It’s not part of the recruitment process but the recruitment consultant (RC ) suggests the candidates meet her for a drink in the hotel bar the night before the interviews. The RC was someone who had taken early retirement from a post similar to the one being recruited for. Prior to this she had a high profile with in the industry and was known for her strong commitment to getting more women into Senior management.
Not part of the formal process but who would be so bold as to decline the invitation! Certainly not the internal candidate who had joined us for the evening meal with board members. (Change places between each course so everyone gets a chance to talk to you). He just wanted to go home and get a good night’s sleep in his own bed.
The RC bought us all a drink, some opted for a non alcoholic beverage I didn’t. Too late I noticed the RC was drinking a fruit juice. She checked everyone knew the time of their individual interview and the location. Then she said I think this is the first interview at this level for all of you. ( not for me but it didn’t seem appropriate to correct her). You are all exceptionally strong candidates and in the past you have probably got every post you have gone for.( Again not me.
In fact I applied for several senior management post before I was successful). Only one of you can be successful tomorrow but remember very few people get appointed at this level first time of asking. It could have been my imagination but she seemed to be addressing her comments to the other three candidates. She was not part of my long listing interview but clearly knew a lot more about the other candidates so presumably had been part of theirs.
There was then some general talk about people she knew who worked in organisations that these three either worked in or had worked in. I felt a bit left out of the conversation even though I had worked in two of the largest and most high profile organisations in this area of business. At this point the internal candidate made his excuses and left to go home and I used the opportunity to retreat to my room and ring my wife. I’m not sure the three of them noticed I had gone so engrossed in conversation were they.
The next day the RC greeted me with the information that the panel would make their decision today and inform candidates before they left. This was a bit unusual normally the Chief Executive rings the successful candidate that night and the RC rings the unsuccessful the next day or if it’s a Friday then not till after the weekend. Better to know same day but this meant hanging around till all the interviews were completed, the panel had deliberated and made a decision. My previous experience had always been that after your interview you’re free to go home.
The interview started badly and never recovered. I made my short presentation. Throughout the chief executive was pulling a pained expression. When I finished he asked, in a rather sarcastic voice, if I was used to presenting reports to board members. I said I was. He said do you usually read from a script? He was clearly not impressed. I explained that normally my written reports are circulated to the board in advance of the meeting, I make a brief introduction and then answer questions. Did he scoff or was that just my imagination. The rest of the interview was a blur conducted by the chair and chief executive like a good cop bad cope routine with the chief executive being a very convincing bad cop.
I learnt several things from this experience. A drink in the bar is part of the recruitment process. I never again read from or referred to notes in a presentation but scripted the whole thing and learnt it off by heart. In these interviews presentation is more important than content. And I defiantly wouldn’t want to work for that chief executive.
