Extraodrinarily Long Interview Process

L.Jenkins

I'm currently interviewing for a job down in Ennis. I'm sick of contract work at the moment, so this role seemed attractive, a well paying permanent full time position in Software Development. The time consumed by their interview process is something I've never experienced before while seeking any other job.

It's been 3 weeks with 3 interviews, 2 face to face and 1 over the phone, including 1 technical exam and 1 personality profile test. I've been informed now 3 times by the recruiter handling the role, that I would be informed of my success in obtaining the role or not, but it has been pushed out again until Friday this week, as they want to finish up interviews and exams since they have 3 rolls to fill.

Since the final word I'm waiting for has been pushed back so often, I've actually accepted a 3 week contract in Limerick with the HSE, which I've had to hold out on because I could not confirm if I succeeded in obtaining the job or not. The issue is, the contract role needs me to start on Friday, one days training with work beginning on Monday. The reason I accepted the contract, is for the simple reason, that I can't afford to be out of work any more and the role in Ennis is leaving me feel uncertain of my success in obtaining the permanent role.

Has anyone experienced anything similar during an interview process?

Mrs OBumble

Yeah, I've had friends who went through five interviews - only to be told that they didn't get the job. (And it wasn't even that flash a job).

You really just need to weigh up whether the benefits (location in this case) is worth the grief that they put you through.

L.Jenkins

The role itself seems worthwhile. I'm trying my best to stay away from Dublin and Ennis is ideal, but the process itself is driving me nuts. It seems to happen to me often, when applying for work that an offer comes in from else where and I usually take it, because I get fed up waiting and this is one of those times.

seamus

This is one of those practices which a big popular company adopted (Google) and suddenly every crap HR person in the world decided was the way to go, regardless of what the person was being interviewed for. There was a similar thing in the early '00s when Microsoft started asking irrelevant/lateral thinking questions in interviews.
Long after Microsoft abandoned this practice because it was pointless, some companies were still doing it to appear trendy and smart.

The logic in Google's approach is that the more peers who interview you, the better the filter, the better the quality of candidate. It's logically good, but fails on a number of points and afaik, they've abandoned the "7 interviews over two weeks" strategy in favour of a number of shorter face-to-face interviews in a single day (depending on the level of job you're interviewing for).
The primary failure of this approach is that someone being willing to go through such a convoluted process does not mean they're inherently any better than someone who isn't, just that they have the time or the resources to do it.
So you're excluding masses of potentially great candidates who aren't willing to be subjected to a ridiculous interviewing regime for a €30k/year job.

In your case, if they're still pushing out a decision, it means you're a good potential hire, but for whatever reason they haven't been able to make a final decision. Take the 3-week contract and tell the company about it. They understand that people need money, and 3 weeks is a short wait in general. Most candidates will have a 4 to 6 week lead time.