>4000 word application form
>Psychometric tests
>Telephone interview
>Whole day assessment centre (group exercise, in-tray exercise, presentation, interview)
>Final interview
Why is it so damn hard to get a job nowadays, especially in the City?
I've got my 12th Assessment Centre coming up tomorrow without a job offer and I just feel like giving it all up and fucking off to Thailand.
Don't give up. Work instills discipline and sets you on the straight path to life. Ask any German not named Muhammad or Mehmet
I've been through this process... honestly, it's all a bunch of bullshit. In the end you sit down you can straight away tell who will be getting offers - some people just aren't cut out for it.
You're one of them.
I got to the final interview a few times. Apparently there's always been someone better though.
If you get to the final interview and keep getting rejected you must be fucking up pretty bad. By the point of the final interview, they've already decided.
Nah, by the final partner/director interview, usually it's between you and 1 other candidate. I've been the loser 5 times.
What kind of job would that be?
What jobs are you applying for? The only time I ever had anything besides a regular 1 on 1 interview was back when I was 18 and needed a job in uni. We had a group interview with some gay exercises but I found out immediately after that I would be hired.
Law/Accountancy/Banking (everything from forensics to capital markets) you know normal city jobs.
And is that, like, after obtaining a respective training / qualification or just feeling lucky applying as a blank slate?
And are they positions that have been advertised as open, or do you apply speculatively?
I'm intrigued because even though I live right in central Berlin, having worked multiple jobs both qualified and non-qualified, never has anything required a rigorous application process such as this.
Yeah I feel you mate. Corporate world is now a playground for psychopaths and legions of mid-managers who have to justify their existence by constantly adding to existing processes, in the name of an efficient selection - oh the irony.
That's how you spot the psychopathic environment, nobody is a real boss which will act on instinct and commit on taking responsibility by hiring you because they like you, everything is outsourced to processes so that nobody gets the blame and the headless organization can keep growing on its own.
This is also why everybody has a direct incentive to get hooked to their job to death and leave the office at 10 pm to show how hard they're working. They are so hard to get, you're unhappy? they are thousands waiting in line to take your place.
No wonder modern "capitalism" is so fucked up. Corporate World is a factory chain-producing psychopaths who will spend the rest of their lives slaving away in entirely virtual jobs disconnected from the real world, with the vague hope of retiring slightly earlier than the normies while earning enough to make the burden of a higher education for the kids and a retirement bearable.
Fuck it, mate. Either you get that job, or you come to Asia without starting this miserable process all over again. Much more opportunities here.
Just one reason why you shouldn't live in London and work for big banks, law or consulting firms.
>just out of college
>NEET for months until I even got an interview at a legal firm
>interview was pretty basic, assessment was a few hours
>background check done in a few days once the information was complete, get offer soon thereafter
Either I got lucky or I'm about to be screwed in ways I haven't anticipated
I'm not making much but considering what a fuckup I am in life everyone was pretty surprised I got it
Sorry for your troubles though, is all this runaround shit a Brit thing?
Dude, I left Hong Kong for London!! Haha. I wanna go back so badly. I live near Mid Levels btw.
Good luck. I've only been invited to three interviews a year out of uni and two of them were those shitty assessment centres.
Do they plant actors in these assessment days or am I being paranoid again?
These type of jobs are usually advertised in closed circles through universities or they have yearly rounds you can find about on the companies website.
This is typical of firms whose openings are like 5% of the number of suitable candidates., namely big firms in finance, law and consulting. Young people want to work for them because they pay really well compared to the rest and usually mean a lot of status. However, you will have to live in shit holes like London and the actual job you do is mediocre, meaningless and unfulfilling at best, and working 10h+ a day is very common, at least in first years. Also, company culture is usually cutthroating because the proportion of ambitious psychopaths is too damn high. Lastly, the most valued skill is your ability to think on your feet and do things quickly. If you need your time or you are semi-perfectionist, find something else, or this will be way too stressful. Another trait they love is optimism: if you can always plausibly frame bad things into something positive, either by using half-truths or omission, they will love you.
I work a comfy tech job in Houston doing database work.
I was in Beijing a while back for a few months and loved it.
