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June 02, 2012

Government uses foreign job interviewers!

Daellea thought it was bad enough that a government department had farmed out its selection process to a private agency, but when she discovered that the private agency had hired two foreign consultants on short-term visitor’s working permits to interview applicants she was very disappointed – especially when her consultant quit during the selection process!

“My one-on-one interview with one of the foreign consultants went very well,” says Daellea. “He told me off the record that I had valid concerns about the private agency doing the selection process, and I told him I would make up my mind, whether to proceed or not, depending upon the results of the tests.”

“If my current placing in the selection process was ‘iffy’, then there would be no point in continuing. He agreed, and asked me to call him the next day to get my results.”

“As instructed, I rang him late the following afternoon for feedback on my results and current placing.”

“I was told by the receptionist that he had terminated employment with the agency that morning,” sighs Daellea. “I asked what had happened and where he had gone, and she told me that he had decided to do some traveling.”

“Hello? It seems extremely strange that a consultant would leave in the middle of assessments. I liked the young man and had trusted him. If he had given notice a week or more ago that he was leaving that day, then why wouldn’t he have told me - in, fact told everyone - and said goodbye? Why would he ask me to call him the next day if he knew he wouldn’t be there?”

“It’s possible he was fired,” says Daellea, “but this was just the last straw as far as I was concerned.”

“I had lost confidence not only in the agency but also with that particular government department for shirking its responsibilities in regard to strict recruitment etiquette. I immediately terminated by application. I wasn’t even interested in learning my test results.”

“In one respect I was lucky,” laughs Daellea. “In total, from seeing the advertisement to terminating my application I had only wasted a month of my life on that job. The closing date for the advertised jobs was still a week away and I pitied all those applicants who were still sweating on their application letters - possibly paying a professional to write it - not knowing the fate that awaits them.”

“Government jobs receive thousands of applications and this particular department only had twelve vacancies for a start three months away,” says Daellea. “And, because the agency has a vested interest in assessing as many candidates as it can, a lot of people were going to be spending a long, long time being mucked around.”

Read more by Daellea on this issue:

privatizing government job selection
government job selection ethics
Psychometric tests and medicals?






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