testing...
Hiring practices in the government bear little resemblance to hiring in the real world. In the government instead of reading resumes and picking a few people to interview they check your resume and cover letter for specific keywords - if it contains those keywords you are invited to write a test (or often times 2 or 3 tests). If you attain whatever the baseline score for the test is then - only then - are you invited to interview. Needless to say a huge batch of decent people are weeded out right off the bat (because they don't know how to 'play the system') and an even bigger batch of absolutely unqualified people make it to the testing phase because they know how to pad their resumes with the 'keywords'.
I used to be bitter about it but I've come to accept that this is the way it is, and I've learned how to play the game.
Back in early May a government job was posted that I would be PERFECT for, doing what I am educated and trained to do, requiring experience and knowledge that I have and generally sounding perfect for me (plus it pays more than I make now). I went this morning to write the test and I was shocked at some of the people who were "screened in" to the test-writing phase: a couple of temp workers from my office who I KNOW are lacking both the education and knowledge required, a woman who couldn't figure out how to turn on her computer for the computer phase of the test, a man who would put his head down every couple of minutes and take deep, shuddering breaths like he was trying not to cry... I found the test challenging, a lot of the questions would be nearly impossible for someone to answer if they haven't worked in that directorate (I currently work in the directorate so those were easy) and some would be impossible for someone who hadn't taken the college program that I took.
I guess I wonder why the people running this competition didn't look a little further past the keywords before wasting countless hours of their time and the candidates time testing people who have no hope of passing the test? Not that it makes a bit of difference to me really, I am confident in my skills and knowledge and I don't need a smaller playing field to compete but the waste... well it irks me. Because I'm a taxpayer above all else, and this is ultimately my money being wasted running 4 testing sessions when 2/3 of the candidates were unqualified.
Or maybe that's just sour grapes talking.
I used to be bitter about it but I've come to accept that this is the way it is, and I've learned how to play the game.
Back in early May a government job was posted that I would be PERFECT for, doing what I am educated and trained to do, requiring experience and knowledge that I have and generally sounding perfect for me (plus it pays more than I make now). I went this morning to write the test and I was shocked at some of the people who were "screened in" to the test-writing phase: a couple of temp workers from my office who I KNOW are lacking both the education and knowledge required, a woman who couldn't figure out how to turn on her computer for the computer phase of the test, a man who would put his head down every couple of minutes and take deep, shuddering breaths like he was trying not to cry... I found the test challenging, a lot of the questions would be nearly impossible for someone to answer if they haven't worked in that directorate (I currently work in the directorate so those were easy) and some would be impossible for someone who hadn't taken the college program that I took.
I guess I wonder why the people running this competition didn't look a little further past the keywords before wasting countless hours of their time and the candidates time testing people who have no hope of passing the test? Not that it makes a bit of difference to me really, I am confident in my skills and knowledge and I don't need a smaller playing field to compete but the waste... well it irks me. Because I'm a taxpayer above all else, and this is ultimately my money being wasted running 4 testing sessions when 2/3 of the candidates were unqualified.
Or maybe that's just sour grapes talking.
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