I have been invited to an interview.
Office Junior. Worcester.
The actual job itself is situated a few minutes walk from the Crowngate Shopping Centre, but the interviews are being conducted through the recruitment website it was advertised through (in this case a company called 'Jark').
The first time I was subjected to this form of interview process - about 6 and a half years ago, now - this was an incredibly strange and suspicious seeming practice to me, but I quickly learned that it's just the way some company's choose to do it. Out of I think 10 such interviews that I attended over a three year period, only one turned out to be bogus (in Birmingham, this was. I took one look at the supposed 'office' and didn't go in. Which turned out to be good, as the company - I forget the name - was plastered all over the internet soon after warning people that the company was a front for a lucrative scam).
Anyway, I'm going to give it a shot. At worst, I've wasted the train fare, at best, I'll get a job. And even if not successful, your details are kept on the recruiter's file, which has the potential to prove incredibly useful later on (it was that which led to the job I have now).
I may get it, I may (given the lack of current experience) not. But the point is; I have been invited to an actual interview.
So I am very pleased.
Yup.
=nods=
Alice x
...UPDATE...
Yeah. I think my initial pleasure was misplaced.
Having sent a message agreeing on a time, I received a reply confirming it, along with a small list of the things I was expected to bring:
* Birth certificate or Passport
- for proving country of origin.
* National Insurance Card or proof of National Insurance Number.
- for proving eligibility to work in the UK.
* Details of bank account.
- for...?
Yep. I've dealt with this before.
It isn't a scam. Or at least, it is in my opinion, but legally speaking it's not. This is - most likely - a registration process to join the agency for a "small monthly / weekly fee", in return for which, I will be "guaranteed" work.
The problem with that - not just for me (which was a while ago) but for others I know of far more recently - is that the type of work offered is so rarely in any way suitable as to make the registration utterly useless. In my case (Hewett Recruitment: Advantage Plus, it was called. To my knowledge this no longer exists, which hopefully means the company wised up and dropped it), I received repeated offers of - definitely - part time and - definitely - temporary contracts. In the case of my cousin - for another example - when she was made redundant recently (I must check the name of the one she joined), she was also offered work; of a completely unsuitable nature in completely unsuitable locations. Once she found a job under her own steam (she is now what I suppose could be called an Assistant Pharmacist) and all was well, she recalled the kind of conversation she ended up having with the eager and well meaning Personal Recruitment Specialist with rueful amusement:
" ...what? what do you mean you can't take on a 3 month contract for an essentially German speaking post in New Zealand? ...You need work in England, you say, and cannot speak German*? ...Well, are you sure??"
...Yep...
Anyway, I am still going on Tuesday.
Sound crazy? Possibly, However, Jark is a genuine recruitment company - I've checked - and it may be on the up and up; fee paying registration may be a secondary and non essential part of an otherwise legitimate interview for an actual post, rather than an excuse to try and sign me up.
If not, well, I've spent the money on the train fare, but gained some experience.
Either way, I shall proceed with caution.
Alice x
* she does speak Italian quite fluently, though.
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