Where Do I Begin?

I appreciate you time... BUT

I was hoping that the days of missing my old job would come to an end soon, but here we are. I applied for a similar company with much better pay with the benefit of being remote work. I wasn't purposely looking for remote work, as my previous job made it complicated for me personally because of the Cisco software they used and the whole set up. It kept kicking people off and i had no real objection of driving the 40 minutes it took me with no traffic at that hour of the morning and i did not mind the hour commute back very much because i got off early enough to make up for that. Anyway, i applied for this company because an ex co-worker told me about it and had also applied for it. I got a response three days later, decided to take a few more days off so i set my availability for the 1st of September. They set up a day with me to do the required assessments. I had no idea what it was going to be like, just that i needed a headset with microphone. My ex coworker was to have her assessment the day before me and i told her to let me know how hers went so i could know what to expect. She told me that i needed to download a couple of programs, so i got on it so that i would be better prepared. She told me she did not think she would get the job, and sure enough, a day later, they told her she was not chosen. I decided not to take that as a bad sign. One person's failure did not mean that i would have the same fate. One of the first red flags that i did not overlook easily was that the instructions on what to do to prepare for the assessments was sent out the morning of, which meant i would have to keep refreshing my email waiting for it to come. The email came at 8:30 the very morning and the assessments started at 11-ish. We connected via AdobeConnect and my headset worked well, which was a relief to start because one other girl wasn't so lucky with hers. The assessments were monitored at all times and there were several tedious parts to get through including a long multiple choice grammar test, a paragraph where we had to fix mistakes, a lot of copy and pasting and sending emails to random people from the company. There was even a point where i had to copy/paste a link using the internet browser, download the audio file, save it, then attach it to an email and send that to the random group of people. The reasons why we were doing all of these tasks was lost to me since the job was a voice relay position. We had to go to a specific website, copy and paste an article to an email and sent it. I did have a relay part, but it was small compared to all the other mumbo jumbo nonsense we had to go through. I had to write a hypothetical email pretending to write to my boss about an issue with a coworker, then send that to a group of people. All in all, it took me three hours to finish, i had a headache because i got stuck doing them on my New Mac that i have not much practice using. I finished and went to the gym to work out afterwards. From the beginning i told myself i was not going to get attached because if i did not meet their requirements, i did not want to disappoint myself but i can tell you this: i tried my best and i felt good about that.
To my surprise, they emailed me the next day. I must have met their requirements on the assessments because they invited me to schedule an interview via zoom to talk about the next steps. I chose the 8th, and simply prayed on it. I knew if this job was for me, God would provide and things would go as planned. All i knew about the job was that the pay was such and such and that they offered insurance, you know...the typical stuff. I knew i would get more information once i did the interview and even though i was hopeful, i remained level headed because i knew things could take a sudden shift once i knew more information.
I logged into zoom ten minutes prior to my interview time and waited for whoever was going to interview me to show up. They did at five minutes to noon. We exchanged pleasantries and carried on. They asked about my experience and were happy about the fact that i knew the job in general. Once we talked about the available schedules, time and what they offered... or didn't, things took a quick turn to disbelief and utter disappointment. She asked me right off the bat if i was interested in Full-Time or Part time. In a normal world, 8 hours would be a full time position, so i immediately answered her that i was interested in that and she was jotting away and muttering. Then i found out:

Their Full-Time employees work 12 hours.
Their part-time employees work 8 hours.
I immediately went into "Blinking White Guy Meme" mode.
Part time employees do not get any type of benefits even though my brain is still trying to process at that point how an eight hour shift is not the equivalent of being a full time gig. I quickly realized they call it part time for that very reason- so they don't have to give any benefits. Another Red Flag.
Full Time employees do get benefits, but get this: Neither full time or part time get any vacation... like no PTO and no sick days. Hypothetically, if i needed to take a vacation, or a few days off, i would need to go on LOA which does not pay you. For my wedding, i would NEED time off no matter what. I don't know how this bananas is even legal, but okay. They claimed they could work with people that needed the time off but that it wasn't guaranteed either and when planning a trip or getting married or even dealing with unforeseen circumstances, you need a sure thing. Red Flag. I could not imagine working for a company that did not offer PTO. Even companies like my previous one with just under 100 employees gave fantastic benefits. This company is one of the biggest, and to not offer one of the most basic things most employees are entitled to, is grossly criminal. I was disgusted but remained neutral in my tone. I made sure i asked all the questions i needed clear answers to and when asking why they did not offer such and such thing to its employees, i was simply met with: "that's just not something we do". They also offer no holidays because they are a 365 business but my old job was also in that same boat and offered 9 paid holidays.
Their Full time available time slots were 10-10 and 8-8.
Another Red Flag: Assignments are pre selected and sent over to people.
That is to say, if i were to be a Full Time employee, i could get an assignment where i have to relay the news. That is one hour. After that, i might not have another assignment which means i could be a sitting duck waiting to get another. If i have an assignment, i am getting paid for it, if i am sitting idle, i am not getting paid. She flat out told me she used to have the full time schedule but at one point in time only worked 6 hours out of the 12 which meant, you can never really expect to get paid the same every pay period, work the same hours which equals, no set money security. That put the nail in the coffin for me. The only attractive qualities this job had were the pay (which also depends on what you are actually relaying) and the remote position which would save me a commute. Every other awful thing, i found out only after going through the tedious assessments which i can't believe i wasted my time on now looking back on it. If they were clear from the very beginning, people would save themselves the trouble. I did not say no to them as the interview came to a close. I simply told them i would consult with my family and i was told i could schedule another interview and finish the process. I was to let them know via email my decision on whether to proceed or decline. I did not talk about it with my mother much. There were too many cons and i deserved better. Their full time shifts don't work for the work-life balance i am trying to create and i need more monetary security than a "maybe shift". I also have plans to marry next year and if they can't give me PTO, much less a security of having time off for my own wedding, i can't bring myself to accept a job under such crappy terms. I came away disgusted that such a large company could get away with this but at the end of the day, the choice is always mine. I emailed the woman i was told i was to get in touch with to communicate my decision, and i said something along the lines of:

"Thank you for the opportunity to interview..."
"I decided not to reschedule another interview to accept the position..."
"Your Full time shifts is not the equivalent of the work-life balance i am seeking..."
"It is very disappointing that such a large company can't even offer PTO..."
"I appreciate your time and hopefully some of my feedback will help you in changing policies in the future"

I was most definitely going to be offered a position, if i had said yes right then and there. We were discussing shifts, times, training and pay but after my email thanking them and saying no thanks, i received an email from a different person saying they "Chose not to proceed with my candidacy at this time.

No, dear. I was the one who chose not to proceed with YOU, but go on.

It was this very experience that made me think back to how good i had it with my previous job. I worked a 6-2:30 M-F with bonuses, paid time off, 401K Holiday Pay, en excellent boss who always worked with me every time i needed time off and rooted for my relationship. The only con i could think of was the pay that i wish could have been much better but there was not much to do about that aspect of it, since we shut down because our despicable client dumped us. I truly miss it and i don't know if i will ever find another job that i love as much, if not more than my previous one. My only prayer is that i AM able and to also be able to get this bad taste out of my mouth. It truly matters to me to have that same peace of mind and i will look until i find it, hand in hand with my fiance and future husband and i hope we will be okay, because we need this to get better. We really do.

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posted on 2021-09-09 @ 9:13 p.m.