I had a fantastic interview process with Kim and Kate Child. The interview was friendly but also professional, I was able to share all information I had researched prior to the job and show my keen enthusiasm for the role. They were both extremely interested in me and excited to give me an opportunity to grow and develop within the team. I wanted a career and was moving from short term/low hour contracts to a full-time secure contract to secure myself a future career and future growth.
After my first interview, which was due to last 20-30 mins, but instead was over an hour long due to how pleased they were with not only myself but also how i could use my skills and experience to benefit this role. I was then offered to come in for a 'second-interview' as such, which is how they worded it although this was 2 weeks later. I was invited to the office for approx 5 hours, entered and was greeted by the team, they showed me around the building and two of the staff started going through different roles and responsibilities I would be responsible for. It was a great morning. I got on fantastically with the team, the job definitely was more complicated than I initially thought, however I was so invested by this point, I was very keen to learn and be at the top of my team.
I was super positive and excited and a day later, I was offered the job! This was an absolute fever dream for me, I was so happy to feel valued by a company and that they saw the potential in me. This contract was conditional on two satisfactory references. This was not going to be a problem whatsoever for me as I have never had any negative feedback from job roles, got on well with staff and am an overachiever in all roles. I like to be the best.
A couple weeks went by and I still hadn’t heard anything back so I called Kate Chaplow, who was responsible for the recruitment decision making even though she was never in the first or second interview. She said she had some concerns about my last two jobs as they both lasted around 3-4 months. There were very simple and self explanatory reasons to all concerns she had, and I was honest and told her exactly. She seemed satisfied but asked for another reference to contact which I then gave her. The company she asked my last reference from is a US based company and often it is common they will not provide references and instead just employment verification and a list of job responsibilities to confirm my roles. Once this last reference came back, it then took them a week to contact me after I had to call multiple times, as I was due to start the job in a week and hadn’t heard anything for 3 weeks.
They then retracted my job offer 'based on unsatisfactory references' and have left me completely in the dark ever since. I requested all my references from my previous employers which they provided as we have a good rapport and these references were excellent. I thought that maybe the issue was due to only having been in low hour/ short term contracts, so I tried my best to explain again to Kate why this was and how ever since I have left my American job, I have been searching for a long term, full time, permanent career but due to the location i am in and how little job opportunities there are, i have had to take the first job that came my way. I should not be penalised for having to work low hour retail jobs to ensure I have a roof over my head and food on the table. I have an incredibly strong work ethic and was a great candidate for this job, with an extremely high potential and want to learn and professionally develop however Kate Chaplow seemed to have completely turned her nose up against me.
I left my previous job to join Optimum and a week before i am due to start, and there are absolutely no apparent reasons why i should not, my offer is redacted. They have left me jobless, and with no explanation to why. If there is something I did wrong, I want to know so I am able to work on this as I search for a new job. They have fobbed me over, I feel absolutely conned, extremely defeated, gutted and just in utter confusion over what could have possible gone wrong. Their communication is next to none and after having done more research about optimums management, it seems they were feeding me lies and it is not what it is made out to be. There are many other reviews out here, indicating support from management is not as supportive or positive as it seems.
It seems I may have dodged a bullet and it was possibly a blessing in disguise. Disgusting communication and still are yet to explain their reasoning for anything. They missed out on a strong candidate
