Interview

[Roweya2013]

Although I understand that this forum is largely about debt matters, I feel that it is important to highlight my recent personal experience with a debt management company.

I recently had an interview for a position with a debt management company located in Manchester. The interview was scheduled to be conducted by 1 interviewer, who began by asking standard questions such as “where do you see yourself in 5 years time?”, “what kind of salary do you think would be adequate for this position?” and so on. However, mid-way through the interview another individual entered the room, and I was informed by the first interviewer that the stanger was another manager in the company, and he was informed "This is X, he’s a bit wet behind the ears; he’s just finished University and he wants a job", followed by "he’s also dissapointed that he didn’t get a first in his degree"

On the application form there was a question as to wheather or not i had my own car, and i ticked the "yes" box on that question. The man asked me if i have my own car, i replied yes, then he asked me why i had gotten a lift with someone? I replied that i got a lift from my dad because there was an issue regarding the insurance with my car, but if they wanted to i could show them my driving lisence and my insurance if they wanted. The strong undercurrent to the question, both in tone and intonation was that I had lied on my application form.

Next the first interviewer asked me what was my biggest failure? I took time to answer the question because i was not sure how personal i should get, and due to the delay Debbie said that i should not try and put a positive spin on what i said but I should be completely frank and honest. In the spirit of honesty I replied that I was diassapointed that since I had finished University in July I was still in part-time employment and I was still seeking full-time employment.

This admission unleashed a barrage of questions from both of the interviewers: Why had i not thought of using agencies to find jobs? Why did I fail in applying for a greater number of jobs? Why did i not relocate to London where there would be more vacancies? Why, why, why? In my response to these questions i mentioned that i did not having much time to apply to many jobs because there are only a limited number of vacancies during a period of recession in this particular location, in addition to the fact that the application form for vacancies tends of be extensive which requires a substantial amount of time to complete. My complete answer was interrupted by the second interviewer who questioned how many hours per week did I work, I replied that it was 12 hours minimum but usually averaged around 25 hours per week, to which the interview replied in a sharp, shocked tone, “You ONLY work 12 hours a week, whatever have you been doing with your time?!”
The answer to this question is complicated; my 15 year old brother had recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness which has taken up all of my free time when not working. A combination of factors, namely the focus and obsession with failure by the company, the compliment that I was “wet behind the ears” when the company possessed my CV and was therefore aware of my previous work history, the inferences that I was a liar and lazy, combined with probing into my private life disturbed me to that point that I terminated the interview.

Although this experience does not place the services that the company offers into a negative light, I believe that it does possible question the ethics and professionalism of the company. I believe that it is highly unusual practice to interview a potential worker and trade upon their failures in a dismissive and trivial fashion, actively lobby the candidate to attend the interview yet during the interview opting to insult and degrade the candidate, and highlight the lack of working history of the candidate- a fact that they were aware of since they were in possession of my CV for several weeks prior to the interview- and the fact that a glance through the Linkedin profiles of a majority of their workers indicates NO working experience post University. In several posts in this forum there has been criticism that clients have been contacted by a range of Client Managers during their experience with this company, which suggests that there is a large turn over of staff in the company. Based on my negative experience I am not surprised that there is a high staff turnover. Having undergone this humiliating experience I would particularly urge applicants from a BME background from seriously considering if they would want to join this company.