Initial phone interview with the HR department followed by a face-to-face interview.
The initial interview with the Newcastle based staff was very professional and well structured. This was in stark contrast to the face-to-face interview. I was briefed that it was to be a "competency based" interview and so I prepared accordingly, however, the person who interviewed me was not a specialist in the relevant area of marketing. The interview was unstructured and ended-up as a free ranging conversation with little reference being made by them to my suitability, experience or skill set.
Follow-up was poor and did not abide by the timetable Sage were setting. The whole process dragged out and eventually petered out without any clear explanation of their decision not to proceed further. Given the circumstances, my contact in their Newcastle HR department did her best.