Pre interview

[Willthisworknow]

Went for a pre interview before Xmas to sound out whether I'd be interested ins job - Japanese company. Professionally would be excellent but one of the interviewees told me how it really was. A lot of commitment dueto Japanese nature of company and I have a young family (ie 1, 3 and 5 year old). Ie shed booked a hol but when she mentioned it to the boss, he said, "we are going to Japan that week" so she had to cancel holiday. Plus sounds like they don't like you to take more than a week,off at a time and not great about WFH ( and my children are sick a lot). I work from ome full time right now lots of flex. Would love the experience of this new job including the travelling - but not ure I could cope with the inflexibility. They've sked if i want to go for full interview but hubby not in for me to go for it tho it was up to me. What do u think? Just leave it?

Would the full interview not give you the opportunity to seek clarification on how family orientated this company is? IMO you have nothing to lose by going to interview. What does the company website say under career opportunities & the company profile?

I took a job a few years back that stated in advertisement there would be travel involved I explained I had no inkling to travel whilst children were so young they were very accommodating & extremely flexible (other girls got to travel or staff in different locality did work required) you might be surprised that the company would be flexible & perhaps require 1 or 2 short trips a year that might suit your life style.
I would go to interview, perform your best so you are preferred candidate & you'll be in a better position to negotiate terms.

At the worst they don't offer job to you but if you don't go won't get it anyway & should the position become available again at a better time in your life you can reapply and emphasise how much you want this job having applied previously.

Best of luck in what ever you choose to do :)

Interviews are two-way things. They're there for you to find out if you want to work for the company, too. Go to the interview with questions in your mind - you might not want to say you want to work at home a lot, but you can ask about policies on flexible working and so on.

I went to an interview a year ago with a company that by the end of the interview, I didn't care how much they wanted me (which it turned out they didn't anyway) - there was no way I would fit in comfortably to that culture.