As I got ready for my interview with a local temporary agency, I was excited. They had listed several jobs online that I was fervent in. Microscopic did I know just how interesting the day would become.

First know that I filled out all the paperwork online and made an appointment to talk to a recruiter. When I got there the place was packed with people applying for jobs. Can we say cattle call? I went to the receptionist and told her I had an appointment at 2:00 and handed her my resume. Twenty minutes later the receptionist gave me some papers to own out and sign. Okay, I thought I had already taken care of this online. I completed the papers and returned them to her.

She then told me to reach support to the room and she would set me up with a test. We entered the room where the “computers” were, for lack of any other word. I would have called them antiques.

She showed me where to sit. I sat down and literally begin to spin off the chair. The seat of the chair was tilting at a 70-degree angle down toward the floor. After spending several minutes trying to adjust it with no success, she brought me another chair to use. It too was slanting toward the floor, but I was able to keep my place in it by propping my foot against the table leg and locking my knee in space. At least I didn’t see the floor coming up to meet me.

The receptionist gets on the computer and starts clicking several boxes on the conceal to start my test. I’m thinking this is a data entry, typing, MS word, or Excel test, the same as I’ve taken for everybody else. WRONG!!! It was one of those inane videos about how to remove things up using your legs and not have liquids by your computer because they may spill. Therefore, with foot propped and knee locked I begin to daydream through the video.

At the end of the video there was a quiz to see if you understood what you had just watched. I took the mouse and tried to click on the answers. The mouse was so loose that you had to depart it 3 to 4 inches before the curser would move. Then the curser would go in a completely different direction turning the put a question to into a wild new game called “Click The Box”. After finally winning the game and printing out the results, 100% of course, I took them to the receptionist thinking I would get to talk to a recruiter next. Improper!!!

Twenty minutes later, the receptionist took me back to the room again to assume another test – this column is just, this column is nasty, count the mistakes. Five minutes later I returned the test to the receptionist, leaving several of the other people in the room peaceful struggling through the test. Note these people had been in the room taking the same test for at least 10 minutes before I even walked in.

Again, I thought I would be able to speak to the recruiter as soon as she was finished with the person at her desk. WRONG!!! When she finished she decided to go have a “meeting” with her boss, leaving me and two other women sitting in the lobby waiting. Now, they had 6 recruiters, but only 2 of them were interviewing and only 1 was interviewing administrative people; the one that was meeting with her boss.

I have no idea what the others were doing, except they would all stand and applaud when someone would call and tell them they liked their first day on the job or had gotten hired. The first time they did this, I thought the person that had called must have been a very special case, which would explain the response they gave. Wicked!!! They did this for all the calls they received of this nature.

Now, mind you I was level-headed waiting to speak to a recruiter. It’s now 4:00. I’ve been there for two hours, one and a half of that waiting. Being a typical Scorpio and mystery buff it is second nature for me to tune in on what is happening around me. One recruiter was on the phone baby talking sweet nothings to who I hoped was her significant other. One was getting ready to end her day, after she announced that she would be leaving at 5:00 (It’s only 4:15, she walked out the door at 4:45 to the amazement of everyone). The receptionist, one of the recruiters and sweet nothings were talking about their babies and how difficult it was to find childcare. One stating that they had called out a need in their church for anybody who babysat, with profitable results. The receptionist stating that she would not be in the next day, because of childcare problems with her newborn. She also discussed in great detail why she had stopped nursing her child. The remaining recruiters were laughing and applauding.

Okay, everyone is entitled to a fracture, but all at the same time, when you level-headed had people waiting for their interview. Just a reminder, according to their website I should have been in and out within an hour or an hour and a half since I had completed the paperwork online.

OH! Wait a minute, here she comes. The administrative recruiter, she’s finished her meeting. It’s now 4:30. She takes a well-dressed woman to her desk leaving me and another woman waiting. I say, well dressed because she wore a classic, tailored business suit. Other’s I had seen that day had been dressed in jeans and tee shirts, as well as sweats. What kind of job they were applying for I could only imagine.

Please note that the woman who was waiting along with me arrived at the office some time before the well-dressed woman; not to say that either of us were not dressed appropriately. She was wearing a business suit as well, and I, having no suit, was wearing a new pair of slacks and sweater, which I thought was quite fashionable and more than appropriate for the situation.

As I sat there pondering why all the people who had come in after us had been “interviewed” before us, I listened to the “interview” the administrative recruiter gave the well-dressed woman. This was easy since it was an open area and apparently it did not occur to anyone to keep their tell down during private conversations.

The interview went something like this. The recruiter told her that she needed improvement on her resume. She needed to bullet her job duties, the people she would send the resume to, didn’t have time to read them and preferred a list. She spent 2 to 3 minutes speaking to her about her experience, basically what she did for her past employers. Then she told her she would send some tests to her email and she could occupy them at her leisure. She would only be able to log on to the site one time, so she needed to make sure that she had plenty of time space aside to complete the tests. She told the woman thank you and walked her to the door.

The recruiter then returned to her desk and sat down. We were level-headed waiting to be interviewed. The recruiter got up went into the help of the office. Came attend and sat down at her desk again. At this time the receptionist walked over to her desk with the other woman’s paperwork. They attach their heads together and began a lengthy conversation, which obviously was concerning me and the other woman waiting in the “lobby” since the recruiter keep attempting to sneak glances our method while talking to the receptionist.

