This Business and Moment...

[Rroff]

It's frustrating when you have a phone interview and they basically say there's no point in asking any tech questions as your CV speaks for itself, so they ask a load of random nonsense.

Or rather whoever does technical was too lazy/disorganised or the company keeping them too busy to allow for time to be available for the interview and the HR people had no idea on the technical side - first thing I'd want to do is make sure someone's actual ability matched their CV.

If they are asking a load of BS questions probably to make sure you somewhat fit in with their BS company culture/approach if I'm being generous maybe to get a measure of your character in a meaningful way but probably not.

 

[Rids]

Had an interview for a new role today, bit of a sideways move from what I'm doing now but in a considerably larger firm with more opportunity for around a 15% salary bump.

Seemed to go pretty well, the hiring manager used to work here and had a very good reputation, she also knows a lot of people that know me so she had heard of me by reputation.

We'll see what comes of it!

 

[mattx2]

After 5 months way too many applications to remember and 1 unsuccessful interview I finally landed a role as a consultant for an alternative asset management consultancy. Not something I was originally looking for I didn't think I would get something like this. Cant wait to get stuck in to some interesting projects

 

[ChrisD.]

Decent looking permanent role going 2 miles from home, bit of a drop in take home vs contracting, but the benefits and impending IR35 complications are making it look attractive. The salary is really competitive for my area as well. The role title is Technical Solutions Engineer, reporting to the solutions lead. It looks like it's what I would be happy doing.

I've put my suit in for dry cleaning and I'm hoping to secure an interview. I do have more than one suit, but putting on and losing weight over the past few years plays havoc with fitting and I generally don't wear suits anyway!

 

[ChrisD.]

Phone interview for the above role on Tuesday.

 

[Phate]

Best of luck Chris!

 

[Deleted member 651465]

On a bit of a downer at the moment...

Took a promotion internally, moved up to a larger business on the premise that I'd be #2 in the team of 7. Upon starting my boss new moved on, so the #1 job was filled by someone previously in the team.

Anyway, long story short... I thought I was starting as #2 but the new boss has other ideas outside of what I was promised i.e. my ability to deputise is going to be shared between the team and I'm actually 1 of 2 people at the same level within the team.

To top it off, the other person at the same level as me just left and they've just promoted someone who completed a basic qualification 5 months ago. I normally wouldn't be bothered by this (as I am very qualified) but she's very chummy with the new boss and I suspect at some stage I will get shafted come promotion time.

I went to the guy that was previously the boss (the guy that left as I joined) and expressed my concern. Now, I realise that the #1 role is unlikely to come up anytime soon so I feel a bit trapped.

Turned down a job abroad for this and not sure I want the crap that comes with office politics.

 

[Lopéz]

Or rather whoever does technical was too lazy/disorganised or the company keeping them too busy to allow for time to be available for the interview and the HR people had no idea on the technical side - first thing I'd want to do is make sure someone's actual ability matched their CV.

If they are asking a load of BS questions probably to make sure you somewhat fit in with their BS company culture/approach if I'm being generous maybe to get a measure of your character in a meaningful way but probably not.

You know, if you do end up somewhere that has a genuinely good culture and approach, it's so far from BS - it becomes a huge positive factor.

 

[Rids]

Whats a reasonable amount of time to respond to a job offer?

After a disappointing pay rise and bonus following an absolutely amazing performance in my job over the last 18 months I decided to test the market after being approached by a recruiter. I'm already on good money, this was better.

The new job is very appealing, the salary is markedly improved and there would be plenty of scope for development and to further my career. Its a bigger company, with familiar challenges but also the opportunity to develop my skill set away from the niche I'm in currently.

Having said that, I'm extremely happy here. My salary has increased 50% in the last two years, I'm getting great exposure across the business, the directors know me, I'm working on landing an project that would be absolutely critical to the future of the business and there is stuff coming on the horizon that would be extremely interesting to work on and would look great on a CV. Really I want the business to give me a reason to stay - back fill some of the more BAU aspects of my role and gain me the exposure I want, which they've already indicated an interest in doing.

At present I have a verbally accepted the offer with the new company, subject to a conversation with the Group FD should their be a counter-offer. The problem is the Group FD is not one to be railroaded, and he'll do this at his own pace, which means its likely to drag on for potentially a couple of weeks. Keeping the new company waiting that length of time seems completely unreasonable to me, how long can I realistically drag this out until they get the hump and tell me to bugger off?

 

[Basher]

Whats a reasonable amount of time to respond to a job offer?

After a disappointing pay rise and bonus following an absolutely amazing performance in my job over the last 18 months I decided to test the market after being approached by a recruiter. I'm already on good money, this was better.

The new job is very appealing, the salary is markedly improved and there would be plenty of scope for development and to further my career. Its a bigger company, with familiar challenges but also the opportunity to develop my skill set away from the niche I'm in currently.

Having said that, I'm extremely happy here. My salary has increased 50% in the last two years, I'm getting great exposure across the business, the directors know me, I'm working on landing an project that would be absolutely critical to the future of the business and there is stuff coming on the horizon that would be extremely interesting to work on and would look great on a CV. Really I want the business to give me a reason to stay - back fill some of the more BAU aspects of my role and gain me the exposure I want, which they've already indicated an interest in doing.

