Its definitely an experience and different to other interviews from what I’ve experienced. It is conversational and the interviewer does make you feel relieved. As long as youre joyful, show that you are a peoples person and have a personality you will most likely get the job other than meeting the job spec like customer service experience etc
I applied online. I interviewed at Octopus Energy (Coventry, England) in Dec 2024
Interview
The interview process was incredibly lengthy and intense for a job that is barely above minimum wage. It was like the XFactor with different stages.
The first step was a video interview where you answer questions by submitting video clips. The next stage is a huge online group interview that has: an individual interview, a group task with presentation, a phonecall task and a maths task. This was very draining and people already in employment would need to take a substantial chunk of a day's leave for this, if they don't want to alert their employer to their job hunting.
After this, there is an in person interview at the location you've applied for. This was actually the most laid back of the whole process.
Whilst the staff were nice and it seems like it could be a good place to work for, there were some red flags that caused me to turn down the job offer:
1) there was something of a cult vibe about Octopus Energy. I can't really describe it accurately but something just felt a little 'off' for me. I'm not really the sort to live and breathe my day job and it seems that's what's expected at Octopus.
2) vagueness around requirements to stay late (up to 7pm!) for no extra pay and not even getting that time back. It's basically just expected of you and they think a Deliveroo order is enough to make up for it.
3) there is no HR department. Whilst that might have benefits, it also means staff don't have somewhere to go if they're being mistreated etc.
4) the pay was nowhere near high enough for the responsibility level and workload. It seems like a stressful job that they dress up as 'fast paced'. If it was £30k per year then maybe, but for 40hrs a week with additional 7pm finishes on occasion, £25k is very poor. Especially given the company's profits.
My current employer offered me a job for £30k and 35hrs a week and a lot less stress, so it was a no brainer!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
A big focus on how you would get to the office each day - I felt this was an odd focus.
I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Octopus Energy (London, England) in Dec 2023
Interview
From start to finish, a really enjoyable experience! Compared to some other interviews I had, I felt comfortable, and listened to! Seems like they've got a great team over there.
