Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Personal ranting about last Monday..

Hello ladies! I know most of you are already wondering what made me say I had a bad Monday right? And I did promise to tell you guys about it..Just remember that this is just based on my own experience and I do not intend to bash the companies I'm going to mention here..I hope you all understand that I'm sharing this info to serve as a warning to some who might want to apply there too.. so here goes..

WARNING: very long post

It happened last Monday, October 12, in Ayala. Me and O went there to apply for a job in a call center. I have asked some of my friends for suggestions on what companies to go to prior to our trip (thank you for your help! you know who you are ^_^). So we both decided to go to 24/7 first coz they offer a competitive salary plus they have day-shifts which I like. But sadly, this came out to be the fastest application we experienced. After filling up the application form, the person in the front desk explained to us that their company doesn't accept Nursing graduates who have no previous call center experience (at least 6mos) and they will just keep our applications so that when we already have some experience we can apply again. I understand their rule coz many nursing graduates did resigned prior to end of their contracts. I know a lot who just stayed in the company for a couple of months to pass time and earn then resigns to work in a hospital..so me and my bf did not take it against them coz we are pretty sure that the management has experienced a lot of cases like this and they are already reluctant.

We then decided to cross the street and go to Aegis People Support wherein we just decided to walk in (we had a schedule last week but we were unable to come bec. of the effects of Ondoy) since we are there already. We arrived at 11am and handed our resumes to the person in the front desk. He then asked us to sit first and wait to be called. After that here's the flow of what happened:

- 2:00pm - I was already hungry coz I just had a light breakfast and we're still not called or given any other instruction aside from to sit down and wait.

-2:30pm - we were called and interviewed in the front desk then I was given a form to fill up andd was asked to wait again. I think The front desk has the role of screening the applicants who will go to the testing part.

- 3:00pm - We were called to fall in line and then we went inside with 11 more aplicants to take the English prificiency, listening, and typing tests.

- 3:45pm - we finished our tests and were asked to sit on the hallway and wait for the result.

-4:00pm - 10 of us passed and was given a schedule for the initial interview. I was given the sched of 5:30 and my bf was given 6pm so I thought we can have lunch already but the test administrator told us not to be gone too long since this goes on very fast. So we decided to just have bladder break and wait for our interviewers to call us.

- 5:00pm - I was called by my interviewer. This initial interview lasted for 20-30 minutes. She kept on asking me the same questions over and over again. Maybe she is trying to get the truth hehe I know that it is hard to continously say a lie the same way everytime right? After drilling me, she told me that I passed that round and that I should go back to the testing area and wait for my schedule for the final interview.

- 5:30pm - I was given the time of 6:30pm for my final interview. She asked me to be there 15mins ahead of time. I waited for my bf to finish his initial interview (he's done by 6pm) and like me he was given 6:30pm for his final interview.

Since we cannot eat a heavy meal within 15 mins we just decided to eat snacks to make our stomach lasts for a couple of hours. We are in a tight budget so we can't eat in fast foods 2x that day so we went to Mercury Drugstore and bought 2 chocolate drinks and a paack of hopia hapon. We came back inside the building by 6:15pm.

- 6:45pm - I was called by my interviewer to answer a pen and paper exam. She told me to wait for her to finish another applicant.

- 7:15pm - I was called inside the room for my final interview. My bf was already on his final interview with another staff around 7pm so I was actually waiting alone.

- 7:45pm - My final interview was finished. The interviewer asked me the same set of questions again plus some new ones. After satisfying her with my answers, she told me that I need to undergo another exam, the call simulation. So I said okay. She gave me instructions on what to expect and gave me 10mins to browse the computer and the site. I waited for about 15mins instead of 10 before the phone rang. The call lasted around 10-15 mins only and then I waited again for my interviewer to come back.

- 8:15pm - My interviewer came back and told me that I passed that round and then she gave me another set of pen and paper test to answer outside.

- 8:30pm - I passed my answer to her and she told me that I still need to go back the next day for another set of test and interview under the Operations Manager. After knowing this, I went back to the lobby and told my bf about it. He was also done with his interview and he was asked to wait for a job offer. Hmm so this got me thinking that the interviewer can't decide if I can do the account she tested me with and so she wants to transfer me to the OM to decide if I can work under him.

