does anyone think this is odd? interview related question........

[glitterball]

have also posted this on chat.........

in brief

im currently looking for a job. situation isnt desperate YET, but is becoming more urgent because current job starting to look insecure in the present financial climate.....

several months ago, i went for an interview for my ideal role with a particular firm, where i met with 2 v senior people X & Y. All went v well at interview (i thought) & all the right noises were made. anyway then i didnt hear anything for ages, before finally being told that whilst they were very keen, recruitment was on hold due to restructure etc, yes they liked me v much etc but weren't able to move forward at that time.

anyway fast forward to now, am approached by agency re job at same firm. explain the above. am told a) job i originally went for has now been given to someone else and b) Z, another senior person, now wants to interview me for a different role.

now, i know with things as they are i should seize any opportunity with both hands & i am going to go to the proposed interview once we arrange a convenient date & time BUT is it me or does the whole thing not just seem odd? at the level im at i wouldnt specifically be working 'for' any of these 3, & surely X & Y could advise Z whether or not they think im worth giving a job to?

one final point i should add is i have contacts at the firm (v junior though so not party to any recruitment) & therefore know they definitely HAVENT recruited anyone for the original job yet, because the re-organisation that was to take place to 'create' that job still hasnt happened.........................

please feel free to tell me i'm oversensitive. i rather felt after the previous interview went so well & nothing came of it that i'd been dumped after the first date

We all tell fibs Perhaps the original role got dumped and there is something else they have you in mind for. We always look at recent applicants before re-advertising anything. Saves lots on recruitment costs.

The only odd thing is that they have approached you via an agency, did you go via the agency first time?

Firstly Z isn't going to just take X&Y's word for it that you are worth offering a job to. If it's a different role and/or different interviewers doing the recruiting, and it's several months down the line then there's nothing odd about having a different interview for this job. No doubt X&Y will offer their (presumably positive) opinion if asked, but I can't see any reason for you to feel slighted at being invited to this interview at all.

Sounds as though the agency has elected to tell you the other job has been given to someone else as shorthand for what might be a lengthy explanation of how a re-organisation to create the job hasn't happened yet. They may have even been told that themselves to get them off someone's back at the employer. Sounds bizarre to be recruiting for a role that hasn't been created yet anyway, so not surprising it fell through tbh.

thanks think i feel better now

the first time i applied direct, as my contacts told me the firm was looking to set up a new team but there was no-one internally with the experience to manage it - which was basically the role i was going for.

i should add though this isnt a massive firm - probably 100 or so employees in all, and X, Y & Z are the 3 most senior people below the guy in overall charge (who from what i know doesnt get involved in recruitment!) i suppose i should look at it from the perspective that if X & Y liked me, i'm hopefully already 2/3 of the way there.....

Well sounds as though they liked you but weren't ready for you before.

Now there actually is a role, even if not the one you were interviewed for before, and, as you say, 2 out of 3 most senior people there already like you. Sounds extremely positive to me...