Poor comms from submission of CV, no feedback to understand reason for application not proceeding. Due to opaque system no way of finding out how to contact the internal contact relating to the role and no redirection from reception, or to central HR to a hiring manager. Seems standard across all banks as the portals reign supreme and an assumption that AI is filtering out real candidates with real experience, and processing based on buzzwords

Overall it was a disappointing and poor experience of the interviews I attended over the years. 1) Punctuality - I do understand the busy schedules of most hiring managers and some of them do not really see any issue about being late for interviews from a hirer's perspective. However, to turn up rather late for 2 rounds of interviews without a simple apology to the candidate (who skipped lunch, took last min leave and spent closed to $100 on taxi fare to get to the secluded office in the eastern part of the island for 2 rounds of interview) does not portray a decent level of professionalism for a senior level manager. 2) Preparation - The interviewer was also seemingly unprepared on who he was meeting and displayed no interest in taking any note/observation around his candidate’s questions and concerns on the role. He then asked several repeated questions which was already discussed during our previous round. Though he articulated himself and explained on the role very well, throughout the hour plus conversation I just felt he was not interested at all, i.e. stone face, monotonous and a clear lack of passion for his job (yet he kept emphasizing several times that he wants to hire one who is very hardworking, do not mind staying late, highly energetic, enthusiastic/someone with fire in the belly and asked if I am someone like that. I thought it was quite an irony). More importantly, he is a senior HR executive who represents a global renowned French bank for recruitment and to present such behaviour/impression to potential candidates does not benefit the overall branding and image of the Bank. 3) HR Process - Finally, I was scheduled for the 4th and supposedly final round with HR. At the last min I was told to meet a potential stakeholder for a 5th round which I agreed without further questions. I tried hard to accommodate both their schedules and eventually I took time off and we met on the same day. The interview with the HR lady seems positive and she then requested for several personal and academic documents to be sent to her which I did on the same evening. 4) The Unexpected Outcome - The recruitment agent who matched me to the role shared that it will be a likelihood of an offer if they requested for my documents and a good sign. Therefore I patiently waited for a few weeks but only to know (reliable source from an agent friend) that the main interviewer was still shopping for more candidates. At the same time the main interviewer feedback to the recruiter that I probably lack of that ‘fire in the belly’ and may not be the candidate they are looking for but he wanted them to keep me warm. Much as I understand nothing can be finalised till the letter of offer is presented and there’ll always be unexpected situations, I do believe most HR do not/should not collect personal information from candidates before the final decision of hiring. I am rather unhappy that the HR asked for my personal documents without any intention to offer. Moreover the main interviewer also gave a few positive cues during the interviews which led me to think that he was keen in my application, i.e. Showed me around the office environment and discussed how he can better tweak the role to make the best use of my strength etc. All in all I am unimpressed with the interview experience, a lack of transparency and good communication from the Bank’s HR to the candidate.