itsme (Belgium) interview questions

I applied online, the job and the company looked quite interesting to me. The Recruiter got back to me by email stating she wanted to schedule for a call, but when I replied a day later she went completely silent on me.. I had to chase her by email and through LinkedIn before she responded. The interview process then kicked off with a screening call from a cheerful recruiter, which was an OKE exchange of background details, motivations, and the salary chat. Next up was a chat with the Head of Partnerships - feedback beforehand I got from her was to show that -despite having worked for more established companies- I am experienced in setting up new Partnerships and could work for ItsMe easily where things were not yet that established and had to be started up from scratch... Then my conversation with the Head of Partnerships, he was new to the Industry and only hired 8 months ago. He spoke passionately about the company's grand vision, about the role and about what he thought was needed for this role. During the call, I mentioned how I had some specific experience in trying to sell their Product to one of my customers and how it was a difficult sell. He was sparked to find out more and said he didn't want to cut the call without having spoken thoroughly with each other. I felt like he was interested in me and my experience and how I could actually make a difference and wanted to know more, so I made myself available for another call but at the same time I was also a bit hesitant already since he was interested in my experience with the Product and why it was such a hard sell, but absolutely not interested in me (personally) - and apart from this, he just really liked to talk.. We scheduled for another call (!) during Christmas period where basically he spent another hour of explaining about the company's grand vision, about the role and about what he thought was needed for this role. It became quite clear then, he was only interested in finding out why it was such a "hard sell" for a Payments expert (which seemed like a totally new and irrelevant industry to him) and nothing else.. he then said, he had all the time in the world to find the right person for the job.. and he wanted me to continue to the next phase, which was... the case study. In the meantime the HR/Recruiter came back with feedback and she expressed herself quite negatively.. things that absolutely did not resonate with me! How (again) I was probably not the right person since I worked for more established companies before and she also said it was probably going to be difficult to me, to work for them, because I had not worked for almost a year time!? I was a bit gobsmacked by that.. that was absolutely not the feedback the Head of Partnerships shared.. Anyway she then wanted to plan for a date for me to present the Case Study in their office, which I couldn't do that same week and I proposed a date a week after. She would check and let me know, but when she came back, it seemed they did not have all the time in the world anymore to find the right person, their agenda's were full. At first I was hoping to present the masterpiece of unpaid labor in their office, but the company had other plans. They quickly scheduled for a call instead where I could present the case. The whole experience just gave me such a bad feeling, so before confirming the planned date to her, I took some time over the weekend to think about me wanting to work for this company. I had such a bad feeling about it, that I informed the HR/Recruiter my decision on the following Monday and informed her that their feedback absolutely did not resonate and how I got a really negative feeling about it all and that therefore I was not going to even start working on the Business case. The difference of feedback between the Head of Partnerships and the HR/Recruiter was weird to me, like they were not aligned at all.. She then went completely silent on me, again, just to respond back after a week, saying how she was ill and therefore couldn't respond. What a disappointment and how surprising to hear that apparently I am not the only one with this experience - this is just disrespectful! Proud of myself I listening to my gut feeling and did not continue further with the application process.

The interview process kicked off with a screening call from a cheerful recruiter. It was refreshingly straightforward – a pleasant exchange of background details, motivations, and, of course, the salary chat. For a moment, I almost believed I was more than just a name on a spreadsheet. Next up was a chat with the Head of Growth. They were passionate about the company's grand vision, and I left feeling optimistic, buoyed by their enthusiasm. Then came the pièce de résistance: the case study. Nothing says "we truly value your time" like a hefty, time-consuming project designed to showcase my brilliance... for free. A golden opportunity to donate my intellectual property with absolutely zero clarity on how it would be used. Pure charity work at its finest. But the excitement didn’t stop there. I was all set to present this masterpiece of unpaid labor, but the company had other plans. They rescheduled. Then rescheduled again. At this point, I was seriously questioning in what universe it’s acceptable to leave double the time between the case study deadline and the presentation, compared to the time they gave me to complete the actual work. Then, just hours before my grand presentation, the recruiter called with thrilling news! They’d found a “better” candidate (plot twist!) and no longer needed me. So thoughtful. The cherry on top? No formal rejection, no feedback – just radio silence. It’s like ghosting, but in corporate. In summary, the early stages were hopeful, but the abrupt ending, lack of communication, and overwhelming sense of being a free consultant really put a damper on things. If you’ve ever dreamed of feeling like an unpaid freelancer, this is your spot. I sincerely hope they figure out that "candidate respect" should be more than just a trendy buzzword for their next growth strategy.