Money For Nothing

As imagined by the title of my first article, I'm disenchanted by my ability to find financial prosperity. In times where the United Kingdom is struggling to provide jobs for its people, the competition for the chance of monetary gain is increased too substantial levels. 

This competition is what has concerned me to the extent of which the need to find a plausible answer to ratify it. No doubt we have all been in a waiting room, drawing our eyes at the competition to whom stands in your way to the position of dreams. But these reveal more questions than they do answers. How do they choose which candidate to fit the role? What tactics have the other candidates used against you? How did they stand out against yourself?

The answer to these questions might be quite simple. I applied for a job of what I thought was a marketing outsourcing company. Having found myself in an interview room with excitement in abundance, I believed my luck had turned. This wasn't the case.

Having spoken about myself in great detail, the interviewer kept reminding me that today's interview had to be short and that he couldn't go into too much detail about the company. At the time I hadn't thought too much into this situation, believing I'd give him benefit of the doubt. There were, afterall, other interviewees to be dealt with.

However, my natural curiosity remained and the website remained bleak. The same night, they phoned back asking me to come back in for what was too be an 'on-the-job interview'. Seemed straight forward. This would essentially reveal the make-up of the business and most importantly, the chance to show my capabilities to the company.

Though this is where the problem lies, what capabilities are they looking for? I'm nothing but adaptable.  Any requirements I didn't possess i could learn. I can show a high level of eagerness that should be desirable to most businesses, yes?

This second interview essentially landed me on new ground. I was drafted off with what was a senior employee to be shown the sites. This would allow me to assess what the company does and what it has to offer me, as a potential employee. We set sail, and arrived at a neighbourhood. To my amusement, this wasn't to be marketing, but to be door to door sales. False advertisement is the legal flaw in this company, but it's their recruitment strategy that saddened me.

Over the eight hours of upsetting the neighbourhood with scripted lines and desperate sale actions, it was the role of the senior that made me ponder. Although a nice man, his role was clearly to advertise the business until the candidate nods and says yes. He used tasks to make me think, such as thinking of advantages and disadvantages of commission pay. Providing disadvantages, the senior would twist them into an advantage, to show how the pay structure they use is superior to any other. 

You must be thinking, what has this got to do with other companies? Sure, other companies may have more honour and integrity and are likely to use more friendly tactics. However, they're essentially looking for the same candidate. The Yes Man.

Free thinking died out with the dinosaurs. Companies don't want personalities, they want robots. As imagined, I turned down the third interview. Yes, a third interview. The structure of all these interviews was to weasel out the yes men and cease them. 

Where does this leave you waiting in the interview room for your next job? It's hard to say. There are still some companies out there after a person with the ability to think outside the box. These have become thin and far though. Especially in these horrid economic times where it's much easier to put someone in a position who will just sit and say 'yes'.

This is money for nothing substantial. Money for no talent. But what you going to do, beat them or join them?