The first stage was a screening call with the Head of HR, which was useful and informative. This was then followed by a competency interview with the People Operations Manager. The final stage was a face-to-face interview with the Founder and one of the Transformation Director's. The purpose of the interview was to present a response on my approach to the key challenges that the company was facing from a recruitment perspective. I was advised that the interview would be 60 minutes. The interview only lasted for 30 minutes. From the very start neither interviewer was engaged. It felt like an environment where the candidate is out, until they have proven themselves in. I spent about 4 hours pulling together my presentation response and whether it met their brief or not - I would have expected more scrutiny and questioning. In this case I got 2 very weak questions - 1. What AI tools would I use? 2. What do you think the purpose of this role is? The atmosphere was unwelcoming and I felt from the very start that me being there was a waste of their time from the point I walked into the room, which created a very poor candidate experience. In a bizarre twist, I spoke to someone in my network who had also interviewed for the same role and had experienced the same level of aloofness. In their case, the founder could only be bothered to come in for the last 10 minutes of their (30 minute) interview. Which is really poor. I don't think I have ever been so relieved not to receive an offer and I wish the successful candidate all the very best, as they have their work cut-out to ensure the leadership team shift their attitude towards interviews.

Initial screening call with the Head of HR (30 minutes) 2nd stage competency video interview with wider HR team Final stage interview with leadership team with a presentation in person