This blog post is my submission to Jakarta Post’s IMO blogging contest
I just moved back to Jakarta a couple of weeks ago from the neighbouring Island where I felt everyday was simply a holiday. One day I just realised of how indiscipline I had become by having more fun than work there and so here I am, hoping to find a job and start focusing more on building my career path amidst the hustle bustle of the big city where the competition in the labour market is incredibly tougher hence my bigger appreciation in working for a company.
Jakarta, my hometown, I’ve always known you as a metropolitan city that provides a wider range of opportunities for us hoping to earn a better living despite the ‘concrete jungle’ image you are known of. Bigger businesses, larger companies, you shelter them all; making me always think that your professionalism level is much higher comparing to other cities in this beautiful archipelago country. But lately…, how some of your Human Resources Department staff treat their applicants has tickled my laughing brain.
Surely I’ve been applying for jobs in Jakarta, possibly more than a hundred of them. I’m not picky at all; I send my application to every company out there, big and small, which is in need of an employee with skills falling around my field of expertise. Pardon me for trying to apply for a position that I don’t have a working experience in, but you can rest assured that I know how to do administrative or secretarial jobs. I spend hours a day hunting for employment opportunities on the Internet as well as newspapers, mostly online, and I even started doing it when I was not here yet. My overwhelming gratitude then goes to the applicants-friendly technology called e-mail and those companies that insert their recruitment email address in their vacancy ad.
As effortless my initial step in applying for a job may seem though, I am more than certain to have never departed from the accepted standards of emailing an application. I use proper business letter format, words, and phrases. I fill in and out any additional forms required by the designated company. I attach every file they ask for as written in the ads. I always meet their deadline of submitting an application. Naturally, I expect a positive feedback from them once they find my qualifications and I match what they need and desire.
Funnily enough, at least for me, I find how I’ve been invited for a job interview by some companies here so far to be quite laughable. I’m not a negative person, you see. You may think there is nothing to laugh at in the following examples, but I laugh instead of complain. Yes, I firmly believe that these invitations for an interview were not ethical and deserve complaints.
The most bizarre was when I received a call from a company in Hang Tuah street, South Jakarta. They were seeking for a translator. “Hello, can I speak with xxx?” he asked for me after I answered the phone. As normally done, I enquired who was calling. With unfriendly tone he said, “From someone who wants to speak with xxx,” instead of mentioning his company’s name (and if there was any unspoken phrase after my name, it would be ‘whatcha gonna do?’). I automatically giggled at it until he asked me if I was the person he was looking for. ‘Yes, who is this?’ Then he started explaining who he was and I immediately apologised for my reaction. I didn’t have to say sorry actually, short-tempered people would even get irritated in the first place and fire back a question like ‘doesn’t someone who wants to speak with xxx have a frigging name?’
He went on telling me that he had reviewed my application and I, being excited, questioned about where as well as when he would like to interview me right away. He stopped me by explaining the working hours of their translators, at night, and asked if I was still interested. Fair enough, I thought, so I said yes. He afterwards told me about the interview’s date and time. Then he paused for at least 10 seconds as if he was chewing on something or his concentration was somewhere else. I, still being enthusiastic, enquired about the place. He only said “jalan Hang Tuah” and shortly after asked me to hold on because he had his phone ringing. So there was I, hung on, for around 60 long seconds and I could hear clearly that it was not a business call. He got back on the line with me saying that it would not be an interview, but a test instead, and explaining what it would be like. OK. Then he asked me if I knew where the office was. “Errr…, no?” But patiently I asked if he could send me the address by email and he simply replied “No, why don’t you write it down yourself?” Oh wow. Since when did interview invitations become requests to fight? Even a five-year-old could’ve used ‘could you write it down instead’ and maybe with ‘please.’
Without hesitation, I didn’t come as per the bizarre phone dialogue. Why? First of all, because I think his attitude on the phone clearly showed that he had no interest in me whatsoever and yet he didn’t have any other option. Why would I want to be underestimated like that? Second, I certainly will never want to work with a person with that kind of attitude. Third, if that company can’t even afford a proper phone courtesy training, how will they manage to pay my expected salary?
And so I move on….
Inviting people for an interview via SMS is definitely a new thing for me and, not being judgmental, I find it funny. A text message on my phone woke me up in one morning, ‘Dear xxx, I have received your application through *an online job bank*. Could we meet tomorrow at 9 am?’ Hmm, maybe if I had applied for the job by using the SMS facility the particular website provides, I should’ve expected that coming. But no, I don’t ever use that kind of facility. He didn’t even tell me his name, his company, where to meet, and what normal interview invitations should elaborate. And yet, I replied to him and got the interview fixed. About half an hour later, however, I received a proper call from the same company as to reconfirm. Apparently, the guy who text me was the one I’d be working directly under. Ah, so it was tolerable. The big boss is usually super busy that he or she shouldn’t be handling interview invitations by him/herself. Also at least, there was a proper follow-up from the company not long after we engaged in the ‘texting’ activity.
Another company sent me a text message the other day, no phone call, no e-mail. I just laughed at it. The following day, I received their second one consisting of the same interview invitation (just with a different time); still no proper notification before or after. I laughed harder. Too hard to actually attend the interview.
Another thing I have noticed is some companies here don’t really read applicants’ resume. For some reason they ask the invitees to bring along their printed resume to the interview appointment; maybe because they don’t have a printer, maybe they have run out of ink or even recycling paper, maybe they don’t have the time to print, or maybe they just want to rank my motivation in seeking work at their company. I say, “Fine,” though I wonder whatever happened to the one I enclosed in my email.
Furthermore, almost all of them did not know that I was previously working in a different province and that I just moved back in Jakarta while I specifically wrote names of the companies, their addresses, and working period in the section that every company should pay the most attention to when trying to match an applicant’s qualifications with their needs as well as desire. Some of them even asked if I was still working in a current company. Asking an invitee to tell a story about their background is a different story, it’s a major part of an interview process. But to clearly show that you don’t know who you are interviewing is simply astonishing, laughable.
Apparently, some companies no longer see such initial steps in hiring process as something mutual nowadays. ‘You’re the one who needs a job; we still have many applicants with or without you.’Arrogant.
Most people in a higher position tend to get big-headed. Most of them don’t realize that they would be no one without anyone else. Take my first example above, that guy definitely needs a help from his receptionist to learn more about phone courtesy in business-related calls. Shouldn’t every professional in this big city already know that your tone and pitch over the phone can show your mood, your concentration, your sincerity, and your etiquette that can create an impression of your company?
If you expect to see a good motivation from an applicant, why can’t I expect the same from you? A short message on the phone doesn’t show a good motivation in trying to hire someone, now does it? Taking my resume too easy, if not for granted, also doesn’t show it.
Too busy? Too many applicants to handle? Regardless, how you are in demand of employees to be able to run your business and at the same time your applicants need a job is undoubtedly mutual. What good does an inappropriate interview invitation do to your company’s image? One or more of them could be future members of your company. If a great, potential candidate refuse to work for you merely because of your ill-mannered or poorly-prepared interview process, will it not be funny?
