Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Thanks, for the complete and utter waste of time

Lately, I've been struggling with work life balance finally coming to the conclusion that either I need to alter my schedule by fall or change jobs in favor of something closer to home.

When I've broached the subject of schedule adjustments with my boss in the past the response was less then lukewarm. "Well it's important that you're here during core hours" she told me which ultimately amounts to me getting home no earlier then 6:00 p.m. And frankly I'm over it. I'd like to be home when my kids get home from school. I'd like not to have sit in traffic for 1.5 hours leaving me cranky and irritable when I walk in the door...but i digress

Figuring my request for a new schedule would again be met with a cold response I put my feelers out there and very quickly stumbled upon a job in the same town I live in. So I sent in my resume.

Admittedly, I was scared of what may come. Sure I complain about my job but frankly it's gravy. I've been here going on 6 years and without going in to details will say I know that I have it good. Probably better then I deserve. So the thought of leaving all this is... well terrifying.

But I did it and a couple of days later I received an email asking me to come in for an interview. I freaked, forwarding the email to my sister with "Oh,no" in the subject line.

At that moment I realized that even though I'd sent in my resume I hoped that they wouldn't actually contact me. My sister talked me off the ledge and assured me it wasn't doing anyone any harm for me to go. And indeed she was right. I was stressing unneccesarily. It was ,after all, only an interview.

So I emailed back agreeing to come in. The interview was with a staffing service(aka temporary agency) that the company used to help them recruit candidates. Having worked for a staffing service several years ago I knew this was a commonplace practice and that most staffing services offer direct hire postions in addition to temporary. So I was fine with interviewing first with the staffing service.

I arrived at the scheduled time of 9:15 and after filling out an annoying application that included several HR "no no's" I sat down with the Office Manager. She asked me about my current job and then proceded to tell me that because of union contracts the job I'm interviewing for is going to be a temporary to hire position.

HUH ? Exsqueeze me ? Are you saying that you'd like me to leave a full time position with which I have longevity for a temp-to-hire-position. She must have seen the semi-horrified look on my face because she said "well the company can buy out your contract at any time but..." I let her finish and politely declined.

But here's the thing: Why in the farking hell, could she not have told me that little tidbit in the emails we exchanged setting up the interview.

It took everything I had not to stand on her desk and bare my ass for her to kiss...

And to add insult to injury, she said "yes, a lot of candidates have felt that way after hearing that"

I.was.speechless.

When I regained my ability to speak I may or may not have said one or all of the following. You decide.

A) Either you're new or you're the dumbest broad in the world
B) Why in the hell did you just waste your time and mine ?
C) You inept be-atch, let me tell you a couple of things about how to properly recruit
D) I appreciate your honesty, thank you , but please do me a favor and spare other candidates from the hell you just put me through.

11 comments:

Ann(ie) said...

I hope you said A, B, C and D to her dude. That is way lame. But, I can truly empathize. It's all been hard on me lately, too. The last two nights I got home afer my munchkin man was already asleep. And it sucks. :( Last night I handled it well. I burst into tears. And I hauled out some wine.

Gen said...

Oh, that is crap. Infuriating, really. Does she think she's gonna somehow snag desirable candidates by withholding that pertinent detail? :-P

Argh! You should have her job.

Nauntie Lush said...

I hope you also bitch slapped the hell out of her while saying all of the above!! I would hire you to work at Hubby's store - but doubt you want to work from 10-7 and with a bunch of retared 20 something idiot boys. It is a gravy job though, but it pays crap. Sorry that was no help at all...

Minnesota Girl said...

how disappointing! and such a blatant omission on her part is rude and unprofessional. i hope she doesn't find anyone for the job and then loses hers.

Claire said...

I wish you would have said A, B, and C, but I'm pretty sure you said D. Un. frickin'. believable. That is just inexcusable to drag an applicant in under a false pretext. I even think that it's OK (marginally) to omit the temp-hire aspect from the ad, but you HAVE to disclose that to the applicant BEFORE you drag them in for an interview. Sheesh.

Holly said...

This is so frustrating and the biggest reason I won't even talk to a temp agency. I was once hired for a job through an agency, only to get a call the next day telling me they'd "accidentally" hired two people for the same job. Guess who got the axe?
I hope you said all of the above.

tricki_nicki said...

Love your writing. Great post, and I'm guessing D. Am I right, huh, huh?

Shauna Loves Chocolate said...

Please tell me you said all three!

I'm not in HR, but I conduct a lot of job interviews and there are definitely some no-nos that you either pick up or just have common sense about! She MUST be new to this kind of work (not that it excuses her, mind you!).

And shhhh. don't tell anyone, but I'm thinking about looking into new jobs, too! shhhh.

Anonymous said...

I would love for it to have been A thru C but I'm guessing it was D?

Lollie said...

I would have let you know but I only mentioned Seattle cause it sounded good (I was there for point two seconds - being picked up at the airport). I'm still inviting you to Florida for my shower in June though...!

Not Afraid to Use It said...

That is just crazy. Especially when she let on how the other candidates felt. Maybe she isn't allowed to disclose that information except in person? Talk about a shitty job...I'll bet she is out looking for a new one as well.