Well, IBM didn't want me. They actually told me this a good long while ago but I was going to wait until their feedback arrived before I reported this, but it's been about a fortnight and I can't wait any longer. What I think went wrong: everything I already reported, so let's close that book right now.
The Royal Bank of Scotland didn't want me either. This is something I haven't mentioned yet. I made my application to RBS roughly the day I got back from IBM. Simple stuff: fill in these blanks, employment history, CV details, blah blah. There was an online numerical test which I breezed. Then, a phone interview.
I actually managed to snag some temp work for the same day so I ended up doing my phone interview during my lunch break. I had crib notes printed out in front of me and stuff - I thought I was pretty well-prepared, but I wasn't. The first of three things which went wrong was: not having anybody to look at meant my mind kept wandering. I couldn't stay focused. The second was: I had originally given them my home phone number but at that time I was unemployed - I gained the temp job shortly afterwards, so I changed the number to my mobile, but they didn't get that, so they phoned the wrong number to begin with, which was NOT my fault, but may well have counted against me. The third thing was: the questions.
Oh dear Zarquon the questions. "What attracted you to RBS?" I rattle off a pre-rehearsed answer: RBS is a big bank and I want to be a part of something big. "But what specifically attracted you to technology?" So I give an answer. "But what attracted you to our graduate scheme specifically?" Erm. Well, having a graduate scheme at all is pretty good, that's what I was looking for... "But what specifically?" Erm. Erm. I don't know. "Give three pieces of information you've found out about RBS during your research." This question utterly threw me. It was lucky I'd actually done some research about the group - I answered this question pretty easily but... what is this, the pub quiz?
"Name a time when you used teamwork." "What was your role in the team?" "What did you contribute to the team?" "What specifically did you contribute to the team?" "What was the result?" "Name a time when you used teamwork, but it didn't work so well." "How did you try to improve matters?" "Name a time when you had to get help in solving a problem." "What processes did you go through to solve the problem?" "What sources did you consult?" "How did you arrive at the decision to consult those sources?" AAAAAAAAAAARGH! They were asking me for mind-numbing detail about events in my life which I simply didn't have that much detail about. I had brief paragraphs written out in front of me about any number of these things, but - how did I decide what sources to consult when constructing my home network? I used the internet and asked a techie mate of mine. There was no process there, I just did the obvious. It was unlike any interview I'd ever been to. It was horrible.
And I didn't get through. Not entirely unexpected. But as of writing this I have absolutely no irons in the fire at all.
