- 1,459
- 185
- 63
So. Good start beginning last week doing some online Maths tutoring. Not lucrative but topping up the pension and keeps me off the streets.
A few months back though banged CVs and Cover letters into a well-known defence contractor. Recruiter phones me after asking if I had received his e-mails and request for return form. ME: Apologises since realises hotmail not doing what it should be doing Guy very amenable and courteous on phone. Gives him a gmail account instead. Happy days.
So gets dates through if all good for a phone interview end of March for one job. Fair enough but not really the job I want but interview doesn't do any harm.
Then get request for interview for job I preferred. That was quickly organised. E-mailed by their HR from dann saff who were seriously on the ball, courteous and quick.
ME: Travels on the day knowing that this could be a journey (only 43 miles but traffic and crappy roads made it 1hr 20 mins and that was off-peak time..AND THIS IS JOCKLAND. Ok. Red Flag but wanted to try it out if feasible. Ok I thought. Not fussed, mortgage paid, no debts, got a pension and happy with my burgeoning tutor business, but will speak to these people maybe enquiring about hybrid/flex/remote work. Finds the place and arrived early. Got checked in by the kind, courteous on-the-ball admin woman at the front desk. Sit and have a chat while watching TV.
Now this is where things started to change. Elderly gent walks through door!
HIM: "Are you RJL?"
ME: "Yes I am and you must be SUGAR [Name changed to protect the innocent]. How are you doing?"
HIM: [Abruptly] -" You're early?!!!"
ME: "Well I'm always early."..RED FLAG in my mind..Not how you introduce yourself and sell your organisation to a prospective candidate.
In the words of SPONGEBOB...And a few minutes later.....Stern faced woman comes out another door and peeks out.....A few minutes pass.
She comes out the door...Unenthusiastically "Hi RJL I'm SWEET [Name changed to protect the innocent] you can come in for your interview now"...RED FLAG NO. 3.
ME: "Is that bottle of water for me?" THEM: "Yes it is."
ME: " I could do with some water."
HIM: Starts telling me vaguely about format of interview and who they are with docs and my CV in front of them. Ok pretty standard.
HIM: "And you should have a presentation with you?" RED FLAG NO. 4
ME: "Nobody mentioned anything to me about a presentation?! Can do a quick run-down on that flip-chart there on {TOPIC] if you want though?!"
HIM: "Oh right....Well that's our HR should have informed you of that. Sometimes they don't pass the message on".
HIM Looks at HER (This was constant throughout the interview as if for validation...RED FLAG NO. 5).
HIM: "So what do you know about [BEEP]?" RED FLAG NO. 6...
ME: (Not interested in researching some bollox I can find on the internet and massaging egos of how great there company is and what there products are.)
ME: "Well you are a big defence contractor corporation out of [BEEP] and fingers in lots of pies making billions. And you do [BEEP] which is why I'm here. I'm busy with other stuff".
HIM: "Well we do....[Rambles on about they do this, this, this and this].
ME: "Pretty standard really for most defence contractors". [Think he was getting the gist at this point...And I looked at HER occasionally to check out her stern face].
HIM: "We do score this for all candidates and use [BEEP] model for interviews"...RED FLAG NO. 7...Can't think outside the box!!!
ME: "I'm not really happy with that model. Formulaic and doesn't allow grey areas but I'll go with it. Prefer it to be two-ways".
HIM: [Looking at HER] "Well obviously we'll have time for discussion and you can ask questions". Then starts rambling again how he is the [BEEP] and HER is HIM boss.
ME: "So I would be working for you then?!"
HIM: "Yes. I'm also the Hiring Manager and HER is who we would both work for".
ME: "Ok..Just getting into my head the structure and organisation".
HER: Question No.2 "Do you know what the job is?".
ME: "Description was a bit vague. Understand the review of [BEEP] but the rest...?!"
HER: "Well we do this, this, this..."
