Just a bit over a week ago I had a job interview. It was for a local IT helpdesk position at a bank, and I really wanted it. Not just for the perks they offered but I generally felt like I would love the job and be working in a great environment.
Well, I didn't get the job. They decided to move on with someone who had years of experience on the same position. Of course I was sad receiving the news but since I had successfully planted the thought of my probability of getting the job to be microscopic, I wasn't too devastated. I felt thankful for the chance they gave me, and sent them an e-mail stating so.
The incompetence of others could impact you
Prior to even receiving the invitation to the interview, I found two IT-Specialist courses that I wanted to go to (both being two days long). Since they weren't free and the legally unemployed here can get up to 2000€ of courses funded per two years, I contacted my consultant at the Unemployment Insurance Fund by sending her a letter (an electronic one, once again). I never got an answer.
Some of the fault lies on me, indeed. I could've at least called her to check if she received the e-mail but I decided to stay in my comfort zone and wait for a reply.
Fast forward to after the interview and rejection.
I had an appointment scheduled with the consultant at the UIF yesterday. Same old boring "what have you done the past month to find a job?", nothing new, until I told her about the interview and the typical "bla bla move on bla bla more experienced" answer.
This gave me the perfect chance of asking her why she ignored my e-mail. And guess what... the reason I missed out on two courses that could've put me in a bit better position on the interview, maybe even get me the job I so-so wanted... was that the consultant did not realize the blue line of text in my e-mail that changes the arrow cursor into a pointy finger when you hover over it was an actual link she could click on.
I couldn't participate in the courses because my consultant couldn't click on two fucking links?!
And that's not the end of that... no.
The same day she assigned me to go to the carreer advisor's office (I was lucky she had a free spot the same day, else I would've waited another month). The advisor was way more competent, supportive and understanding. She understood I was interested in the IT field aswell as creative arts, etc, and told me I should go to as many courses as I can with the 2000€ project.
The first thing I did when I got home, I found a course on graphic design (posters, ads, etc) and sent my UIF consultant a new letter, hoping she now knows how to click on links. Again, no answer, so I sent her another one today, asking if she got the previous one... and all I got from her was a bunch of questions she should already know answers to (or at least be able to fetch from the database - I've answered the same questions three times before when filling out their electronic job search diary), like "what have you done to find a job?", "why do you think you can't land one?", "why do you need courses?".
I got so fed up I sent a longer letter to the Unemployment Insurance Fund asking them to assign me a new consultant and explaining the whole situation. Hopefully they'll do something about it.
... and hopefully this feeling of a Karen asking to see the manager fades soon enough.