When people have no respect for your time--RANT

[jrwilheim]

Okay...today I went all the way out to Newark, NJ to interview for an AA position at Merrill Lynch. Three people met with me, and all that happened as one of them asking me, "do you have any background in taxes or accounting?" and another one telling me I was essentially overqualified, he didn't want to get my hopes up, and then asking me why, with my background, I didn't go into journalism (umm...possibly because there are almost no entry-level jobs in journalism these days unless you want to work in the absolute middle of nowhere).

Last week, I spent ALMOST TWO HOURS on the subway going all the way up to the north end of the Bronx to meet with a recruiter who told me they mostly placed people in hospital jobs in the Bronx (I live in Brooklyn, which is the complete opposite end of NYC). I have no experience working in hosptials, nor do I want any, and yet they called me to come in to meet with them anyway.

What is up with people having no respect for my time? My resume says plainly that I don't have prior experience in accounting, taxes, or hospitals. Why do employers have you come all the way out for an interview if they've decided beforehand that they don't think you're qualified?

[WorkInProgress]

Because people suck. Really.

[asimmy]

ugh, i know how annoying that is. i had to drive all the way out to atlantic city (from philly) to take 2 hours of personailty and math tests, and then they told me that i didn't have enough years of experience for the position. well, if they looked at my resume, they could've told me that over the phone and saved me an entire day of driving and test taking!!

[rocket333d]

I submitted my resume for a cell phone company position. They had me come in for an IQ test, which took three hours, then they had me hang around for another three to take a typing test.

A few days later, they had a telephone customer service testing thing that could only be taken in Boston on a Saturday afternoon and was only supposed to take an hour, but I was waiting in the stark silent white room for three hours while they wrangled up the "test callers."

I will interject here that originally, there were about 40 people going into the IQ test. 20 passed. A dozen passed the typing test, and when I had finished the customer service test, only three were left, including me. Then we had to fill out a million forms, then we each had an interview. Tack on four more hours.

By the time I got out, there were no trains leaving at a reasonable time, and my boyfriend was worried sick (no cell phones allowed in the building, and we had plans.) I had to catch a ride home with a friend and I got home at midnight.

I got a call the next morning saying I didn't get the job because I didn't have enough experience. Yeah. I was flabbergasted, but too tired to yell, which I wish I'd done.

Inexplicably, within the next month, I switched my cell phone service over to that company...