From what I remember, the interview question list contained some STAR questions, and a few other personality and hobbies-related questions to get to know more about me. I also was asked to look at a magnetometry map, describe it and identify what could be features, and guess at what the features might be. The manager who screened me over the phone and my interviewers were all incredibly pleasant. My interviewers did make a note that my notice period is 4 weeks. This interview took place just before Christmas, so I got an email response in the New Year. In the New Year, I received my job offer via email from the HR department. The email explained that the contract is formatted as a deed, which means that it must be signed with witnesses. The email also said that I would receive a draft copy of the contract soon. My research told me that an employment contract tends to be executed as a deed to avoid future legal battles over intellectual property – my educated guess was that, in my role, this would concern maps and plans I produce of sites I survey. I didn’t have any problems with this. I had two queries about how the rising minimum wage would affect the pay grades, and whether the working week was 40 hours or 37.5 hours/week, both of which were clarified quickly. I was given a deadline to accept the job offer by, so I emailed the day before the deadline formally accepting the offer and I suggested a possible start date for myself. However, I rang HR the next day (the day of the deadline itself) to make sure that they had received my email acceptance as I’d not got an acknowledgement back, they said yes they had. This was when things took a turn for the worse. I didn't hear anything, so the following week, I thought I would send them an email asking if there were any onboarding documents I could be completing while I was waiting, and also if they could include a draft copy of the contract. I also reminded them that I would need to hand in my notice at my current employer by the end of next week, if the start date that I had proposed was to work. Radio silence. The following week, I tried ringing HR, and I got through to an assistant who said that she’d nudge the person in HR who I’d been corresponding with previously. However, this didn’t seem to do anything. So the deadline to hand in my notice came up and nothing had happened. So I sent a second formal email requesting a draft copy of the contract, and I explained that because of delays in communication, the start date that I had originally proposed was no longer feasible, and that it would have to be changed. In addition, I suggested that an appointment be arranged so that my contract could be signed early in advance of a new start date. I assumed that the witnesses attending this appointment would be a given and it didn’t need to be said. I also quietly hoped that that would prevent the notice period from becoming a recurring problem. Radio silence. The week after that, I rang the company asking to be put through to HR because I was still completely in the dark as to what was going on. This took two attempts due to meetings but both people who picked up the phone said that they’d leave a message, and get the person to ring me back. I was rung back at 5 to 5 in the evening, and the person tried to dress me down by saying that, because the contract is a deed it cannot be signed in advance (??????) and claimed that this was explained to me in my offer email. They also revealed that they had accepted my proposed start date and had been working to it (which was news to me), but because I’d failed to hand in my notice on time, that it meant that I likely wouldn’t be able to join my fellow new hires on the induction day they were scheduling (again, the first I’d heard of this), and hence they might have to withdraw my job offer. The person added that they were overworked and under-resourced. I explained that I’d not been communicated with at all, and that both of the previous two emails I had sent represented chances that were missed to sort this out. I ended the call with one last exasperated request of “Please just answer my emails”. One week later, I received an email from HR formally withdrawing my job offer on the basis that the start date I had proposed was no longer feasible. This has dragged out for four weeks, I never saw a draft contract or a provisional timetable for their induction week (is it even a week? Or is it only one day? I still have no idea), and has been a complete waste of time. HR fumbled this badly, and they tried to use the deeds format as a stick to beat me with. The point about needing witnesses: either you send the witnesses an invitation on the Teams calendar for a new meeting, or if Magnitude likes to induct new hires collectively, then you send provisional schedules/timetables for that in good time so people can plan accordingly. These are administrative issues, not features of a deeds format. It was very disappointing.