Asda - Grrrrrrrrr

[fatboy69]

So I'm still trying to find a full time job - i applied on-line to Asda last week who were advertising some full time positions.

For reasons not known I didn't get passed the on-line vetting stage of the application process so my application was not successful & therefore I didn't get through to the next stage of the application process.

Fair enough, however the email contains a line which says that i am now not allowed to apply to Asda again for any jobs for 6 months!!!

WTF is that all about?

All I want to do is to get a full time job. 35 jobs applied for in the last week & got absolutely diddly squat. Since I was made redundant in May 2011 I have applied for over 1000 (one thousand) jobs without success.

So what the hell do I have to do to get a full time job?

[nadger]

Just keep applying is all I can say! Sorry i can't be more helpful!
Good luck though, hope something comes along soon

[DukeDickson]

nadger said:

Just keep applying is all I can say! Sorry i can't be more helpful!
Good luck though, hope something comes along soon

Worst advice in the world (no offence intended). Whatever the rights & wrongs of the situation, apply elsewhere for a while & revisit

[nadger]

DukeDickson said:

Worst advice in the world (no offence intended). Whatever the rights & wrongs of the situation, apply elsewhere for a while & revisit

No offence taken, but just to clarify I didn't mean to continue applying to Asda, I meant to other jobs in general!

[fatboy69]

Getting hugely pissed off with applying for dozens of jobs each week & getting nowhere. It's soul destroying to say the least.

I discovered earlier that the way around the Asda 'ban' is to apply using a different email address.... Done that twice since 6.30 this morning!!

[Mannginger]

This may be a silly question but are you tailoring your CV and application cover letters to each role or keeping a generic application?

Have you reviewed your CV and letter over that time and sought advice on them?

[Terminator X]

Call and ask why you didn't get the job each time. Fix whatever the problem is and after a while you should be ok? Lot of jobs applied for there fella, my heart goes out to you.

TX.

[fatboy69]

My CV was reviewed and professionally updated just over a month ago - I tailor my covering letter and CV to whatever the job is that I am applying for so not sure what I am doing wrong.

Maybe being the wrong side of 50 doesn't help....

I called HR at Asda who say that they are unable to discuss individual applications/failure to progress so I don't what questions I have answered that don't fit into their criteria. Most of the questions are based around 'what would you do if' etc etc so there are no right or wrong answers.

I answer the questions how I think that I would react which probably differs to the mindset of whoever set the questions.

They also ask basic maths questions which I know I got right because I used a calculator and the questions are simple things anyway so if I did get them wrong, and I know that I didn't, I shouldn't other getting out of bed in the mornings!!

I mean, the last job I applied for with Asda, before this morning, was for a home shopping delivery driver so all I would have been doing all day would be delivering trays and bags full,of shopping (which I have done before) so what's difficult or testing about that kind of job?

Doing my head in now tbh.

[khevolution]

its not just asda that have that stupid policy sainsburys and tescos also do the same

[PeanutHead]

OP, like others getting a job is a job without pay.
Soul destroying or not if you let it get you down you find it harder to be upbeat and positive.
Sticking at it is all you can do and giving it 100% everytime, all the time is what work is all about.
Good luck.

[CzechItOut]

fatboy69 said:

My CV was reviewed and professionally updated just over a month ago - I tailor my covering letter and CV to whatever the job is that I am applying for so not sure what I am doing wrong.

Maybe being the wrong side of 50 doesn't help....

I called HR at Asda who say that they are unable to discuss individual applications/failure to progress so I don't what questions I have answered that don't fit into their criteria. Most of the questions are based around 'what would you do if' etc etc so there are no right or wrong answers.

I answer the questions how I think that I would react which probably differs to the mindset of whoever set the questions.

Come on, engage your brain. This is where you're going wrong. People say "be yourself" BULLst - be whoever the company wants you to be. Ask yourself why the company is asking the question and what answer they want, then give it. Always bear in mind team work, compromise, customer comes first, honesty, installing trust, rewarding loyalty. If you answers reflect those things then you can't go far wrong.

fatboy69 said:

They also ask basic maths questions which I know I got right because I used a calculator and the questions are simple things anyway so if I did get them wrong, and I know that I didn't, I shouldn't other getting out of bed in the mornings!!

I mean, the last job I applied for with Asda, before this morning, was for a home shopping delivery driver so all I would have been doing all day would be delivering trays and bags full,of shopping (which I have done before) so what's difficult or testing about that kind of job?

Doing my head in now tbh.

