posted
Whoever is responsible for this nightmare should be punished. And the genius who wrote the psychological tests will hopefully spend all of eternity somewhere in Lucifer's lower intestines!
It just makes absolutely no sense to me that in order to apply for a customer service position, a company requires an ONLINE application, not a face-to-face meeting. And I'm not even talking an interview here. I'm talking about a potential hire dressing themselves up nicely, taking their resume down the place of future employment, and filling out an application which they present to an employee/manager will lots of gratitude and confidence. It would be so much easier to wean out prospective employees this way. Just today, I heard a group of mothers telling me how they were up all night filling out online job applications for their teenager. At my bookstore, if someone hands in an application while wearing anything other than slacks or a skirt, that application goes to the bottom of the pile. If the applicant is rude to an employee at any point, we write a big giant NO at the top of their application. This alone cuts down the number of applications to review by about 80%.
I'm not one to use this forum to rant, but I'm ready to tear my hair out. I need a second job if I want to be able to pay my recent hospital bill anytime soon, and I can't go back to waiting tables in this economy. I work retail during the day and have been with the same company for three years, and yet when I walked into four retail stores today that were advertising for help, they all directed me to their website.
I understand that in this economy they're probably overwhelmed by applicants, but their online job application process is confusing, poorly designed and poorly written. One website gave me a tiny box into which I could copy/paste an unformatted version of my resume but then rejected my one-page resume as being too long. Two other applications had long and ridiculous psychological exams. Both rejected me as unqualified based on my answers as if I haven't been working at a customer service desk for eight years. I've read studies for this nonsense. Some will reject a person if they don't answer "strongly agree" to all questions, while another will reject anyone who gives too many "perfect answers."
And most likely, I will never get a call back from any online application that is actually accepted by these folks crazy computer systems. I've only gotten two job interviews after filling out online applications and that was because I called them back every week until they both reported that they were unable to find my job application in their computer systems and then told me I was welcome to come in and fill out a paper application. And you know what? I got both jobs.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
Short answer: don't work in retail. The retail industry is stupid and broken and will make you sad.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
Take a big company like Wal-Mart or Target or Macy's or whatever. They have so many stores and need to hire so many employees and cover such a high turnover rate that they don't want to leave it to the varied vagaries and gut instincts and thin-slicing of individual managers. They want engineered consistency. They want to centrally manage an impersonalized, psychologically engineered and testably reliable barrier that tests individuals for pliability, obedience, etc. Then, after they've honed it to a precise psychological finish and figured out how to screen the applicant population very well, they use this as the initial barrier to entry.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
For evening jobs, it can be a bit hard to get outside of retail and waiting tables...
Except for telemarketing and other call center work. It's not great, but for something you don't need much paper qualification for it's not the worst.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
I remember the last automated job application I completed- fortunately, many years ago now- being similarly stupid. I actually sent out an e-mail regarding the multiple possible interpretations of one question, and got back a very canned "this is all above my pay grade" response about how the test had been designed by Psychological Experts (tm) and that there could not possibly be any problems with the questions. So glad I didn't end up working for them...
Undeniably frustrating. My sympathies.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
You seem to be complaining both that online applications don't allow companies to adequately reject unsuitable applicants, and also that online applications have resulted in you being rejected as unsuitable.
I'm sure it's frustrating, but it does seem consistent.
Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
Short answer: Collecting online job applications is cheaper for the company. Much, much cheaper.
For many jobs, it does an even better job that collecting them in person, because it weeds out the people that can't figure out how to use the computer. For customer service jobs, though, I can see how it wouldn't be as good. Presumably they give interviews still, so all that in-person manpower comes at the end of the process instead of the beginning. Altogether, they lose a few that would be great but aren't great on (electronic) paper, but the money they save by concentrating the in-person assessments for the end of the process clearly makes that risk worth it to them.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
I had to do one of the psychological tests when I applied to work at a preschool. It was the strangest test. I could not figure out how anyone would ever score the darn thing. It would ask questions with all obviously right answers and you picked on. For example I remember it asking if I liked to: A. Read to kids. B. do are with kids C. play outside with kids D. Play learning games
I don't know how you sort applicants with questions like that. I sort of did it quickly and just picked the first thing that popped into my head. It must have worked ok as I got an interview and eventually got the job. I never did understand the test though.
Posts: 416 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
It's also just easier for them to ignore you that way. Some applicants can be quite...persistent if they have a specific point of contact.
Sorry, just speaking from personal experience there as a former hiring manager. SO glad I'm not in retail anymore.
Posts: 1945 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Unfortunately, the online application system also runs rampant in public education. Many districts have moved to using a system called EdZapp, which is one of those things that SOUNDS like a good idea.
The premise is that EdZapp is a central location where school districts can post all of their available positions and applicants can create a profile that includes their resume, job history, etc. Letters of recommendation can be uploaded. It's supposed to make it easier to apply for several jobs at once, because all you have to do is click apply, check your information, and submit. In practice, however, the website is so clunky that it's a pain. My most recent experience with the website did not allow me to update the information on my teaching license credentials (kind of an important item). Also, each district tends to have their own requirements and set of distinct application questions which then need to be typed into a web form. Since the site is so unstable, these essay-type answers are often lost when the web page has an error of some kind.
Posts: 1099 | Registered: Apr 2005
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Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
I've had notoriously bad luck with any job that required online application in the "never call me back" category.
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quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: Short answer: don't work in retail. The retail industry is stupid and broken and will make you sad.
QFT
Thirded.
I speak from experience. If I could wave my hands and undo my retail experience, I would. Retail will also steal little pieces of your soul. I'm not kidding.
Posts: 1813 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
Those psychological tests are used because they have a higher correlation to future job performance than an interview does. (At least that is what my human resources and staffing classes in college taught me.)
Posts: 3134 | Registered: Mar 2005
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quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: Short answer: don't work in retail. The retail industry is stupid and broken and will make you sad.
QFT
Thirded.
I speak from experience. If I could wave my hands and undo my retail experience, I would. Retail will also steal little pieces of your soul. I'm not kidding.
I must be weird because I've had more luck and enjoyment working retail than any other job I've had so far.
Now, working in a bank, that will kill your soul. I actually quit that job on the grounds that I found the job requirements to be morally reprehensible. An attempt at a grown-up 9-5 office job also destroyed my spirit. Sitting at a desk all day trying to look busy while listening to my middle-age coworker go on and on about their kids... never again. I gained twenty pounds and was so thankful to be back in retail where I got to move around all day and stay busy.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: Short answer: don't work in retail. The retail industry is stupid and broken and will make you sad.
QFT
Thirded.
I speak from experience. If I could wave my hands and undo my retail experience, I would. Retail will also steal little pieces of your soul. I'm not kidding.
Well, there is one thing to be said for working retail: it's quite likely to make you a more pleasant customer.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
True. And it didn't hurt my extemporaneous speaking skills, either. Overall, it was a waste of my abilities and time.
I'd like to say that I quit my retail job because I found the requirements morally reprehensible. I'm glad that retail sales works for someone, Shanna. Posts: 1813 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
Strange to say, the only jobs I've ever gotten were from in person interviews.
Sure, at those times when I don't have a job, I'll do online interviews. But heck, even with in person looking, you have to find the right place at the right time.
I've said nothing anyone doesn't know, of course. But still, I dislike the online applications too.
Posts: 1577 | Registered: Sep 2005
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