Job Hunting - selection process

[gee4]

For those of you who are currently job hunting, perhaps you could shed some light on the whole thing for me.

I have been shortlisted for yet another position.  Candidates are requested to turn up at 12noon for testing later this week - all together!  Now while I understand this saves the company time, I really do not wish to see the other candidates I am up against, nor am I able to leave my job 30-45 mins in the middle of the morning, to park the car and get to the venue on time.

Is it just me or do potential employers think we can all just take a day's leave at short notice?

I am interested in hearing your comments on this subject as it peeves me to think I am being asked, for the second time in as many months, by the same recruitment agency (different employer) to sit through another half day of testing when there is no guarantee I will subsquently be offered an interview.

It seems these days neither my CV, my qualifications, my ability, nor my career history to date, count for anything.

How do you feel about this and why can we not go back to the good old days of plain old-fashioned interviews?  In my opinion it's like the 11+....it means and proves nothing!

[Atlanta Z3]

While I'm not currently looking, I went through the cattle call process for testing. In my case it was in a room with 30+ other people.  What surprized me was people arriving for the test in jeans!  For what ever reason I didn't make it past the testing part of the application and the whole bother wasn't woth the time away from work!  I have also found that the position that test in this manner pay the least.
But if it is a company that you really want to work for you have to play the hr game and no I don't think they care about our time.  To continue that rant the temp agencies that want you come in and take 2-3 hours worth of testing and won't do weekends or after hours??!
At least it sounds like you are on the short list and while you don't want to see your competition try some networking, you might get a lead or two. (Companies the candidate is leaving from.)

[gee4]

After much thought and discussion with the recruitment agency yesterday, I have decided I am not going to waste my time.  I am at the top of the salary scale they are pitching the job at, plus it's more of a secretarial role than a PA role and not really where I want to be.

Ever feel like you've blown yourself out of the market?

[raindance]

Gee,

It's a difficult time right now for jobs and the market will become more difficult in the coming months.  

There is the "credit crunch" and associated downturn in business to consider and outsourcing of work to the emerging markets in developing countries.  Additionally, if you are a senior admin then the pool in which you are fishing is quite small and very competitive.

My own post is very specialized, but not immune to external threats, so I have decided that I will take myself off to college again to brush up on my skills and maybe study for a higher business qualification.  Watch out world, Raindance is coming!  

Probably one of the best things you could do right now to ensure future employability, apart from extending technical skills, is to learn a foreign language such as Chinese.

My experience with employment agencies has been quite negative on the whole.  People are very pleasant and efficient and put me forward for jobs, but I have never secured a post other than through applying in response to advertisements.  I'One of the most peculiar approaches I had from an employment agency occurred about ten years ago.  I registered with an agency and discussed my job criteria with me, including salary level.  Apart from my very first admin job, I have worked only one-to-one at CEO level, so that was a criterion.  What did the agency do?  They offered to put me forward for a post working for four people (not director level) at a salary 25 per cent lower than the one I was getting at the time, and in an office with no natural light.  Bwahaha.  You couldn't make up this story!  The funniest thing was that the consultant at the agency couldn't understand why I wasn't interested in this "fantastic" post!

[gee4]

I appreciate what you are saying Rain, but the problem I have nowadays is that I have gained all the skills and experience which I may have fallen short of a few years back.  After redundancy I clawed my way back up the ladder and I have proved that I am successful in what I do.

However, I'm not actually any better off now than I was say 5 or 6 years ago and that bothers me because I have added to my CV, I have gained further qualifications and yet agencies and employers who cannot recognise that, moan because there is a lack of skills in the workplace.

My suggestion would be, review your recruitment process and ask, are you getting the most out of it?  are you interviewing the best candidates?  why do applicants have to undertake such rigourous testing?  I'm 40, doesn't my experience count at all any more?

Short of giving blood, I have lost faith in the whole process.  I already speak 4 European langages, I don't think Chinese is going to benefit me any more than the others do.  It's another O/A level on a CV that no one is bothered about.

It seems that despite having the certificates to verify I have qualifications and references to back up that I can do the job of a PA , I'm not any better a potential employee than anyone else.

[jodith]

I'm finding a lot of the same thing in interviewing the past few years.  When I was laid off in 2006, I was going for any job that stood still long enough, and I went on a lot of these cattle call kind of things.  It was very demoralizing.

This time around, I'm looking for strictly upper level positions.  The job I have now is great, but the money isn't what I should be making.

I find that employers get into their head that they are going to do interviews at a certain time, and if you already have a job, it makes it difficult to manage, especially if you don't want your current boss to know what is going on.  I think the problem is that most of the people they are interviewing are currently unemployed, so they can accommodate the employer's schedule.  It's those of us who are currently employed who throw a wrench into the system.