The Test
I had a job interview with the Museum of Civilization today. Actually, it wasn't even an interview. It was a written exam.
I showed up this morning with about six other people to write a preliminary test to see if we might then qualify for an interview.
The job is definately something I can do (Promotions), but having been out of school for some time, I was a little worried about having to write a test. I kept telling myself not to worry because they didn't give me anything to study. That means that I would either know the answers or I wouldn't. Simple as that.
And the test was simple.
Three questions, all necessary materials provided for you, answers to be saved to floppy disk (those still exist?)
After signing in, we were taken to a big room filled with computers. I picked one in a corner at the back so no one could see my answers.
(The following is an approximation of the questions writen in my own words.)
Question 1 - Your boss sends you a draft of a letter. Format the letter and the personalize the letter using a Mail Merge (see the Word doc and the Access doc for your materials).
Ok, thank God I just learned how to do a Mail Merge through Microsoft Word this week.
Question 2 - Bob Smith from XYZ travel agency wants 10 complimentary tickets to the museum. Your supervisor approved the request. Write Bob a letter that you would include with the tickets. (Save as Task 2)
Easy
Question 3 - Open the Excel sheet. It contains the names and vital statistic for the museum contest participants. Make a table that tells us how many ppl come from X, what percentage is from Y, and how many are from out of town.
Alright, that one's not too hard. I learned how to make charts when I was at the University. I just need to enter the right formula and...
OH SWEET BABY JESUS!
The computer I'm working on just crashed.
...
I had saved Question 1 and 2, but the work I had started on 3 is gone. The woman facilitating the test looks perplexed.
"Well that's never happened before."
Thank you, that is so very comforting.
"I can give you an extra five minutes to complete the test."
Five minutes?!?! It's taking a good ten to fifteen to get me set up on a new computer.
So much for impressing them with my fancy little coloured charts. I end up doing the calculations by hand and barely have enough time to spruce up the table with borders before she tells me my time is up. I don't even get a chance to review my work to make sure everything is correct.
On the bus ride back to the NAC, I realized that I forgot a step in the Mail Merge.
Shit!
sigh
I'm not sure I like this way of doing things. I mean, i made some mistakes, but it's pretty basic stuff that I could quickly pick up if given the chance.
But will I get that chance?
I showed up this morning with about six other people to write a preliminary test to see if we might then qualify for an interview.
The job is definately something I can do (Promotions), but having been out of school for some time, I was a little worried about having to write a test. I kept telling myself not to worry because they didn't give me anything to study. That means that I would either know the answers or I wouldn't. Simple as that.
And the test was simple.
Three questions, all necessary materials provided for you, answers to be saved to floppy disk (those still exist?)
After signing in, we were taken to a big room filled with computers. I picked one in a corner at the back so no one could see my answers.
(The following is an approximation of the questions writen in my own words.)
Question 1 - Your boss sends you a draft of a letter. Format the letter and the personalize the letter using a Mail Merge (see the Word doc and the Access doc for your materials).
Ok, thank God I just learned how to do a Mail Merge through Microsoft Word this week.
Question 2 - Bob Smith from XYZ travel agency wants 10 complimentary tickets to the museum. Your supervisor approved the request. Write Bob a letter that you would include with the tickets. (Save as Task 2)
Easy
Question 3 - Open the Excel sheet. It contains the names and vital statistic for the museum contest participants. Make a table that tells us how many ppl come from X, what percentage is from Y, and how many are from out of town.
Alright, that one's not too hard. I learned how to make charts when I was at the University. I just need to enter the right formula and...
OH SWEET BABY JESUS!
The computer I'm working on just crashed.
...
I had saved Question 1 and 2, but the work I had started on 3 is gone. The woman facilitating the test looks perplexed.
"Well that's never happened before."
Thank you, that is so very comforting.
"I can give you an extra five minutes to complete the test."
Five minutes?!?! It's taking a good ten to fifteen to get me set up on a new computer.
So much for impressing them with my fancy little coloured charts. I end up doing the calculations by hand and barely have enough time to spruce up the table with borders before she tells me my time is up. I don't even get a chance to review my work to make sure everything is correct.
On the bus ride back to the NAC, I realized that I forgot a step in the Mail Merge.
Shit!
sigh
I'm not sure I like this way of doing things. I mean, i made some mistakes, but it's pretty basic stuff that I could quickly pick up if given the chance.
But will I get that chance?
Labels: The Day Job
posted by Nancy Kenny at
11:46 AM
1 Comments:
You should petition for a re-write... the 'envigilator' or whatever you call the person who administered the test, could vouch that your computer crashed...
E
By
Ereek, at 3:42 PM
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