Question:
Hey all,
I just wanted a little bit of advice or something...or maybe just to vent a little? Anyway...
I applied for a job through an online job board...it was listed as "Clerical" or "Data Entry" (can't remember which, because I applied for a lot of them when they popped up). The department of labor "approves" the job referrals and sends them back to you by e-mail after comparing your experience with the experience desired by the employers. So anyway...my referral went fine because the position didn't require any experience. The referral e-mail contained an address and a phone number. Turned out to be a staffing company. I went there on 3/7/07 to fill out my paperwork, get fingerprinted, etc. Well...after getting a call that my background check was fine (about 2 weeks later)...I went in on 3/22/07 again to go to orientation as soon as possible. Did all the paperwork required in that, had a small 'training' on the procedures for the company, etc. Found out it's basically in a 'lockbox processing' environment for a bank...but really a tax processing center of some type, that is associated with the bank. They gave us a paper with 13 different kinds of positions and told us to pick the top two that we desired, and the shifts we desired (of three shifts...morning, night, overnight). We were told that we were all (about 5 or 6 of us showed up for orientation that day) technically hired already.
Well, to make the long story short...I've spent since that time trying to get in touch with the staffing consultant at the staffing place, who is also the 'project manager' at the bank/processing place and she's doing the hiring for these positions. She has strung me along for the past 2 weeks or more. I had been told in orientation that we all would start April 2. Then I kept calling over and over, and finally reached her. She stated that my file was basically still there at the staffing place with her, and she was "making some changes" to it of some type. So basically it had not been submitted to the bank for review yet, like it should have. She said it would be 'audited' on 4/3/07 and sent to the bank the next day, and then the bank would call them back and give the schedule for me. Was told I should hear back by Friday 4/6/07. They haven't been returning my calls, even though I've left messages on their answering system. I've left messages directly for her, as well. It's like she had an attitude from the start and I seemed to not be "who she thought" racially (I live in an area where that, while petty, is a huge factor in employment decisions)...so she's giving me quite a hard time about that and keeps brushing me off and not notifying me of what is going on. I called a number they had given us in our information...and spoke with another recruiter of some type. He then played the "middle-man" to get with her and find out what was going on, and he called me back. Told me she'd call me today 4/9/07...and to call her back at the office if she didn't call me by 3p.m. I'm really getting irritated with this place...I've been 'hired', but they're playing games.
Generally...the positions I officially was going for were called "Data Entry" and "Online Review". Data Entry was just, of course, typically entering in the data (probably mostly all numeric) and verifying it. Required 8,000ksph minimum...which is pretty quick. The second position was "Online Review"...basically a 6,000ksph data entry and review process...just not quite as demanding as regular data entry. Now, when I first came there on 3/7/07 to the staffing place...I couldn't take the typing test on their computer to measure my typing, because the stupid thing was down. They said they'd e-mail it to me to allow me to take it at home. Never got anything. It remained down all of that time...and even when I went back for orientation on 3/22/07, it was apparently still not available. They had their "tech people working on it" for like...2 weeks and supposedly still couldn't get it to work. I didn't buy into that. I got my own software...tested myself. Found out that I max out at about 7,000ksph and I couldn't do that for 8 hours a day. The computers track your efficiency and productivity. So I called and changed my position to "Offline Review", and she said she'd put me down for that instead. That's apparently just looking at paperwork. Just the first review of checks and vouchers before deposit. Checking the dollar amounts, encoding and signature for errors. It's in the "production area". She seemed to be fine with me changing that.
I've been playing this little game with them for quite some time...I'm really getting frustrated with her and have considered contacting one of the bank managers over her, but can't seem to get in touch with one. If she's the 'project manager' and this is a 'project' job (that I'm not sure how long it will last for)...will I be literally working 'under' her as my manager doing my job? It's apparently a very large place...also very secure. You trade in your driver's license for a badge to get in. You get searched entering and/or leaving. Can't bring anything with you (paper, cell phone, etc...not so much as a bottle of water; nothing that you could transfer information with or communicate information to someone else with) to your work area. The only thing we were told that we could bring is a handful of candy...which is odd. They have FBI agents stationed there for some reason...and it's kind of a weird sounding job out of a science fiction thing. They practice "seeding" where they place documents/cash in your papers to see what you'll do with it. Has anyone else been through this and actually worked doing it? If so, how was it? The other data entry positions seemed to high stress for me, so I did take a pay cut by $1.50 an hour. But I'm going to be working my other job about 12 hours a week probably...which actually pays a little more than this position I'll be getting. Just wanted to get into clerical stuff to change careers eventually, though.
Answer:
Proceed as if you have no job and keep applying elsewhere. If you are truly hired you receive a paycheck. I have never done this job you describe, but I have worked in government data centers & nuclear research facilities, so I'm familiar with high security areas. This "security" sounds a bit excessive, IMO.
Best of luck to you in your career change.