Come in for a quick chat...
...to prepare you for the interview is what the agency said. Interview lined up with client tomorrow and they want to run through the job before I go in and talk.
I hate having to meet the agency - they always have an ulterior motive and this is no exception; I just got back now and it was a total waste of time.
Got there on the hour as requested. The young lass i spoke to over the phone turns up with some other bloke not much older; ten minutes late. Good to see they've made the effort, but still we're here now.
Went in with a copy of my CV and expected the usual "so, quickly run through your recent experience". I did that for about 3-5 minutes in almost bullet point form. Noticed they also changed parts of my CV - I wasn't happy but it was only minor so didn't say too much.
Now I sit waiting to run through the job, the people, the type of business they have, the project i'll be working on, etc. Turned out to be a 20 minute rant by the young bloke with slick hair and spotty face repeating "remember; sell yourself. you got good experience" and the usual common sense stuff about how to conduct in an interview. Right-o, thanks for that. I came here to know about the job, not how conduct myself infront of their client.
Great! 25 minutes in and we finally get on to what the client actually does and wants...except they both don't know. They know contacts there and "we have loads of people there and they love it" but couldn't answer simple questions such as working hours, the technology they want to use, the size of department and so on. I did get a very small sketch on the back of my CV to see the business model; basically 5 circles and some scribbled writting in them. Going well, so far...
So...i'm sitting there listening non-stop about "how i should just sell myself and i should be fine tomorrow". They both get up expecting me to leave the meeting room - 'oh right. i still know nothing about your client and what they want' i think to myself. I politely suggest "can I ask a few questions?" - perhaps actually get some answers thus the whole point of me being there (well, thats what they said to me).
They both reluctantly sat down and respond "sure. fire away". So, I asked them if they knew the line manager - "no, but you can look them up online via facebook or something" - wtf?
I didn't bother asking anything else. Apparently though the young girl is concerned about my lack of business analyst skills; despite the job being a developer role and plastered all over my CV it states developer. Nothing mentioned being a BA; neither does the job description.
They left it with "ok, well i will email you through some further details for you to look at tonight". I sit there looking puzzled thinking to myself; 'why didn't you bring them to this meeting in the first place - that's why i am here or at least you said it was'.
So, there I was sitting here not knowing anything more about the job other than "i must really sell myself", basically being told to clear off via their body language. riiiiiiight...
Still haven't got any further info from the agency as they suggested; I currently have 8 bullet points with regards to a job description. I also wasted my afternoon for them. Their client is a huge well known company. It'll be fun tomorrow morning interviewing with the client; I feel fairly put off with it now - i don't know much other than what i can do / offer and a very brief 8 bullet point description; i am expecting the role to turn out to be something it wasn't as described.
I can't imagine why I get so sick and tired of these muppets in the middle.
I hate having to meet the agency - they always have an ulterior motive and this is no exception; I just got back now and it was a total waste of time.
Got there on the hour as requested. The young lass i spoke to over the phone turns up with some other bloke not much older; ten minutes late. Good to see they've made the effort, but still we're here now.
Went in with a copy of my CV and expected the usual "so, quickly run through your recent experience". I did that for about 3-5 minutes in almost bullet point form. Noticed they also changed parts of my CV - I wasn't happy but it was only minor so didn't say too much.
Now I sit waiting to run through the job, the people, the type of business they have, the project i'll be working on, etc. Turned out to be a 20 minute rant by the young bloke with slick hair and spotty face repeating "remember; sell yourself. you got good experience" and the usual common sense stuff about how to conduct in an interview. Right-o, thanks for that. I came here to know about the job, not how conduct myself infront of their client.
Great! 25 minutes in and we finally get on to what the client actually does and wants...except they both don't know. They know contacts there and "we have loads of people there and they love it" but couldn't answer simple questions such as working hours, the technology they want to use, the size of department and so on. I did get a very small sketch on the back of my CV to see the business model; basically 5 circles and some scribbled writting in them. Going well, so far...
So...i'm sitting there listening non-stop about "how i should just sell myself and i should be fine tomorrow". They both get up expecting me to leave the meeting room - 'oh right. i still know nothing about your client and what they want' i think to myself. I politely suggest "can I ask a few questions?" - perhaps actually get some answers thus the whole point of me being there (well, thats what they said to me).
They both reluctantly sat down and respond "sure. fire away". So, I asked them if they knew the line manager - "no, but you can look them up online via facebook or something" - wtf?
I didn't bother asking anything else. Apparently though the young girl is concerned about my lack of business analyst skills; despite the job being a developer role and plastered all over my CV it states developer. Nothing mentioned being a BA; neither does the job description.
They left it with "ok, well i will email you through some further details for you to look at tonight". I sit there looking puzzled thinking to myself; 'why didn't you bring them to this meeting in the first place - that's why i am here or at least you said it was'.
So, there I was sitting here not knowing anything more about the job other than "i must really sell myself", basically being told to clear off via their body language. riiiiiiight...
Still haven't got any further info from the agency as they suggested; I currently have 8 bullet points with regards to a job description. I also wasted my afternoon for them. Their client is a huge well known company. It'll be fun tomorrow morning interviewing with the client; I feel fairly put off with it now - i don't know much other than what i can do / offer and a very brief 8 bullet point description; i am expecting the role to turn out to be something it wasn't as described.
I can't imagine why I get so sick and tired of these muppets in the middle.
) teaching me to suck eggs, no matter how many coffees they buy. You know the conversation will get around to subtle phishing for references/contacts. Just binned them off my linkedin. 
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