How not to get a job(long)

[notlovinit]

Ok some basic information about how my company does hiring:
I do all of the primary interviews to weed out the weirdos and then if the position is for a team member they get a second interview with the store manager E. If the position is for something higher up like a shift manager (as it was in this case) they have to have their interview with the supervisor of our store D. There are other supervisors in the company as well which will come into play later on in this story.
Ok so this story started out on a Tuesday with a girl coming through the drive thru and asking if we are hiring (which I hate, if you want a job come INSIDE lazy!). Anyway I tell her that we are and to put in an app and that it will take approx. a week to get to me and then I would call her. So she decides to call me two days later (and ask for me by the wrong name which I correct her about) and inquiry about her status. I again tell her it will take about a week and to just wait.

Two more days go by and E gets a call asking for me (again with the wrong pronounication of my name) and she tells the girl AGAIN to just wait for my call.
Well I finally get her app (exactly one week later) and notice a couple of things:
1. She put ME down as a reference, incorrectly spelling my name.
2. She used to work at the same place as my boyfriend.
But whatever, this girl is a pain in the ass and I'm sure she's not going to give up until I call her. So I call her the same day and let her know I got her app which she replies,"Finally!" to. The interview is for the following Tuesday (so one week later) which she manages to call me 5 times before it. (I don't know why she called I didn't answer)
Then we have the wonderful interview. The first thing out of her mouth is insulting my clothing ("My, don't YOU look comfy" in a condescending tone) and then I made the comment about how the girl that had an interview before her didn't show up and she said "Nope, no she didn't" (How would you know?! Did you sabotage her or something?!) Then during the whole interview she interrupts me on numerous occasions and won't SHUT UP! Finally I get to a place where we can end it all and I tell her she will have to talk to D. I get her set up with a time and date to have this second interview (I only did this because I knew this girl would be a pain if I didn't and that D wouldn't hire her)
The second interview is for two days later and she manages to call me twice, D twice, and come into the store to bug the employess. D interviews her, tells her she doesn't think it's going to work out and leaves it at that.
Is that the end of it? NO!
She proceeds to come into the store again and ask one of the other managers about our uniforms and all kinds of other basic questions about working here. She also calls the store and talks to E about when our employee orientation is and what she needs to bring. E informs her that she doesn't need to go as she was NOT hired and this brings upon a whole thing about how D hired her and not to worry about it she just needs the information. Then the day after that she calls the store and asks for the hiring manager and mentions my name. The girl that answered the phone said I was here and to hold on and then she just goes "Nevermind. I'll come in and talk to her." She didn't wind up coming in but I'm pretty sure it was her as most people don't know I do the interviews. Online and everywhere else it will say E does it.
So now I'm pretty sure she is trying to trick us all into thinking she got hired by playing us against each other haha.
Oh and remember how I told you we have other supervisors? Turns out she tried this same thing with one of them a few monthes ago.

[slipknotpsycho]

ok so, this is just weird. even if she managed to play you all against each other, and began working/training...she wouldn't end up getting paid, because nobody actually hired her...

i don't even....what the heck? some people's children *shakes head*

[Rapscallion]

Trying to defraud a company of goods or money, I can understand that. I don't like it, but I can understand it.

To try and bamboozle your way into being an employee?

Rapscallion

[Rhion]

I'd have canned the application as soon as I saw my name down as a reference. That is either very stupid or very dishonest.

[Little Retail Rabbit]

That was really weird to read O.o

I was thinking at first that perhaps the whole calling back after dropping off the app deal could be explained by the fact that often youngsters are told to bug potential employers. I was told this by my college careers counsellor and a Job-Centre rep (in hindsight, I probably should have ignored both as they were both awful lol). They said that calling up a place to ask "Hello, my name is Rabbit and I recently applied for a position there, I just wanted to know if the manager had had a chance to read my CV" would make you look keen to a potential employer. I personally have found it a waste of time, I almost always would get stuck talking to someone with no clue what was going on and never find out. Since then, having seen my managers getting frustrated with it, I haven't bothered.

But then the rest of the weirdness followed and I have no explanation for it ^^;;

Going through the Drive-Thru to ask for a job? That just reeks of professionalism :P I personally really hate it if I am serving at the till and someone pushes in the queue or interrupts me as I am serving a customer just to ask if there are vacancies. I always make a mental note of them. I always queue up, and often let actual customers go ahead of me- I figure that if staff are watching it will make a good impression

[NorthernZel]

I was thinking at first that perhaps the whole calling back after dropping off the app deal could be explained by the fact that often youngsters are told to bug potential employers. I was told this by my college careers counsellor and a Job-Centre rep (in hindsight, I probably should have ignored both as they were both awful lol). They said that calling up a place to ask "Hello, my name is Rabbit and I recently applied for a position there, I just wanted to know if the manager had had a chance to read my CV" would make you look keen to a potential employer.

I partially agree, since I got some similar advice from my Job Centre while I was unemployed.
But one thing is 1) enquiring about vacant positions and 2) make a polite follow-up call after sending the app if some time has passed and the company didn't call you back.
Constantly badgering the potential employer even after you've been told EXACTLY when your interview is scheduled is the certain road to a no-hire AND a "not eligible" stamp on your resume should you ever try to apply for another position at the same place (or even the whole store chain, for that matter).

