The Paper Office
I had another preliminary interview this week. It was in Overland Park, regarding a contract position for a company in Overland Park. Working in Overland Park has never appealed to me, as it's just about as bad as it gets in the KC area, regarding suburban hell. I know it's actually worse in Eastern Jackson county with its disjointed hilly, littoral nature, but College and Metcalf, right next to where I had my interview, is the epicenter of Johnson County's commitment to the automobile as the end-all be-all of infrastructure and transportation. Also, compared to the city, it's a bitch to get there.

This can all be discounted however, as I knew it going in, and have known for years that in my line of work, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and work in Overland Park. I arrived, and of course had to call for additional help in getting there. Every "address" there is of a building standing at an artistic angle in a landscaped parking lot, set back at least a hundred yards from the highway-like street. As such, it's completely impossible to know any addresses for any buildings without having seen them before and committed them to memory.

I parked, walked inside, and talked with a predictably attractive woman named Abby, who asked me basically to reiterate what's on my resume, which was right in front of her. As with just about every interview I've ever had with a recruiter, she obviously had no idea what any of my qualifications really were, and nodded when I would answer any of her questions. I could honestly have just made things up, and it would have been the same. After perhaps ten minutes of being grilled about my resume, she told me it was great to have talked with me, and would be "submitting" me for two positions, also in Overland Park.

Then she disappeared, and it seemed that it was time to go. I handed the receptionist my clipboard with identification materials and light paperwork on it, and as I reached for the door with a pleasant smile, I was told by the receptionist that there was "a little" more paperwork to fill out. She then handed me roughly fifteen runoff sheets of paper, and assured me that I could fill it all out at my leisure and, "just fax it back when it's done." What decade is this? Besides the legal brief I filed on their website as part of my, "profile," I had just filled out a few more pages of paperwork. And now, I was being told to fill out even more. I told her, to her incredulity, that it'd be easier for me to stay at their office for another hour filling out redundant paperwork than it would be for me to find and use a Carter Administration-FAX machine.

Over ninety percent of what I filled out that day was already available on the, "profile," they made me fill out on their website, and the rest was in my resume. This proves to me that they don't use computers in the office except for email and instant messaging with their sportsfan husbands. Why? Why do you put people through all of this? Doesn't it seem like an incredible contradiction that an IT recruiting firm avails itself of almost none of the technology that they claim to expertly bring to their clients?

The whole experience put a bad taste in my mouth. We'll see if anything comes of it, though I doubt it will. I have another interview next week, which will cut short my holiday visit to Peoria. So I hope it's worth it. It's in Overland Park too.

Rachel commented:
sounds like vector marketing to me! did they try to indoctrinate you with a group of fifteen badly dressed teenagers, promising blinding fortunes?

8:23 PM, Dec 19, 2008

silver lining cut in with:
college/metcalf is only about 5 miles farther than 63rd/winchester - and there are many, many more options in joco for lunch, errands, services, etc.

1:24 PM, Dec 20, 2008

Jeff interjected:
i know abby. i've met with her before. probably in the same office you were in.

8:45 PM, Dec 21, 2008

Nick chimed in with:
I had to work in our Overland Park office for a couple of weeks in the summer of 2007. Talk about a terrifying experience - commuting to work at high speeds and driving to lunch doesn't appeal to me.

Nor does the treeless, asphalt emptiness that surrounds college & metcalf.

/shudder

12:23 PM, Dec 29, 2008

Vector Fan cut in with:
Did you ever go to the interview? Was the company <a class="l" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9xcthpzXCY"> Vector Marketing</a>?

9:18 AM, Dec 31, 2008

bahua cut in with:
No HTML for you!

It was not Vector Marketing. It was relevant to what I want to do, and nott door-to-door sales.

10:48 AM, Dec 31, 2008

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