TomTom Manager/Scrum Master Interview

Interviewed May 2011 (took 7+ weeks)

I applied to this company almost 2 months ago for a posted position. I was contacted later and had an initial HR interview and later one more interview.

I was told upfront that the position I had applied for was closed/filled and they were not sure 'what' the position was or job description was.

The second interview was very generic, with mostly open ended questions. Not a single question was asked regarding my resume, or any specifics of my experience etc. Questions were general such as what kind of role do you like, where do you see yourself in the future, what sort of employer are you looking for etc. I believe these were thougt provoking questions for a genuine candidate - the kind that does not mug up answers to such questions - and my responses genuinely reflected what I found desirable.

It is difficult to answer these questions without knowing a specific job description and strategic replies are difficult. But at the same time, it is natural that someone with 11-12 years experience and multiple graduate degrees (moi) will exhibit the readiness and ability to take up any role without being hung up on anything particular. This should not be surprising, rather it should be expected.

I was also asked about my citizenship status, which I feel may have been an important factor in my candidature (unfortunately).

I was later called for another f2f interview. Inspite of requesting for information, none was given regarding what to expect, type/format of interview etc. I agree it is not necessary to divulge this information.

One positive thing is that I was punctually attended to at the given time. ( I have been kept waiting 2-3 hours at other places). I was given a written test that is normally given to entry level engineers. This was unexpected. The test mostly contained bookish questions - Some were multiple choice, some required writing pseudo code, and there was a huge sheet of raw data for interpretation.

I am not sure how I fared in the test - maybe fair, good or bad - anything is possible.

I had an interview with my previous interviewer - which lasted 3-4 minutes max. The questions asked were - are you actively looking, any other offers, why us? and Thanks..

The second interview was by a couple of people and it lasted 5 minutes. These 2 people were in the position that I had actually applied for. They asked me what role I wanted, what were my career aspirations..on learning that the position applied for was my 'short term' goal, they seemed very surprised. ( Career aspiration can be heading a company, being a CEO etc.; becoming a manager cannot be someone's career aspiration).

The interviewers steered me toward or wanted me to say that I wanted X position ( the one applied for), which was very wierd since the HR guy had already told me this position did not exist.

I was also told that an industry certification did not mean that I was capable of doing the job ( agree).

Overall the whole experience was very confusing.

All the interviewers seemed to want to steer me to say that 'I want X' instead of ***accepting or believeing*** that I was open to any cross disciplinary role, wearing multiple hats etc. only to say that X was not available!

I felt that I was a big imposition on the interviewers' time, however short it was.