As a delivery driver you will be the public face of Asda. Therefore you will need to be punctual, well presented, professional and above all have customer service in the forefront of everything you do, even if you think it is just "delivering trays and bags full of shopping".

[fatboy69]

CzechItOut said:

As a delivery driver you will be the public face of Asda. Therefore you will need to be punctual, well presented, professional and above all have customer service in the forefront of everything you do, even if you think it is just "delivering trays and bags full of shopping".

I'm aware of that & having done it before I wasn't being flippant. Some of the questions asked are just mind numbingly stupid & are totally irrelevant to delivering someone's shopping.

I did the home shopping delivery for Sainsburys for 10 months so I know exactly how to present myself, be punctual etc etc & I wasn't dismissing it as my posting might have suggested.

With regards to answering the questions from an Asda point of view I have applied again giving answer that might be acceptable so we will see how it goes.

I know that Sainsburys & Tesco's ask the same questions. Obviously the same person writes questions for all three supermarkets!!!

Incidentally - I know a Sainsburys delivery driver (employed by them for almost two years now doing the home delivery service) whose son applied to Sainsburys for a drivers job.

The majority of the questions were answered by his dad - he knows the ropes so knew how to answer the questions. The sons application was rejected on the grounds that he didn't meet the requirements of Sainsburys.....

So if an employee can't get the questions answered as per Sainsburys criteria what chance have I got?

Edited by fatboy69 on Saturday 15th September 11:26

[Chilli]

I wouldn't read too much into the reasons you've been knocked back by this company. It could be for any reason, but they might not be being honest with you. Stop bloody emailing them several times from different email addresses, if they realise you'll probably be banned for life. Move on to other companies. Speak to absolutely everyone you know, everyone that your family members know, everyone their friends know....there must be a job out there for you somewhere.

Painful, but don't give up and you'll be rewarded. Good luck.

[russ_a]

Why not start up your own business as a delivery driver?

[Pothole]

fatboy69 said:

So I'm still trying to find a full time job - i applied on-line to Asda last week who were advertising some full time positions.

For reasons not known I didn't get passed the on-line vetting stage of the application process so my application was not successful & therefore I didn't get through to the next stage of the application process.

Fair enough, however the email contains a line which says that i am now not allowed to apply to Asda again for any jobs for 6 months!!!

WTF is that all about?

All I want to do is to get a full time job. 35 jobs applied for in the last week & got absolutely diddly squat. Since I was made redundant in May 2011 I have applied for over 1000 (one thousand) jobs without success.

So what the hell do I have to do to get a full time job?

The pedant in me wants to say perhaps they were looking for someone who knows the difference between passed and past.

I can't believe that every one of the 1000 jobs you say you have applied for in the last 18(ish) months has been a job you really wanted and/or had the relevant skills and experience for on your CV.

Most employers will not take you on in a role for which you are clearly overqualified. Are you, perhaps, undervaluing yourself? Are you applying for anything you see which you 'could do'?

Employers want to take on people who are going to add value to their organisation and pay back their recruitment costs. If you come across as someone 'just desperate for a job, any job' then the perception is (usually quite rightly) that you will leave as soon as you find something more suitable/better paying.

Stop the scattergun approach, spend some time putting together 3 or 4 different styles of CV, playing up different strengths and skillsets and apply for jobs for which you are actually suitable and which you actually WANT to do for a reasonable period of time (two years or so.

Register on as many online job boards as you can find and update your CV regularly (even if it's just to edit a couple of skills bulletpoints, the board will recognise it as a new CV and it will act kind of like SEO.)

You'll no doubt have been told at some hideous session at the job centre (assuming you're signing on) that a large percentage of jobs is not even advertised. This is true. Find companies in your area which operate in the field you want to/are qualified to work in and contact them directly. Call them and ask for the name of the head of HR/Personnel and write directly to them.

Finally, do you do any voluntary work? Even a few hours in a local charity shop on your CV will make you look better to a prospective employer than looking as though you've done nothing but apply for a thousand jobs for the last year or so.

Finally, finally...check your CV and cover letters for schoolboy errors as above.

[fatboy69]

Can't be arsed to make a detailed response to the last posting - as if one slight grammatical mistake is going to make a difference on here.

It's PH for fks sake & everyone, probably even you, makes mistakes on PH sometimes.

As for the rest of the posting........ Not quite sure what the fk you think I have been doing since I got made redundant however I have been job hunting hence the number of applications.

If you have ever had the indignity of using the job centres you will know that part of the contract with them requires you to apply for a certain number of jobs every week even if they are not suitable for you.

