Unemployment Day 1

The Temp Agency Interview

First, a video. Then a quiz on the video. Then a mountain of paperwork requiring signature, social security number, or both. I should order my free credit report.

Finally, the face to face with the account executive.

The Where Do See Yourself in 5 Years question didn't come up. Because it's a temp agency. More specifically, an agency specializing in temp-to-hire and direct hire positions, with a few temp assignments every now and again. For someone making a career change (and for someone with little experience in other fields) the agency might not be very helpful. Their clients are interested in candidates with experience.

Of course, the What Are You Looking For question was asked. Because it's a temp agency. And they need to know. And like the Where Do You See Yourself question, I don't know. I can make stabs. I can throw out possibilities. But I have no passion or driving desire for a particular vocation. Frankly, I'm not sure I ever did. I've been told this is normal, but

It sure doesn't feel that way.

I was sent a series of assessments, which I took at home. There were five tests – MS Excel, MS Word, MS Outlook, MS PowerPoint, and MS Access. I scored only 77% on the Excel test – the program I had used the most at work – followed by 80% on Word and Outlook, 93% on PowerPoint, and 90% on Access.

That's right. I scored the highest on what I used the least and the lowest on what I used the most. Plus I should've scored in the 90's for all the assessments except maybe Access. (The learning curve from Access 2003 to Access 2007 is steep. It seems I know less than before.)

So that was demoralizing.

On the plus side, the account exec gave me tips on how to improve my resume for marketing purposes. Turns out they need descriptions of what I did at the previous jobs. The summary of my leadership abilities is…uninformative.