With less one member in the team, I am required to do 2 person's job. All this while working with senior candidates, it's humorous and frustrating altogether working with junior candidates.
Going through resumes these are the things I picked up.
Resume 1
After listing all the personal details it came to this :
Transportation : I do not own my own car but will soon buy one for myself provided I get this job and it pays well enough for me to purchase a car.
Resume 2
Way at the bottom :
Referee : Mr X
Relationship : Father
Years known : 24 years
Resume 3
At the education history :
Highest Education : SPM
Second Highest Education : UPSR
Whatever happened to PMR?
Recently, we posted newspaper ads and received quite a number of phone calls.
Caller 1
I'll just get to the juicy part, after explaining about the job and asking questions on his experience. The call took me 1hour.
Candidate : I'm 59 years old can your employer hire me.
Me : My client is open for any age as long as you have call centre experience and able to manage certain number of staffs in telesales environment
Candidate : I can only work up till Thursday coz I own a farm in perak and I have to get back to it every weekend to make sure they are doing their job.
Me : I'm sorry the working hours are 5 days a week and they will not give you an exception.
Candidate : Okay in that case I will need to leave Friday night. Okay I'm free for interview next week, I'll come and see you and make sure you arrange the interview with employer on the same day. Coz, I'm a busy man and I can't be coming down every time you call me.
Me : I'm sorry that can't happen, you will need to follow their schedule and not the other way around. You have to come over to my office first otherwise I would not be able to send your profile over.
Candidate : Okay, give me your address I'll come by tomorrow if I can.
I gave the address
Me : Let me give you directions to my office coz it's a little difficult to find my building.
Candidate : I'm pretty good with the roads in KL I can get there without a problem
On the interview day
Candidate : I'm driving past this road but I don't see your building. What kind of road signs you people have here. It doesn't even say where I'm supposed to turn in and I don't even see your building from the roadside
After explaining where exactly the building his and I had to be on the phone with him until he found the lift to my building.
At the reception.
Candidate : The architect of this building should be shot, what kind of road signs they have here. Everything is useless. This is not how you build buildings without proper road signs
I ignored his complains and in my mind I was thinking he is not a good candidate for the position. I had to interview him coz the management thinks he would be good for the position. This what happens when the management thinks they are better than the people who actually do sourcing and screening. The management's ideas are useless.
At the online registration.
Candidate : This is complete waste of time, you could do this yourself with my resume. You don't have to get me here to do it.
Me : This is supposed to filled up by the candidate, this is also for us to test if you are good with computers. Are you good with computers.
Candidate : I'm very good at it.
Me : Then stop complaining and just do it.
After filling in his personal details he got fed up.
Candidate : This is absurd, I have many years of experience you don't give me crap.
Me : Why are you complaining so much, do you know that when you get to the client's place you will need to do online tests as well.
Candidate : What sort of test?
Me : English, Mathematic and Computer test
Candidate : First of all I'm gonna test the interviewer's English if he/she is liable to give me an English test. I'm such an experience person, you are giving me a fresh graduates job.
Me : You are 59 years old, no other company is willing to offer a retiree any jobs. This is how employment works. We cannot be giving special treatment to each individual. Everyone is treated the same.
Candidate : You should treat me differently. I don't want this job you can have it.
Me : Just to remind you, you came to us we weren't begging you to apply. You may leave now thank you.
He left complaining over and over and over until he got in the lift.
Caller 2
After having a long conversation with her about the job and she's telling me that she is a CEO of a company and that she can't applying for this job. I had to remind her that she called us enquiring about this position and not the other way around. She chuckled and said she was just passing her time.
What's wrong with the people out there?
Monday, February 23, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Confused
My working place is filled with funny, weird and strange people. If you read my Lift Lobby Story, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Due to confidentiality I'm unable to mention their names in this blog, instead I'll just give them stage names...hehehe...
Just recently, I was in need of candidates for a very niche requirement. I was going through my office systems and I found one candidate that matches my search at least 80%. Checking to see if he was interviewed by any of my colleagues, I found out that Elton <-- stage name, interviewed this candidate.
Since, this candidate was already interviewed I just need to check with Elton on the details.
Me : Hey Elton, I noticed you interviewed Robert, what do you think of him?
Elton : Oh! He's good, a very good candidate I must say. A perfect candidate for your position.
