... gissus a job ...
I have just been turned down from a routine administration job with the Department of Works and Pensions. The government department that is now saying that we should work until we are beyond 70 in order to achieve a decent pension in our old age.
As a tax payer I am frankly appalled by the process. I applied in mid August. The application form required me to fill in lots of sections, such as give an example of Working a s Part of a Team and Give an Example of Using Your Own Initiative. Each section required you to fill in a box - like a children's test.
I then received a letter saying that I was being considered and that I needed to take a test which would be in the last week of August. In fact it was in the second week of September. It took 3 Human Relations Staff to administer a test involving 10 people. (When I worked as a lecturer three of us managed to invigilate over 200 GNVQ students doing 6 different tests).
Two weeks later I was then phoned up to be asked if there were any dates in October that I could not attend an interview. I said I should be free the first week. But no that was not what they wanted - they really wanted to know that I would be free the whole of October.
In the end the standardised interview was held the very last week of October. It seemed to go well. The manager from the centre seemed quite friendly and interested. The HR manager seemed totally uninterested. I personally believe that she had already decided that I was too old and too qualified for the job.
In any event I was turned down for the job. Letter received today a mere 12 weeks after the process started
There is clearly a strong prejudice, particularly in the public sector, against older men taking a job that is below their previous experience. Surrey Council will not interview me (9 applications) and the Vet Agency, based in Chertsey, did not interview. When I challenged the decision of not interviewing me I was told they had no vacancies in their computer support section - which was not the post I applied for.
Today I accept I am unemployable unless I am prepared to work for minimum wage.
As a tax payer I am frankly appalled by the process. I applied in mid August. The application form required me to fill in lots of sections, such as give an example of Working a s Part of a Team and Give an Example of Using Your Own Initiative. Each section required you to fill in a box - like a children's test.
I then received a letter saying that I was being considered and that I needed to take a test which would be in the last week of August. In fact it was in the second week of September. It took 3 Human Relations Staff to administer a test involving 10 people. (When I worked as a lecturer three of us managed to invigilate over 200 GNVQ students doing 6 different tests).
Two weeks later I was then phoned up to be asked if there were any dates in October that I could not attend an interview. I said I should be free the first week. But no that was not what they wanted - they really wanted to know that I would be free the whole of October.
In the end the standardised interview was held the very last week of October. It seemed to go well. The manager from the centre seemed quite friendly and interested. The HR manager seemed totally uninterested. I personally believe that she had already decided that I was too old and too qualified for the job.
In any event I was turned down for the job. Letter received today a mere 12 weeks after the process started
There is clearly a strong prejudice, particularly in the public sector, against older men taking a job that is below their previous experience. Surrey Council will not interview me (9 applications) and the Vet Agency, based in Chertsey, did not interview. When I challenged the decision of not interviewing me I was told they had no vacancies in their computer support section - which was not the post I applied for.
Today I accept I am unemployable unless I am prepared to work for minimum wage.
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