pmsumner

Was put back to midday. Not a huge problem, sit and read in car.

Interview was very very quick. All over in 35 minutes. I was waiting at reception from 12:00 to 12:10, and was out the door by 12:45. That includes 10-15 minutes doing a "Network test" which asked really basic networking questions (What lets the computer work out what the host ID and network ID are, how many levels does that OSI model have, which of the IPs below would be on the local network with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, how do you find a computer's IP, and so on).

It started off with Ian (dept. manager?), who as I said in several SMS to people, was obviously not comfortable interviewing. He essentially read the questions off a sheet and didn't follow any of them up, didn't chat, and looked uncomfortable throughout. I couldn't read him at all. He gave me the test to do and I was given 15 mins to complete it. I was then introduced to Paul (group manager) who asked me how i found the test, what I thought the job was about, what my current role was, why I wanted the job, and how much notice I needed to give. He was comfortable and natural, made me feel comfortable in the way he talked to me.

Both of these guys did it individually, which surprised me. In almost every other interview I've been to, it's been 2 people - at least 2 department managers. HR always seem to do it on their own. Perhaps they consider their time to be too valuable?

So, in short - I don't know. I will find out by Friday at the latest. This means next week I've got two chances, hopefully I've shone at both of them. Given my choice of roles, I'd take the Dedicated Micros' (Network Techncial Support) one first, anytime - it appears more interesting and involved than The Lifestyle Group's (Desktop Support) position. However, from my meeting of the managers and what I've seen of the companies so far, The Lifestyle Group's offer would be the one I take, if offered both.