Interviewing is a great experince and that too when you are luckily getting interviewed by very Senior Executives... I have latest fun from the 2 such encounters that I had.. ACT#1. Global Head was interviewing me over phone and please note, there was no JD shared for the position. Call started with no idea given to me about the structure and duration of the call and no mention of if I will get opportunity to ask any questions. Normally senior Interviewers set the motion with structure, expectations and plan. Interestingly, nothing seemed planned or structured. Call starts with the typical personal question, "Tell me about your family". No stopping there and next comes the tagged question. Yes, 2 questions merged in one, "Tell me about your pre-MBA experinece and why did you choose HR as MBA specialisation?". Not sure, if asking two mutually exclusive questions merged in one sentence saves time or anything else. But for sure, interviewer had no plan or structure in mind. Such fun is great to have but shameful for the MNC who depend on such interviewers. This company was highest paying company on my MBA campus. Trades in coffee, sugar etc. On abrupt end of call, he mentioned that he is coming down to my city and he would meet me face to face on a date, he mentioned. Consultant/Head hunter was coordinating it all. The day for F2F meeting was one day ahead , when I called Consultant to check if she has got the time and place for my F2F interview and she had no information. Funny was the fact that she cited, here goes the fun..."actually my boss only talks to the client and since boss is on leave I cannot give you details." I insisted and got a little tougher and asked her to confirm details as it was already evening and I was supposed to meet F2F next day. No response came till the interview day and you can imagine my anxiety, if not the Global recruitment Head's professionalism and work ethics. I went a step ahead and searched for interviewer's offcial mail ID on the net and I found a clue. Wrote him asking for "no-updates". He comes back and calls me after 2 days and metions that he was not well, etc and I asked him about his health. He did mention that he could read my anxiety in the mail and from there I was very sure, our F2F meeting was going to be a ritual with no outcome and that pretty much it was. On my interview visit, I maintained a 'cool guy image' and interview went pretty well. I was told that I will get the feedback on Monday and I got a call from the recruitment firm's Manager that " the line manager at that business unit was looking for someone senior and they may come back to me if required but as of now no." That is cool fun as this is the startegic advantage of not sharing a Job description at all, which was the case here and here you win as an interviewer. Cool tactics. Liked it.
ACT#2. Very senior lady HR person form a global jeans apparel brand, posts job on Linked in for Sr.HR Manager and I applied and she responds over email asking for phone interview date and time for 4 days later/over Friday. I responded with time. No call comes till Friday. On interview day/Friday, I called after 45 mins of time of interview missed, and she says, (watch the fun) " She is looking into the interview schedule and she does not find my name. I still have my response to her mail in my sent folder." But out of her sheer professionalism she says, "Since you called me let me give you a time for Monday at 1400 hrs and she just does not stop there, she even sends me an invite from her calendar and not even a few liner courtesy mail, though she had missed my mail. Pls. clap for this modern day professionalism exhibited by such senior HR folks. I respond back confirming her invite. Monday, here comes the time and date of phone interview (remember 1400 hrs), it is already 98 mins past the scheduled time of 1400 hrs and no call no SMS. Can you expect a bigger fun than this? Oh, my bad and update was there in my mail box at 1.35 pm (I did check it later), which was just a rude changed invite with change in date, now it was for the next day. No mail, no sorry, no professional courtesy. I decided to write to her my questions before I get the interview call and she did reply to some of them very professionally. She called me as on the scheduled time and did give me whole lot of information about her company and I appreciated her for her passion and knowledge of her business. Her talk lasted for 30 mins and then she told, she will carry on the round-2 discussion and will send me time. That did not happen for a week and I reminded her on mail. She responded, "She did not get time to talk to me and will keep me posted." I am waiting for her mail for closure or pre-closure. Long live Peter principle. I am loving it all with my french fries! Wanna have some?
ACT#2. Very senior lady HR person form a global jeans apparel brand, posts job on Linked in for Sr.HR Manager and I applied and she responds over email asking for phone interview date and time for 4 days later/over Friday. I responded with time. No call comes till Friday. On interview day/Friday, I called after 45 mins of time of interview missed, and she says, (watch the fun) " She is looking into the interview schedule and she does not find my name. I still have my response to her mail in my sent folder." But out of her sheer professionalism she says, "Since you called me let me give you a time for Monday at 1400 hrs and she just does not stop there, she even sends me an invite from her calendar and not even a few liner courtesy mail, though she had missed my mail. Pls. clap for this modern day professionalism exhibited by such senior HR folks. I respond back confirming her invite. Monday, here comes the time and date of phone interview (remember 1400 hrs), it is already 98 mins past the scheduled time of 1400 hrs and no call no SMS. Can you expect a bigger fun than this? Oh, my bad and update was there in my mail box at 1.35 pm (I did check it later), which was just a rude changed invite with change in date, now it was for the next day. No mail, no sorry, no professional courtesy. I decided to write to her my questions before I get the interview call and she did reply to some of them very professionally. She called me as on the scheduled time and did give me whole lot of information about her company and I appreciated her for her passion and knowledge of her business. Her talk lasted for 30 mins and then she told, she will carry on the round-2 discussion and will send me time. That did not happen for a week and I reminded her on mail. She responded, "She did not get time to talk to me and will keep me posted." I am waiting for her mail for closure or pre-closure. Long live Peter principle. I am loving it all with my french fries! Wanna have some?
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