Ugh...the government way.

[lendaddy]

So today I had my interview for the government job I had applied for. It was the fourth stage of testing and this was to be the end game....the interview with all the big dogs. I get there and it's a four on one interview, which is fine, but instead of a give and take banter style interview it's friggen 20 flash card/multiple choice questions that they take turns asking me. After you give the answer to the question (which were about as difficult as "what day is it?") you had to expand upon your answer or give an example of your experience with the situation. It was pathetic, I mean really pathetic. I cannot for the life of me believe they wasted everyone's time with this (including and least of all theirs).
Anyway, at the end I get the "Any questions for us?" and ask a few questions about their time-line/ask them if they need any clarification on my answers and they tell me, "no, but the next step will be another interview."

WTF? You've got me here, there are only 20 of us left out of the original 325...hit me with it! What do you need to know? Ughh...the inefficiency will be difficult to get used to. Not to mention this "interview" had to be as useful as tits on a bull since it was so easy. Anyone smart enough to make it this far couldn't possibly have blown this.

I'm probably over reacting as I was hoping to be done with this process today, but damn.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Two words: "Human Resources".

A bigger group of wasteful, inefficient, time-wasting, self-promoting and self-important buffoons constantly seeking to justify their own existences by creating needless bureaucracy, paperwork, procedures and obstructionism the world has never known.

Aside from maybe politiians and occasionally corporate I.T. guys. But at least the I.T. guys are OCCASIONALLY useful.

The fact that we live in a world where 99% of efforts in job hunting are all about trying to find ways to circumvent these clowns and their B.S. and actually get to someone who can evaluate us on skill, ability, talent and potential value (much less make a hiring decision) is simply insane.

[RWebb]

3-5 for a real f2f interview

this was just to cull the trash out - expect something more substantial next time

[Aurel]

With that many interviews, it better be a $150k/yr job with tenure for life .

[lendaddy]

Originally Posted by Aurel

With that many interviews, it better be a $150k/yr job with tenure for life .

Yea, almost.

[Carrman]

Are you interviewing to be a Supreme Court Justice?

[futuresoptions]

unbelievable, they just sent me an email and told me that the job was mine if I wanted it lol, went for the drug screen today.....

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Two words: "Human Resources".

A bigger group of wasteful, inefficient, time-wasting, self-promoting and self-important buffoons constantly seeking to justify their own existences by creating needless bureaucracy, paperwork, procedures and obstructionism the world has never known.

It's even worse than that now at my company. Our HR folks are also trainers. Problem is that we're not hiring anyone from the outside anymore. So there are no new folks to be trained, which means our trainers try to come up with new things for us to do to make themselves look irreplaceable. Endless webinars, surveys, quizes, conference calls, etc. They really are time vampires.

[VaSteve]

Originally Posted by Aurel

With that many interviews, it better be a $150k/yr job with tenure for life .

Originally Posted by Carrman

Are you interviewing to be a Supreme Court Justice?

Judges pay sucks.

[red-beard]

[aap1966]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Two words: "Human Resources".

A bigger group of wasteful, inefficient, time-wasting, self-promoting and self-important buffoons constantly seeking to justify their own existences by creating needless bureaucracy, paperwork, procedures and obstructionism the world has never known.

Aside from maybe politiians and occasionally corporate I.T. guys. But at least the I.T. guys are OCCASIONALLY useful.

The fact that we live in a world where 99% of efforts in job hunting are all about trying to find ways to circumvent these clowns and their B.S. and actually get to someone who can evaluate us on skill, ability, talent and potential value (much less make a hiring decision) is simply insane.

Aw, come on Porsche-O-Phile, tell us what you really think!

[fintstone]

Yikes! I am a federal employee and it seems much easier. I advertise the job (no test, just an application)....weed out the chaff from their application (usually start with about 30) and request resumes from the top 5 or so. I cut that down to about 3 and set up a phone interview. I ask 4 to 5 questions regarding their experience (ask all the exact same questions) and then select the top candidate. I then pass the name to HR and wait for the selectee to be notified and either accept or decline. They start work about 2 weeks later.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Oddly I'm finding the federal application process in general to be a lot simpler and more straightforward than either state or local government processes (I'm looking for gov't positions in my field now also, seeing as those are the only people that seem to have any money these days! Well, them and AIG, Citigroup and JP Morgan/Chase I suppose...)

[Schrup]

Originally Posted by lendaddy

Ughh...the inefficiency will be difficult to get used to.

An old timer gave me some good advice when I was hired. He said " Remember son, you have to work with these people for the next 20 to 30 years, so don't go around pissing them off". I was extremely outspoken when I started, but quickly learned it didn't behoove me to point out that I thought most of the backhoe operators were lazy & retarded.