ME: "And as part of your review of [BEEP] you will be making sure that H&S, Regs, Policies, Procedures are all checked?" RED FLAG NO. 8...This didn't hit me until the next day after analysing. This is all part of the [BEEP] process and changes have to be documented and recorded before being pushed out.
HER: "We just do [BEEP] process." Stern faced of course.
HIM: Chimes in about how they purely look after [BEEP] process.
HER: "The job is located at [BEEP] X miles away?!"
ME: "So it's not in the Offices here, upstairs?"
HER: "No we can't due to [BEEP]."
ME: "Is that due to classifications?!"
HER: "Yes it is. Is that a problem for you?! " ...[She was noticing my face and body language at this point is less than impressed].
ME: "Well it took me X time to get here and unless we do hybrid/remote/flex this isn't going to work".
HER: "We don't have to continue if you don't want?!"
So we canned the interview. I called it and think HER was happy I did as she was getting more annoyed at me interviewing them as well!!! Threw them off their stride and formulaic process.
Got home feeling like I dodged a bullet. They probably thought the same their end. "CULTURE FIT" and all that jazz. E-mailed HR woman and cancelled interview for other job.
AND 24 hours later......
Their official Recruiter phones and apologises for distance to travel. Explained to him that was a RED FLAG BUT that was my choice since it was to be a tester and thanked him for his service. He enquired about the other job I withdrew from and was worried if my experience of yesterday had soured the experience of the company. Told him I wasn't impressed with those two interviewing and how they didn't like me interviewing them and how for me it is a two-way process.
Recruiter was like: "That's what you do. Damn right you do. I will pass it onto HR".
Apologetic e-mail from HR woman. I E-mailed back politely saying philosophy and cultures don't fit and faults on both sides.
But the up-shot of all this...
IT'S EFFING GREAT NOT BEING IN-HOC TO PEOPLE!! Interviewing the Interviewers was a great experience :- D!!!!!!! Back to online maths tutoring. Less money but no corporate bolloxxxx and happy!!!
A few months back though banged CVs and Cover letters into a well-known defence contractor. Recruiter phones me after asking if I had received his e-mails and request for return form. ME: Apologises since realises hotmail not doing what it should be doing Guy very amenable and courteous on phone. Gives him a gmail account instead. Happy days.
So gets dates through if all good for a phone interview end of March for one job. Fair enough but not really the job I want but interview doesn't do any harm.
Then get request for interview for job I preferred. That was quickly organised. E-mailed by their HR from dann saff who were seriously on the ball, courteous and quick.
ME: Travels on the day knowing that this could be a journey (only 43 miles but traffic and crappy roads made it 1hr 20 mins and that was off-peak time..AND THIS IS JOCKLAND. Ok. Red Flag but wanted to try it out if feasible. Ok I thought. Not fussed, mortgage paid, no debts, got a pension and happy with my burgeoning tutor business, but will speak to these people maybe enquiring about hybrid/flex/remote work. Finds the place and arrived early. Got checked in by the kind, courteous on-the-ball admin woman at the front desk. Sit and have a chat while watching TV.
Now this is where things started to change. Elderly gent walks through door!
HIM: "Are you RJL?"
ME: "Yes I am and you must be SUGAR [Name changed to protect the innocent]. How are you doing?"
HIM: [Abruptly] -" You're early?!!!"
ME: "Well I'm always early."..RED FLAG in my mind..Not how you introduce yourself and sell your organisation to a prospective candidate.
In the words of SPONGEBOB...And a few minutes later.....Stern faced woman comes out another door and peeks out.....A few minutes pass.
She comes out the door...Unenthusiastically "Hi RJL I'm SWEET [Name changed to protect the innocent] you can come in for your interview now"...RED FLAG NO. 3.
ME: "Is that bottle of water for me?" THEM: "Yes it is."
ME: " I could do with some water."
