Job already gone??

tommytynan123

Just spent an hour or so chatting to a friend who went for an interview earlier today with a highly regarded High St pharmacy chain and is absolutely convinced they were just going through the motions as, in her view, the job has probably already gone. I'm only posting for any comments anyone has based on experiences but she is absolutely convinced 100% she will not get the job and it's just wasted her time.(40 mile round trip)
She wants to email their HR today but I've just said to at least wait until the official notification.

Her interview invite said:
1. You'll meet the manager who will want to learn more about you, your previous work and why the role interests you. (Did discuss previous job briefly but nothing about new role)
2. There will be some short scenario exercises.(None)
3. Ensure you bring documents to show that you can work in the UK .... etc etc. If you don’t the interview will be suspended and may/may not be re-invited. (Were not asked for and when offered the reply was ''only if you are selected'')

Any comments from anyone's past would be interesting.

lincroft1710

tommytynan123 wrote: »

Any comments from anyone's past would be interesting.

Do not contact HR.

Chalk it up to experience. Interview experience is always good.

Different interviewers/interview boards have different styles.

Interviewers may think they have already seen the perfect candidate. It is up to the next candidate to prove to them they haven't.

sangie595

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Do not contact HR.

Chalk it up to experience. Interview experience is always good.

Different interviewers/interview boards have different styles.

Interviewers may think they have already seen the perfect candidate. It is up to the next candidate to prove to them they haven't.

Totally agree. And would add - for all you know she said or did something in the first five minutes that doomed her interview.

Interviews carry no guarantee of getting a job. Everyone knows that. The reason you don't get it, whether you " know" that reason or not, is irrelevant. It goes with the turf - thank them and move on. Because one day you might be back for a job, and you don't want them to remember you for being the problem candidate.

TELLIT01

It is possible that a great candidate had already been identified, so they were really just going through the motions. It is also possible that some innocent comment by your friend destroyed any hope of getting the job.
I've been through an interview process where I knew within 2 minutes of arriving that I wouldn't get the job, no matter how good I was. It was with a police force and whether by accident or design I saw the diary for interviews. With the exception of myself every interviewee was 'Internal Applicant' followed by the name. I called the agency when I left and they went nuts. They said it wasn't the first time it had happened, but it would be the last!

[Deleted User]

I don't know but I certainly had some funnies and recently! I went for an alleged perm job at a parcel company 3 weeks ago - never heard back and in truth deeply suspicious as whilst their ad was for a permie they sure had a recruitment agent on the case who posted that they were looking for temps at very same time... At the interview as well they tried saying they didn't realise where I was travelling from until I turned up in their very interview room... I left it to the end and did say something about seeing the agency ad's even if I did walk out red faced - it was worth it! They also just presumed I knew the answers to the interview questions as well having worked for it's sister, it was embarrassing but now I know why there is never a cross over of staff.

Then there was the interviewer who recently went on and on about how the company pay sick leave and medical benefits - What wasn't advised was that wouldn't apply until you'd been in the role at least 5 years and actually the job in question commands excellent attendance anyhow to become permanent/clearly not get the sack even! so if nothing else it shows sometimes an interviewer doesn't know what they are going on about. Perhaps it could be worse.

sulphate

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Do not contact HR.

Chalk it up to experience. Interview experience is always good.

Different interviewers/interview boards have different styles.

Interviewers may think they have already seen the perfect candidate. It is up to the next candidate to prove to them they haven't.

This, exactly.

There's two sides to every story. I've been to interviews where they've decided not to take copies of my right to work documents and i've still got the job. To be honest I don't know why they ask every interview candidate to bring them anyway, it's a waste of time for everyone apart from the successful person.

In every job interview I've been to i've been asked at the end "do you have any questions for us" that would have been an ideal opportunity for your friend to exhibit more interest, what can you tell me about the new role, etc if it she hadn't had the chance before.

What would your friend hope to achieve by calling HR?

aife

It is possible that they had someone lined up already. I've seen this happen a few times , but they advertise because they don't want to be accused of not observing equal opportunities policies etc.
It could also be that the interviewer was bored ,tired , unmotivated or biased for whatever reason.
In any case your friend doesn't know for sure yet that she was unsuccessful and has nothing to gain by preempting the decision. And their 'perfect candidate' might turn down the offer ..

tommytynan123

TELLIT01 wrote: »

I've been through an interview process where I knew within 2 minutes of arriving that I wouldn't get the job,

I think she was just a little peeved after the journey etc - we'll see.

Your story reminds me of one of mine some years back when leaving the Royal Navy as a commissioned officer. I was invited to an interview for a post as ''Estate and building officer'' for the Army camps in Wales as it was a ''retired officers'' post. My CV didn't even mention a brick let alone a building - but off I went. Cornwall to Brecon, winter, cold, snowing, roads blocked ... on and on. Got met at the officers mess by an Army Officer (plus Labrador - honest!) and during the walk to the interview he said ''Sorry for the late notice but we suddenly realised the post is ''tri-service'' so we have to interview a retiring officer from Navy and RAF to go with our 6 retiring Army officers!!!!! What ... !!!:cool:

Savvy_Sue

sulphate wrote: »

There's two sides to every story. I've been to interviews where they've decided not to take copies of my right to work documents and i've still got the job. To be honest I don't know why they ask every interview candidate to bring them anyway, it's a waste of time for everyone apart from the successful person.

It's to save the waste of time for the employer if they appoint someone who doesn't have RTW in the UK.

To be fair, I think we sometimes forget to ask all candidates to show their passport (or whatever), but at least by ASKING people to bring them it concentrates the minds of those who cannot instantly lay their hands on their passport. It would be deeply irritating to offer the job to someone who either did not have RTW or was so disorganised that they could not produce proof.