Note : I didn't even mention to Elton what position I am thinking of proposing this candidate for.
Me : You think so?
Elton : Ya, he is very good at what he does.
Me : What does he do?
Elton : Everything he said on the resume la.
Note : Did he even do the interview properly, I wonder.
Me : I notice that you proposed him to one of your clients and he was rejected, why so?
Elton : Oh, the client is useless la. They don't know how to appreciate a good candidate when they see one. They are very problematic, everything also they give excuses and complain about.
Me : Oh, you reckon? How many candidates did you propose to them?
Elton : One only la, he is a very good candidate but the still they rejected him
Note : I felt a sharp pain on my head, oohh I think migraine is hitting.
Me : What did they say about the candidate, did you remember?
Elton : Hang on, let me check their email. They send me email for every complain. So leceh one.
Me : Some clients are very petty.
Elton : Here it is, the client said he wasn't able to answer their questions properly. Did not demonstrate he holds all these experiences that he claims to have. He diverts the questions to something irrelevant. He's communication skills are really bad.
Me : That seems like the candidate isn't good at all. Did you do a face to face interview with the candidate?
Elton : Ya I did at the Starbucks in the Curve.
Me : This candidate is not employed at the moment, why did you have to meet him at the Curve?
Elton : Useless one la this candidate, he refused to come to our office instead insisted that he wants to meet up with me at the Curve.
Note : In the beginning of the conversation, he said the candidate was a good one and I should recommend him to my client.
Me : How was he?
Elton : Very high class one la, he brought his laptop and everything.
Me : What did he wear?
Elton : Very selekeh, t-shirt and shorts
Note : Why was he high class? All because he brought his laptop, makes him high class? Migraine now banging on my head.
Me : Client said bad communication skills, how was his english?
Elton : Very chinapek, his chinese slang is very the thick.
Note : Migraine now clouding my eyesight.
Me : So, the candidate is very Ah Beng and not professional at all?
Elton : Yes.
Me : Should I send him to my client?
Elton : Better not la.
Note : Migraine's killing me slowly now. From good recommendations to bad recommendation from the same guy at the same time.
Me : Thanks
Elton : Welcome.
What did I learn from this? I'm confused. My migraine was so bad, I had hearing problems as I heard voices in my head laughing at me for getting myself in that situation. The next time Elton says "Good candidate, highly recommended" I'm not going to ask further details of it. I'll take the information and swallow it hard.
Just recently, I was in need of candidates for a very niche requirement. I was going through my office systems and I found one candidate that matches my search at least 80%. Checking to see if he was interviewed by any of my colleagues, I found out that Elton <-- stage name, interviewed this candidate.
Since, this candidate was already interviewed I just need to check with Elton on the details.
Me : Hey Elton, I noticed you interviewed Robert, what do you think of him?
Elton : Oh! He's good, a very good candidate I must say. A perfect candidate for your position.
Note : I didn't even mention to Elton what position I am thinking of proposing this candidate for.
Me : You think so?
Elton : Ya, he is very good at what he does.
Me : What does he do?
Elton : Everything he said on the resume la.
Note : Did he even do the interview properly, I wonder.
Me : I notice that you proposed him to one of your clients and he was rejected, why so?
Elton : Oh, the client is useless la. They don't know how to appreciate a good candidate when they see one. They are very problematic, everything also they give excuses and complain about.
Me : Oh, you reckon? How many candidates did you propose to them?
Elton : One only la, he is a very good candidate but the still they rejected him
Note : I felt a sharp pain on my head, oohh I think migraine is hitting.
Me : What did they say about the candidate, did you remember?
Elton : Hang on, let me check their email. They send me email for every complain. So leceh one.
Me : Some clients are very petty.
Elton : Here it is, the client said he wasn't able to answer their questions properly. Did not demonstrate he holds all these experiences that he claims to have. He diverts the questions to something irrelevant. He's communication skills are really bad.
Me : That seems like the candidate isn't good at all. Did you do a face to face interview with the candidate?
Elton : Ya I did at the Starbucks in the Curve.
Me : This candidate is not employed at the moment, why did you have to meet him at the Curve?
Elton : Useless one la this candidate, he refused to come to our office instead insisted that he wants to meet up with me at the Curve.
Note : In the beginning of the conversation, he said the candidate was a good one and I should recommend him to my client.
