interview too

Had my second interview yesterday.

Well, actually I had my 2.5'th interview, but that doesn't entirely make sense.  What I mean is I had my second face-to-face interview having also had 1 telephone "interview" (it was more like a quick chat).

The telephone interview was Monday lunchtime and it went surprisingly well.  The company is quite technical and has a particular product market they're in.  Obviously I won't give too many details, but it's a particular market niche and they're very strong in it.

My only fear on it is that that's all they do although there was a hint they are moving into a slightly different, but very related sector.

I'm not sure I really discussed the first face-to-face interview.  It went well, but I had a long conversation with my dad about it (mainly for him to act as a soundboard) and it kinda confirmed that I want to move out of the market sector I'm currently in.

The company I work for is very much focused in that sector and while I don't have any problem if the company I move to works in that area too, I'd at least like it to be one of many feathers in their bow, as opposed to all they do.  And this other company are entirely focused on that sector too.

The difficult thing about it is that they almost head-hunted me and I think I would have been perfect for the role.  Indeed, in a way that was the other problem - it sounded like it would have been really similar to my current job.  The upside is it sounded like it wouldn't have had some of the issues I have with current job, but overall it just didn't feel right.

The other face-to-face interview didn't go so well.

It was with a much larger organisation, which is another element I'm considering (size of company), and they too are technology and product based, which is what I want to move towards, rather than the consultancy my current company is focused on.

I say it didn't go well - it wasn't a disaster, it was more like I didn't really gel with the guy who would be my boss.  I was quite good at answering the questions, though I did struggle on some of them.

It also seemed to take ages (suggesting I perhaps wasn't enjoying it?) and by the time it got around to the bit where I asked questions I was rather drained and my mind had gone a bit blank.  I had some pre-prepared questions, but they didn't really seem appropriate on the whole, given the nature and size of that business (t's a very different world).

They also gave me some tests to do and, to be frank; I think I basically failed at the first one.  The problem was they said was to review a proposal but you only had 20 minutes to do it and they said not to worry about content.

If I was doing a last minute quick review content is all I would worry about, not format, which is what they seemed to imply it was about.

The other test I felt I did better on, but it's more like I enjoyed it more.  The second test was about doing content review - were they answering the questions that were being asked, essentially.  This is much more up my street and I almost rewrote the entire document.  They'd turned track changes on and it was just a sea of changed stuff when I'd finished.

Whether I'd done it right or not I haven't a clue, but I certainly enjoyed doing it more.

However, overall I don't think I want to pursue the job and to be honest I'm not sure they'll offer it.

I have a few more irons in the fire.  The telephone interview wants to see me in person and a couple of recruiters have actually tried contacting me, which is nice.