. I think in general it just isn't a classy move. I don't think it's particularly respectful to your current employer, and makes me doubt the candidate would be respectful to me. I know some companies allow personal use, and sure maybe home is farther than the interview site, but that doesn't make it a great thing to do, regardless.

I also think there's a wise way to do it and a thoughtless way to do it. I saw one candidate park way out of sight an be almost apologetic about it. I've seen another park a big full size van with another company's name on it right in front of their interviewer's office. And one parked it literally outside the window of the room where they were being interviewed, so that their interviewers were looking at it for the hour he was there. I can tell you which of those three got hired and which didn't.

On the other hand, a guy who doesn't have a problem showing up in your competitor's vehicle may not have a problem showing up with your competitor's customer list either ;)

Forgive me if this was already mentioned -- I didn't see it in the thread.....

Are you open to evening and/or weekend interviews? If not, then I wouldn't disqualify the candidate.

Of course, as Ethan mentions, there's a considerate way to do it and inconsiderate way to do it.

More red flags than a May Day parade. Just remember, if he'll cheat with you, he'll cheat on you. 

Hire the tech if you're short, but keep an eye on him and don't get too attached. 

Maybe he wants to be 'caught' looking for another job.

Or so scientists say...

I have personally been put in this position as the potential hire... If you are scheduling interviews with a candidate during regular working hours from a competitor, you should expect this behavior.  I personally requested that we meet on a Saturday in an attempt to curb this exact predicament.  If you are not open to meet outside of business hours this is often a necessity. 

Lots of exclusions here.

It is definitely alarming, but there is more to consider.

Did you give the tech an opportunity to interview outside of business hours? Did you push him to come in for an interview as soon as possible?

Was it around his lunch time?

Is it a marked vehicle or plain white van? (you may be assuming)

Does he bring it up?

Is the competitor treating him poorly and he feels justified? (this one is both a positive AND a negative.)

All that said, it is defintiely something to watch. I had one guy do it, but it was a white van, during his lunch break, and I had pushed him to come in sooner when he originally asked for a Saturday interview. In this case, he did that to meet my needs. Is it right? probably not, and I wouldnt want it done to me. The mileage and fuel on that van has a real cost to the company. That said, its one of the reasons why we have GPS on our vehicles and we check those GPS tags with job service order locations.

Anyone with half (quarter?) a brain would not show up for an interview during business hours in their work vehicle.  Dumbass.  Instant DQ.

In my part of the US traffic is really bad. Most employees are custodians of vehicles that they take home. If a potential employee were to exchange vehicles to attend an interview it could be a 3-4 hour round trip from leaving work to home to interview ,assuming they left work at 3:30pm. I think people just need to think about who they're interviewing, what time of day your expecting interviews, what part of the country your in can make a difference as well. Some project managers i have known over the years have let guys interview for jobs during working hours when large projects are closing out and they wont be able to keep them on. There are A lot of circumstances that would create the situations described in the OP. Some are ok and some are not. If your an interviewer and not asking the "why's" of the described scenario (s) then your not doing a good job. I would give the person being interviewed the opportunity to disclose it first before i questioned him/her on it. 

Wouldn't be a disqualification for me, but I would bring it up.  More than that, though, I'd think that the details surrounding the interview are relevant here.  Is the company recruiting the tech?  Or is the tech trying to make a move on his/her own?

If the company is recruiting the tech, I think they made an error on their side by not offering to do the interview off site, or at least checking first.  If the tech is seeking to make a change, I'd say this would be a bit more of a suspect decision on his/her own end.

All that said, good techs are getting hard to find, so it ultimately comes down to how good the candidate is and how bad the company needs them.

While he's in the interview, have your guys throw on one of your company's vinyl wraps on his vehicle.

Then see how he reacts under pressure...

I remember several years ago an interview with the CEO of UPS talking about jobs and applicants.  He said many sent their resume by FedEx.  None were hired.