Hi,ever been in a position when you apply for a job as an experienced hire with 9-10 years of experience and then your interviewer seems to have much lower experience than you overall as well as in the field that you have applied for..and to top it..he/she would be leading that function..?wondering whether it makes sense to then join such positions?on another note : is it possible that a Manager level person can interview for another manager level candidate? or he can only interview candidates for a lower grade than what he is currently?

Can't really give you specific advice as you're clearly a senior level than me but as an external voice I would want to ask myself what is it that I would like to gain from this? Are you likely to learn from him/her directly or indirectly through joining his/her team should you gain an offer [i]or[/i] if not is the package offered/their market position/brand likely to nullify that?

Just because they have less years in the working environment than you, doesn't mean they are 'less experienced'. They may be younger and have less time on the board, however, they have more-than-likely gained more valuable insight into the specific service offering you are interviewing for than you have (hence their position). For instance, whilst you might have 10 years experience in the FMCG sector, this individual may only have 6-7 years, but this has probably been gained doing EXACTLY the type of work they cover.On your other note, it's rare for the same level to interview someone i.e. Mgr-Mgr. However, I know it happens more often than not in cases where the team doesn't have enough bandwidth or people in the team for more senior levels to cover it.Apologies if this note isn't written perfectly. I can't be bothered to check through at 8:30am on a Monday.

Yup, and it seems to happen more in the UK than elsewhere.I came across a role on LinkedIn and applied. Can't remember when exactly last year. Late December 2012, I got an e-mail from the hiring manager. We agreed to meet up in Bracknell (C&W).Here are some of his words:"How do you know these things.....?""I think you are more entrenched in VF, compared with me or even my boss.....""I thought you didn't know some aspects, but I now see that you know more than what's needed for this role....""Are you sure this is what you're after? I feel you're over-qualified for this role. You definitely know more than I do...."He was honest. And so was I. When he asked me my thoughts, I said they needed to improve rapidly, or many C&W ppl will go in the VF integration. We're quite good mates now and chat on Skype, etc. But it's one way, as he benefits from picking my brain.Finally, to answer your question, it can make sense to join. Ask about progression, etc. Or..... if you're desperate for a change or need a role, then it would make sense to join. Saying that..... sometimes, good things come to those who wait :)

The appropriate response sometimes depends on the firm's history. If its an established firm and the "Head of Sector X" seems inexperienced and out of their depth, then there's always the risk that the firm is not doing so well and they've moved up due to gaps appearing when under-achieving senior bods get fired, or good senior bods quit to join better firms.However, when I went to join a start-up to launch their FS practice I routinely interviewed people with more years of experience than me, but I was the one who had the guts to jump ship from a big firm to a start up. They only considered joining once we had a £5m revenue stream well established. Needless to say when a few of them got shirty about that I was quick to remind them that they may be content rich, but it was me pulling in the deals.As for managers interviewing manager - some firms do like peer level interviews for the first "do we like you meeting"

Dear all, thanks for the responses.Tom1 -apologies that I did not explain clearly. It was evident from the interview questions and discussions that the interviewer did not have depth of the knowledge that was expected from that position..certainly not to interview someone with more experience. This is not a criticism for the interviewer, but more from the firm's perspective, that they should think about the interview process as this might turn off some candidates.Camster - :) yeah I did get some similar responses too..viz. 'oh you have X number of years experience?'...'which grade are they considering you for do you know?'Mr. Cool - yeah this is a well known established firm. thats why I am disappointed. I was in fact looking forward to join this, but now after going through this experience, I am having second thoughts..but good to know this concept of 'Peer interviews'..if thats the case here, it makes sense...well, will see how it goes, I am not really looking to jump for no significant reasons/gains..thanks all..