troublemaker

It's estimated that over 60% of employers will scan through social media, such as Facebook, when considering potential employees.

Which is their want I suppose? I guess there's a method to checking that your new work "colleague" is as  normal as they were during their interview.

In my case, here's a quick in-depth glimpse into my inner-psyche.......

"I AM AN UNRECONSTRUCTED SOCIALIST. IT IS VERY LIKELY THAT MY FELLOW EMPLOYEES WILL SOON BE AWARE OF MY PARTICULARLY LEFT-WING POLITICAL VIEWS AND, FROM YOUR POINT OF VIEW, I WILL BE CONSIDERED A TROUBLEMAKER EVEN THOUGH I'LL  JUST GET ON WITH THINGS."

That telephone interview I had the other week came to nothing. The bloke basically asked the same questions that were published on the online application form, and I was buggered if I could remember what I'd written down. I was asked about my strengths and weaknesses. I hate that sort of question. I'm far too humble to say what I'm good at, and my "weaknesses" could probably fill a book. I told him that. Not my best move.  But I was only going for a job that I'm pretty much doing at the moment - it's not rocket science, you just need to be awake (most of the time!) and help the customer out to the best of your ability.

When I went for the interview for GB Fasteners back in 1996, I sat there for half-an-hour with Vince and we talked about each other's holidays. I got the job. What's changed in the meantime is quite frightening - the business is so fundamentally sales-focused nowadays. The human side is on its' last legs. Companies like Screwfix and Toolstation do the engineers' merchant trade a huge disservice. We take the time to try and get the customer the right screw for the job - we're experienced and if we can't help you, we  probably know someone who can.

These new companies are only interested in sell-sell-sell. You can't get specialist advice. Their catalogues are works of art, but tell you very little. I was in Screwfix one day, and a guy was asking a member of staff about an item. Staff member didn't have a clue - "it's all in the catalogue"  is their stock answer. And in my experience, Screwfix have very little on stock, it's all next-day.

Toolstation are slightly more up the evolutionary scale. I applied for a job with them once, and filled in every section of the application concisely with detail. There was piss-all I couldn't answer. Their answer was deafening - they didn't want to know. 

What's the point? Maybe I was TOO qualified, but the reality is I know next to nothing. It's just experience that comes in handy every once in a while. I don't even think about sales, it's just helping folk out.....