Open interview or screening process?

[Talk2Dave]

So about 3 weeks ago i went to an open interview (at least i thought it was)
at one of the local job centres for a part time job for a well known clothing/homeware company as a part time sales assistant.

I've never had a job as im still in sixth form, though i had 1 interview previous to this.

I arrived 15 minutes early, wearing a suit. All the other candidates were late, and all dressed casually. I'm the only person wearing a suit.
We followed the Job centre woman into the conference room where she proceeded to tell us what the job was about, the pay, overtime etc etc.

She then handed out the application form, which i already had filled in prior to the "interview." I gave her the application and she read it through and told me the "what can you bring to this company?" section was one of the best she had seen from someone of my age (18)

The woman took me out of the room and said i'd probably be the only one to be put through, and said i had made an impact by dressing up and having my application ready. She took my application and CV and said i would be hearing from them soon. I haven't heard from anyone about the role since.
Have i been had? or was i not good enough?

if anyone can shed some light into what i did wrong that would be great, thanks, David.

[zippy3x]

Based on what you've written I would say you did nothing wrong and everything right. The interviewer said as much.

Interviewing is a numbers game. For every 100 CVs that you send, you will only get a percentage of interviews. For every interview you attend you will get a certain percentage of job offers.
when you have 20 years experience of niche skills on your CV your percentages above may will be close to 100, but at your age with no experience they will be low.

Offers don't materialise for a number of reasons, budgets can get pulled, objectives can change, the hiring manager's daughter may well be the *cough* most qualified for the job. etc, etc.

With regards to this particular job, if you went through the Job centre, I'm sure you could get some contact details for the woman and ring her. Can't hurt.

[K87]

give her a ring. If anything it will put your mind at rest

[Snoggledog]

K87 said:

give her a ring. If anything it will put your mind at rest

^ This

If you feel you're a strong candidate for the role then it's worth chasing them up to find out what's happened. Always ask for feedback. It's the only way you'll ever know what you did wrong or what's not on your CV.

[oldbanger]

Snoggledog said:

K87 said:

give her a ring. If anything it will put your mind at rest

^ This

If you feel you're a strong candidate for the role then it's worth chasing them up to find out what's happened. Always ask for feedback. It's the only way you'll ever know what you did wrong or what's not on your CV.

These guys speak sense. I cannot emphasise enough how important it is to try to get feedback if you don't get the job.

[Talk2Dave]

i do feel like i was a strong candidate.

i'll ring them 1st thing monday morning when they are open.

do you think 3 weels (roughly) is the right time i should be hearing from someone?

[Snoggledog]

Talk2Dave said:

i do feel like i was a strong candidate.

i'll ring them 1st thing monday morning when they are open.

do you think 3 weels (roughly) is the right time i should be hearing from someone?

Nope. If they're interested in you, they would normally have called within a week or 2 max. I normally go to an interview, try to get some feedback (if I'm going through an agency) within 2 working days and expect to hear a firm yay or nay within 2 weeks. 3 weeks is too long.

[K87]

Depends how many other people they are interviewing, for popular graduate schemes it could be several weeks. Think both interviews i've been to have taken about a week to hear back though.

[escargot]

Snoggledog said:

Talk2Dave said:

i do feel like i was a strong candidate.

i'll ring them 1st thing monday morning when they are open.

do you think 3 weels (roughly) is the right time i should be hearing from someone?

Nope. If they're interested in you, they would normally have called within a week or 2 max. I normally go to an interview, try to get some feedback (if I'm going through an agency) within 2 working days and expect to hear a firm yay or nay within 2 weeks. 3 weeks is too long.

Not for a large firm in my experience. They may well have lengthy internal processes to follow before reaching offer stage with a candidate.

That said, a quick "just wondered if perhaps you had any feedback" call wouldn't go amiss.