Unusual interview process

testtech05

Hey All,

Wondering if anyone here might have experienced similar process to this before, will try and keep the story short as possible.

My OH was going through the application process for a customer support role with a multinational. (over phone support sales advise etc) Had a phone interview HR person very impressed with her exp etc asked her to come in for a days session of interviews team exercises presentations etc.

Here's where I thought things got a bit strange. There were 9-10 people going for the role/roles but for the 1 to 1 interview with management each candidate was interviewed by a different person. (1 interview per candidate but with different managers)

Now unfortunately as it turned out despite feeling it had gone really well my OH was unsuccessful in the application and the feedback she received was that she was a strong candidate did well in all aspects of the process but that it came down to the 1 on 1 interview she had with the manager.

I was just curious if anyone else had experienced this type of selection before as to me it seems a bit unusual for a selection process to be decided in this case by what appears to be 2 separate peoples impression of 2 different applicants. In my personal exp (seperate sector) usually the same manager/team lead will interview all candidates.

Would like to hear other peoples opinions/experiences on this,
Thanks

Lux23

They might have asked the same questions and then they were graded on their answers. The top people probably just automatically went through.

testtech05

Thanks Lux23,

Hadn't thought of that but it would make sense. I would still say though that your opinion and mine on the answer to some questions could result in different scores for the same answers.
Not trying to make any excuses over it as I said just hadn't come across this method before so was curious.

limnam

Sounds very Amazony

murphym7

I would imagine the candidates who got through first round to next round would have all been seen by the same interviewers at the second interview. Its just another way of getting through candidates at the early stages efficiently.

amcalester

I've interviewed people using a similar process to that described by the OP.

20 or so candidates would be called in for a number of assessments which included role plays, group work and also a 2:1 interview, all of which were scored. Generally there would be between 6-10 interviewers attending as well.

During the process all interviewers would interact with the interviewees at least once i.e. take part in a role play, observe the group work or be on the interview panel.

All candidates would be asked the same interview questions and scored accordingly.

At the end, the scores across all assessments would be totaled and then a group decision would be made on who to hire.

Generally when we interviewed like this we had a number of positions available, so if a candidate was good enough they'd be hired. If none were good enough none would be hired.

For single positions I preferred to call in suitable candidates for a 2:1 interview.

testtech05

murphym7 wrote: »

I would imagine the candidates who got through first round to next round would have all been seen by the same interviewers at the second interview. Its just another way of getting through candidates at the early stages efficiently.

Thanks murphym7,
This was part of the 2nd/final round in this case.