Getting an Interview

You are so funny, Lynzjo. Long before my SCI, I'd reached the stage you're at now. I am bilingual, English/Spanish. But I'm old...definitely not 'farah fawcett'. (Though you are gorgeous,...but I digress.) Employment agencies were falling all over themselves to get me to come in, click through their computerized 'personality profile' (basically a lie detector test), take their computer competency level and typing tests, get printouts, take all my I.D. and full work history, then wave "bye, bye" to me. The reason they made this investment of time in processing me was that, in order for them (as an agency) to qualify to get a contract to provide staff for a company, they had to have a certain number of qualified applicants to offer that company,...like, let's say, a minimum of 'ten qualified applicants'. So, what I started noticing was that the employment agency would 1. sent in the youngest, prettiest, best-dressed, sharpest applicants first, and 2. they might never get around to sending me at all. Also, the employment agency would schedule applicants close together, so that, as I was exiting my interview (when I got one), I would walk past someone else who I'd seen at that same employment agency...on her way in for an interview.

I was wanting a receptionist or paralegal job. All I'd ever done was online customer service.

So, why didn't I just try to get an interview without going through an employment agency? (Makes me want to cover my face with my hands remembering.) I did. I gave all of my information to a one-man law office. He asked inappropriate (illegal) questions...and I answered at least one of them...not wanting to offend him. After the second one, I gently told him that that question isn't permitted. Sigh. Apparently he was needing someone to send on all-night stake outs, and he didn't want any family members to notice that I was missing. The lawyer 'blew up' and ordered me out of his establishment, kept my personal info, and turned out the lights, leaving me feeling my way along walls trying to find my way out.

Eventually, I did get a receptionist job at a legitimate law firm. I'd had car repairs that I couldn't pay. So I entered into an agreement for a low wage, but with cash up front, so I could pay the car mechanic. Let me tell you, being an indentured servant is a hard row to hoe. It makes me almost nauseous to remember those months.

No, lynzjo, I don't have any suggestions, just lots of compassion. And I'm still chuckling about maybe starting to include threats in your cover letter.

Lynzjo, this is so close to home for me that I am literally laughing out loud. One of my worst interviews was when I tried to get a job working as a receptionist at a jail. They put me in a room to fill out the job application. It had 'mirrors'. I got so nervous when I got to the parts on the form where I was supposed to explain how I'd lost jobs, or couldn't find a job, that (cringe) if you could be arrested for trying to hide the truth, I would have been taken to lock-down straight from my interview. Of couse, once I was in the presence of the policeman, I blubbered all over the place, without a shred of dignity, as soon as I was asked about the first gap in my history. I was just glad to be released...what do they call it?...on my own recognisance.