Unfortunately, some companies are so mindless about the very people who could be working for them. Maybe they are wonderful in taking care of their people once officially employed with them but what about those who are still in the application process? This aspect is not even included in the Labor Code. And so, many applicants get taken advantage of, their resources eaten, courtesy of those companies who don't have a system geared towards taking care of their applicants.
To be specific, take for example some call centers' recruitment practices: Tony.
Nowadays, their ads are not as true as to what they actually mean. (Some, not all call centers though. ) One add would say '19k' monthly but once you are face-to-face with the personnel, they'd say 'that's after 6 months'. And so, Tony, an applicant coming from the province with a borrowed money just to apply, confident what he'll get through because he's been oriented and strongly encouraged by a call center veteran who personally believes he is actually qualified, and thus feel nothing can go wrong, after hearing the recruitment staff say that he's gonna get just 12k a month, he heart-breakingly declines the offer, goes home, super disappointed knowing that 12k won't be sufficient to cover for the expenses, board and lodging and all, should he accept the job.
Good thing he declined the offer. The bad part is, he now has debt to pay to his friend for his application expenses.
For nothing.
Another example. Linda.
Linda is an experienced technical support representative from several call centers. For some reason, she has to hibernate for a while but now has decided to come back to the field. She searches for the same position on Jobstreet and in split-second, there's a call center looking for agents like her, technical support oriented, experienced. So, she submits her resume online, gets an sms the following day saying she's scheduled for the next day interview. So two days after, she's there in the HR, on time, eagerly awaiting for the procedure to start.
An hour passes by. Nothing happened.
45mins...50mins...
Finally, after two hours of waiting, here comes the interview. It's now 1 pm.
Linda made it through, interview and exam. "Congratulations! Now, you're just one step away from starting next Monday. Your final interview is tonight, 9pm. And here's the address..."
9pm. That's 8 hours of another waiting. Oh, make it just 7 hours. 'Coz she'll be taking an hour of travel where she will be given the final interview.
Good thing Linda had spare money for the food. She's no way near home. She's surrounded by malls only and there's no turo-turo or sidewalk vendors nearby for her to ease her hungry stomach.
8pm came. Realizing that the site she's heading to is not accessible by jeeps nor Fx vehicles, she's confronted with two ugly choices: take a cab which would mean additional expense, or take a long long walk after a jeep drops her off to the closest point that allows jeeps.
9pm came. She's on time. The interviewer wasn't.
Ninety minutes after, interviewer came in.
Linda felt relieved knowing its soon gonna be over...
But she didn't expect the 'soon' would mean five minutes after!
Yes, at the fifth minute, the manager said, 'You are applying for a technical job? But this is not for you. This is a billing account and you certainly have no experience on it.'
"Uhhm, pardon me but...I am applying for technical because that's what was advertised and in the initial interview, I was clear on that and your HR staff even gave me an affirmation on that...there must be a mistake?"
And with an authoritative voice, the manager replied, "Well, just the same, this is a Billing Account not a Technical Account. This company has no technical account. Sales, yes. But no technical."
With Linda hearing the word 'billing', she knew right then and there, its over. Over her dead body she'll handle billing.And not just that.
Billing? Why Billing? What's up with that? Why wasn't that made clear in the first interview? Was that deliberate? What was the company thinking? Just because the applicant has exerted so much suffering already, that will make him/her accept whatever is offered to him/her just to get over with the process? Does the company think the 'torture' will make it easier for them to convince the applicant to just say 'yes' to anything?
Why the freaking long waiting hours? Eight hours is way too much. And why was there no telling about the accessibility of the site to the public vehicles? Do HR staff expect the applicants to be all rich or have their own wheels? It is so inconvenient and stressful and unfair to the simple people who only want to get a decent job. AND YET, COMPANIES CAN DO THIS AS OFTEN AS THEY WANT BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING THAT CAN PROTECT THE APPLICANTS FROM THIS KIND OF TREATMENT.And so, Linda has thrown away her whole day for nothing. And a grand for nothing.
Third example. Benny.
Benny underwent almost the same as what Linda went through.
Except.
He walks in crutches.
And when he was given his final interview, it wasn't an issue about mismatched accounts.
There was no issue.
He was just told he did not make it.
Not a chance to ask why or what the basis was for passing or failing.
These are actual experiences I personally know of, shared to me by some young friends who are into job hunting. If these things can happen to people I know, it can also happen to people I don't know, hundreds of job seekers out there! Especially those innocent young applicants for rank and file positions who attract more indifference from employers. In different types of businesses? Every single freaking day? We can all google for more similar experiences posted in forums and for sure, there are tons, of varying situations of indifference.
This upsets me so much that I have to put it into writing hoping that someone out there can bring this issue to the Senate, to give protection to job applicants, especially the young ones who are so vulnerable to being abused by employers who I suppose don't have an ounce of consideration to job seekers just because they know these job seekers will do everything and give everything just to land on a job.
This upsets me so much that I have to put it into writing hoping that someone out there can bring this issue to the Senate, to give protection to job applicants, especially the young ones who are so vulnerable to being abused by employers who I suppose don't have an ounce of consideration to job seekers just because they know these job seekers will do everything and give everything just to land on a job.
Job seekers need protection too, just as employees are protected by the Labor Code. Just because an applicant isn't hired yet shouldn't mean the company is free to ask the applicant to do whatever the company needs the applicant to do to finish the application process, especially if it entails utmost inconvenience to the applicant and/or could mean additional expenses/resources.
Life is difficult already as it is. Why make it more difficult for the job hunters who are already carrying so much burden with family financial responsibilities?