Hey all, apologies in advance as this might be a long one!
So I’m back home in the UK after my stint in the States came to an end. I’ve had some freelance work thats kept me ticking over whilst I set up shop this side of the pond but the time has come to get something more solid. I’ve made contact with my A list companies and got a decent response from a few but unfortunately timing is a bit off with either no vacancies or people busy with deadlines and away on business. Conversations are being put off for a few weeks when things settle down.
So until then I figured it doesn’t hurt to cast my net as far as it can go and see what my B list has to say. One of those firms is interested in interviewing me but I’ve had a few red flags raised before I even step foot in the office and it would be great to get some more seasoned professionals advice on how to continue.
First red flag: This flag is about my grade from college which needs a bit of explaining. In the UK they are based on the class of your degree, so it’s First, Upper Second, Lower Second and Third - a little bit like Latin honors in the US.
So, I get a call a few days after submitting my work from someone at the firm, he asks me what grade I achieved at university as it is not listed on my resume. I tell him what I got, Upper Second and he asks “is it on your resume and I just can’t see it?”. I reply with “my apologies but no, I don’t list it as it has never been asked about”. He replies, actually he snaps in a very aggressive tone “oh well thats not right, what if you had gotten a Third (lowest grade), that would be telling us that you were obviously not very good”
I had to bite my tongue and not say to him “my work should give you an indication of how good I am, I could also rally up a few people from my university with Firsts (top grades) and show you how little skills they have when sat at a drawing board or a computer screen with Solidworks loaded up. A grade is merely an indication of how well you can tick the boxes of the institution you studied at”
Second red flag: I get an email from HR a week or so later, which was this Monday saying “congratulations you are in the shortlist for our graduate position, please be at our office this Friday with the other candidates”, no other information.
First off, I’m not a ‘graduate’ having finished my studies over two years ago, nor did I apply for that position. In the two years out of school I’ve had professional jobs, which I worked hard to get. I’m a junior. Secondly, I live over four hours by train from the firm with tickets around £120 - not a huge sum out of my own pocket but dropping that to just turn up with no other info is a bit hard to swallow.
I replied asking about clarity in the position, stating what professional experience I have and also if I could have some more details about interview schedules for which I get no response.
Third red flag: I get an email from someone else at the firm around 11:30pm on Wednesday evening telling me that the interview has been rescheduled to next week and that they hope I understand. They say I’m scheduled for the afternoon but it may run over due to the other candidates.
Now even though I’ve got a good book and a good chunk of professional experience behind me, the rosy cheeked grad that is still inside of me is screaming “don’t turn down an interview!!” but the overall bad attitude from that first phone call, to the mix up in job titles and finally the lack of information plus rescheduling about the interview tells me not to bother.
I’m unsure of how to approach speaking to the firm about some of these issues without ruining my chances of an offer. I’m still young so don’t want to come across as being too big for my boots, but I’ve worked hard to get to where I am and feel I deserve a little bit more respect than someone fresh out of design school. I just don’t want to burn any bridges incase nothing else comes through…