Ho presentato la mia candidatura online. Ho sostenuto un colloquio presso British Museum (Londra, Inghilterra) nel mese di gen 2018
Colloquio
Informal but structured interview featuring an object handling segment. Interview questions vary according to department but overall are technical/job specific. They provide circumstances and ask you what you would do in them, how you would handle situations etc.
I am an external applicant and have interview for this role 5 times over a year, all in different departments. It has become clear that they only interview external candidates to tick boxes, I believe they only hire these positions internally. I have never been provided any constructive feedback, despite requesting to receive some. I understand that there are a lot of candidates but to continue being interviewed by an organisation and be unsuccessful and not be given any feedback is frustrating as it means I cannot proactively work towards improving my experience or interview technique or whatever else is holding me back. Despite interviewing several times for Assistant Collections Manager and Assistant Storage Manager roles, I have also applied for these roles and not been invited to interview for them, despite the job description and personal specifications being exactly the same as the ones I previously interviewed for. I understand there's likely a legitimate reason for this, but from an outside perspective this means applying for these roles seems like luck of the draw. Additionally, last time I was interviewed I was asked if I wanted to be considered for any future vacancies that came up in the Registrar's department and I said yes. I was a second reserve candidate after that interview. Despite this, I was not invited to interview for the next roles that were advertised, despite applying.
I'm sure the British Museum is fully aware how passionate people are about working for it, despite their poor wages, and so they will continue to get lots of applicant. I'm not sure I will be one of them anymore.
Ho presentato la mia candidatura online. Ho sostenuto un colloquio presso British Museum
Colloquio
Applied online, invited to interview. Interviewed by conservator and two Collection Managers for approx 30 mins. Not asked any questions about my experience, mainly was asked about specific scenarios/what I would do in such a situation.
Object handling
- what concerns would you have before handling and how would you handle?
- how would you mount this object?
- what agents would f deterioration would you be most worried about?
Ho presentato la mia candidatura online. Ho sostenuto un colloquio presso British Museum (Londra, Inghilterra) nel mese di nov 2023
Colloquio
Applied online with a statement of intent / personal statement and was invited to interview, a week after applications close. Was interview on the site I would be working on, by 3 people. Interview lasted 45 mins and ask the same questions to every candidate in that round with no follow up questions. There *is* an object handling task.
Domande di colloquio [2]
Domanda 1
What would expect to find in [specialism] collection?
Ho presentato la mia candidatura online. Ho sostenuto un colloquio presso British Museum
Colloquio
Interview questions were standard for a Collections role - e.g how would you pack or store an object. It included a handling exercise as well. A few questions felt like they needed internal knowledge of the department and its structure - as an external candidate this wasn't an encouraging sign.
The behaviour of the interviewers suggested a lack of interest in what the candidates had to say, and made the interview feel rushed and uncomfortable. I was told - before I even began the interview - to be concise in my answers because they were running behind due to an earlier candidate. A lack of communications between departments meant an earlier candidate had been delayed.
Obviously, this was not my fault and it started the interview on a bad note. As a result I felt rushed the entire process despite being asked multiple detailed questions. The behaviour of the interviewers was not encouraging and felt like they were speeding through.
The interviewer ended by saying they were happy that we finished on time. We had in fact finished 10 minutes early. This felt unnecessary and again emphasised the pressure on the candidate.
In short the interview felt like a box-ticking exercise and was not a good experience.