Interview unsuccessful but recalled after a month

Wily_coyote

Thanks all for the useful replies. 

Update: I went to this meeting yesterday. It was quite relaxed and informal. However at the time of writing I have no indication if I get offered the job or not. 

No particular timeline was given during the discussion and I didn’t want to probe it as I was aware of not sounding too pushy. So I am none the wiser. 

There could be other people previously deemed unsuccessful that they may want to see along side me but I could not really sense this.
Hopefully will find out soon but not sure if I still have too much of a hope in securing it. But lets see. Cheers 

DullGreyGuy

SensibleSarah said:

It's a bit of a small red flag to me that a) the person originally brought on board for the role has changed their mind or left as soon as they started AND b) the hiring manager has also left. Both those things can of course be nothing to worry about and completely irrelevant, but it could also indicate some issues - so use this to suss them out as much as they are doing the same with you. 

An interview is a two way process so certainly good advice to make sure you are testing them as much as them you.

I think clarification of a "few weeks" would really help... its a very short time scale for someone to accept an offer, go through screening, go through their notice period, start a job and then decide to leave as its not for them. At the same time its relatively long time to accept an offer and then receive either a counter offer from your current employer or receive a better offer from another company that you'd applied to about the same time.  It may be they held of telling their current employer until they had the new contract and then got the counter offer.

The hiring manager moving on is more concerning to me. Never had it happen during the interview process but was once hired and on my start day was told the manager was now working their notice. Was told by his boss it was a mutual decision and told by him after that they'd served notice on him. Nerves in that case played out as his replacement was totally different and fairly quickly replaced all of his hires with his own network including me. The two guys knew each other and there was bad blood between them. At least in the OP's situation the new hiring manager gets a say so less likely to subsequently say they prefer a different type of person. 

Wily_coyote

DullGreyGuy said:

SensibleSarah said:

It's a bit of a small red flag to me that a) the person originally brought on board for the role has changed their mind or left as soon as they started AND b) the hiring manager has also left. Both those things can of course be nothing to worry about and completely irrelevant, but it could also indicate some issues - so use this to suss them out as much as they are doing the same with you. 

An interview is a two way process so certainly good advice to make sure you are testing them as much as them you.

I think clarification of a "few weeks" would really help... its a very short time scale for someone to accept an offer, go through screening, go through their notice period, start a job and then decide to leave as its not for them. At the same time its relatively long time to accept an offer and then receive either a counter offer from your current employer or receive a better offer from another company that you'd applied to about the same time.  It may be they held of telling their current employer until they had the new contract and then got the counter offer.

The hiring manager moving on is more concerning to me. Never had it happen during the interview process but was once hired and on my start day was told the manager was now working their notice. Was told by his boss it was a mutual decision and told by him after that they'd served notice on him. Nerves in that case played out as his replacement was totally different and fairly quickly replaced all of his hires with his own network including me. The two guys knew each other and there was bad blood between them. At least in the OP's situation the new hiring manager gets a say so less likely to subsequently say they prefer a different type of person. 

Thanks for your message. Just to clarify: few weeks is around 4 weeks to be precise. I don’t know the reasons behind the real reason for whoever got offered the role in the first place did not take it or materialised which caused therefore me being recalled. 

The previous hiring manager went on child care leave so someone else is deputing and it is the same person who wanted to meet me along side the overall boss. 

First time HR was present in the panel. This time only those individuals were there. No sure what it could meaning but that was a detail I picked up. 

The other thing was that I was asked to supply personal documents eg passport, right to work codes etc. not sure if this is a standard practice prior to any interview though. 

Cheers 

DullGreyGuy

Wily_coyote said:

First time HR was present in the panel. This time only those individuals were there. No sure what it could meaning but that was a detail I picked up. 

HR often get rolled out for only 1 round of an interview process, their role typically is to look at the softer side of you rather than technical skills etc so what personality type are you, will you fit in the culture of the company etc. As a contractor who's there to do a job and leave I'm normally spared the pleasure but my last interview they turned up for the first round and asked about work life balance and what I do to relax etc. They also insisted that all candidates were being asked the same questions to be fair whereas interviewers dont normally have a question sheet and tends to be more free flowing. In the second round normal service returned and no HR were present.

Wily_coyote said:

The other thing was that I was asked to supply personal documents eg passport, right to work codes etc. not sure if this is a standard practice prior to any interview though. 

It varies a lot, some do it at application stage, some at interview, some post interview. Some may just ask for confirmation that you can supply docs and on what basis you have a right to work until after the offer is accepted, some dont ask anything until after the offers accepted and some ask for the evidence up front. I wouldnt read anything into it.