I’ve recently moved from New Brunswick to Ottawa, and I’ve spent the last two weeks “Job Hunting”.
You can’t imagine how frustrating the process is, until you’ve been through it. Now this isn’t my first job, far from it. But it’s the first time I’ve been looking for a job in the city.
There are two things I don’t understand about things people say to me when I ask if their hiring.
1) “Oh, we’re not hiring until September”
2) “We only accept resumes online”
This is beyond frustrating to me. The first one I understand to an extent. I get it, you’ve hired students for the summer. You’re waiting for them to go back to school before hiring anyone else. But how do you know someone won’t quit? How do you know someone won’t get sick? How do you know someone won’t die? You don’t, so take my resume.
Which leads to “We only accept resumes online”. This I sort of get as well. Okay, Your company is “Going Green”, they don’t want to sort through a bunch of papers, they don’t want their employees being bothered by people who are looking to apply. So what’s my problem here?
I took the time to write up a transcript of my qualifications, assets, ablities, etc. I got off my lazy ass, and I came to you. I presented you with this report, meeting you, making an impression, and you say “I don’t want your application. Do it online.” I’m doing this to prove to you that I’m half assed enough to present myself to you, and you’ve pretty much spit in my face.
Now, Not only that, but when I go onto your website, there’s nothing there. If you’re not hiring at that store, it won’t come up on the website. So, there is no where for me to put my Resume for you to pick up later when someone quite or is fired or whatever.
I’m going to use Old Navy for an example right now, because I went in there today; So, I asked the girl
Me: “Are you guys hiring?”
Girl: “No, not until after the summer. But we don’t take resumes anyway. You have to go onto the website.”
Me: “Oh, So, I just go to OldNavy.com?”
Girl: “Yeah” *Looks around* “You have to go onto the website, and apply there.”
Me: “Okay.”
Girl: “It’s like… GapInc.com” *Looks around* “You have to go there to apply”
Me: *WTF are you looking for?!* “Okay, Thanks.”
So, the girl I was talking to was sort of spacey, but whatever. So I go home, and go to GapInc.com>Careers. I put in my info, Canada>Ontario>Ottawa>Old Navy Search. Yes, I did get two spots for the Rideau Center, the Old Navy I was looking for, though they were both manager positions, and nothing I’m qualified for. But I also go positions in……………. *Drum roll* ……………. CANADA. Wait, Wut? This job is available in Canada…. Um…. Where in Canada, Old Navy? Just, Canada. Hey! We’re hiring in the country! Or, I got this as well: NORTH ONTARIO. ………………Wut? There are lots of towns and cities in North Ontario, guyz.
I guess my point is, this online stuff is just silly, and freaking annoying. You can’t get any impression of me from the internet. When I come and meet with you, you get to know me. You can see right then if I’m a cheerful person. Am I depressing? Did I strike up a conversation with you? Was I interesting? This all leads to; Will I be good with customers?
Kudos to the girl at Claire’s for both taking my resume AND not knowing why people only take resumes online.
Rebecca Quinn 