Very tough. Lots of quick fire, personal and psychological questions. Long wait time. Running behind schedule. Enjoyable day but tough. Waiting in a room with other graduates and then doing 3 x 10 min interviews before a final round interview.
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Portman Finance Group (Northampton, England) in Feb 2026
Interview
I felt compelled to write this following my experience with Portman Finance. Unfortunately, it was extremely poor. I attended my third stage interview for the Senior Marketing Executive role, feeling genuinely excited about the opportunity, but I left feeling completely disheartened and quite crushed.
I’m 32 years old, have worked across several organisations, and hold a Master’s degree, yet I
have never left an interview feeling as unsettled as I did after this one. I personally found the way I was spoken to by the COO to be disappointing, and it was something I had never experienced before. I personally felt it came across in a way that detracted from a constructive exchange. I understand the intention may have been to assess how I perform under pressure, but in my opinion, this is not what happened.
Shortly after the interview, I found myself in tears, and it affected me for the rest of the day. That is not something I have ever experienced following a professional interaction, which speaks to the impact the conversation had. I understand that I may not have been the right fit, and I fully respect that, but I do feel the experience could have been handled with a greater level of care and professionalism.
That said, I want to highlight that Saul and the wider marketing team were excellent. I really appreciated how thorough and engaging they were throughout the process, and that part of the experience was genuinely positive.
I hope this feedback encourages a more respectful experience for future candidates.
I interviewed at Portman Finance Group (Northampton, England)
Interview
3 step interview process, Video call, development test online and face-to-face interview. I found the process to be very average. Team are young and forward thinking with how they want to move with tech.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How would you ensure scalability of web apps using AWS.