My bf was called with the others who passed with flying colors. I was left in the lobby to wait. Of course, I can't go home alone since it is already late (I'm afraid to travel alone at night) and I can't leave my bf there too. I was so hungry already because my last meal was at 7am. We both thought that the JO will only take a couple of minutes but guess what, by 10:00pm my bf was still inside! I was already worried because my mom is already angry since it was already late and there's no train already. My bf got worried about me so he excused himself and went back to the lobby. They were not yet finished. He was also hungry at that time and very tired already since we had our breakfast around the same time. He can't decide if he will sign the contract already because the offer is not that high (we live in Novaliches and the salary must be enough for transpo) and he can't think because it was so late. He then decided to ask for a time to think.

- 10:20pm - my bf came back and we went home. Since it is already past 10pm, we can't ride the MRT already so we decided to take the bus home. We arrived at Trinoma by 11:10pm and we had our meal at McDonald's since it was the only fastfood where we can eat. We were planning to take a taxi since there were already no other transportation for us (aside from buses that do not pass in our location) to go home to our houses in Novaliches. Luckily, his brother volunteered to pick him up.

- 12:30am - I got home safe. My mom got really worried coz I was unable to respond to her text messages (I used up my load hehe).

I decided not to come back again yesterday for my scheduled interview with the manager since I was able to talk to someone during my application. He was there since 12nn for a couple of tests and JO too and he was called for that around 8:30pm. I don't want to experience that long waiting again.

This post probably bored you all to death. I don't know how to make this shorter..I just needed to share this coz I'm still frustrated until now. I don't think it is normal to spend a whole day for processing. Taken that there are a lot of applicants but based on my observation, the staff was unable to manage time properly. If they don't think they can accomodate you that day, they should tell you soon instead of making you wait then tell you to comeback. They should also keep it in mind that majority of the applicants have not eaten yet. I hope they told me to just take my lunch first and come back around 2pm instead of asking me to just stay put and wait for my name to be called. That's cruel in my opinion.

Anyways, I decided to apply somewhere in Ortigas area tomorrow for an online English teacher. The schedule is more forgiving than in the call center industry so i really hope this is it.

Thank you for reading my very long rant. Bye!

10 comments:

A View from the Edge said...

Oh goodness, I cannot believe the interview process took the whole day! That is ridiculous. I think these people ought to have lesson in time management. Sorry to hear that you didn't have good experience with them...

Nina said...

That was really tiring on your part! How could they let applicants stay on for the whole day!!! Hope you have better luck with the one in Ortigas. :)

lelila said...

aww sis, even ako i hate waiting during interviews, much more yang ganyan!

Pammy said...

I am really sorry to hear about your bad experience with People Support. That was a really long wait, almost half a day. Jeez, they've been operating for almost a decade now, they should've known better. Good luck, Gale. :)

Crystal Gale said...

A view from the edge - I so agree..they should learn something from other companies..usually it will just take 3-4 hours for the whole process..

Nina - thank you! I hope so too :)

lelila - I hate waiting too..I think I should have went home early when I noticed everything took long..

pammy - I agree..actually when the staff who conducted my final interview called yesterday to ask why I did not go to my scheduled interview, I told her that I don't want to experience the long wait again and I was frustrated at them hehe..wala siya nagawa..

krissy ♥ said...

Wow, that is frustrating indeed! Why not try HSBC? I work there :) We're om UP-Ayala Technohub. My former manager lives in Novaliches and he commutes to work via the SM Fairview route. Anyway, good luck on your job hunting :)

Crystal said...

aww gale. i'm sorry. pero akala ko you worked in a hospital already? what happened?

Pammy said...

Good thing to told that person about what you feel and you were honest about it. :)

Ida said...

that's defintely cruel of them! i mean, do they have so so many applicants that they make you wait that long? good thing you didn't go back. they're not worth going back to IMO. good luck with your job hunting gale! :)

Crystal Gale said...

krissy - thanks! I'll try to apply there if I will not get hired as a teacher this week hehe :)

crystal - nope..I was just a trainee but they did offer me a job..I just declined when I learned that my salary per month would only be around P6k hehe I don't think I can even save up from that amount :)

Pammy - hehe I think she was kinda shock when I told her the reason..thanks for the support sis :)

Ida- thank you! I felt that way too kaya I did not went back :)