Eleven o'clock yesterday morning, ailing somewhat in the female department and feeling less than chipper, I received a phone call from one of the employment agencies I am registered with...could I make it for an interview at 12!
I hesitated momentarily considering that to get myself from a state of the great unwashed and sporting a fine birds nest on my head to 'interview condition' and make the ten mile dash to somewhere I had never been before (navigation is not my forte and my car is lucky to have a steering wheel let alone sat. nav.) from the mental and physical point of decrepitude I was at, was a feat far greater than I was likely to achieve.
But of course as fast as I hesitated I told myself to get a grip, even a three month contract was worth a shot so I hauled myself through the showering and suiting and booting process, transformed the birds nest, poked some paracetamol down my neck and floored my little car in the appropriate direction.
Luck was on my side and with no traffic problems evident and an unusually effective attempt at navigation I made it with time to spare. The adrenaline of rushing about like a mad woman had thankfully bought my senses back to something approaching compis mentis and it seemed that amazingly I had gathered myself from 'slob status' to 'interview ready status' in less than an hour!
The interview, as far as one can ever tell, went well and I emerged feeling reasonably proud of my effort and with a promise that I would hear if I had been successful in the late afternoon.
I did and I wasn't!
Apparently this time it seems I was over qualified!! FFS!!
It has never entered my head that I should need to dumb down to secure myself employment, let's face it, I'm not any competition for Einstein and I'm still trying to decide exactly how, when the contract is only for three months, it would actually matter anyway.
What a waste of time and effort!
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
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6 Comments:
OK - so go back to your agency and
1 Give them a rollicking for wasting your time. The placement person should have recognised you were over qualified. Her file should have sufficient dimbos for the job without trying to get you in just cause they need tyhe commission.
2 When yo have showed them how pished off you are, tell them to get onto the client and sell them the position that being OQ is not a problem for you on a 3 months booking. In thattime, they may have a more challenging vacancy and you will be on the spot - a known quality person and not some high priced mystery sent by an agency.
3 If with just the one agency, think about getting another one. More lines into the water = more fish caught. Once you have shown your present mob how you feel about them - bother them. Phone. Call in if nearby. Harass them. Suggest revision/review of your info file with them. Think about a fresh cv with things you will have learned in job interviews since you wrote it. Check a load of adverts and get the 'buzz' phrases and try and work some into the file
and cv.
4 Do not get set back. This is what use of an agency entails. They will be sending you along on the basis it costs them nothing and you might just click and get them their cut and the placement/interviewer gets theirs.
Trust me - I worked for an agency when I needed a lot of money fast. It is one step below pimping so make them earn their money.
anonymouse jw
WOW - they must have been looking for someone REALLY dumb! ;-)
Joking apart - what a bunch of gits. "Overqualified" - what kind of signal does that send out about the sort of person they are looking for? Is it *possible* to be over-qualified - at what point does it become ideal to find someone who is prepared to work for the salary they are offering but is also ideal because they are stupiderererer than all the other interviewees?
Methinks the real reason was "..and frankly I thought you was smart enough to make me look stupid and therefore threaten my job and ivory tower of undeserving power".
Move on - not all employers are crap, honest. (Although mine is turning more crap by the day but that's another story).
P.s. Happy belated blog birthday!
I agree with most of the above .... but one thing you can say, at least you got interview experience!
belle
For a 3 month vacancy, it seems like being overqualified would be to their benefit.
Obviously, that employer is not too smart.
Try to take some solace in the fact that the employer is greatly underqualified.
OQ is the lamest excuse on the planet for a temporary position.
Thanks chaps....all digested :o)
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