Job Applicants

[Silvercat]

I used to work in recruitment, ah the stories I could tell!

I second that! I wanna hear!

[Sofar]

*Why do I have to work til 11pm (Because thats when the store closes!) Oh, so I go home at 11pm? (No, we go home when the store is cleaned.)

An all-night book shop? All the book shops I know close at six or seven.

[CrazedClerk]

An all-night book shop? All the book shops I know close at six or seven.

The Chapters in downtown Ottawa, Canada where I used to live used to stay open until 11.

[lastofthesummerwine]

When I worked at the movie palace, applicants had to pass one of those "liar, liar, pants on fire" personality tests (you know the one-- lying just enough not to be Mother Teresa but not so much you look like Charlie Manson). Well, we had a time filling an associate's position during this one spell. I swear, I could feel the steam come out of my little cotton socks when this one cute-as-hell young man came up, bearing the personality quiz-- and with a very straight face-- asked me, "What's 'rappert'?" Confused, I looked at the form.

You and I are more familiar with the term "rapport"!


Sheesh

[air914]

It's amazing how hard it is to fill out an application. I just had one where the person wrote the wrong area code, looked like they wrote the wrong number, and when I finally figured out their number (after dialing several different versions), their voice mail was full- um you're looking for a job? HOw many people a day are really calling you and why can't you clear out your voice mail?

My husband used to manage a store and got people who applied around the Holidays and he would tell them he needed them to work weekends and during the Holiday - and they would say they could do that.... a week or two later, guess who can't work weekends or Holidays anymore? Several people did this....

Oh and speaking of scheduling - one of the people that works at the same place I do (in a dif. dept) called today and was yelling at a manager b/c she told him he needed to find someone to cover his shift. He said it wasn't fair and that he "forgot" he had something on such and such date. Um how is that my problem? You forgot, the schedule is out, you're calling late to tell us that (like you're not calling the day the schedule came out) and therefore YOU need to find someone to work your shift of you need to come in yourself.

Oh one more thought - I processed people's "emergency contacts" once for HR - it was AMAZING how people couldn't write legibly the person's name OR their phone number - how are we supposed to contact this person if an emergency happens when you're writing is completely illegible? Wouldn't you want to take a tiny bit of time making sure that particular form was legible??

[tollbaby]

The Chapters in downtown Ottawa, Canada where I used to live used to stay open until 11.

It doesn't now *sigh* closes at 9. The only time it's open later is during December, and then it's open until midnight.

[Primer]

Oh one more thought - I processed people's "emergency contacts" once for HR - it was AMAZING how people couldn't write legibly the person's name OR their phone number - how are we supposed to contact this person if an emergency happens when you're writing is completely illegible? Wouldn't you want to take a tiny bit of time making sure that particular form was legible??

OT:

um...is it just me? but the person/people I want contacted in case of an emergency is 911! (I believe that's 999 for you folks across the pond)

Actually, the last (and only) time I had a true emergency, I called my husband myself...everybody else called 911! (paraphrased: hi honey...I'm sitting up here at the highway intersection. I've just been rear-ended by an 18-wheeler, and I hear sirens. I think you will have to go back around behind the lumber store to get to me.)

[Captain Trips]

I think the "winner" that I once saw was for a computer operator position. Experience definitely required. One cover letter for a resume clearly said "I'm sure my experience will be of great benefit to your company." His experience on his resume? "Landscaper." (Gardener!) I still wonder how pushing a lawnmower qualifies as experience applicable to computer operations! (As far as I know, lawn mowers don't even include a microprocessor!)

[JustADude]

I had a book with about 100 HORRIBLE resumes....

Wow... and here I thought having a pretty, M$-Word formatted resume with nothing but service-industry jobs on it would be a bad thing to hand in. Looks like I'll at least make it through the first cut just for it being formatted and spell checked.

[Rapscallion]

I suspect the problem is that many applicants with such horrific resumes don't know that they can't spell for crap. Some of them skipped school or had horrific teachers. Unless they can either realise or get onto some adult education courses, there's not much hope for a decent job.

Rapscallion

[bean]

Yet I still hear complaints from the newbies that they have to work late one day a month, that they don't want to work any holidays, and that they can't possibly pick up someone else's shift.

WTF? I'm all for working late from time to time and picking up extra shifts - I'm highly motivated by the prospect of overtime.

The only day of the year I will not work, period, is Christmas Day - even though I'm not Christian, I take that day to spend time with my family (my store is closed on Xmas and Thanksgiving anyway). Other than that, I'll work all the holidays they throw at me, since those days are automatic OT.

[myswtghst]

I especially have a hard time dealing with those complaints as I'm the one who takes on a ton of OT/Extra shifts/odd shifts, and works every holiday I can, just so other people don't have to. Granted, I don't mind the holiday/OT pay, but I mostly feel like "I can work it, I live nearby, why not, since then someone else won't have to."

I generally try to get off for Xmas and Thanksgiving, but I'll work the Xmas eve/the day after Thanksgiving, and I even worked on Easter this year--went to brunch with the fam, then came into work afterwards.