Me : How was he?
Elton : Very high class one la, he brought his laptop and everything.
Me : What did he wear?
Elton : Very selekeh, t-shirt and shorts
Note : Why was he high class? All because he brought his laptop, makes him high class? Migraine now banging on my head.
Me : Client said bad communication skills, how was his english?
Elton : Very chinapek, his chinese slang is very the thick.
Note : Migraine now clouding my eyesight.
Me : So, the candidate is very Ah Beng and not professional at all?
Elton : Yes.
Me : Should I send him to my client?
Elton : Better not la.
Note : Migraine's killing me slowly now. From good recommendations to bad recommendation from the same guy at the same time.
Me : Thanks
Elton : Welcome.
What did I learn from this? I'm confused. My migraine was so bad, I had hearing problems as I heard voices in my head laughing at me for getting myself in that situation. The next time Elton says "Good candidate, highly recommended" I'm not going to ask further details of it. I'll take the information and swallow it hard.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Heaven to Hell
I’ve been long missing in my blog…sigh…new year…new boss…with new house rules. Yup! That’s right, New House Rules. It’s horrible, having to work without any rules as long as we bring in the sales and now with rules…I mean seriously, are we kindergarten kids that we need rules?
In the past, we were so used to coming in to work say as late as 10am as most of us work really late and some of us have proved that we can still bring in sales without having to work such long hours. Our boss never bothered us unless the sales are bad.
We can chat as and when we like, we can sit and chat with another colleague as and when we like…in short we can pretty much do anything we like. As long as at the end of the day, we have the cash flowing like waterfall that never stops flowing.
We survived as Adults under the supervision of a great boss, as usual, all great things comes to an end. Her contract ended and she left the company…that’s when heaven turned to hell.
Now we have a mean woman in the disguise of a sweet young lady….okay the young lady part is over exaggerated. She had a simple fun meeting with us, to introduce herself to us and at the end of the meeting there came the so-called house rules.
No More IM!! I mean she has instructed the IT department to physically uninstall it from our machines. Having to know about this earlier, I uninstalled mine much much earlier with so much of remorse as I have collected quite a number of cool emoticons…and they are all gone…waaahhhhh….
She even instructed IT to block all the sites that she thinks distracts us from doing our job, most importantly FaceBook!! Sigh…these sites don’t distract us, they actually help us do our jobs, doesn’t she know that!! All those fun games in Facebook gives me ideas to do my work better, to bring in more money the company wants….whhyyyyyy torture me…why!???
Lucky for me she never thought of blogging….muahahahaha….just to be sure, I make sure I do my writings discreetly…hehehe…
Oops…speak of the devil she’s here to have a discussion with one of the managers…well I go to go to my hell of a working life…I’ll be back if I ever survive!!
In the past, we were so used to coming in to work say as late as 10am as most of us work really late and some of us have proved that we can still bring in sales without having to work such long hours. Our boss never bothered us unless the sales are bad.
We can chat as and when we like, we can sit and chat with another colleague as and when we like…in short we can pretty much do anything we like. As long as at the end of the day, we have the cash flowing like waterfall that never stops flowing.
We survived as Adults under the supervision of a great boss, as usual, all great things comes to an end. Her contract ended and she left the company…that’s when heaven turned to hell.
Now we have a mean woman in the disguise of a sweet young lady….okay the young lady part is over exaggerated. She had a simple fun meeting with us, to introduce herself to us and at the end of the meeting there came the so-called house rules.
No More IM!! I mean she has instructed the IT department to physically uninstall it from our machines. Having to know about this earlier, I uninstalled mine much much earlier with so much of remorse as I have collected quite a number of cool emoticons…and they are all gone…waaahhhhh….
She even instructed IT to block all the sites that she thinks distracts us from doing our job, most importantly FaceBook!! Sigh…these sites don’t distract us, they actually help us do our jobs, doesn’t she know that!! All those fun games in Facebook gives me ideas to do my work better, to bring in more money the company wants….whhyyyyyy torture me…why!???
Lucky for me she never thought of blogging….muahahahaha….just to be sure, I make sure I do my writings discreetly…hehehe…
Oops…speak of the devil she’s here to have a discussion with one of the managers…well I go to go to my hell of a working life…I’ll be back if I ever survive!!
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