A few minutes later the recruiter came over to where we were waiting and called the woman’s name. The woman followed her to her desk. Her interview went basically the same with one exception. She was told about a possible job opening. The woman became excited and exclaimed, “I’ve been trying to get my foot in their door for years.” I fought with myself to not stand and applaud. I was truly happy for her. She had come in with her husband and they had obviously been going through some rough times, recently. The recruiter ended the interview by telling her about the tests she was sending her via email and walking her to the door.

At this point I thought to myself, “Finally, I’m the only one left waiting. Surely she will take me to her desk for my interview.” WRONG!!! The recruiter stood up and walked to the back of the office again. Then returned to her desk, picked up the phone and started making phone calls. It’s 5:00, I’ve been there for over 3 hours. Longer than the people who had come in the office after I did. Longer than the people who had not filled out the paperwork online, but instead did so while waiting for their interview.

This was the last straw. To be left waiting there after 3 hours, while everyone was leaving the office and talking on the phone, was insulting. I was natty and dressed professionally. I had sat there politely waiting my turn, which I assumed would have been before the people who came in after I did or the people who came in without an appointment. I also assumed that I would have been interviewed a little closer to the time of my 2:00 appointment. It was now 5:10. I had enough. Honest as I picked up my purse and coat to leave, the recruiter made her arrangement over to me.

She apologized for my having to wait, introduced herself, and led me to her desk. She read my name and asked me to assure my last name. I told her how it was pronounced. She then asked me what origin the name was. I told her it was Indonesian. The forced amusement she had on her face quickly changed to disapproval. I tried to make light of it by saying, “I have tried to talk my husband into changing his name, but he won’t have any of it.” The recruiter across the desk from her begin to laugh, she continued to look at me disapprovingly.

I was not surprised when she started the same script that she had used with the previous people she had interviewed. Of course my resume was not good enough. I needed to bullet my job duties and seize the cities and states, because that was too much information. Again, the employers she would be sending the resume to, did not have the time to read them. I managed to bite my tongue until she told me that my objective had to be removed completely. I shouldn’t tell the employer what type of job I was applying for. My tongue freed itself and asked her, “Why? ” She told me that by putting in my unbiased that I was interested in a data entry or administrative assistant job I was limiting myself to those two jobs. My rebellious tongue spoke again, “But I am only keen in those two types of jobs. I’m not interested in any other jobs.” “Well, there may be a receptionist job that pays $14 an hour versus an administrative assistant job that pays $12.” “I don’t want to be a receptionist. I prefer a data entry position.” “But it might be a receptionist job that includes data entry.” “I don’t want a receptionist job. I want a job that is strictly data entry.”

I obviously had troubled her by questioning the reasoning tedious changing my resume to make it misleading and a replica of all the other resumes of people she handled. She perused the rest of my resume and proudly announced that the remainder was perfect. I wondered how the first part of my resume could be so bad while the last half perfection.

It was now 5:20. The recruiter then took a pair of scissors and started to cut the last page of my resume, telling me that she wanted to sustain the reference information for her file. As I watched her butcher my paperwork, I thought to myself, why does she need to cut that off? Can’t she make a copy? Isn’t the information on her computer? I know I put the reference information on the application I filled out online, and I also cut and pasted my resume online as well. The information was on the computer in at least two different places. So, again, why does she need to butcher my resume? What if those scraps of paper become separated from my file? How is she going to know who they belong to?

Once she finished butchering my resume she started to stand up to walk me to the door. She was anxious to leave for the day. Maybe she should have thought about that while I was waiting over 3 hours for my 2:00 appointment. As she stood, I asked her if she wasn’t going to send me any tests. She said, “I want to see your resume first.” Okay, well, she didn’t ask to see the others revised resume before she sent them tests. I knew with my listed experience and skills they would want me to relieve it up. Why didn’t she want to send me any tests? Could it be because of the origin of my last name? Could it be because I questioned her about why I should change my resume instead of following along deaf and mute? Could it be that the color of my hair or my eyes offended her? On the other hand, could it be she wanted to leave and didn’t really care if I had been interviewed and tested properly? Whatever the reason, she sat down annoyed and sent me one test instead of the four or five that I’m usually given. I stood up, thanked her for her time, and left. It was now 5:30.

If she had bothered to read my resume she would have seen that I worked for the Human Resources department of a large corporation processing the hundreds of resumes they received each day. My resume was written according to the many tips I learned while working there, as well as suggestions by many other professionals. I also researched the internet for information employers were looking for on resumes and what caught their attention.

My resume is written well enough that I receive callbacks from 4 out of 5 companies that I send it to. I have been told by many people how impressed they were with it. I know that the “revising” that the recruiter suggested would only create a resume that would be looked over because of it’s similarity to all the others. Employers will read the resumes that jump out at them. You enact this with your cover letter and objective. If there is no cover letter, as in this case, and your objective only consists of two short sentences they will just turn it over and go on to the next one.

Employers want to know what type of work you’re looking for. They don’t want to waste their time calling or interviewing someone who is not interested in the dwelling you have available. Nor do you want to waste your time interviewing for a job that you are not interested in.

They also utilize the resume to review the applicants understanding of grammar, spelling, and communication skills. They cannot determine this with nothing more than a list of job duties and two sentences in the fair.

My temporary experience was one of unprofessionalism with a recruiter reading from a script and giving false hope to those who don’t know that the jobs they saw posted on the internet employment sites and newspapers are not actually available. They have already sent people signed up with them on those. Another bit of information I picked up while waiting for over 3 hours.