HR messed up arranging the interview six times! They sent me to the wrong location twice on the wrong dates and when I phoned them each time they said they couldn't find the job. Couldn't find the job! They then said the job had been changed to train driver (lol!) when I gave them the advert number. They were making it up as they went along but in the end the employing manager phoned me and apologised. He said something about budget cuts and re-orgs had caused HR to 'get confused very quickly'. I just laughed and was relieved that something was now being done.
The interview was for only twenty minutes and something that I will never forget. The lady from HR who guided me to the interview was really rude and gave me the impression she didn't want me to get the job. She made some catty remarks and was saying how late I was - I had been waiting in reception for 20 minutes! I felt like a second class citizen after the way she spoke to me.
Interview type: Competency based areas were: accountable, active, direct, fair and consistent, and impossible.
For each area you needed to give one word answers to each of these baffling questions they fire at you. The key each time was to say yes and nod in a very exagerrated way (which I soon realised early on when the employing manager started to move his head back and forth dramatically, winking each time). Maybe it's a london underground thing but I thought it was weird! I'm only glad that I wasn't wearing my toupee that day. I copied him each time and saw him writing 5 out of 5 when I started to do it - magic. It's part of their 'learning on the job culture' they've been trying to introduce it to make them more dynamic according to the programme manager. Just plain odd and something that I've never seen anywhere in 15 years of work experience.
They just gave me the job after this in large part because I said that I needed to get experience in Project Management and they said they wanted to help those who were enthused by their profession. They said they would pay QA to get me trained in Prince2 if I needed it and offered to re-imburse me, which is what happened. They said my experience was really good for what they wanted - I had in the past driven a bus for a large number of elderly people across to various locations around london and this really got them excited. They said that it matched the vision and the blueprint of the programme which was to expand the network.
Regarding the rude lady from HR who kept making snide comments, it made me want to project manage her out of the company when I got the job! Turns out she was trying to get her brother into the job. I will never want to see her again!
HR insisted on a job check and security clearance check and this took them and their consultants four and a half months to carry out. They were not helpful when I asked them how long it would be which was really awkward as I had to time my notice for my current employers. They kept phoning up my boss saying they had lost his reference that he had to 'fax over'. Fax? We're not in the 1980s anymore! Thankfully I was on good terms with my previous boss.
One thing that continues to confuse me is the strange interview and the relevance of the elderly people being driven by bus - I'm an IT project manager now so I can laugh about it.
Despite not actually enjoying the the interview, it was worth it as I've never been paid so much money to do so little - fortunately there is no accountability and nothing ever gets done. Good luck to others.