Friday, December 04, 2009

Not Sure What to Think

Well, I thought it was going to be an interview. Turns out, I drive all the way out to Dish Network and...

wait, let me back up...

Back on "Thanks for Nothing" night, one of my friends mentioned she could easily get a job at Dish Network if she ended up losing her position at her current job. So I thought, "Hmmm, if they're hiring, why not check them out?"

So I applied on-line on Monday. TWO FREAKING HOURS, it took. I had fill in a bunch of personal information--standard job-seeker info--then I had to take this sort of personality inventory test, which was new to me when Wal-Mart hit me with it several weeks ago, but has become sort of a familiar part of the grind since Best Buy, Target and now Dish Network have all hit me with similar tests.

Then I play an interactive video game, in which I learn parts of a knowledge-base interface and how to use it to serve customers over the phone, then I handle sample calls. That takes a while. Then I have to take another test that's a sort of vocab test, followed by a math test, followed by a math-and-vocab test. Then I get redirected to another site where I provide my personal info AGAIN, upload a resume, and then have to fill out an on-line form that duplicates almost all of the info on my resume. Seriously.

So then, after I've taken all the tests and assessments, it asks me to come by Friday afternoon for an appointment. So I go in today, expecting an interview, and it turns out I was really there to...

Take. Another. Test.

It was an IQ-ey type thing, with yet more SAT-style math and vocab questions, plus some spatial relationships stuff thrown in. Timed test. 50 questions, 12 minutes. You're not expected to answer them all, just do your best.


Finished it with a couple of minutes to spare. Heh. Think I got 'em all right, although some of the vocab questions could have gone either way and one I answered in a hurry and wasn't sure I'd actually clicked the right one or not. Then I went out to see the receptionist again and it was like, "We'll call you."

So disappointing in one sense, but in another, maybe with all the testing, I might get a better job. While I was there, a couple of girls came in to apply for positions that the receptionist said required at least an Associate's Degree. That wasn't the job I was applying for, I don't think. But maybe they'll look at my job history and test scores and say, "You know, we have something that better suits your skills and resume, if you wouldn't mind the extra pay."

I can dream, can't I?

4 comments:

Unknown said...

What the frelling hell?!?!?! I had no idea it was such an ordeal to get on there. I shall have to ask the guy at work about that. Wow!

TheyStoleFrazier'sBrain said...

The other thing I forgot to mention: being there brought back old memories, since I worked in that building for over three years. Dish Network is in the old TV Guide, which had previously been the Kensington Galleria.

Unknown said...

Well...that could be interesting. I've never had that particular experience, working for a different company in the same building. I don't know how it would be.

Anonymous said...

For fuck's sake.
Sigh. call centers pay well, but they never stop discovering new ways to humiliate and demean their employees. Now they're starting before they even hire you.