Applied online and got a call from HR guy who kindly arranged for me to attend interview at Manchester airport. I met and spoke to the chap and he was friendly and upfront about the challenge of working in a such a company. The finance director was about 20 minutes late as I waited in the interview room for her. I can be understanding as it appears they are very busy. The young FD walks in shakes my hand, sits down and immediately says “so tell me about your CV”; no “hi” nor a small apology for being late. It felt like she just wanted to get going so I complied and got on with the interview. She fired many questions at me at such a fast pace, I gave it all I got and ended up thinking and speaking very fast. Unfortunately for her and for me, she kept coughing constantly throughout my interview and despite me wanting to proceed and answer her questions, it was very off putting that I had to stop at times to make sure she was okay. At the end, she got up and said she better not shake my hand due to the germs on her hand from all the constant coughing. Overall, I found this FD very rude and gave me THE worst impression of the company. I’ve had awful interviews before but everything about this one interview made me uncomfortable and demeaning. I am prepared for a challenging environment but I’m not prepared to follow someone that has bad people skills. I get the feeling management here are ambitious but they simply have no time to be nice to anyone. A first impression is a lasting impression, I would not recommend this company for anyone that doesn’t possess thick skin and also not for anyone that have “nice and friendly” personalities. I was actually looking forward to this interview as I felt I had necessary experience and skills to fit in to this company. Also the company is growing quickly. In the end, for my career, I want to follow and choose the right leader to follow, this FD was clearly not right me and likewise I was not right for her. If you want a job that requires you to be ambitious then the skys the limit at the hut group but at a cost of being good with people. No other interview in my 10 year experience has ever left me with such a bad taste in my mouth. All I knew was when I came out of this interview, 1) I would never want to work for such a person like this 2) if I got an offer, I would specify that I would categorically reject it because I don’t think that we would ever work well together. Fortunately for me she didn’t want to take my application forward. My advice to hut group: well done with the growth and maintaining key founders in management, but if this FD is a representation of the hut group and all of your senior team, then I personally cannot fit in with this place. Maybe right for some other people.

Competency questions about accounting skills and experience about what I she’s done in my career and what I can bring to the role. Quite intimidating interviewer. Straight to the point no messing around and no pleasantries exchanged