Posted by alexandra_k on September 1, 2013, at 20:42:42
In reply to Re: Have a great long weekend, Babblers! » alexandra_k, posted by Partlycloudy on September 1, 2013, at 20:18:20
Things are hard. I think there are more applicants for positions than there used to be. You have extremes - those with advanced qualifications, those with lots of relevant job experience. Sometimes they are looking for one or the other (or in fact both) of those... Othertimes...
To be a kitchen hand you need to be a 3rd year student of a 'culinary arts' degree, wanting to do it for the work experience. That is the right blend of someone who is perhaps interested in the field enough to do a competent job at it (in the hope they get references / to work their way up) but not too good so as to make other people look bad (because half the students don't seem capable of turning up regularly etc).
I've been watching 'The Office' the UK series. Or, actually, I suffered through 3 episodes and I can't bear to watch it anymore. It isn't entertaining. It is too real. It makes me sick to my stomach. I wouldn't last a week in an environment such as that. I'd actually do my job which would make my colleagues feel bad about themselves... Or I'd learn to be a productive slacker e.g., by trying to work on my thesis or do some study... Then my colleagues would get curious about why I wasn't paying sufficient attention to them, and they would start to need to annoy me by throwing paper airplanes at me or disconnecting my computer from the power... And I would go postal and murder the lot of them within the month.
Clearly I won't be getting those kinds of jobs even if I apply for them.
I had a couple friends who had Masters / PhD's who spent a couple years looking for government employment (policy analyst / adviser type work). Mostly... They didn't get a look in. Then when they finally did get positions they learn that nobody really wanted to hire them because they were worried they would be 'too smart'... Then they spend the first year or two railing at the stupidity of the service they are working with (their bosses fortunately gave them 'extra work' projects to fix up those problems) before... Eventually... Their work picks up (becomes more interesting to them, the promotions come rolling along) and they say: That they came in thinking all these things needed to be changed... But really they just needed the couple years to learn how things worked...
There is an element of that. How much they need to babysit you to fit in. The right fit. The best fit. That is the trouble... Lots of applicants and they are trying to figure best fit. And because most people would be perfectly competent it comes down to the little sh*t like who is most likely to pick up the spirits of the sandwich girl who does the lunch rounds etc.
Who the f*ck knows what they want.
poster:alexandra_k
thread:1049952
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20130811/msgs/1050016.html