What's the chance of me getting a high paying job in China, having no Mandarin or Cantonese fluency?
You should come back, it's still better here, although corporate world isn't much less of a nightmare but you probably know that already. At least there are ventures to be tried here or in the region.
Better make some good money to move back to the Mid-levels though, the cost of living is through the roof.
My family are still there, i just thought i'd come back here and try and make it. I don't particularly want to go back to HK with my tail between my legs too, so I'm staying put for the foreseeable future.
That sounds absolutely retarded, what a stupid way of life. There is more valuable life experience in being a dirt poor shit poster.
What's with this shit about psychopaths btw?
Who are they and what do they do?
Will I probably end up working next to one/for one?
I just graduated and got just got my first interview in 1.5 months. Have to be interviewed by 5 engineers tomorrow, shirts scary man. I am legitimately confused as to why they picked me to interview.
I wish I could write an application. I'm procrastinating so hard on literally everything in my life, that I think the only way out is therapy. My ability to deal with negative stimuli has degenerated to the point where I can't do anything productive without guidance, because I feel lost and confused with the real world. I compulsively retreat into my head, keep fucking up at my temp job because I keep zoning out.
At the same time I'm not depressed or anxious enough to be a crying mess in obvious need of help. I should get my test checked out, but I have problems with my insurance. No matter what I do, my drive for avoidance is crippling for anything but hygiene, eating and the occasional work out. All which I get super-rigid about, because it feels like I would otherwise forget about them, like I do everything else.
Thank you for reading my blog.
If you're skilled in IT and are able to lead a project efficiently you should jump in the next plane, people are dying to find geeks able to think outside the box as it is not exactly the local workforce's main strength.
Mandarin or Cantonese are now a common requirement yes, but the more technical your skills the higher your chances to avoid it. If you aim for Mainland though, like Beijing or Shanghai, I strongly advise getting basics in Mandarin. Doesn't take that long.
Arbeit Mach Frei
work makes free
Just follow the meme of SMEs and you will safe and not poor.
I don't know. A lot of people with psychopathic traits feel attracted to finance, law and consulting. It has probably something to do with status-whoring and money. These people are very nice to you but in truth they don't give a fuck about you and will stab you in the back, lie and scheme at the first opportunity of a raise or promotion. Also, most of them believe themselves to be good people: they will rationalize every questionable thing they do.
If you don't want to work with them, avoid areas which are associated with "prestige" or "power". But do note these people exist in all trades. The proportion is just much higher in this area.
This, but in here I cannot even go to the doctor about it because it wouldnt be taken seriously let alone treated meaningfully.
It's just that the whole corporate environment is alienating. For real, not for the sake of rhetorics. It takes its toll. Portoanon describes it very well.
It doesn't mean your next cubicle neighbour will be a downright psychopath, but it means that the whole culture will give him an incentive to stab you in the back, given the opportunity, if you compete in any respect.
It means a context where people are literally slacking in the office way after hours because their floor's subculture would fragilise their position if they were spotted leaving the office earlier.
It means the abstraction of the work you do is often dire, creating a genuine frustration. Men need to create, to behold the fruit of their efforts. Aligning numbers on an Excel table and doing meaningless project reporting on intangible data leaves that need unfulfilled, only soothed by the perspective of a good payroll at the end of the month and some status among people outside.
In the end it's all about status and money. Human interactions are mostly fake and it is easy to grow wary of your surroundings. That's why it tends to transform regular well-meaning humans into office psychopaths.
>Why is it so damn hard to get a job nowadays, especially in the City?
OP, all these things are not meant to help them hire you. They're to give them excuses not to hire you so they can hire a friend or family member instead.
Connections is all that matters. Nepotism rules.
Trying to use resumes and applications to get a job is a pointless endeavor.
You need to understand that often what looks like nepotism is just people dealing with uncertainty. The clear advantages in hiring friends or family are that 1) you don't waste time or money looking for people and 2) you often know much better what you are getting. There are also drawbacks, but I'm sure you know about them.
>Why is it so damn hard to get a job nowadays,
Corporatist fascism. This is just the beginning. Wait 10 more years for the expansion of automation.