I applied online. I interviewed at Frazzled Cafe (London, England) in Sept 2025
Interview
The first stage is a 15 minute long interview with the CEO but it is conditional on having attended a session. You don't get much notice. I understand why they would want candidates to have familiarity with the Frazzled Cafe meetings, but to me this stage of the interview process reads more as a promotional/research endeavor for the charity rather than a reputable form of interviewing candidates. Out of principle I do not dedicate more than an hour of time to interview preparation because its unpaid labour at the end of the day and for 24k a year its not worth it. Familiarity in this way can be developed through induction and probationary periods. I suspect its a method of bolstering attendance numbers for funding. Its difficult because who has time for this?
I applied online. I interviewed at Frazzled Cafe in Feb 2024
Interview
The interview process was split into 2 parts. The first was a 15 minute one. The instructions explained you didn’t need to prepare anything in advance. The second would be longer and take place only 24 hours after the first.
The 15 minute interview was made up of three questions. One of which was to give feedback on the meetings (run by the charity) you were to have attended in advance of the interview.
I was informed of the interview on a Tuesday evening and the bookable slots be were for the following Monday. This left me Wednesday , Thursday and Friday to find the time for a MINIMUM! of 4 one hour meetings (this was written in the advert)
Those days fell during half term and I was already juggling childcare and work.
Unable to attend the even one meetings I contacted two friends who I was aware had attended the meetings to understand what they were like incase I was asked.
During my interview when asked if I had personally attended any meetings I was honest and said no but gave my answer based on the research I’d done from actual attendees. It was clear that having not attended myself would mean I wasn’t going to progress any further.
With a better timeline for interviews it would have been a more inclusive process to those with responsibilities. Small charities often don’t have HR leads but I would still expect more awareness of how asking a person to find at least 4 hours of time in 3 days at shorts notice is unrealistic. I wonder how many people also didn’t progress for the same reason? Such a shame as the organisation otherwise seems really great
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What was my feedback on the frazzled cafe meetings