A phone interview was scheduled with a hiring manager. Five minutes later the call was over! Instead of the typical niceties that start a phone interview, she jumped right into it, briefly described her role, and said, "We're just starting a major, multi-year project to totally rewrite our call center agent desktop applications from the ground up. Can you describe your related experience?" I started to describe my experience as a project manager, in the financial sector, with software development, and my work incorporating call centers into our product offering. She stopped me and said, "No, do you have any experience managing software development projects that rewrite call center agent desktop applications from the ground up?" I didn't have experience that unique, so she said, "I didn't screen the resumes. If I did, I would not have selected you to interview, because I didn't see that listed on your resume", and ended the call. The specific and unique requirement she listed was not in the job ad. There was no mention of call centers, desktop apps, or developing software from the ground up. It was very generic descriptions of project management ("Requirements: Experience must include: Creating and forecasting budgets for projects; Utilizing quantitative and qualitative analytical skills to define and communicate business goals, processes, requirements, and solutions to business issues; Negotiating the use of resources, budgets, and scope creep between all parties; Analyzing business requirements; Coordinating business requirements across multiple teams for implementation; and Defining project plans and roadmaps to monitor the progress of projects." This was a total waste of my time.

Fist of all there was a Face to face Competency and Skills based interview which lasted a couple of hours. It was followed a couple of weeks later by an interview with the Line Manager and finally a meeting and a couple of telephone calls with HR