At present I have a verbally accepted the offer with the new company, subject to a conversation with the Group FD should their be a counter-offer. The problem is the Group FD is not one to be railroaded, and he'll do this at his own pace, which means its likely to drag on for potentially a couple of weeks. Keeping the new company waiting that length of time seems completely unreasonable to me, how long can I realistically drag this out until they get the hump and tell me to bugger off?

Personally I would give a candidate 24 hours to say yes or no. Any longer and they don't really want it.

If the candidate was waiting around for a counter-offer, that would be a red-flag too.

 

[alx]

On a bit of a downer at the moment...

Took a promotion internally, moved up to a larger business on the premise that I'd be #2 in the team of 7. Upon starting my boss new moved on, so the #1 job was filled by someone previously in the team.

Anyway, long story short... I thought I was starting as #2 but the new boss has other ideas outside of what I was promised i.e. my ability to deputise is going to be shared between the team and I'm actually 1 of 2 people at the same level within the team.

To top it off, the other person at the same level as me just left and they've just promoted someone who completed a basic qualification 5 months ago. I normally wouldn't be bothered by this (as I am very qualified) but she's very chummy with the new boss and I suspect at some stage I will get shafted come promotion time.

I went to the guy that was previously the boss (the guy that left as I joined) and expressed my concern. Now, I realise that the #1 role is unlikely to come up anytime soon so I feel a bit trapped.

Turned down a job abroad for this and not sure I want the crap that comes with office politics.

When you raised your concerns with the guy that was previously the boss what did he say? I understand your concerns, however currently not much has really happened apart from the deputising being shared between two roles rather than one. It's easy to see the negative side of these situations, but you never know how it might pan out

 

[Jony27]

Applied for a few jobs via LinkedIn and submitted my CV to a couple of recruitment agencies. Will see how it pans out

 

[RobHu]

Personally I would give a candidate 24 hours to say yes or no. Any longer and they don't really want it.

If the candidate was waiting around for a counter-offer, that would be a red-flag too.

This is nuts. Changing jobs is a big decision that usually shouldn't be made in <24 hours. Also many good candidates will have multiple interview processes on the go at once. If a company/recruiter gave me 24 hours to accept an offer I'd immediately decline it. Any half decent company should be happy to wait a week at least for an answer.

 

[malachi]

This is nuts. Changing jobs is a big decision that usually shouldn't be made in <24 hours. Also many good candidates will have multiple interview processes on the go at once. If a company/recruiter gave me 24 hours to accept an offer I'd immediately decline it. Any half decent company should be happy to wait a week at least for an answer.

True but business is business, you don't want the job then somebody else will take the offer.

 

[toshj]

True but business is business, you don't want the job then somebody else will take the offer.

No company that gives you a 24 hour period to accept an offer has your career interests at heart.

 

[InvaderGIR]

No company that gives you a 24 hour period to accept an offer has your career interests at heart.

Indeed. I'd walk from both the employer and the agent if they attempted to push a 24hr response on me.

I need to start looking for jobs this week, I do so love dealing with agents... Thankfully I actually have built up a list of companies that I can apply to directly from research locally and further afield so I'm not totally reliant on LinkedIn / agent spam.

 

[Basher]

This is nuts. Changing jobs is a big decision that usually shouldn't be made in <24 hours. Also many good candidates will have multiple interview processes on the go at once. If a company/recruiter gave me 24 hours to accept an offer I'd immediately decline it. Any half decent company should be happy to wait a week at least for an answer.

You don't start making that decision at the point of an offer, though. By the time you get an offer, you should already have made a decision as to if the company is right for you.

I want someone that is incredibly passionate about the job. By the time we'd get an offer to them, they'd have typically been through 4-5 interviews. If they haven't made their mind up in that time, then they're not the right candidate.

 

[randomshenans]

You don't start making that decision at the point of an offer, though. By the time you get an offer, you should already have made a decision as to if the company is right for you.

I want someone that is incredibly passionate about the job. By the time we'd get an offer to them, they'd have typically been through 4-5 interviews. If they haven't made their mind up in that time, then they're not the right candidate.

This is stupid.

 

[Basher]

This is stupid.

Maybe, but it works for us.

If, after such an intense process you're still not sure about the job, then it's really not for you. The reality though, is that we'd never offer it to someone where it wasn't abundantly clear that they wanted it.

 

[toshj]

This is stupid.

Aye - different things come out during different stages of an interview process. Candidates find out positives and negatives throughout their discussions, just because a candidate is progressing through the rounds it doesn't necessarily mean that each interview is enhancing the firm/opportunity toe the candidate - I think you once mentioned that you'd worked in recruitment years ago, so I'm sure you've seen this first hand. Therefore it's important for potential employees to be given the time to make a fully informed and careful decision. Even if it works out well in the end, a rushed decision can never be described as careful.

As @Basher says, it works for him/his firm, but both parties are likely to make more incorrect calls on each other if decisions are rushed.