If you don't do that they take away your benefits so yes I have applied for jobs that are not suitable for me. However I have/had no choice.

Next question?

[10 Pence Short]

fatboy69 said:

Can't be arsed to make a detailed response to the last posting - as if one slight grammatical mistake is going to make a difference on here.

It's PH for fks sake & everyone, probably even you, makes mistakes on PH sometimes.

As for the rest of the posting........ Not quite sure what the fk you think I have been doing since I got made redundant however I have been job hunting hence the number of applications.

If you have ever had the indignity of using the job centres you will know that part of the contract with them requires you to apply for a certain number of jobs every week even if they are not suitable for you.

If you don't do that they take away your benefits so yes I have applied for jobs that are not suitable for me. However I have/had no choice.

Next question?

I have been claiming Jobseekers for a few months this year and was made redundant last year, so I know what it's like, going through the process. On that point, I'd say you don't need to be as defensive as perhaps you are being on here. People aren't accusing you of doing nothing to find a job. Perhaps they are suggesting your methods might be improved and are willing to help?

I'm lucky in one way compared to you, in that I'm in my early 30s (well, my OH will correct me and say I'm 34 and mid thirties, but that's a whole other argument...). Other than that, I've had to contend with the fact I live in rural Cumbria and there aren't many jobs here, full stop. The jobs that are around are low paid and, having been in sales and a sales manager for a number of years, I am not going to be taken on in a relatively low paid administrative job for which I am hugely over qualified. I do not have any specific profession or blue collar qualifications. On top of all of that, I have financial commitments that preclude me working for a salary below a certain level without having to break those commitments. If I take a 'placeholder' job just to say I'm employed, it's going to put a blob on my CV that will not make it easier to find the right kind of work.

I am not a stranger to feeling trapped in a search for work.

What I've had to realise, is that something has to give. This has ultimately meant that I have to leave my home town of 25 years and move to another part of the country to get the work I need. That's not to suggest that's what you should do, but it shows the level of commitment that may be required to get the work you want.

Like you, I'm looking for work in a marketplace where the employer can be particularly fussy. I have had rejections from applications and interviews for some of the most spurious of reasons that in any normal sense just don't make sense, but the employers have such a rich vein of applications they can afford to pay pittance and ask the earth, I'm afraid (depending on the area of work).

Luckily, I had an interview on Friday afternoon and was offered the position, which I accepted. This means I have 10 days to move 80 miles and get on with it- and boy am I glad of the opportunity.

You will find work, but perhaps it's worth looking at how and where you're applying to really get work, before considering your JSA obligations?

[singlecoil]

fatboy69 said:

Maybe being the wrong side of 50 doesn't help....

More than maybe, I would say.

When I was in a similar, but worse, position than yours a while back (due to being even older) I had to create my own job. It's worked for me as my customers couldn't give a flying fk how old I am, or where I used to work, or what my qualifications are (or aren't). All they care about is how good is the product I am going to supply them with, and at what price.

[Pothole]

fatboy69 said:

Can't be arsed to make a detailed response to the last posting - as if one slight grammatical mistake is going to make a difference on here.

It's PH for fks sake & everyone, probably even you, makes mistakes on PH sometimes.

As for the rest of the posting........ Not quite sure what the fk you think I have been doing since I got made redundant however I have been job hunting hence the number of applications.

If you have ever had the indignity of using the job centres you will know that part of the contract with them requires you to apply for a certain number of jobs every week even if they are not suitable for you.

If you don't do that they take away your benefits so yes I have applied for jobs that are not suitable for me. However I have/had no choice.

Next question?

I have had said indignity, yes, and recently. I was trying to help. At your age you clearly don't need babying so I didn't insult you with any of that. I gave you the benefit of my experiences in a similar situation. (OK, I'm 'only' 47. but still) Your attitude stinks, frankly. Good luck with your job search.

[matchmaker]

singlecoil said:

fatboy69 said:

Maybe being the wrong side of 50 doesn't help....

More than maybe, I would say.

When I was in a similar, but worse, position than yours a while back (due to being even older) I had to create my own job. It's worked for me as my customers couldn't give a flying fk how old I am, or where I used to work, or what my qualifications are (or aren't). All they care about is how good is the product I am going to supply them with, and at what price.

Is rejection on the basis of age not discriminatory? I was advised not to put my age on my CV (I'm also on the wrong side of 50) and have noticed on 3 job applications that I have received from our local Jobcentre (on their own forms) that there is no mention of the applicants age.