Am I not reasonable?

[kneeshooter]

Am I unreasonable to ask for interview expenses?

Come to Manchester on Friday they say; Pay my train fare I say; Hmmm they say.

Honestly. I could say rude things and compare recruiters to sales and marketing people, but I like harrytc too much now.

Comments

[robcee.livejournal.com]

I have never worked for, or been itnerviewed by, anyone who paid interview expenses...

[kingandy]

Yeah, me either. I think the general principle is ... you do want the job, don't you? It's not like it's purely for their benefit...

I have heard of people having their bus fare paid for interviews, but that was by the DSS because they'd been out of work for ages. They also bought him a suit.

[kneeshooter]

Clearly neither of you work in the public sector :-)

[kingandy]

So, what, is it an internal job? You think the taxpayer should fund your career progression?

[kneeshooter]

Internal in the sense that it's also the public sector, which is the largest employment sector in the UK.

I'm coming at this from a perspective of having normally gone for interviews with employers that do offer expenses - universities, councils and some parts of central government.

I thought it was standard practice on inter-city interviews. Clearly outside of my cotton-wool cocoon the world is a much harsher place.

[lsowersby.livejournal.com]

I was offered expenses for the last couple I went for, also public sector (Housing Associations)

[kantti.livejournal.com]

I got expenses for my interviews with my current employer (big corporate), but it was a milkround process, so maybe it's different when it's not milkround.

[kneeshooter]

Is there any pattern to that in terms of distance/sector/size of company?

I've done a fair few interviews that have been significant distances from where I've been based at the time (Oxford > Lancaster for one; and a couple in London) where the costs would have made me think twice about going - especially if there was a risk of being invited along "just to make up numbers" (though I'm too arrogant generally for that to happen as a rule).

[robcee.livejournal.com]

not really - apart from that almost all have been private sector of varying sizes. But even then the British Library job in central london didnt pay expenses either...

[gaius-octavian.livejournal.com]

No, quite reasonable I think, if they want you to interview in a city other than the one the job's actually in.

[davefish.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I've never specifically asked can I get the expenses, I've always just assumed that I was going to get the expenses paid, and asked for them afterwards. The costs for train/flight and taxi can soon build up, they want me, they should pay for it.

[steve-c.livejournal.com]

I got over £100 worth of travel expenses when I travelled from Gosport to Manchester for an interview at MMU. You're not being unreasonable at all - an interview is as much about you deciding whether the company is one you wish to work at as it is about them deciding if you're suitable. It often costs over £2000 to hire someone - travel expenses are a small sacrifice to make if it means getting the right person for the job first time around.

[jfs.livejournal.com]

I was just having a similar conversation in the office ...

At my last place, they budgeted £3000 as the average cost of hiring a new member of staff - a lot less if they were advertising for a new caretaker, a lot more if it was a new chief executive. (That cost somewhere in the region of £15,000 if the rumours are true.)

And that was just cash outlay, not counting time spent.

When Jon Gilbert was contracting, one of the questions he used to ask a company before taking a position with them was "do you offer free tea and coffee to your employers?" because all the firms he'd had problems with in the past didn't, and all the ones he'd enjoyed working for did. It's not a silly question - if your firm is going to be that penny pinching and not think about their staff, do you want to work for them?

[jfs.livejournal.com]

Crap.

" ... free tea and coffee to your employees ..."

[november-girl.livejournal.com]

*shocked that there are places that don't*

[jfs.livejournal.com]

I've worked for places where you brought in your own tea / coffee, or had a coffee club amongst the staff.

In my limited experience, the rule holds - those were the worst of the places that I've worked.

[mr-h-r-hughes.livejournal.com]

I have been paid travelling expenses by Private sector employers in the past.

[november-girl.livejournal.com]

I haven't. :-(

[ikkleblacktruck.livejournal.com]

Assuming it's the one I think it is, did they pay up last time?

[kneeshooter]

I phoned them, they told me to request in writing, I did, they sent me the paperwork but I never claimed it for various tedious complicated reasons involving my conscience.

I still have the paperwork somewhere.

[ikkleblacktruck.livejournal.com]

So why the change of heart now?

[kneeshooter]

The "special" circumstances that surrounded my trips last time don't apply this time.

So I'm just checking.

[ikkleblacktruck.livejournal.com]

If the Manchester interview is with the agent, don't they have a Bham office?

[kneeshooter]

They're doing the tests (for those that have to do them) in their Manchester offices as I guess they are the closest to Warrington. As I (hopefully) don't have to do the test I can see the agents at that venue while others are testing.

It would either be a case that the agent doing the interview has to see all the candidates for consistency - but you'd think video conferencing or something could be used.

[ikkleblacktruck.livejournal.com]

A prime case for innovation, methinks.

[scary-lady.livejournal.com]

My third and final interview for the job I am currently in was in Luton. I live in Manchester. It was private sector, and I was not offered and did not expect travel expenses.

From both Jem's and my experiences, I would say that "Normal" practice in private sector is to do initial weeding out interviews either locally to the interviewees (in a hired hotel conference room for eg), or as telephone interviews, and then to expect the shortlist to visit your HQ regardless of its location.

[kneeshooter]

Yeah - that makes sense. Well, the "initial interviews locally or by telephone" bit :-)

[miss-soap.livejournal.com]

My clients pay interview expenses including flights, trains and hotels but that's banking. When I was headhunting in IT expenses only tended to be covered for second-round interviews.