The online process was fairly easy and it was good to see on the back end the status of the application. There was around 2-3 weeks between applying and being offered an interview. There was no human interaction until getting to the interview on the day, everything was done entirely automated and electronically which I found a little disconcerting but as it turns out the whole journey was to be outside of expectations.
I turned up for the interview with 9 others and had been told to reserve 1.25 hours of time. I was told 6pm but turn up 15 minutes before which I did. We didn't get taken until 6.15pm and we left at 7.45pm. Different levels of experience and age (and professionalism apparently) Several of the group sat openly discussing negatively their current retail position and by the end, I knew their salary and shift pattern!
We were split into two groups of five; one going off first for a group assessment and then the other five for 1:1 interviews. The downside here is essentially five interviewers opinions and personal judgement would be taken into account and therefore not all candidates are measured by the same standard. Whilst the competency questions might be consistent, the interpretation of the answers will vary according to the five different interviewers.
Fairly easy competency questions, I found my interviewer (who I believe to not be in recruitment but a section manager within Personnel) was sweet, nice enough and seemed perfectly competent however I didn't find her interviewing skills that strong, again, reiterating to me that realistically we were all going to be measured slightly differently.
There was alot of housekeeping questions including things like upcoming holiday, other jobs, working hours and salary. Additionally, there was the remark that this position was for a 6 month secondment rather than permanent. Now, upon application I did recall that there was secondment opportunities however I am around 85% confident that there was a permanent position also available but you know what, for the opportunity I was potentially going to get, I didn't let it talk me out of continuing the process. We then went off to a group assessment - we were given a brief, time to read it, discuss and produce feedback. Time allocated and with two 'assessors' in the room. No real issue here, not what i'm used to but it wasn't as terrifying as I thought it might have been and actually not a horrendous interview technique.
Four days later I received a verbal offer YAY!.... until the salary offer was mentioned. I just want to recap that I had given my salary within my application and at interview and JLP are transparent with their salary range within the advert and also within interviewing (or certainly my interviewer did) the range was 24k - 32k. I was offered 25k - I haven't been on this salary for 6 years and I explained that my salary was currently 30k and really needed to be matched at the very minimum. Without 'tooting my horn' my value is definitely worth more than 25k and I was a little insulted by that, especially when preparing for the interview, I reviewed their company values. To add insult to injury, I was left hanging from Friday morning to Tuesday morning to then be told, there was no movement and it was 25k or leave it. There was no communication in between, no reassurance, nothing to keep me warm or feeling positive about JLP, nothing! The call to deliver this information was cold and somewhat flippant and again, I was left feeling a little undervalued and worthless. I obviously had to reject the offer based on this.
All in all, I don't think the interview process was at all like the company values insinuate. I felt like they had put us candidates in an order of preference, gone down the list and offered everyone this figure regardless of skill, experience, worth and value. I have 6 years in administration and around 4 years experience within a HR environment about to start my CIPD L3 and really think this could have been the start of a tremendous relationship however I now question JLP and their way of working.
Of course i'm disappointed that it didn't work however this review has not been written in bitterness but more constructive feedback that I would like to think will get taken seriously but in all honesty, I know it won't. I appreciate my company background is very different to the JLP but regardless, I think any companies candidate journey and experience is really important and given how much JLP like to think they are partner focused and care for their employees, that is not the experience I have witnessed and whilst writing this may shatter any future chances, i'm not sure I would choose to work for JLP if this is what they believe to be ok anyway.