When I asked Ched how the interview had gone, he was very quick to reply:

"I felt completely invaded. They just invaded my space".

It was at this point that I had a vivid flashback to the 1980's and to my two favourite video games Space Invaders and PacMan.

I should explain here that Ched had previously worked for the exact type of company that my clients hoped to become (over time). Needless to say when they had seen the company name on Ched's CV, that alone had caused the urgency of bringing him in for interview.

Apparently Ched had been grilled - to the point of feeling very uncomfortable. He felt like he had been brought in solely to be drained of all the competitor information they could get out of him. At one point he felt that the three of them were almost moving in closer towards him until Ched decided to leave the interview.

This was a classic case of a team of hiring managers making a decision based entirely on the information contained in a CV. Therefore they were making their decision based on Ched's ability to get the job (having worked for a competitor) and not based on his ability to do the job - based on his skills, strengths and competencies.

Ched did the right thing to leave the interview. In fact it hadn't even been an interview - more an information gathering (almost spy-like) exercise. Whilst Ched had been made redundant from his last role and is certainly keen to find a new position, he still did not feel at all comfortable talking about the strategies and initiatives he had worked on with his former employer.

Ched will play again (when a more suitable role comes up), but as far as me working with this particular client? GAME OVER!