1) Got contacted by a headhunter via LinkedIn, discussed my previous consulting experience, expectations & career growth.
2) First step - "HR meeting" screening call with a consultant, she gave an overview of the company as well as the launch of the Brussels office. Nice chat both on human and pro level.
3a) Second step - "Skills meeting" Asked to work on a business case and present it for the in person meeting at Bartle's Brussels office: "Merger & Acquisition for 2 energy actors" which was completely out of scope from my expertise & previous projects.
Raised the point only for it to be changed to a change management case, still far from my experience but did it and fully delivered when presenting to the consultant.
3b) Met at the office, discussed my profile, previous experiences in French/Dutch/English, more about the company, current projects then presented the case and answered question.
Finished by a positive feedback + going over next steps & update deadline at Bartle.
Then no update on the suggested date for the next step in recruiting process.
One week goes and I had to get back to both the consultant and the headhunter for a status, which led to read that there was currently no project linked to my expertise at the moment.
PROS (+) + the "Parcours de recrutement" is transparent on Bartle's website, good process and was done fast.
+ B-Corp company
+ Growing independent consulting firm
+ Handful of employees in Belgium, good timing for joiners to build up the BE office.
+ friendly, smart and young people
+ lovely office view, good central location in shared office
CONS (-)
-ffs respect everyone's time (also yours), and don't waste energy doing recruitment if you don't have any opportunities in the pipe that the candidate could potentially fill up...
-a basic follow-up update could be the bare minimum from the Bartle employee/headhunter after giving you from my time more than 2 hours of meeting and 4 hours preparation for the business case instead of having the candidate reach back especially when I NEVER applied and was contacted by a headhunter...
-Consulting is about flexibility but why on earth be asked to work on a M&A business case which was then switched to a change management case, both not being my expertise.
-Poor selection from the headhunter if I ended up not being the profile Bartle was looking for.
-What did the headhunter do besides sending a LinkedIn message?
No briefing, no coaching, barely follow-up and mismatch on profile/offer fit.