This is in part a review of Nucleus, and in part a review of the Agency, neither of whom represented the company in a good light.
The agency they chose to fill the position was disorganised and gave me a lot of information about the firm which turned out to be incorrect. When I was first contacted about the role I was told it was an HR Administrator/Assistant. When I said I was looking for an HR Advisor role, I was told Nucleus was flexible on job titles. I was told there was an HR team of 2-3, and an HR Manager above this role. It turned out to be a stand-alone role.
I asked for a job description, but when I heard back from the agent, I was told the company liked my CV and I had offered me an interview. At this point, I hadn't even read the JD and had not yet given permission to be put forward for the role!
The JD was for an HR Manager, which was odd, as I was first told it was HR Administrator they were looking for. As it sounded interesting I went along to the interview, which was later postposed by three days, and moved to a Friday.
The interview itself was enjoyable, I was interviewed by the Finance Director, then the CEO and the MD back to back, and was made an offer before I left. The day after receiving the verbal offer, the agent rang me to tell me Nucleus was now unsure if I was the right person for the job (as I had confirmed by email my request to be employed as an HR Advisor, as I had advised the agent right from the start). Her tone was really offensive, insinuating that she and the company were now questioning if I had the skills needed for the job.
Despite this, I agreed to the HR Manager title and was told to expect the offer on Monday.
Monday came and went. On Tuesday I received an offer letter addressed to another candidate (!), no contract, and am email suggesting I was expected to start that coming Thursday (I hadn't accepted, let alone agreed a start date).
After asking for the name correction and the contract I was told I would get it on Thursday. I followed up on Thursday and was told it would be Friday. The following Tuesday I finally received it - 1.5 weeks later. The contract itself listed incorrect working hours, and was dated June 2018.
Throughout this process, there was no sense of urgency, or understanding of the importance of candidate care. What I really objected to was the fact that each time the deadline was missed, there was no follow up to update me with the timescales, just another date given which was then missed too. I didn't feel valued throughout the process, I never felt that they were excited about the prospect of having me on board and ultimately I decided to decline the offer.
Remember - the way you are treated as a candidate, is a strong indication of how you will be treated as an employee.
Nucleus needs to make some changes to the on-boarding process, and be more selective in which agencies they choose to represent them to candidates - this is the first impression candidates have of the company.
