I'm a LONG way behind on my blogging so bear with me as we take a journey into the dim and distant past of 29 August 2007.

This was an interview for an insurance company I had never heard of called Groupama. Apparently they're a behind-the-scenes kind of company in that they provide the kind of insurance that e.g. Tesco sells, since Tesco itself is not a massive possessor of insurance knowledge/experience/people. No direct sales. They had half of a building in London. It was an afternoon interview, a quick in-and-out.

Their presentation regarding the company was extremely straightforward. They had filled 5 out of their 6 IT positions and were looking for one more and were having difficulty filling it, having not seen the calibre of applicant they needed. Also, this was the ONLY interview in the entire process - i.e., no phone interview, no follow-up. Yikes, I thought, wondering whether I could pass muster. They focused on continuous profitable growth which was heartening since Fujitsu's emphasis on just plain growth had given me pause for thought - I mean, growth is fine, but can you consolidate what you acquire? Is it always worth it? They had an emphasis on the use of technology to further their ends, which I admitted I liked. They said they aimed to become a preferred employer. In other words, they were not ALREADY a preferred employer. Mmm hmm... From a corporate point of view I was less than impressed. They had a fairly generic and uninspiring variety of benefits and, according to my notes here, difficulty keeping staff informed about them. It smelt like an amateurish set-up; like several places I've temped, places without much professional attention directed internally. Still, at this point I am not in a position to be choosy. I need this job a lot more than I want it.

I was told they were still sorting out the details of this, the first year of their graduate programme, which put me off a little - I mean, I hate being a guinea pig after AS-levels and the third year of my Tripos. Same layout as I'd seen in a few other places: wide - almost too-wide - exposure to the company in the first 18 months and not nearly enough IT-specific training. I was told that they'd had 400 applicants and only 5 people had got past their exceedingly stringent benchmarks. But, I mean, be fair. These SHL Solutions online Numerical and Verbal Reasoning tests? I've done a million of them now and I like to think I was pretty good at them to start with. Hell. Anyway, there was only one other guy on the interview on this day.

Which made the group exercise comical. A pair exercise? It was the old "you need to survive at sea, put these items in order of importance" thing, only there were only at most two opinions between us on any given point of contention, so there was absolutely no team or group dynamic going on, just a mutual decision. I played it cool and open-minded as best I could. I mean, what do you do? I actually brought up how the test was a bit silly with only two people, as I'm wont to do... curse my cruel honesty. Sigh.

There was a pre-prepared presentation which I had been asked to give. I'd chosen writing, because that's what I do. Looking over the PowerPoint slides here I think I could have done better - maybe even chosen a better subject matter, I was seriously considering doing HTDTE - but I am getting better at presentations, slowly, I guess.

And in the face-to-face interview, the first question was "Can you name a time when you've persuaded someone of your point of view?" which is the one question I was dreading, and which I almost completely failed to answer. I told them the time I tried to persuade my brother to take a broader university subject than Journalism, which I had failed to do. CRITICAL HIT! As for the rest? Hell, I don't remember. It hardly matters at this stage: I was promised a response within 5-10 working days, and I even sent a follow-up email a month after the interview, and have still heard nothing. Even if I didn't get the role, a pretty shoddy way to treat an applicant, no? I think I'll phone the guy directly when I get the chance.

So I probably didn't get that one, but no great loss.

Update

Didn't get it.

Feedback says I should have researched the insurance industry much more thoroughly and shown much more enthusiasm for said industry in the interview. They did, however, say they'd enjoyed my presentation! Which was heartening. The guy said I would be welcome to apply again at the end of the year, so I might, if nothing else comes up.