HR Magazine

I am now, possibly, at my lowest ebb after a badly handled meeting last week. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago contacting a company that responded quickly and wanted to meet me. I saw Michael on Tuesday the 16th for a very long and seemingly fruitful meeting: they needed a manager, were about to advertise, my letter arrived at the right moment, they were coming out of the recession hole and to cap it all, we had mutual friends. Two days later we spoke on the phone and I was invited back on the 25th. Michael and I were joined by John, the partner, and went to a bar. We spent an hour eating, drinking and chatting about all manner of things as we had a great deal in common, and then it got down to business. I was thinking the worse that can happen is the salary may be on the low side, I was not expecting to be told there is no job. They can't afford it. When did this dawn on them? What made these people think this was a good idea? Talk about being led up the garden path. How I managed to keep my cool, pretend it didn't matter and that I understood is a mystery; I think I must have been in a state of shock. I didn't get angry, I was stunned into submission. The walk to the train station was a very slow one and when I got home I drank beer and listened to Bowie. I'm not going to 'name and shame' this company because I believe it wasn't done out of malice, just stupidity, but they clearly need help in the HR department. I have a question: should I contact the company and express my feelings? I would appreciate suggestions. I am now very deflated and I honestly don't know what to do next.

Back to the good ol' PDRC. The five-week review didn't happen and I am very disappointed as I was looking forward to putting some pertinent questions forward such as: what bloody use is this resource? Maybe they can't count and it'll happen next week. I'm now quite enjoying it. I have now hooked-up with a couple of like minded people, and all we do is chew the fat while flicking through newspapers, or chew the fat while drinking tea in the kitchen. It's become a hoot and the staff don't bother us as they don't seem to care. I think they realise there's no point in attempting to help apart from handing out newspapers. There was a great article in The Guardian (at the centre) about the new high levels of unemployment and how the job centres can't cope. The DWP has employed 600 additional staff to help manage this increase, but it needs 3000. This explains why one of my new chums had to attend a review meeting on a Saturday as there are clearly not enough staff. It is somewhat ironic that in these tough times, a growth area appears to be at the job centres, and I suppose redundancies occur when the economy is buoyant. Some wag at my table suggested laminating the article and sticking it on the wall alongside the out-of-date low grade jobs, and no, it wasn't me!

A glimmer of hope: I have an interview this week. This will shock the nation as well as shocking me for I am in a state of shock brought on by this shocking news. It's shock city! I won't jinx it by naming the company, but I didn't get it through the job centre or any of its off-shoots, so no shock there. I got the meeting via a speculative letter sent at 3.30 on Wednesday afternoon, contacted the following morning at 9.30, and it just so happens the company needs a manager to look after a young team. For once my age could be working in my favour, as I gauged that my experience (read old) was definitely a plus during the 15-minute phone conversation I had with the gentleman. I don't know if the role has been advertised or if I have managed to get in ahead of the game (hopefully that's the one), but I'm just pleased to be able to get my face in front of someone. The biggest problem during my job search campaign is getting the meeting, as most jobs in my industry are advertised through recruitment agents, and my feelings about agents is well documented. I find myself getting excited, but past experiences of hopes being raised and then being cruelly dashed spring to mind and I'm then back in the land of reality. Oh well, if nothing comes of it, it may at least offer a networking opportunity. The PDRC travesty continues like a runaway train, but more on it next week as I have my five-week review this week that will need commenting on, and I can't wait!

Continuing with the PDRC envelope shocker, there are a couple of other tasty bits I forgot to mention. In stark contrast to Penna, PDRC recommends posting job applications in C4 or C5 envelopes and not DL. I would always use DL as C4 looks like a circular/direct mail, and C5 is just plain tacky. Another piece of excruciating advice was that self-adhesive envelopes do not need licking. If only I could be put in an envelope and posted far away from this madness (preferably DL). Gawd bless the DWP for providing this wonderful service. This painful experience may not have to last. I had another catch-up meeting with an advisor at the job centre who was very empathetic. She acknowledged that this PDRC nonsense is useless to someone like me and will look into getting me off it. I will save my 'hurrahs' until it happens (if it happens) and I won't be holding my breath, but at least she cared and understood. On the serious work front, I had three recruitment agents call me last week, all with a potential job! My goodness, my head was spinning with delirium at this turn of events. Clearly, I am aware that nothing will come of any of these (my cynicism is going to be the death of me), but being contacted has at least reawakened my dream of one day working again.