HIM: Starts telling me vaguely about format of interview and who they are with docs and my CV in front of them. Ok pretty standard.
HIM: "And you should have a presentation with you?" RED FLAG NO. 4
ME: "Nobody mentioned anything to me about a presentation?! Can do a quick run-down on that flip-chart there on {TOPIC] if you want though?!"
HIM: "Oh right....Well that's our HR should have informed you of that. Sometimes they don't pass the message on".
HIM Looks at HER (This was constant throughout the interview as if for validation...RED FLAG NO. 5).
HIM: "So what do you know about [BEEP]?" RED FLAG NO. 6...
ME: (Not interested in researching some bollox I can find on the internet and massaging egos of how great there company is and what there products are.)
ME: "Well you are a big defence contractor corporation out of [BEEP] and fingers in lots of pies making billions. And you do [BEEP] which is why I'm here. I'm busy with other stuff".
HIM: "Well we do....[Rambles on about they do this, this, this and this].
ME: "Pretty standard really for most defence contractors". [Think he was getting the gist at this point...And I looked at HER occasionally to check out her stern face].
HIM: "We do score this for all candidates and use [BEEP] model for interviews"...RED FLAG NO. 7...Can't think outside the box!!!
ME: "I'm not really happy with that model. Formulaic and doesn't allow grey areas but I'll go with it. Prefer it to be two-ways".
HIM: [Looking at HER] "Well obviously we'll have time for discussion and you can ask questions". Then starts rambling again how he is the [BEEP] and HER is HIM boss.
ME: "So I would be working for you then?!"
HIM: "Yes. I'm also the Hiring Manager and HER is who we would both work for".
ME: "Ok..Just getting into my head the structure and organisation".
HER: Question No.2 "Do you know what the job is?".
ME: "Description was a bit vague. Understand the review of [BEEP] but the rest...?!"
HER: "Well we do this, this, this..."
ME: "And as part of your review of [BEEP] you will be making sure that H&S, Regs, Policies, Procedures are all checked?" RED FLAG NO. 8...This didn't hit me until the next day after analysing. This is all part of the [BEEP] process and changes have to be documented and recorded before being pushed out.
HER: "We just do [BEEP] process." Stern faced of course.
HIM: Chimes in about how they purely look after [BEEP] process.
HER: "The job is located at [BEEP] X miles away?!"
ME: "So it's not in the Offices here, upstairs?"
HER: "No we can't due to [BEEP]."
ME: "Is that due to classifications?!"
HER: "Yes it is. Is that a problem for you?! " ...[She was noticing my face and body language at this point is less than impressed].
ME: "Well it took me X time to get here and unless we do hybrid/remote/flex this isn't going to work".
HER: "We don't have to continue if you don't want?!"
So we canned the interview. I called it and think HER was happy I did as she was getting more annoyed at me interviewing them as well!!! Threw them off their stride and formulaic process.
Got home feeling like I dodged a bullet. They probably thought the same their end. "CULTURE FIT" and all that jazz. E-mailed HR woman and cancelled interview for other job.
AND 24 hours later......
Their official Recruiter phones and apologises for distance to travel. Explained to him that was a RED FLAG BUT that was my choice since it was to be a tester and thanked him for his service. He enquired about the other job I withdrew from and was worried if my experience of yesterday had soured the experience of the company. Told him I wasn't impressed with those two interviewing and how they didn't like me interviewing them and how for me it is a two-way process.
Recruiter was like: "That's what you do. Damn right you do. I will pass it onto HR".
Apologetic e-mail from HR woman. I E-mailed back politely saying philosophy and cultures don't fit and faults on both sides.
But the up-shot of all this...
IT'S EFFING GREAT NOT BEING IN-HOC TO PEOPLE!! Interviewing the Interviewers was a great experience :- D!!!!!!! Back to online maths tutoring. Less money but no corporate bolloxxxx and happy!!!
Last edited:
!!!
