After my application, I was contacted and asked to design an asset that I felt represented the Draft House. This could have been a poster or a flyer, I chose to design a beer mat, they very much liked my design and it was said in my second interview that I really understood the brand and the tone of voice in which they used to communicate with their audience. I was really pleased about this as it was because of their branding I applied for the job, it’s what graphic designers do, they fall in love with graphics.
After my initial submission, I was contacted to meet for an interview. My interview was held in their shoreditch location and the interview was held in the bar. The interviewer was lovely and it was more of a casual chat. She admitted that she wasn’t so knowledgeable of graphic design and the technicalities of the job, so besides the occasional question about my work, it seemed to be more of a second screening meeting. Being prepared for a full on interview, the approach did throw me a little but it was fine. I was asked if I had any questions but the ones I had prepared were technical questions, as I knew she couldn’t answer them, I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable by asking them and I just said that she had covered everything and I had no questions. I knew this would have reflected badly on me but as she had told me about her limited knowledge, I felt I’d have come off worse asking her the questions I had prepared.
Four days later, I was asked to come in for a second interview to be held 2 weeks after the first due to the interviewers planned holidays. This interview was held again at their shoreditch location but this time, the interview was held in a communal hub/coffee area which was a part of the building the pub was a part of.
Whilst the interviewer 1 was kindly getting us some drinks, interviewer 2 looked at my CV and his first comment to me was in reference to my age, whilst my date of birth was not on my CV, my work history showed that I would be in my 40’s (I’m 41), and he said “so you have obviously been around for a while”, then followed up with my being 9 years younger than interviewer 1 “so it was fine”. I laughed it off but it did set the tone of comfort for me and it immediately made me self-conscious and it did affect my whole performance. Despite this, both interviewers were lovely and very chatty. Though there were points when I felt that I couldn’t fully answer questions as another question was asked before I’d finished answering the previous. I also noticed that the interviewer 1 had not looked at my CV or my work before the interview and he did it while I was there which obviously explained the feeling of a lack of planning the interview had.
As it turned out, my application was not taken any further, they said that liked me and they liked my work, but where I fell was that I didn’t visit any of their bars during my research process which is absolutely fair enough. I had thought to, but I haven’t worked since before Christmas and I could barely manage to pay my rent and feed myself, so I really couldn’t afford to go on a pub crawl of their London establishments, so I had just hoped that my extensive online research coupled with my passion for their brand identity would see me through (I did not tell them this as I felt that it wasn’t their concern). So my advice to anyone going for an interview for The Draft House is to visit their bars, try their products, understandably, they won’t employ you if you don’t.
Though I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I wasn’t a little put-out that I was penalized for not visiting their bars, they said themselves that I totally 'Got' their brand and my skill set put me in a great position to do the job very well. After all, it seemed ok for them to not look at my CV and portfolio until I was sat there being interviewed. Research goes two ways when prepping for an interview. I would also hope that I wasn’t successful because I didn’t visit their bars and not because I’ve “been around for a while”. It was obvious to them that I’m not a big drinker and my party days are well and truly over, so maybe I just wouldn’t have been the right fit for them. And whilst I totally accept my failures in this process, I feel that there are lessons for both parties to take from my experience.
