tinfoilhat Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Funnily enough I applied for a job working at the job centre. Week or so past and letter from the post office appeared. "we've a letter for you" it said "but not enough postage so you'll have to pay for the stamp and a bit extra". I lived with my folks back then and didn't get much post so legged it down the sorting office, paid for the stamp plus royal mail ransom. "Dear mr tinfoil hat, sorry you didn't get the job, love the job centre". Things haven't changed much since. Now I run my own business I still have to go the sorting office from time to time to pick up some under paid post ( although not for a while - do RM let it slide now ?) to pick up often a badly written letter starting with "dear sir, can I have a job?". As you didnt manage to put on the right postage, no you can't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms Macbeth Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 I have mixed feelings. I've worked in public sector organisations where we got lots of applications for jobs. Some were obviously sent in just to satisfy a 'job search' as they were completed so badly that I can't believe the applicants had even read the job description. The amount of staff time it can take just to sift and make the cut for the interviews is costly. The applicants who made the interview stage always got notified if they were unsuccessful, often by phone then with a letter to follow, and when I was involved I was always prepared to give feedback. I've also been an applicant for jobs. However, the type of job I usually applied for in the public sector, meant filling in a lengthy application form which takes some patience and some skill. So I was selective about the ones I applied for and usually got at least as far as the interview stage. I heard nothing about one job I applied for so rang up the local authority concerned and asked why. They said I didn't have a certain type of experience, so I hadn't been shortlisted for interview. I challenged the manager to point out where that experience was listed in either the job advert or person specification and he admitted he couldn't. The next day I got a phone call inviting me for interview. I declined. I didn't want to work for someone who couldn't understand their own selection criteria. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ab6262 Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Funnily enough I applied for a job working at the job centre. Week or so past and letter from the post office appeared. "we've a letter for you" it said "but not enough postage so you'll have to pay for the stamp and a bit extra". I lived with my folks back then and didn't get much post so legged it down the sorting office, paid for the stamp plus royal mail ransom. "Dear mr tinfoil hat, sorry you didn't get the job, love the job centre". Things haven't changed much since. Now I run my own business I still have to go the sorting office from time to time to pick up some under paid post ( although not for a while - do RM let it slide now ?) to pick up often a badly written letter starting with "dear sir, can I have a job?". As you didnt manage to put on the right postage, no you can't. ha ha exactly! i also get people calling the main phone line asking if any jobs are going??, if i answer and get one of these i always ask if the caller knows what we do? nine times out of ten they havent a clue:loopy: so if they cant manage proper postage or any sort of background info how on earth do they think they are capable of a job:hihi: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnvqsos Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 The balance of power lies with employers,and it is naive to expect civil treatment.Some do not reimburse travel costs.The overall impression conveyed is arrogant.I prefer to be self-employed though that has its own issues.They put people through hoops and ask a range of bizzare questions.I was asked what fruit I would be I replied a lemon which caused some amusement.When asked why I expained that I liked squirts the smiles receded-I did not get the job but I felt a little bitter by the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinfoilhat Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 I think some of the hoops larger corporations have people jump through is mad, anf a little demeaning. I wouldn't expect travel to be reimbursed though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnvqsos Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 I think some of the hoops larger corporations have people jump through is mad, anf a little demeaning. I wouldn't expect travel to be reimbursed though. Some employers do reimburse,especially where international travel is involved.I recently received a freebie to and from Worksop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Been there. One rejection I got REFUSED to give me the reason. Give that the company was taking on younger people than me and is still advertising vacancies, I'm going with the assumption that it was my age that they didn't like ("wrong" side of 25). I aced their online apptitude test so it can't have been that I wasn't suitable in any other way. That's because for some unknown reason, age discrimination isn't covered by anti-discrimination legislation (which ain't worth the paper it's printed on anyway IMO). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinfoilhat Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Some employers do reimburse,especially where international travel is involved.I recently received a freebie to and from Worksop. Well it's understandable if international travel is involved. Definitely understandable if they want people to work in Worksop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Sidney Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 600 standard rejection letters. 600 stamps, the time to address the envelopes ...how much does that cost? Why should the employer pay? Every job I've had (apart from two, when they wrote to me) I got by writing to the named person (it takes time, but you can find the name of the hirer) and asking for a job. 20 years ago (and it wasn't a good time to be looking then either) I was out of work. I was well (perhaps 'over' qualified and I wrote some hundreds of letters. Got bugger-all replies. Soul-destroying! - I wondered what was wrong with me, Highly qualified, loads of experience and I couldn't even get a job at a grade which had worked for me! I changed tack. Forget who's offering the jobs, find a company you'd like to work for (One you might be of some use to) and write a personal letter to the guy who heads up the department you want to work in. I always got a reply. Most of the replies said *'no vacancy' but some said 'We'll get back to you.' One actually did and I got a well-paid job! It beats the crap out of firing off hundreds of CV's (Each with a well.tailored covering letter) and getting nowhere, FIND THE HIRER; GET HIS NAME; WRITE TO HIM (ADDRESSED BY NAME) So just because you've found out the persons name there'll suddenly be a job created. In this day and age not many employers work like that. Incidentally, I'm not aware of any job that attracts 600 applicants. And if there were 600 applicants it must have been a very successful company who could afford 600 stamps, I guess. Many employers these days don't even consider spec applications because of equal opportunities. I don't think HR departments can keep CV's on file.. If a job is advertised and in the information the employer says that if you haven't heard by a certain date then you've been unsuccessful then that's fair enough. Its a common decency to send a letter to an applicant. But its just typical of the double standards these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Smith Posted October 30, 2011 Author Share Posted October 30, 2011 I run a business myself and I'm afraid that I have not replied to unsuccesful applicants, I accept that it's not a desirable situation but I felt we had no choice. When recruiting recently we had several hundred applications, each was read briefly and sorted, this itself took two days. Sending acknowledgement and rejection letters would have taken at least a further day, incurring oportunity losses and several hundred pounds in direct costs (postage, printing, wages etc.) Mine is a small business (6 people) and it's precisely because of this that we were unable respond to everyone. Whilst I have every sympathy and respect for people having to compete for jobs in this environment, my first responsibility is to myself and those I employ, if I don't control costs wherever possible we could all be out of a job. I don`t agree with you at all. I run my own business with 3 employees. My time is always short. Very short. You do have the time, you just choose how to prioritise it. You wouldn`t say to the taxman you haven`t got the time to fill in his tax return would you ? There`s too much ignorance in modern business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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