An informal interview following a visit to the office. As there was no formal structure to the interview, it was a relaxed environment which made me feel comfortable. That being said, it was still a professional environment. There was no job opening at the time however my details were kept on record. I was contacted at the next opportunity but had accepted a job at another company.

I applied for a graduate geologist/geotechnical engineer position at Geotechnical Engineering Ltd. and was invited for an interview. I was looking forward to it, and it sounded like an interesting position and I had prepared hard for the interview. When I arrived, I was greeted by a man who wasn't expecting me and at first he couldn't get hold of management. When he finally did, I was introduced to a man who was presumably a manager. He also seemed utterly clueless about the scheduled interview and had either not been told about it or had forgotten it had been arranged. He didn't seem to know what to do but ended up giving me a quick tour of the premises. My first impression was very negative but I thought I'd give it a chance. However, as we walked, the guy was very negative, clearly didn't want to be there and kept mentioning that they've already interviewed a very good candidate who "will probably be offered a position". If that wasn't off-putting then next came the staff kitchen area which was completely filthy and cluttered with dirty mugs and spilled tea and coffee everywhere. I was starting to think that this would not be a good place to work. I was then taken through a warehouse and we sat down on some old chairs for the "interview". The man clearly hadn't prepared anything for the interview as he only asked a few questions or so. He kept looking around in the air and saying to himself "what else can I ask". At the end of the so-called "interview" he finished by saying "as I say, we may have already found someone". The entire interview experience was like something off one of those interviews technique training videos where they give an interview scenario and you have to pick out all the obvious negative points: ✔️Unwelcoming management ✔️Negative body language and communication ✔️Poorly prepared interview ✔️Complete lack of enthusiasm Unfortunately, this wasn't a training video, this was a real interview I had. Maybe it's actually a nice company to work for. But, after my interview experience, I certainly wouldn't want to find out.