Question on Attending Interview in UK

Mr. Skeffington

So I sent my C.V to a recruitment agency in the UK and they called me about a couple of positions available in London, I said that it was ok for them to forward my C.V to the companies. So after a few days the Recruitment Consultant called and said that one of them would like to talk to me about a Management position.

When the company called, a large multi-national at the end of the call they said that they would like to meet me in the UK. I politely asked if the company would be willing to pay for my flight expenses for this meeting. The chap said that he would check it out and come back to me.

So a couple of days later the guy called me back and said that they would be willing to pay half of the flight as long as it was a budget flight with say Ryanair as it would show commitment on both sides? I didnt know what to say so I agreed.

My question is that: Is it usual for a company to pay such flight expenses for an interview for a candidate who is thinking of re-locating? Should I just tell him to forget the interview if they would not pay for the flight? I think that if the company is this tight already they may not be worth working for, afterall they are looking for employees?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Vokes

From personal experience, for 2 companies I interviewed with, they paid for return flights into Heathrow + transportation to and from (paid) accomadation.

Paying for only half your flights appears a bit stingy, tbh. Also you need to factor in that £20/30 train trip to / from the Stansted / Gatwick and the city. It may not be worth it i think.

kittex

This very much depends on the company and the industry.

If they are finding it hard to recruit staff locally, most places will pay travelling expenses. A good indication of this is if they advertise the post intentionally outside of the UK.

As they didn't aim to recruit from 'abroad', it's equally normal in my experiences for them to not offer any travelling expenses at all, or to offer to pay half or all of the expenses.

Perhaps the agency can negotiate a better deal?

xebec

For all the interviews I've done in the UK I've received at least return flights and travel, with some of them throwing in 5* hotels too. But I guess it depends on the industry you're applying for. I would have thought that for a management position the least they could do would be to reimburse your flight costs.

Mr. Skeffington

Well the company is recruiting for quite a specialised management position and there would be a lack of suitable candidates. So TBH I think that they should pay all of the flight costs and at least some other costs. The idea that it would be meeting them half way is stupid, It is 1 day of an investment from me plus car parking costs at Dublin airport etc.

For this reason I am not too interested anymore in this particular company but that being said I dont want to burn my bridges or to get a bad name in the industry. What would be the best way to tell them thanks but no thanks?

January

Tell them you have been offered a position with another company.

damnyanks

If you want to work for them then stop fretting about it. If you aren't that pushed then consider it all.

It all depends on the position thats being offered. Things like graduate program recruitment will have huge budgets for logistical issues because they are dealing with scummy students.

Plain hires for certain groups / teams probably wont have a big budget or a non existent budget as it comes from there over heads.

Pythia

When I went over to London for an assessment centre for a graduate position, I got travel expenses up to £200 and hotel accommodation.