The interview process at ADI was both chaotic and unsettling from the start. Once I arrived in the company's shared building in London I was first given a pass with my name mis-spelt and then sent to the wrong floor by reception staff.
Once at the right office I was led into a room and told to expect an interview followed by a written exercise followed by the rest of the interview. I immediately thought this a strange arrangement, but thought ADI was an organisation I wanted to work for so I persevered. The questions were not competency-based, but they did not seem to be skills based either. Both interviewers looked through my CV, picked past jobs at random, and asked me to describe them. As neither interviewer had experience of PR (and had not employed PR staff for over a year) it was hard to know what they were looking for or how much detail to go into. I felt uncomfortable throughout the experience and there were often long pauses while they read through my CV for what felt like the first time.
When the written task came I was told I had two hours to complete it, which is totally unheard of in PR or communications. No warning had been given in advance that I would be expected to leave this amount of time aside from my working day, and I was never asked if I needed a comfort break. The exercise was carried out in the middle of an open-plan office with talking and giggling audible throughout. As there were only three, relatively simple, questions to answer I finished after just over an hour before asking to come back in again.
After waiting for the interviewers to reconvene, the second half of the interview commenced - and was exactly the same as the first half. The only difference was that this time I was expected to lead everything and was asked over and over again if I had any questions. Once I had asked six or seven I started discussing current affairs and animal issues to make conversation, and this seemed to go well. We left on friendly terms and both interviewers said I would hear back about the interview early the next week as they knew how awful it was for candidates to be kept waiting. It was at this point I found out there would be another stage to the interview process: something that again had never been mentioned before.
It took much longer for me to hear back than I had expected, and when the rejection came it was late on a Sunday afternoon. This is the first time I have been sent an interview outcome over a weekend, and I was not happy to hear back outside of the working week. The worst aspect of the whole process for me however has been ADI's point-blank refusal to provide feedback on why I was not successful at interview. Apparently this is company policy. However I spent three hours travelling to and from the company's offices and a further almost three hours being interviewed and assessed. This is aside from the time I spent preparing and the money I spent on transport there and back. I am appalled that a company, and particularly a charity, is able to treat candidates like this. Whilst I understand feedback is not always possible for application forms, it is unacceptable to refuse a candidate feedback after such a lengthy interview process in which they have invested a great deal of time and effort.