I'm not one for New Year Resolutions because I think you should be able to start any new ambition on any day and not succumb to fads. So I have not set a measurable aim but want this year to be better than the last one!
Tom is still looking for work. Today he had an interview which went spectacularly badly wrong so that's the next hope gone, again. It seems these employers enjoy taking the urine (I'm trying to use the proper terms of profanity today) and wasting people's time. I won't divulge too much here but they took Tom from their offices to a conference which turned out to be in a different country, and on the way described the job in more detail. Tom decided he didn't like the sound of it and they dropped him off at the train station at his request so he can come home. Gah...
That annoyance and misery aside, I am trying to be more positive about, well, everything. Currently my health is struggling as I try and deal with all the stress of life at the moment, and I have to take each day as it comes and try to eat well and sleep enough to get through. I am also reading 'Questions of Life' by Nicky Gumble, the man who started the Alpha course. It's a recent addition so has some reflective points on the growth of Alpha over time, and is written carefully and encouragingly. I don't mind admitting I have lost some vitality and enthusiasm of my faith in recent times, and when reading the book the other day I actually seemed to reawaken a joy still in me for Jesus. Let's pray this will continue!
4 comments:
I had an interview a bit like that once. Very carefully boned up about the work, went well prepared and the first question they asked was "what did you think you might be doing" so I told 'em. Their faces got stonier and stonier until after a couple of minutes I stopped and said "OK, that's obviously not right. What does the job involve and where did I go wrong?"
They got seriously grumpy because what they wanted was someone dumb to just follow simple instructions, and not someone who knew how things worked and would think for themselves.
This kind of job/interviewee mismatch is being reported a lot right now, and it's obviously not Tom's fault.
No, poor Tom. Employers have never had it so good so if you do get an interview they seem to really push the boundaries of acceptability.
At least he didn't get any more ripped off - I read a comedian's autobiography a while ago and when he was more desperate and naive he ended up buying a 'selling kit' off an interviewer who never actually came back with it... You live and learn.
Actually it's a bit pants for interviewers too, because they are now inundated with desperate, frequently over qualified people in terrible need of a job. They have to eliminate people who could do the job with their eyes shut (and will get bored/miserable within weeks) and have to try to make a choice between lots of very similar and probably entirely suitable candidates.
The unfortunate thing is that if they're a bit nasty then they can take advantage of gullible/desperate candidates, just like you describe, or worse.
I do feel a little for those who have to wade through so many submissions and find the best candidates, but that is essentially their job. And in doing so they have to make difficult decisions about who to give a job to and who to leave out. There's no promise that any candidate is going to be perfect, despite interviews and tests, etc.
But yes, I think in times like these the usual more immoral practices jump up and cause trouble for people. I often wonder how people worse off cope - less educated or experienced or even just less confident - trying to find a job when so many others with 'better' attributes are struggling.
[That's a generalisation obviously.]
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