A one-stage Teams interview, consisting of a 2 person panel, who asked approximately 8 competency based questions, after introductions.
The interview was quite formal and they weren't keen to build rapport. The job advert felt a lot warmer than the interview itself. They were polite, but made no attempt to put me at ease or talk outside of the questions.
After the interview, I felt deflated and not in the least bit positive about how it went. I guess that says it all, but having interviewed for other roles and enjoyed the process (usually more than 1 stage), this one felt off. I felt I had answered everything fully, aligned to my experience or my understanding of the jobs requirements, and clarified when required. As usual, I had put a lot of effort into the application and the interview prep itself, so I felt I had prepared well.
The feedback was via telephone, a couple of days later. Sadly, the lady who fed back was pretty blunt and said I'd answered "a couple of questions well, I suppose!". She gave me some spurious feedback about "next time think carefully about how you answer the equality & diversity question", which I thought was strange. I had answered that question after the initial surprise at being asked, but found it odd and out of place, having NEVER been asked that in ANY previous job interview before! Whilst it is important, I don't think it was a relevant question for the role.
It's worth asking at your interview why the role is available. This role was an amalgamation of two other roles and I'm wondering if they hired internally, but advertised externally, to tick a box. I could be wrong, and if I just wasn't right for them, that's okay. But, as mentioned, the vibe was off and it did make me wonder if they had earmarked an internal candidate already.
The whole thing felt guarded and unpleasant and I hope that whoever did get the job (if external) , it isn't like that culturally as well.