Posted By Chris Black has anyone else had a recent experience of a company inviting applications for a role, putting candidates through an extensive interview process (4 meetings)that was more like an information gathering exercise and then deciding not to appoint anyone. I had a similar experience 4 years ago with a large timber company and can only liken the experience to them using the candidates for free consultancy. this week i had contact from the same group using the same consultancy that they had used before (different office and different junior consultant though). I was initially reticent but was persuaded to go to interview on the promise that the key players had changed in the company. One of the interviewers turned out to be one of the previous managers i had met last time. The interview went brilliantly up until I refreshed their memory on who I was and my previous involvement. Both interviewers visibly blanched and fluffed for a few minutes before the meeting was then brought to an abrupt end. It became clear that they were up to their old tricks and they were embarrassed at being rumbled. I have heard of company's using the interview process in the past as a way of gathering free advice and new ideas and i strongly suspect that this is on the cards with the role i was interviewing for. Job seekers should be wary of time wasters, you need to focus all your energy on real opportuntities with employers who are truly committed to appointing.

Posted By Paul Phillips Its not uncommon for a company to see 'what is on the market' when they have a position for which they are going to appoint an internal candidate. I have been in this situation a few times myself, its very annoying and frustrating.

Posted By bereznikov Chris, Completely agree with you. In a time when H&S jobs seem to be becoming increasingly and alarmingly scarce, bringing people in for 4/5 interviews with no intention of offering them a job is morally very wrong. As a side, i wonder if they ever put my contact details on their 'Health & Safety Law' posters under the consultation arranagements section?...possibly as an externally appointed consultant?;-)...I'll call them to check... bereznikov

Posted By joolz040770 I worked for a company many years ago who "faked" a vacancy and advertised for staff because it was company policy to do so. They arranged presentations from candidates and re-wrote a policy from information submitted. So I'm afraid this sort of thing has been around for years and years. Not that I'm that old ... honest. Julie-Anne.

Posted By garyh OK maybe there is the very odd occasion........but otherwise this must be a tiny problem. How much info can you gain in a couple of hours anyway? Speaking as a consultant, I would say not much! Part of me says "Good luck" to such organisations - they will need it.

Posted By Brett Day I went to an interview where the company asked me to send them word copies (unlocked) of documentation that I had produced, when I offered to bring hard copies they could see they got quite rude with me and stated that unless I provided copies of documentaion on word again stressing that it should be unlocked they would not proced with the interview. I asked why the insistance on electronic copies when a hard copy would demonstrate what I was capable of producing. Funnily enough, I lost out on that interview and the agency fed back that all her candidtates had been asked for copies of documetation in word, unlocked.

Posted By PJA I was at a Branch meeting about 15 years ago and was having a cup of tea with about 6 other H and S guys. One guy said,i went for a interview at ~~~~~~~ the other day and a really funny thing happened,they took me to an area of the plant and asked what would I do in this situation? It turned out that 3 of the people I was talking to went for that interview, but were asked the same question in other areas of the Plant. Guess what-No one got the job and it was then put on hold. This also was a timber type company

Posted By Ian G Hutchings Brett They probably asked for word unlocked copies so that they could check the document properties for the author. I reckon some paranoia may be creeping in here. Why would any business waste time recruiting people just to get ideas? Recruitment is a very expensive and time consuming process. Many companies undertake competency based interviews to assess problem solving and decision making. There may be some companies who are poor at the recruitment process, but I'd be surprised if time was wasted to this degree just to get ideas. Having said this, I have experienced companies and H&S managers who will get consultancy proposals (costly and time consuming) to give them ideas on how to solve a particular problem, basically steeling IP. All the best Ian

Posted By Brett Day CFT, absolutely !! I know how to do just that change. Talking to the agency that noted all the candidates were asked for different documentation, all were asked to leave it unlocked and all were refused an explanation of why. Likewise the role was 'put on hold' later. Recruitment may be expensive but how much would it cost to get new documentation from prospective candidates, after all if no candidate is selected the agency doesn't get paid so is more a cost of internal resources.

Posted By Brett Day Steve, to be fair in the 12 years I've been in safety I've only encountered three employers that I've had serious concerns about. Given the number of employers out there it's a rare thing. One thing I would say is that if in the initial phase or interview stage there is something that gets the back of the neck twitching ask (albeit politely), I've found that the genuine employers will be happy to explain. Sorry to hear about the impending situation, I'll mail you some info for monday. Regards Brett

Posted By Bob Youel I knew a company who trade tested tradesmen prior to intervews and the company then used the work presented to them as their work - people were told that the trade tests had failed so 'desk top' interviews were not then needed - the main areas were induatrial pipework [bench set ups] and the welding of the same - small many small packets of work were done free! A manager just laughed and said that they always got free work done like this and others in their area were all doing it - I checked and found it to be common practice One company had a 'bench' pipefiter and they 'trade tested' welders by getting them to undertake 3 butt welds on the pipework spools etc that their man had made - In that way they got all the welding done for nothing as they always said that the trade tests had failed so no other recruitment actions were needed Taking things from candidates and using them for free is common practice. On one occasion I was asked why I put the copyright mark on my presentation to the interviewer as part of the interview - At that point I became very suspicious and stealthily backed out of the interview