Interview and Experience below expectation A recruitment agent contacted me for this role and set a bar with this company regarding the interview experience. I was told that every applicant has such a unique experience and leave feeling really impressed. After a brief chat with a member of the HR team, I passed through to a formal on site interview. The expectation was set that it would be a really informal interview to gage whether one is a good fit culturally as well as the usual competency questions. After preparing all weekend, I went to the interview really looking forward to it. Unfortunately what followed was ahuge anti - climax. It was one one the most boring interviews I have ever attended. After arriving within ample time, the two interviewers arrived late, and they were both surly looking as if they did not want to be there. The interviewers read the questions from a script and kept clock watching. The questions were all about process and projects, and did not give an opportunity to shine. I gave up after 30 minutes as I felt it was a waste of time. To summarise, the organisation looked pretty from the outside with well maintained offices, however with the salary package well below market average, and the dreary interview experience, I have decided on the spot that this was not an offer I would pursue further.

I had a phone interview with the HR team initially which is mainly just a screening process. Raluca was perfectly friendly and professional, was just interested in finding out more about you and how you would fit into the Thomsons team rather than asking difficult questions or trying to trip you up. First face to face interview was a couple of weeks later with 2 members of the team I would be working alongside, so it was fairly informal but good to get an idea from them as to what their experience has been like working in the team which they seemed genuinely honest about. Sometimes it can be demanding, but also very rewarding. I then had to do some psychometric testing (numerical, logic, verbal reasoning etc.) which I found pretty challenging but thankfully my scores came out surprisingly well. Second interview was with one of the senior managers of the team and the head of the department. Slightly more formal but generally still quite a relaxed vibe, with no questions particularly difficult, just asking questions relevant to me, my current role and what I was looking for in a position at Thomsons. Both seemed very friendly and dedicated to Thomsons and I never felt nervous or under pressure. I've now been working 2 months at Thomsons and am very glad to have accepted their offer. The training here is like nothing I've ever had at any other company and puts you in a really good place to hit the ground running. There's also a great culture in both the London and Cluj offices, it's a lot of fun and having so many people so knowledgeable about the Darwin software makes it a great support system for the team.