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“Bizarre, Bad Experience”

written by on 24/09/2013

I first had a phone interview which was misleadingly thorough. On the phone, I was asked about my motivations for going into recruitment, what I thought was important, what kind of tasks, etc. It seemed very professional and I performed well as I was well prepared. The phone interviewer seemed impressed and told me about a position she was excited to put me forward for if the group interview went well. She stressed the importance of dressing well and looking professional.

We were all issued numbers to be identified by and then the assessment began. After a group exercise about being stuck in desert and a pair exercise where we were required to "sell" each other to the rest of the group, 5 of us were taken behind a hastily put up partition and told not to continue with no reasoning given. One of the girls who left had been a little bit nervous but many others who stayed were equally shaky and nervous and several of those who left were quite confident or at least clear and competant speakers, so it didn't really make sense. It also seemed that presentation didn't really count for anything as several people had turned up in jeans and were still allowed to continue.

The real fun came when the manager spoke to us. He told us that they had somehow scored us numerically (how? often the staff weren't even particularly present when we were working in our groups) and we were irredeemably bad, so even if we had an amazing presentation and one-on-one interview, they would never be interested in working with us. Furthermore, the companies they represent would never be interested in working with us, but if we still thought we could continue in sales or recruitment, we could call tomorrow for feedback. As we were apparently scored on paper individually there, I can only imagine that their comments were not likely to be very appropriate.

Overall, the only direct contact I had with staff members were negative, but they seemed wholly disinterested in any of us so the manager's ego was the only real impression I can base this on. This guy really thinks he's the be all and end all, and he couldn't be further from the truth. I'm sure that they have managed to recruit people on occasion but if invited to interview with 1pgrc, I would think about if it's really worth it to you. Of 20 people, around 2 were chosen. The odds aren't great but the outfit is pretty odd.