Job interview

How many people in Serbia can speak Scandinavian languages right now? What do you think? Not many.
So, in this outsourcing world, when Western companies outpost customer services in Third World - many Scandinavian firms have now call centers in Roumania, Bulgaria, Serbia.

I was on job interview couple of days ago. Nice firm, V floor, I heard Dutch, Swedish language, young people at the computers answering complaining from people who believe they call customer service in Stockholm or Amsterdam. But it was in Belgrade.

I did the written test, software test, and had two interviews, the last of which being with Danish girl who checked my spoken Danish.

I was rare species there - writer and translator, oldest guy... When I was going home I could spot myself in glass doors of that nice building: I looked like crazy artist. I saw dread horror in the eyes of girls who interviewed me.

I had the feeling: no one will ever hire me at this age on jobs like this. I am an old buggger.
Too late for me.

And I got the e-mail to-day.
I was afraid to open it.
Until now, 04:40 AM Central European Time.
Dawn.

I was refused.
Thy thank me but I "wasn't selected for II round of selection".

They wih me good luck and recommend to me to folllow their web page.

And it was nice job, Well paid. It was salvation so close to me.

I think I will enroll at course for cooking and Danish pastry chefs after new year.

Dang!

Poštovani vandrevelde,

Želimo da Vam se iskreno zahvalimo na angažovanju i Vašem vremenu koje ste posvetili prijavi za radno mesto Customer Service Representative u kompaniji Transcom. Izuzetno cenimo Vašu želju da postanete deo tima.

Nažalost, moramo ovim putem da Vas obavestimo da niste ušli u naredni krug selekcije, tako da Vaša prijava neće biti razmatrana u daljem procesu.

S druge strane, pozivamo Vas da redovno pratite naš vebsajt da biste se informisali o radnim mestima koja će u budućnosti biti otvorena u kompaniji Transcom.

Želimo Vam mnogo sreće u životu i profesionalnoj karijeri.

Srdačan pozdrav,
HR tim

Aleksandra Kokunešovski

Junior Recruiter

Originally posted by @vandervelde
How many people in Serbia can speak Scandinavian languages right now? What do you think? Not many.
So, in this outsourcing world, when Western companies outpost customer services in Third World - many Scandinavian firms have now call centers in Roumania, Bulgaria, Serbia.

I was on job interview couple of days ago. Nice firm, V floor, I heard Dutch, ...[text shortened]...

I think I will enroll at course for cooking and Danish pastry chefs after new year.

Dang!

Sad to hear, Vandervelde. You are right about customer information services placed in other countries. I truly hope you will find an employer worthy of your skills.

Originally posted by @vandervelde
How many people in Serbia can speak Scandinavian languages right now? What do you think? Not many.
So, in this outsourcing world, when Western companies outpost customer services in Third World - many Scandinavian firms have now call centers in Roumania, Bulgaria, Serbia.

I was on job interview couple of days ago. Nice firm, V floor, I heard Dutch, ...[text shortened]...

I think I will enroll at course for cooking and Danish pastry chefs after new year.

Dang!

Sorry to hear about your disappointment. Did they provide a reason, or have you asked for some feedback to help you?

You say you caught sight of yourself in a reflection and you were concerned/surprised about your appearance? Well that’s easily fixed... 🙂

Hiring is an odd process, but one thing all employers look for is “job fit”. You have to convince them that you will fit into the organisation, otherwise they will worry that you will leave or be disruptive.

Originally posted by @divegeester
Sorry to hear about your disappointment. Did they provide a reason, or have you asked for some feedback to help you?

You say you caught sight of yourself in a reflection and you were concerned/surprised about your appearance? Well that’s easily fixed... 🙂

Hiring is an odd process, but one thing all employers look for is “job fit”. You have to con ...[text shortened]... will fit into the organisation, otherwise they will worry that you will leave or be disruptive.

Is that called 'social competence'? I have worked in various companies - small and large (such as Volvo) - and I have seen the importance of social compatibility. A large company offers the possibility of relocating employees to other departments if things go wrong, smaller companies don't. Still, being good at your profession and friendly should be enough, one would think.

