wally at work

I like to hide behind my glasses / So I can make the boss a little man

So last week I mentioned that I had a phone call from an agency about a job. Well as luck would have it I had 2 agencies call me last week, about 2 different jobs.

The first one was with the horrible interview company from January. The second was for a different, all together better job. The requested that I come and see them for a 'registration and pre-interview interview'. So I went along on Friday afternoon to see them, all done up in my interview suit. I arrived 15 minutes early just in case I had to do any paper work prior to the interview.

Needless to say I was rather surprised when I turned up at the place to find it was a 'specialist temporary secretary placement agency'. Which I thought was rather strange considering I was applying for a management position.

However, I went on in and was a bit surprised to find that I was not only the only one in a suit, but also the only one in a tie... or for that matter in anything other than jeans... I was then asked to sit down and fill in an online form to register all my details with them. Which I dutifully did. Then came the real surprise. The lovely receptionist then told me I had to sit down for the tests...

Receptionist: 'If you could just come over here to do your tests now'
Me: 'Um... tests?'
R: 'Yes, you’re typing speed and data entry tests'
M: 'No thank you.'
R: 'No thank you!? But we have to do that for all applicants'
M: 'No, I'm alright thank you.'
R: 'But, you have to....' - becoming a little confused at this point
M: 'I don't really want to, thank you.'
R: 'um....'
M: 'I don't really think that those tests would show my suitability for a management position'
R: 'ah...'
M: 'So do I still have to do them?'
R: Laughing 'No, your right, I don't think they would be much good for you either!'

So at this point I was a little concerned about what I had just walked into, mainly due to the fact that it was pretty clear that they didn't do very many management positions at this agency. So I sat back down and waited for my interview to start. Once the interviewer came down (15 minutes late) I was very politely asked to come in and have a seat.

Interviewer: (after the usual how are yous) 'I've got a scaled down version of the job description while we wait for the full version to come through, but I don't really understand it, so if you would like to have a look...'
Me: 'um, sure.. I'd love to'
at this point I went into full sell myself mode, which to be honest didn't last very long. It was pretty obvious that everything I was saying was going right over her head. I kind of started to lose hope at this point and there were a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.

Anyway, the long and the long of it is that the interview lasted 12 minutes. Hopefully she liked me, because she certainly didn't understand me, the job, my experience... Fingers crossed she passes my CV on to the company for interview. Maybe then I'll get a chance at the job!

Title: Fishbone - from I like to hide behind my glasses

posted by Wally @ 10:35 am