I applied through a LinkedIn Adv. I had one face to face interview with Global Talent Director that came to Madrid for the interview, then I was passed to skype interviews with HVAC CEO ( Decision making person ) and then UK HVAC CEO and Global Finance Manager.
After this, and with everything apparently going perfect ( They called it " a perfect fit for both" after these interviews and declared to be "very lucky to have found me" because I was "exactly what they were looking for" ) , I was assigned by the CEO herself to build a Whole Marketing Plan and strategy for Homeserve's UK Boiler Business, that currently is running without any strategy further than trying to sell to actual members, losing margin and revenue due to new disruptive platforms and with a total lack of HVAC value proposition .
Not enough, I was also asked to work and build another full Marketing Integration plan for all new acquired companies once they do not have any . Today, Homeserve HVAC is just a M&A operation with just financial consolidation of acquired companies but with no common Brand, Marketing Strategy, Systems, Product or Value Proposition at all.
I spent 20 days working 15 hours a day including weekends to build both Strategical Plans once the feedback I received was really good. During this process, I communicated that I have found many basic Marketing and Strategic problems and they asked me to provide practical solutions to it. Therefore I assumed that after the interviews with key decision making persons and after providing me with such a huge assignment, I was totally on board and that we were just gaining time to the final meeting with the ( already positively interviewed ) CEO. The CEO came to see me to Madrid and I got also interviews the very same day with Global Strategy Director and HVAC Spain Director. I presented my strategic plans and we discussed for some hours about details, plannings, costs, value proposition and so on. During the meetings, they did a lot of questions, took notes and basically agreed with my analysis and proposed solutions. The CEO took the full consultancy work and after two days I received a short email saying that it was not the right moment for them and asking me to work as external consultant in the future.
Be aware that Homeserve looks for free external consultancy using senior candidates. If called by them, do the interviews but if they request to work on something, most probably you will be working for free.