To be put off by recruitment process ?

[Tocontinu]

I am going to the recruitment process for a job and already passed two interviews; next one is a presentation for a case study. The company and role seem to be good on paper; but I have a been putt off by this presentation to 3 people. I can’t help thinking that it is a bit over the top; there is one more interview, or perhaps I am being lazy; haven’t had to go through all this rigmarole since I left university. All jobs I have had in the last 20 years the recruitment process has been very straightforward. After the presentation there is still one more interview about values for one hour and another to meet the funders of the company.

I already have an offer for another job which was very straightforward; but wanted to see the other process through before I confirm.

Accounting related questions, but some of them are not even relevant to the type of company. In my opinion they seem more like an accounting test rather than a presentation.

I am going to pull out. I need to word in and honest and polite, respectful manner.

Perhaps they want to know I can explain figures and accounting knowledge to other non accounting people? Trying to see it from their perspective. But are 3 parts really required?

Will the other job still be available if you continue with the lengthy recruitment process? If so you lost nothing (except your time) by continuing.

I have always felt that th recruitment process takes you a lot about the culture of the company or organization. I once applied for a full time role and at the interview they blindsided me by asking if I would accept it as a job share. I was very forthright in telling them that I felt the role had been seriously misrepresented. They covered themselves by saying they has a staff member returning from mat leave who wanted to drop down to part time. What that told me was that the appointee would be lumbered with the unpopular hours and tasks if there was already an internal applicant.

What an absolute ballache! If you do pull out, how about something short and to the point...

Thank you very much for the opportunity to interview for the Finance Manager position and for the time and effort your team has invested in the process so far.

After careful consideration, I’ve concluded that this may not be the right fit for me at this time, and I’ve decided to withdraw my application.

I appreciate the opportunity to learn more about [Company Name] and wish you and the team every success in finding the right candidate.

True. I can not keep the other company waiting.

They are being helpful but the timings have not worked well as I was away and so was their Financial Controller. We had one online interview while I was away.

On paper this company sounds ideal in terms of culture, role, benefits and location. But their process is giving me serious doubts.

Perhaps it's just a good way to weed out the non-committed. The ones who won't go the extra mile. The ones who can't see the point in what they think is unnecessary because they know they're good enough.
Transparency, doing things the right way even if it's a bit of a pain, do seem directly connected to following financial regs.
If everyone there has put in the extra effort at least you know you're not working with people who only want to do the bare minimum

Thank you all for your perspective. This has been very helpful as I was doubting myself. I am going to be honest with them.

Maybe; but I not working there yet.

They don't seem to respect your time and effort, it's very one way. You have to show commitment to them, but they don't yet have any commitment to you. Walk away.

This would be absolutely normal in my industry although the presentation and values interview would be rolled into one meeting.

We use the presentation to not assess just the actual presentation style of the candidate (which can always be coached) but more to gain insight into thought process, risk appetite, research done, understanding of the environment/opportunity they would be working with. It helps map out what type of onboarding support would be required.

Having a full view of a candidate helps enormously with a successful onboarding and retention of talent.

Recruitment is a two way process and so if you are not happy don’t do it.

A presentation is completely fine. So is a first interview, and second if a senior role. But not multiple interviews/presentations.

Thank you.

It is a relatively new company, under 10 years, so perhaps inexperience,

Saying that, I have two ex colleagues who changed roles recently and gone through similar lengthy process, one had to do a presentation too and it was a junior role.

It's disrespectful of your time and effort

Thank you. I am leaning to the other job which offered after two interviews; it is a smaller company so wanted to check what the other one had to offer.

Their presentation format does seem to be incredibly OTT with its multiple sections and questions. What exactly are they trying to test here? It looks like they’ve given zero thought to the actual candidate experience and are solely thinking about what they need to find out.

I wrote on one of my earlier posts about my current employer/dept doing case study interviews. When I was interviewed by them 6 years ago, my case study interview consisted of me being given one sentence on a piece of paper at the start of the session and then being left alone in the room for 20 mins with a flipchart to gather my thoughts and write up what I was going to present. They came back, I presented and they asked questions which I answered. It was a little pressurised but at least it meant I didn’t have to do any preparation.

These days we’re a little more sophisticated and have more detailed case study scenarios that the interview panel (usually 2 people) select (and may tailor) for each candidate if/when they pass the screening interview but there is no expectation on the candidate to do any preparation. I much prefer that approach. We combine this 20-30 mins of case study with 30 mins of deep dive into their c.v./experience. Our corporate values are a fundamental part of any interview so we don’t need to test that separately.

Companies really shouldn't flatter themselves that they are that special, they mostly aren't.

It's been par for the past for decent companies for a long time. It helps weed out who's worth looking at and who isn't. If they can't be bothered completing the selection process then they're likely to be a pretty awful employee.

Really?

It seems to be testing accounting skills which is no needed in my opinion as not all the audience are accountants; and I already had 45 min technical interview with specific accounting questions. My heart sank when I received it.

I think an open more general question, 15 min presentation plus 15 min question an answers would be more suitable.

From your breakdown of their case study format, it sounds more like an exam than a case study. An exam with witnesses. 😛

To be honest, I’d be tempted to tell them to get lost. Although I’d politely phrase it along the lines of “I’m sorry to say but regretfully I have no choice but to withdraw from the interview process. We have an important deadline coming up in my current role and we’re all working flat out and long hours to meet it. It just isn’t feasible right now to spend all the extra hours that you seem to require preparing for the case study interview in addition to my current workload. Actually I’m a little confused as I’ve already had a technical interview with you but the case study also seems to be very technical, is that correct?”

Thank you. This is exactly how I am feeling; it feels more like a test in front of 3 people rather than a presentation in a recruitment process.

I am going to be honest with them

I would also be put off by this and i am a finance director. I understand about identifying those who are willing to put the effort in but when you already have a full time job, all the extra effort and time off for all of these interviews is asking a lot and a one hour presentation is ott, would fill me with absolute dread and take an enormous amount of time to prepare for. 1.5 hour for 1 hour presentation is unrealistic.

I was offered a job about twelve months ago by another company, their process was an initial interview with hr and md, a further one with md and international fd, then a third with all of the senior team, a factory tour and lunch with md. This followed the external recruiter insisting on an in person meeting.
After offering the job they wanted me to come in and spend one day a month with them while I was working my notice. And all of the senior team called me in the first couple of weeks to introduce themselves again and ask my opinion on things. At this point I had already used 4 days of annual leave as the interviews were all late morning and would have required another 3.

I eventually withdrew from the position for a variety of reasons but the time they expected for all the interviews and the pressure to 'keep in touch' and be part of decisions and use my leave to spend the day there regularly were part of that decision. I was still being paid by the current employer to do a job and felt strongly that I wanted to tie up all loose ends during my notice.

I think it sounds fairly normal OP, and I would do it if you want to progress. Even if you don't get it you'll have had the experience and you already have another offer as well.

Thank you. The people I spoke to do far are nice, friendly and professional; I just can’t get pass this case study which seems more like an accounting test; they said not to spend more than an hour and a half and use AI if needed; however I think an hour presentation with multiple questions will require more like 4 hours preparation if you want to do it properly. I completely put me off and I can’t get pass it, and get myself together to do it.

That's too much. Tell them to ram their job. Who do they think they are?

an effin joke these days. Last week I was invited to interview. All booked in and confirmed. I then get a request for a pre interview phone interview with HR "prior to my interview". Unbelievable.