Job difficulty was deemed difficult given the lack of structure and proper management of the hiring process. I was shorlisted for an interview and it was planned 3 weeks in advance. They did not bother to tell me that since I had a close contact that also works there as an agent, that the conflict of interest would result in their termination should I proceed with the role. It is understandable that it would be an issue, but if I was told sooner, it would have saved time on both parties' ends. 3 weeks to look through my application and tell me it was an issue, but still they never did.
Instead, I headed to the HQ in Bukit Bintang, did an assessment at 8:30am (the assessment was done before the first round of interview which is usually not the case in most job hiring process) waited 1.5 hours for the panel interviewers to be available, and then was only told that the conflict of interest was an issue. That was 10 minutes before the the interview started; at this point it was already 11am. Went into the interview, main discussion was around the problem, and ended in less than 20 minutes.
Half an hour after, I was updated that I was not shortlisted, and the reasoning felt more like an excuse due to the inconvenience.
Honestly a ridiculous waste of time. I hope HR and hiring managers plan better. Given you are a reputable establishment, this is so unprofessional and gives the entire brand image such a bad rep.