Originally posted by @vandervelde
How many people in Serbia can speak Scandinavian languages right now? What do you think? Not many.
So, in this outsourcing world, when Western companies outpost customer services in Third World - many Scandinavian firms have now call centers in Roumania, Bulgaria, Serbia.

I was on job interview couple of days ago. Nice firm, V floor, I heard Dutch, ...[text shortened]...

I think I will enroll at course for cooking and Danish pastry chefs after new year.

Dang!

I've never had a job interview; I think I would do badly...

Originally posted by @indonesia-phil
I've never had a job interview; I think I would do badly...

Why? All you have to do is research, prepare and be confident even if you don't actually believe the things they want you to say.

Sorry to hear it didn't work out for you. You have no way of knowing how many other applicants there were for the position or what their qualifications were. If you made it to a second interview, consider yourself in the 2d %-ile, meaning that 96% never made it as far as an interview and half of the remaining 4% were weeded out in the first interview.

My own experience of seeking work has been that many companies advertise job openings which do not actually exist; they aren't hiring at all, they are just testing the qualifications of the potential pool of applicants.

I have been much happier self-employed, or even self-un-employed, than I ever was as a captive employee.

Originally posted by @vandervelde
How many people in Serbia can speak Scandinavian languages right now? What do you think? Not many.
So, in this outsourcing world, when Western companies outpost customer services in Third World - many Scandinavian firms have now call centers in Roumania, Bulgaria, Serbia.

I was on job interview couple of days ago. Nice firm, V floor, I heard Dutch, ...[text shortened]...

I think I will enroll at course for cooking and Danish pastry chefs after new year.

Dang!

Poor Bugger. You would have been great.

Sounds like the Robert de Nero film 'Intern'

Originally posted by @vandervelde
How many people in Serbia can speak Scandinavian languages right now? What do you think? Not many.
So, in this outsourcing world, when Western companies outpost customer services in Third World - many Scandinavian firms have now call centers in Roumania, Bulgaria, Serbia.

I was on job interview couple of days ago. Nice firm, V floor, I heard Dutch, ...[text shortened]...

I think I will enroll at course for cooking and Danish pastry chefs after new year.

Dang!

This is certainly pause for thought.
As a person who is now retired after working for the same company for 43 years,
I can appreciate that I am one of the lucky ones.
I have had job interviews, but all were for advancement within my company.
Meaning I already had a job to fall back on if my interview was unsuccessful.

I am not sure what I would do in your shoes.
Would be starting from square one for sure.

Good luck in your efforts.

Originally posted by @vandervelde
How many people in Serbia can speak Scandinavian languages right now? What do you think? Not many.
So, in this outsourcing world, when Western companies outpost customer services in Third World - many Scandinavian firms have now call centers in Roumania, Bulgaria, Serbia.

I was on job interview couple of days ago. Nice firm, V floor, I heard Dutch, ...[text shortened]...

I think I will enroll at course for cooking and Danish pastry chefs after new year.

Dang!

Sorry to hear about this. The whole process of being selected for interview - which sets your hopes up- preparing for it, then actually feeling you've done very well in it, and then being informed by email that you've not been selected 'this time' (but we'll keep your details on file, blah blah...) is horrible.
Much of the time these jobs don't actually exist at all of course. They will recruit from within, but have to be seen to advertise externally. It's corporate compliance and a load of bull. I'm an old bugger (you're not though), shortly to retire and glad I don't have to go through the tiresome ordeal of having to impress smiling, hopeless HR / recruiting types ever again.
Best of luck. Your skills and talents deserve to be rewarded.

This was my second "no" this year. I was applying for the same job - call center for Scandinavian language oriented customer center - in April, when I learned I am not going to get Danish grant again. In the first case it was the firm who sells tires, now it was Swedish company who represented Candy (home appliances).

Whole my life I was freelancer, working at home, and each time I felt so... unadjusted.

It always began nice, on first level of interview, they seemed to be impressed by number of books I translated and so on, but the point is that nothing of I had done is really important for the job I would do now.

"How would you react if an unsatisfied customer begins to yell on you?"

And I try to ingratiate myself with "calm reactions" and something like that..

I felt like an old housewife who applied for pole dancing job.

Edit--> That's why I mentioned courses for cook and Danish pastry chef. I think no one look at the people who work in the kitchen that way. They want real skill in the kitchen. (I think.)