I finally got the call yesterday - out of the countless emailed resumes and the endless tedium of online applications, I finally got called! Yes, I was still available. Yes, an entry job of $11 an hour, no benefits, and no set schedule would work for me. I'd make it work. But I would need some testing first, before scheduling an interview.
Testing done this morning, I get a call this afternoon informing me that while I aced the actual skills tests at 100%, I made a 3.6 on the personality (scale of 5) and wouldn’t be considered. I’m qualified, college educated, and open to the crazy schedule – but they’re not going forward with the interview because of this ridiculous test. I’m flabbergasted. Is this a common thing now?
I've been a stay at home parent for the last five years. My last company was in the process of closing down as I was about to have my first child, so we made a go of the single income thing. It worked well for the first year, then we got pregnant with a second child. Having two babies in daycare would've decimated what little I usually earned, so we kept plugging. Then the crash and huge layoffs at my husband's job. Luckily he was spared, but was now expected to meet the deadlines with half of his previous staff. So, his hours leap up to 60-70 hours a week. Salaried, of course, and there have been no bonuses or raises. He's always tethered to his laptop on the weekends and holidays.
We wait until my oldest starts kindergarten before I job hunt, so there's only one daycare charge. My youngest is in daycare two days a week, giving me that time to concentrate on job hunting and be available for interviews. The $120 weekly charge for that is more than we can handle and the ends have not been meeting. Signing up with two different temporary agencies have yielded nothing. And now I find out through a multiple choice test that I'm somehow too deficient to work an entry level clerical job. A job only requiring a high school diploma, while I have a college degree. A job paying significantly less than I made at my last position, which employed me for over two years. A JOB WHERE I SCORED 100% ON THE ACTUAL SKILLS TEST.
And here I was only worried about a company wanting to run a credit check on me. HA.