Travel expenses for job interviews

[Aeolienne]

At the beginning of this month a recruitment consultant rang me about a 12-month contract with an environmental consultancy in Bristol(!!), moving to London subsequently. I told the recruiter I'd rather it were the other way round, i.e. have to work in London first, then move out west (which gives some time for my boyfriend to look for a new job in the Bristol area, or alternatively for me to realise that living in London is so much more liveable with a job that I don't want to move away after all). The recruiter said the client might be prepared to be flexible on this. However what with people being on leave due to the Olympics it's taken until this week to set an interview date. The recruiter rung me on Monday (i.e. yesterday) to tell me that the firm wanted to interview me on Wednesday (i.e. tomorrow) at their London office. At least that's what I thought she said, and what I wrote into my filofax. But today I received an email from the recruitment consultant telling me that the interview would be in Bristol. At such short notice I fear I'm going to have to fork out a huge amount for a train ticket.

 

I vaguely recalled that the Jobcentre had a scheme for reimbursing travel expenses for interviews, but it turns out that the scheme was scrapped last year.

http://forums.moneys...d.php?t=3157662

Or more accurately, left to the discretion of individual jobcentres. I don't know if my local, Hendon, is among the generous ones, because their office is now closed until 9am tomorrow, so I guess I'll have to go ahead and book the ticket anyway.

 

Meanwhile just to complicate things I'm due to receive the employment contract for the Prospects-organised placement this week (see earlier post), with a start date for 3 September. Or so I've been told, but TBH I've been told very little. I'm reminded of Obelix's words: "No-one ever tells me anything! They just keep me around because I'm ornamental!"

[Shnoing]

Sounds chaotic ... how did it go?

[Aeolienne]

Sounds chaotic ... how did it go?

Not brilliantly. The so-called job spec the recruitment consultancy had sent me said:

We are looking for a professional individual to join our Air Quality Practice in a Senior role based out of any one of our UK offices...This role offers the opportunity to undertake interesting and challenging air quality studies, and support in-country teams in the design and implementation of air quality monitoring surveys. Therefore candidates should be able to demonstrate a strong background in industrial air quality and experience with dispersion modelling is essential.

I asked the recruiter to explain what counted as a "strong background in industrial air quality" and she replied: "The specification is a rough gauge on the skill set [sic], your experience working with the Met Office is more than sufficient for the profile they are seeking."

 

In the absence of any further details of the competencies the company was looking for, I searched in vain through my old Met Office College notes for anything vaguely related to dispersion modelling, it not being an area I'd ever worked in (which I would have thought was fairly obvious from my CV). At the interview I was asked about my industrial experience, despite the recruiter's assurance that my lack thereof wouldn't be an issue. I was also asked how I felt about going into a junior role given my years of experience, to which I said I thought I was being interviewed for a senior role (albeit the £22-24k salary the recruiter had told me seemed rather low for such a job level, but I declined to point that out).

 

I related my misgivings to the recruiter the following day. The only explanation she could offer as to why the company was vague as to which role they were interviewing me for was that they wanted to get a more general picture of where I would fit into their organisation. But couldn't they at least have supplied me with two lists of competencies, i.e. one for the junior position and one for the senior position - or am I being wholly unrealistic here?

[Aeolienne]

Earlier this month I was handed a pamphlet by a Unite the Union activist, according to which "The head of Jobcentres, Neil Couling, also recently stated that travel to job interview costs should also be paid" [page 3, emphasis mine]. Despite much googling, I cannot find any evidence that Couling ever said this. There was a "Bus for Jobs" scheme in 2013, but that only appeared to have lasted one month (link).

[dotmarsdotcom]

hi aeolienne,

 

what a fascinating professional specialisation you have.

 

I bet when your at parties, and people ask you what you do, that one gets some interesting glances?

 

sorry to here your interview was a bit "hazy"

 

if I might ask,

 

& sorry if you said and I missed it. (i'm not very good at reading very large posts....)

 

...but did you decide to accept the position in the end (be it the junior one or the senior one?)

 

getting a job these days is pretty tough, , so I'm always very happy for anyone who scores.

 

re: the travelling expenses.

 

it would be a real shame if they don't come through for you.

 

that was one of the things I liked about the job centres back "in the day"

 

they were always really good at giving me vouchers to trade for train tickets, to go to interviews, no matter where they were in the country.

 

(I went to interviews in Scotland, London, devon etc. on their dollar. I felt they were really trying to get me get a new position, and I was grateful.)

 

it would be a shame if that is no longer so.

 

best of luck, and all the best,

Edited November 8, 2014 by dotmarsdotcom

[Aeolienne]

hi aeolienne,

 

what a fascinating professional specialisation you have.

 

I bet when your at parties, and people ask you what you do, that one gets some interesting glances?

 

sorry to here your interview was a bit "hazy"

 

if I might ask,

 

& sorry if you said and I missed it. (i'm not very good at reading very large posts....)

 

...but did you decide to accept the position in the end (be it the junior one or the senior one?)

When people ask me what I do, I inwardly groan. Not least because people always ask that question in the present tense, even after I've told them I'm unemployed. In other words, I'm meant to identify with a "professional specialism" as you call it, even when I'm not being paid to practise it. But all I can do is tell people what I've done in the past, and leave them to work out what that amounts to (other than an incoherent bitty CV).

 

For the record, I was dismissed from the Met Office in May 2009, since when I have clocked up five months with an environmental consultancy (dismissed again), four-months with a smart metering dotcom, two months with an oil company and six months with an investment bank (the latter two were special placements arranged by NAS Prospects with scant regard for my actual career aspirations). If you do the maths, that means that I have spent just a quarter of the last 5 1/2 years in work. Perhaps it's just as well I don't go to many parties.

 

As for the job(s) with the environmental consultancy in Bristol, the company declined to proceed any further with my application.

[dotmarsdotcom]

hi again aeolienne,

 

sorry to hear you didn't get the job, and that things have been a bit sketchy for you work wise, over the last few years.

 

& that you haven't been happy with regard to your placements, and their matching your skill sets.

 

...and that potential employers have made it very hazy for you as to exactly what they want, or even where the interview might actually be.

 

i must admit, i only really triggered on your post, when i saw you talking about the travel expenses thing.

 

bad on me, that i didn't focus on all the other stuff.

 

i bet i must come across as another person that doesn't listen, doesn't reply to what you were really going on about. etc. sorry about that.

 

guilty as charged. sorry again.

 

i hate parties too. it sounds like you & i need to start going to different sorts of parties that we do like eh?

 

ones where people ain't nosy about what "we do" or "have done".

 

these days i just make up a complete load of rubbish when ever anyone asks.

 

it amuses me :-) lol..

 

hence, like you i don't get invited to many parties haha

 

all the best.

Edited November 9, 2014 by dotmarsdotcom