[Little Retail Rabbit]

I partially agree, since I got some similar advice from my Job Centre while I was unemployed.
But one thing is 1) enquiring about vacant positions and 2) make a polite follow-up call after sending the app if some time has passed and the company didn't call you back.
Constantly badgering the potential employer even after you've been told EXACTLY when your interview is scheduled is the certain road to a no-hire AND a "not eligible" stamp on your resume should you ever try to apply for another position at the same place (or even the whole store chain, for that matter).

Yeah defo. Nowadays I only do it when I don't know what the closing date is and maybe a little over a week has passed or something. Or I might call back after an interview if I haven't back from them in a week. With the latter, its normally to find that they just haven't bothered getting round to letting people down (personally, I would rather know as soon as possible if I was unsuccessful, because then I can just move onto the next thing).

That girl was a whole league of nuts on her own though O.o

Oh actually, I have to admit, a bit of cheek did end up getting my current job. I had turned down the place for an interview as I had just taken up another job, but it didn't work out. 2 weeks later I very politely (and bashfully) asked if there was any chance they still had a vacancy...I hate my job now so it's hard for me to say this, but I consider myself very lucky! XD

[NorthernZel]

Oh actually, I have to admit, a bit of cheek did end up getting my current job. I had turned down the place for an interview as I had just taken up another job, but it didn't work out. 2 weeks later I very politely (and bashfully) asked if there was any chance they still had a vacancy...I hate my job now so it's hard for me to say this, but I consider myself very lucky! XD

I don't consider that cheeky.

As unemployment legislation goes over here at the moment, you are required to send out at least between 2-4 job applications every week - so when one finally gets a job offer, there are a lot of applications "out there" that have to be withdrawn.

I used to use a template mail stating that I had been offered a job elsewhere, but just wanted to point out that I may opt to "re-apply" should my new job turn out not to be as satisfactory as I excepted, and I "still think that Company X would be a kewl place to be in ".

Most of the places that bothered to reply were very positive about the way I had phrased my "rejection letter".

[MiloMorai]

Ok some basic information about how my company does hiring:
I do all of the primary interviews to weed out the weirdos and then if the position is for a team member they get a second interview with the store manager E.

You're not doing it right.

[MoonCat]

She put YOU down as a reference? Bizarre. Or sneaky. Definitely dishonest.

And trying to get all that info about orientation and stuff? How did she think that would work? Makes me wonder if that actually for her worked someplace else.

[Little Retail Rabbit]

Maybe she thought reference meant who ever "referred" her to the job? O_o

[Sheldonrs]

Give her a worn out uniform, have her come in one day. Tell her to clean the bathrooms. When she's done, THEN tell her she was never hired. :-D

[Jay 2K Winger]

Give her a worn out uniform, have her come in one day. Tell her to clean the bathrooms. When she's done, THEN tell her she was never hired. :-D

Reminds me of something that happened at the wholesale club. Slowhammed, like the nickname implies, wasn't all that quick on the uptake. When the decision was made to let him go (because of a continual lack of improvement in his work effort and I believe some customer complaints), they waited until the end of his shift, after he'd just done carts for the day, to inform him.

His sister, who also worked at the club, apparently thought this was wrong, "making him work a whole day" before telling him he was fired. I at first explained that's probably SOP for most businesses ("get one last shift of work out of them"), then tried to spin it: "He's still gonna get paid for it" but she stayed irritated about it for a long time.

[ArcticChicken]

They said that calling up a place to ask "Hello, my name is Rabbit and I recently applied for a position there, I just wanted to know if the manager had had a chance to read my CV" would make you look keen to a potential employer. I personally have found it a waste of time, I almost always would get stuck talking to someone with no clue what was going on and never find out. Since then, having seen my managers getting frustrated with it, I haven't bothered.

On the other hand, I know several people, including me, who've gotten a job this way. In fact, I was never interviewed, one day I got the hiring manager on the phone and she just told me to come in for training.

I think there's a fine line between keeping your application at the top of the pile and getting it chucked in the circular file. I would never, ever, think of calling a place more often than once a week, and that's only for place where they get a very high volume of applications.

[notlovinit]

Haha I love your guys' replies. But in regards to the whole call or not call thing- As a hiring manager, I hate it. I know it's different for other places and even stores in the same organization, but I personally hate it. I won't hold it against a person for calling (as long as they only do it once or a reasonable amount and not like this girl), but it annoys me. I look over every application I get and make a decision instantly about whether they are getting an interview or not. If they aren't getting one then calling me isn't going to change that. And if they are getting one I'm not going to forget to call. I have this feeling that a lot of our applicants think that I am just waiting for THEIR call so that I can interview them. But that is just my personal opinion on it and I know other places are different so I would personally advise people to call and check up, but not go crazy with it and to take the hint if you aren't offered an interview or a job.

Here's another good story :
I got this e-mail today from a lady who REALLY wanted me to interview her daughter and went on about how great of a worker she is and even left me instructions about leaving a message if no one answered the phone. So I go through all the applications for the week (she left me a date this daughter had applied) and get this: the daughter didn't even apply. This girl who is such a great worker lied to her mom about applying.