One of the hazards of applying for multiple jobs is that you sometimes forget what you’ve applied for. So when the phone rings and someone is talking about the job you applied for, you tend to listen. Today it was a company called Arcedia. I thought she meant Arcadia, but no, no one so reputable. The caller told me that her manager had seen my CV and was impressed and would I want to come in for an interview.
It was at this point I started asking what it was we were talking about. Because, you see, while I had, indeed, applied for a number of temporary roles via the Reed website, this one didn’t ring a bell. The caller did say that a lot of the people she calls said that they didn’t recall applying for the job. Hardly surprising given that they haven’t. When I asked if it was a temporary role and was told that it was permanent, I knew something fishy was going on. I have never applied for a permanent role though this website. All of the permanent roles I have applied for have been directly with the company recruiting, not through an agency.
It was, apparently, a customer service role. But I would be trained in HR stuff. Really? Why? And it involved direct face to face selling. “Here we go,” I thought “wait for it…” It was commission only. At this point I advised the caller that I had no interest in commission only work and definitely not selling. As I suspected, it was door to door selling.
This is the second time one of these companies has tried to pull the wool over my eyes with “customer service” meaning trudging the streets irritating the hell out of people by knocking on their doors trying to flog them stuff they don’t want. I don’t like it done to me, so will never do it to others.
So, like the Cobra group subsidiary who called me a few weeks back offering me a “customer service role”, I’ll be giving this one a miss, much as I detest my part time job at Sainsbury’s.
So job-hunting not going too well for you then? You have my sympathy, LR, although I’m sure to the very bone that you’d take my sympathy and give it to me in a place where the sun never shines…
And, yes, the very idea of “customer service” has never suited me one bit. At the end of the day, many a time you’re dealing with hapless folk that can’t look past their own eyesockets. Not always their fault, I am sure, but it doesn’t stop same being irritating.
I don’t want to get too hopeful, but I had a call from a chap at Network Rail yesterday asking me to reapply for a role that I applied for back in September. Apparently, it was put on hold and now they are actively recruiting. So, maybe… hopefully. We’ll see.
Oh, dear 🙁 What’s the problem with the Sainsbury job?
I keep getting these, although one look at my CV would tell them I’ve never done sales, ever.
Only proper customer service type roles, helpdesk stuff etc.
It seems Customer Service also equates to Telesales as well.
When I’ve left – hopefully sooner rather than later – I’ll be writing about it. It deserves a post of its own although Sainsbury’s won’t be coming out of it at all well.
@Longrider – I’ve worked at Sainsburys. I know exactly what you’re going through.
Michael, then you will have a fair idea of what I plan to say when the time comes. At present, I cannot as I would be breaching their policy on talking about them in negative terms on fora and blogs etc. Once I’ve left, there will be no such restriction.
Good luck with the Network Rail job, I haven’t done shelf stacking since I was sixteen ( a very long time ago ) but I can still recall how much I disliked it, so I can well imagine how keen you will be to get away.
The fact that they called you asking for you to re-apply does sound encouraging.
Dare I speculate that a decision has already been made here?
Good luck with it LR.
It would be nice to think that just for once, things might be going in my direction. Apparently they’ve been having difficulty finding someone suitable – in between reorganisations and putting the job on hold for six month…
Yes reorganisation, a guaranteed way to create extra work and therefore extra jobs. In my area although there are a couple of resignalling schemes in the pipeline we are going through one of our periodic shortage of signallers, there’s also at least one safety briefer’s job vacant and this is before ‘devolution’ gets under way. As a former NR employee though you know the procedure, apply for job, wait six months, get a letter from HR asking if you still want said job ( they’ve lost the application ), re-apply, wait six months, get a phone call asking you to start on Monday, turn up at workplace, no-one has ever heard of you……
Good luck !
I applied for one of those about six months ago… 😉