Everyone else at this session is so determined with lots of plans and qualifications and I'm only just beginning to make a plan which might not even be very succesful and may have to be restarted a few times.
I feel completely left out because I'm so different and, apparently, the only person without a formal education, just like everywhere else I've done job application sessions.
I know I'm good enough and all the other positive stuff, but constantly being the odd one out is very tiring because I spend so much time trying to justify myself.
Ranting won't get me anywhere, I know, but I needed to get things off my chest and this helped a bit..
I'm a violin so stop trying to make me sound like a piano!!
Dyscalculia doesn't bother me as much as all the nasty accessories that came with it
Location: Texas USA Posts: 6102 Joined: 2008-05-25
7/2/10
Mohinga,
I've had a situation, about two years ago, that on the surface would appear the opposite of yours, but in reality was the 'same'. Temp agencies would advertise a job for which I was qualified. I'd call on the phone, and they would tell me (excitedly) to come into their agency for testing. This 'testing' is a perfunctory thing that they have to have you do on a computer. The computer makes a 'print out' of your skills, and then the agency can send this on to the employer and make the appointment for your interview with the employer.
I would get dressed up and 'made up', and then go at the appointed time to the agency. The young woman would have me fill out a paper 'application' which they would file at the agency. Then she sent me to the computer room to do a series of tests of my 'skills'. I got always got perfect scores on my Spanish Tests, and one agency told me they'd never had anyone get a perfect score on that test. Since I'd usually be applying for a job that 'requires Spanish', this should have been a 'big plus' for me getting an interview and getting the job.
But then this is what would happen, sometimes to a lesser extent or sometimes to a greater extent,... I'd finish my computer testing and go back out to the lobby to have my 'exit interview' with the young lady who had been so solitious of me getting all 'dolled up' and coming over to be tested,... and she would just sit there and 'take her good ol' easy time' about talking to any other applicant in the lobby. I think that once, the girl even sneaked in another applicant over to her desk when I was waiting and wasn't looking, so that she wouldn't have to talk to me. When I got tired of waiting, and asked how long it would be before I could speak with her again, she just said, "If you've finished testing then you can leave. We'll call you if there's an interview for you." And she said this in a very 'dead pan, lack luster' way,... implying 'don't call us, we'll call you'. And of course they never called me. They'd wanted someone younger, and maybe a faster typist. (I can type 50 wpm.)
At those times when the agency is genuinely wanting to place an applicant in a job, at the time of the 'exit interview', the applicant is given an appointment to go for an interview with a prospective employer,.. his address, and what to wear for the interview, a description of the type of business, and even what previous experience should be emphasized to the prospective employer during the interview in order to get the job.
The agencies have to provide, for example, three 'qualified' applicants for a job to any employer who pays for their services. I learned a few things like this though time and experience,... just 'listening' while I was at those agencies. So, I think that what was happening was that, when they would hear my qualifications over the phone, they wanted me to come in and 'test' just so that they could complete the 'three qualified applicants' that they owed an employer, for him to 'choose from'. But then, they would only send me as a last resort. First, they would send the 'college aged' ladies to apply for the job that I'd want. I used time, energy, and gasoline money for two months that year, playing this little game, never gettting a job, and finally taking a telemarketing job that lasted only two weeks,... finding this one 'on my own'. - jus'
Edited by justfoundout on July 02 2010 03:10 PM
