Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)

For the past few months dear readers I have been unemployed and just between you and me - I don't like it. Like myself I'm sure some readers will have experienced unemployment and there may even be some of you who have enjoyed it. While I'll admit the hours are cracking everything else is an absolute soul destroyer and all things considered I can't wait to see the end of it - which brings us to the theme of this blog: getting out of unemployment. Lets call a spade a spade, this isn't rocket science (unless your an unemployed rocket scientist) and there are a number of simple steps to follow. You look for a job, you find a job, you apply for the job and then its a case of either getting the job or going back to square one then starting again. I'm sure you'll agree it looks very straightforward, however there is an element to getting out of employment I have yet to touch upon, ladies and gentlemen I present to you the bane of my life the recruitment industry.

Over the last few months I have seen ineptitude from recruitment consultants and HR people that would make David Brent look like a candidate for Mensa. I'll probably touch on aspects of this in future blogs but there's one particular event I want to vent over at the moment. The tale begins last month one morning where I happened over this job advert:

Company confidential

Out Bound call centre operatives

Job description

Due to expansion Our client is looking to employ new Call Centre operatives within their busy outbound call centre.
You will be making outbound calls offering a variety of services to the general public. You must be driven and sales focused and have the following skills and attributes:-

Excellent telephone skills
An ability to assess customer needs and discuss options combined with an ability work to deadlines and targets.
Excellent communication skills.
Confident and enthusiastic
Friendly and approachable
Persuasive and sales driven.

In return for this we offer a very competitive salary of £300.00 a week plus an enviable commission structure.

 After a quick perusal I decided that this job my name on it, I have the sales skills having done door to door at the age of 16, I'd done telesales for a number of companies successfully and had even run a telesales team for a loan broker. Admittedly it was an entry level job and paid a lot less than my previous jobs however with my experience and background it was a case of being awesome at entry level for a month or two and then take the inevitable promotion. Checking the person spec it also looked like it was aimed at me so I sent off my CV and within the day I received a reply saying I'd been shortlisted. I phoned them up and had a brief chat with the HR and Recruitment Manager and arranged a suitable time and date for what I was informed would be a group interview.

Nothing to worry about there as you pretty much interact with people from birth (although some might say during) and it would be a chance to see who I was up against. Suitably attired that Tuesday morning I set off for CCS Review (also known as Consortium Technology Ltd), I'd done my research on the company, planned some questions and planned a few positive things about myself to slip in during the interview. I was expecting a number of things from the interview: a group exercise, typing/intranet system test, a bit of role play and one on one with the HR person in which to enquire about the company and put myself over to them as a prospective employee.

A quick train trip into Swansea and bracing walk found CCS placed just off Wind Street, for Who fans its quite close to where the exteriors to The Unquiet Dead were shot. A few of us interviewees turned up at the same time and we were led into the building. As we walked through the contact centre floor I dropped to the back of the group and took a few moments to examine my surroundings. The company seemed to exist in the basement of a quite impressive building and was full of the mixture of cocksure, stressed twenty somethings that populate the call centres of the country. In all honesty I wasn't impressed there seemed to be a lack of decorum, in particularly one team leader was busy moon walking instead of taking a call from an agent - it took him three minutes to get around to helping out the agent by which time I'd imagine whoever was on the other side of the phone would be fuming at having been kept waiting. I looked to the sales charts which showed they had a mixture of the impressive salespeople and people struggling who would soon be showed the door.

We were shown into the interview room which consisted of a large central table and some forms. The HR person said we would fill in the forms, then tell the group about ourselves including our favourite films (and if we had a super power what would we have) and could ask questions about the job afterwards. I don't know about you reader but that sounds a bit crap and lacking to me, on top of that the forms would end up regurgitating the information we'd given in our applications. Assuming HR person would go around the table clockwise I positioned myself on the far left of the room, this way I would be able to find out more about them and be in good position to mention something or ask questions other candidates hadn't covered. As we went around the room I found out more and more about the other contenders...

The first contender, was experienced in sales and had worked in a variety of Swansea call centres, had worked at team leader level and conducted himself well. He was a dead cert to get through and from his delivery and description of himself I could tell he'd be one to watch and I suspected when we were put on the training academy he was most likely to be my closest rival.

The second contender was No 1's goofy sidekick and appeared to be joined to him at the hip. They had worked together throughout Swansea's call centres but this guy was far from the talented one of the pair. It was 50/50 weather he'd get through.

No 3 is what we in South Wales call a "shunk" and stood no chance whatsoever. If he had turned up in clobber he was wearing on casual Friday he still would have been sent home, on top of that he couldn't string a sentence together and may have been hung over.

No 4 seemed only interested in the job because it was in staggering distance from her flat, didn't seem to care and was one of those people who think they are a "character" because they once wore orange on a Wednesday.

No 5 was a very nice chap fresh out of university with a Physics degree, had never worked in his life and looked like he had been dressed by him mum. I firmly placed him in the "nice guy but no chance" category, if he got through he would be gone within the month. If this had been for customer service he'd have a chance but in sales he was out of his depth.

No 6 was a competitor, like myself he appeared to have managed sales departments and was coming into the company like myself at a level lower than he would like. His demeanor showed that while he was professional I didn't think he'd do to well at entry level. I think he'd get in but I think he'd get stuck at entry level.

No 7 was a shop worker and had no sales experience. Despite this I think she'd get through as she put herself over very well in the interview.

No 8, Jesus bloody Christ where the hell did they get this guy from? Apparently he was some sort of weekend club manager who did pole dancing in his spare time.

No 9, was me.

As we went around the table telling our life stories and what super powers we wanted I grew more confident. By the time it was my turn to speak I had my speech planned out, I was able to mention that as well as lead generating I had experience of closing - something a few others kicked themselves for not mentioning, took them on a verbal tour of my work history and finished up by saying I'd like Wolverine's healing power so if I got injured I'd still be able to talk to the customers while I healed - I was the only person to link the power to the actual job. We finished off quizzing the HR person about the actual job then left to go about our different merry ways with a promise we'd be called back by the end of the day. I was full of confidence and had a skip in my step after a well done (albeit lacking from CCS Review) interview. However a few hours later i opened my email to find this:

Hi .........,

 Thank you for attending the interview of Telesales Advisor earlier today. Unfortunately, you were unsuccessful in your application.

 We wish you the best in your future endeavours.

 Kind Regards,

 ****** *******

 "That's it?" I asked myself on reading the email, applied for a job I've previously excelled at, done excellent in the interview and all I get is future endeavoured - who the hell did they think I was, Chris Jericho? This rejection had a bad affect on me, I'd been unemployed after previously doing a job with little prospects and seen a chance to get back into the industry I'd previously excelled at and I get future endeavoured. Naturally I asked for some feedback, so if I'd done anything on I could work on it for my next application but heard nothing back.

I feel badly let down by CCS Review IMO they showed a complete lack of professionalism. The thing that gets me about unprofessional recruiters is nobody wins, I don't get employed, the company don't get the benefit of my experience and the recruitment personnel will just go about doing the same thing bringing down their own value getting found out when they move onto a new employer. I'll bounce back as I always do, someone else will employ me, CSS will continue with their poor recruitment policy and they'll be the ones that suffer long term. 

Anyway that's that and as said earlier its time to move on, or in my case back to square one...