500 miles, £ 100 travel and a day of my life

[oliverson]

for just 35 mins of interview in London. Kind of puts a lid on my London/banking searches now. I'll never contract in London again.

So, I turn up for my 1 hour meeting and the guy hasn't even bothered to reserve a room. The receptionist is frantically trying to make a reservation but can only find a room for 30 mins. So, I'm shown to the room and the guy turns up looking flustered and stressed out. Gives me 4 sheets of paper with C# code fragments, etc. What's the output of this, write an algorithm for that, code-review this. Slightly annoying as I'd already sat an IKM online test and shot 96%. Anyhow the guy disappears and comes back 30 mins later at which point I'd finished. Felt I did a good job. We chat through the answers for about 5 mins and then he thanks me and says he'll be in touch through the agency. That's it! Nothing about the project, nothing about what I've been doing. I've never felt so short changed coming out of a meeting. Told the agent I'm not interested in pursuing the role further.

Spoke to an agent friend about this and he knows the guy and his team. Says there's constant friction in the team with some members 'hating' each other. Lucky escape eh? What is it with these people?

[BolshieBastard]

LOL! Sucker for travelling 500 miles for an interview then!

[nomadd]

for just 35 mins of interview in London. Kind of puts a lid on my London/banking searches now. I'll never contract in London again.

So, I turn up for my 1 hour meeting and the guy hasn't even bothered to reserve a room. The receptionist is frantically trying to make a reservation but can only find a room for 30 mins. So, I'm shown to the room and the guy turns up looking flustered and stressed out. Gives me 4 sheets of paper with C# code fragments, etc. What's the output of this, write an algorithm for that, code-review this. Slightly annoying as I'd already sat an IKM online test and shot 96%. Anyhow the guy disappears and comes back 30 mins later at which point I'd finished. Felt I did a good job. We chat through the answers for about 5 mins and then he thanks me and says he'll be in touch through the agency. That's it! Nothing about the project, nothing about what I've been doing. I've never felt so short changed coming out of a meeting. Told the agent I'm not interested in pursuing the role further.

Spoke to an agent friend about this and he knows the guy and his team. Says there's constant friction in the team with some members 'hating' each other. Lucky escape eh? What is it with these people?

Far too many time-waster interviews going on in London-Banking at the moment. Hence my "60 second interview" I mentioned on one of the other threads; cannot stand having my time wasted. Still, at least I'd only had a 20 minute trip to get there.

The lesson I've learnt is to go back to my old ways of insisting on detailed telephone interviews beforehand, along with complete agreement over what will/will not be covered in any subsequent face-to-face interview.

[BrilloPad]

for just 35 mins of interview in London. Kind of puts a lid on my London/banking searches now. I'll never contract in London again.

Spoke to an agent friend about this and he knows the guy and his team. Says there's constant friction in the team with some members 'hating' each other. Lucky escape eh? What is it with these people?

Sorry to hear that. It goes on ALOT. Alot of times the biggest issue with London is not the job but the commuting and the attitude of the people.

However is it worth being put off by one bad experience? If you really want a gig in IT in LOndon you might have to go through of these to become the "best of the best". Or is it "worst of the worst"?

[Mr.Whippy]

LOL! Sucker for travelling 500 miles for an interview then!

You really are an idiot.

[Kanye]

Far too many time-waster interviews going on in London-Banking at the moment.

I can confirm that from the inside.

We have middle managers who like to talk about the investments they will make and the cool projects they will put into place, so we bring people in for interview.

We find 1 out of 10 who we'd like to offer to, but then when it comes to signing off the hire we get push back and told we can only bring on an offshore at best.

This little charade wastes 5 or 6 peoples time and we seem to go through it 4 or 5 times per year.

[Hot Mess]

You really are an idiot.

+1

He is an ill mannered pathetic child. Can't even be bothered to feel sorry for him. Tragic case.

[pmeswani]

for just 35 mins of interview in London. Kind of puts a lid on my London/banking searches now. I'll never contract in London again.

So, I turn up for my 1 hour meeting and the guy hasn't even bothered to reserve a room. The receptionist is frantically trying to make a reservation but can only find a room for 30 mins. So, I'm shown to the room and the guy turns up looking flustered and stressed out. Gives me 4 sheets of paper with C# code fragments, etc. What's the output of this, write an algorithm for that, code-review this. Slightly annoying as I'd already sat an IKM online test and shot 96%. Anyhow the guy disappears and comes back 30 mins later at which point I'd finished. Felt I did a good job. We chat through the answers for about 5 mins and then he thanks me and says he'll be in touch through the agency. That's it! Nothing about the project, nothing about what I've been doing. I've never felt so short changed coming out of a meeting. Told the agent I'm not interested in pursuing the role further.

Spoke to an agent friend about this and he knows the guy and his team. Says there's constant friction in the team with some members 'hating' each other. Lucky escape eh? What is it with these people?

Are you for real? Did Aston Carter arrange this interview for you?

[nomadd]

You really are an idiot.

+1

Would have -rep'd him over it, but that would only start the rep wars up once again. Why the idiot can't stay in General is beyond me...

[Mr.Whippy]

BolshieBastard, giving me neg rep and abuse doesn't really alter the fact that you're a clown and just don't have a clue.

Posts like yours do nothing to help the OP in the professional forums. Yes, the OP could've asked for a phone interview but that still wouldn't have meant there was a room available for more than 30 minutes for the face to face after a 250 mile trip to get there, does it?