Pipped at the post? or stolen from under my nose?

You decide!

I have been applying for a number of jobs and most of them are through agencies, which can be an added difficulty in itself. If you don't gel with the staff at the agency they aren't going to put you forward for any jobs.

I have a couple of agencies that are working well with me and, through one of them, I had an interview for a fulltime role.

There were 5 candidates and we had all been asked to keep the details of the job to ourselves as the agencies are all desperate to find out what vacancies other agencies are handling and trying to get in on the act. The nature of this company's business was so specialised it wouldn't take anyone very long to find out who was recruiting and get in there.

My interview went very well and the feedback was good. The MD liked me and it was looking positive that I would be asked back for a 2nd interview.

And then it all went quiet. The agency wasn't getting any contact and they were having trouble finding out what was going on.

Then this week I had a 'Bad News' phone call from them. The role had been filled...... but not by one of the candidates from the agency.

It turns out that one of the candidates had told another agency where they had been for an interview and that agency had made a phone call at exactly the right time. Someone at the company had unfortunately gone off ill unexpectedly and it was probable they would be off for sometime, leaving the MD with some serious concerns - pick up phone call from said agency who just happened to have someone who could start immediately - and said person walked straight into the role.

How frustrating is that?

So, I have to be grown up about this and believe there is a better job waiting for me elsewhere, but this job really did tick all the boxes in a very exciting company. I'd been honest with them at the interview and told them I had a 3 week assignment and would be able to start on completion of the assignment. I can only assume they decided they couldn't wait.

Hey Ho, back to trawling through the e-mail notifications I get of new vacancy updates!