Job hunt: Randstad interview
Yesterday I started calling around to temp and placement agencies, and got a call back from Randstad asking me to come in for an interview. So, with barely moments to spare, I got dressed in work-appropriate clothes (and boy, oh boy, my work pants don't fit anymore) and high-tailed it down to their office on de Maisonneuve and McGill College.
The woman I met with (Renée) was very pleasant, and we wound up switching back and forth from English to French in our conversation. (She was francophone but quite bilingual. Indeed, most people in the office seemed perfectly at ease in both languages.) She went through the usual questionnaires and entered my information into their system. I was a little irked at this, given that I'd already registered into their system online AND had sent her an electronic copy of my CV earlier that day, so it seemed like added work for both of us. But that's how they roll, I guess.
Because I'd registered with Randstad back in 2007 and had very good scores on their English and computer tests, Renée allowed me to waive a retest. This was good for two reasons: First, it allowed me to save a whole bunch of time. Another applicant who arrived with me started doing the computer tests while I did the interview with Renée. He was still doing them two hours later when I left.
The second reason I'm glad I got to skip doing the computer tests is that I hate them. I really, really hate them. Given enough time, I can probably figure out just about anything they'd want me to do with Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. Heck, even given a small amount of time, I could figure it out. But they don't usually judge you by time, they judge you by clicks. If you click anywhere that is not the right area to do what they're asking, they count it as a wrong answer. Three wrong clicks ad you've failed the question. So when I start browsing the menus to find something that looks right, I'm often booted out of the question before I can find it. Frustrating, my precious. Very frustrating.
In any event, I did need to redo the French grammar test. I went from a mighty 52% to a mighty 58%. But I knew that French grammar is my Achilles heel, so no surprises there. (In related news: "demi" inflects! As in, "deux heures et demie." Who knew!) It puts me out of the running for several jobs -- namely, the ones that require written bilingualism -- but I probably wouldn't be comfortable doing those jobs anyway.
Regardless, the next step is to browse their online postings. One of Renée's colleagues might have a position for me, and I'll call him back later today if he hasn't gotten in touch with me first. And then I've got to call back to Quantum and Ometz. And, of course, pick up my guitar at some point. Things to do, things to do! Onwards!
The woman I met with (Renée) was very pleasant, and we wound up switching back and forth from English to French in our conversation. (She was francophone but quite bilingual. Indeed, most people in the office seemed perfectly at ease in both languages.) She went through the usual questionnaires and entered my information into their system. I was a little irked at this, given that I'd already registered into their system online AND had sent her an electronic copy of my CV earlier that day, so it seemed like added work for both of us. But that's how they roll, I guess.
Because I'd registered with Randstad back in 2007 and had very good scores on their English and computer tests, Renée allowed me to waive a retest. This was good for two reasons: First, it allowed me to save a whole bunch of time. Another applicant who arrived with me started doing the computer tests while I did the interview with Renée. He was still doing them two hours later when I left.
The second reason I'm glad I got to skip doing the computer tests is that I hate them. I really, really hate them. Given enough time, I can probably figure out just about anything they'd want me to do with Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. Heck, even given a small amount of time, I could figure it out. But they don't usually judge you by time, they judge you by clicks. If you click anywhere that is not the right area to do what they're asking, they count it as a wrong answer. Three wrong clicks ad you've failed the question. So when I start browsing the menus to find something that looks right, I'm often booted out of the question before I can find it. Frustrating, my precious. Very frustrating.
In any event, I did need to redo the French grammar test. I went from a mighty 52% to a mighty 58%. But I knew that French grammar is my Achilles heel, so no surprises there. (In related news: "demi" inflects! As in, "deux heures et demie." Who knew!) It puts me out of the running for several jobs -- namely, the ones that require written bilingualism -- but I probably wouldn't be comfortable doing those jobs anyway.
Regardless, the next step is to browse their online postings. One of Renée's colleagues might have a position for me, and I'll call him back later today if he hasn't gotten in touch with me first. And then I've got to call back to Quantum and Ometz. And, of course, pick up my guitar at some point. Things to do, things to do! Onwards!