Tag: waiting

Making job applicants wait

I’ve applied for a fair few jobs recently and I’ve noticed that companies seem to enjoy making job candidates wait.

For one position the prospective employer was really keen but took a week to do anything. After applying they got back to you after a week. After the initial interview they took a week to let you know you are through to the next round. When no next round notification happened after almost a week and you emailed them, they took a week to reply to your email. The email said they’ll be in touch in a week. WTF? Is there some internal policy around taking seven days to action anything?

For another position the company said that I was the only candidate. Great, what happens next? They need to talk to the board. After ten days of hearing nothing you reach out. Nothing. Radio silence. You mention to someone you know at the company that you are now looking elsewhere and you then receive an email letting you know that they are still keen to hire you and discussions internally are ongoing. You hear nothing for weeks and continue to apply for other roles. You then receive an invite for a second interview. Hold on, I thought I was the only candidate? You are but you now have to speak to other people in the company before your application can be taken further.

Some of these companies are small, less than twenty employees yet they have so much bureaucracy and red tape. How many perfect-fit candidates are they losing due to these processes and lack of communication?

That is what it essentially comes down to: a lack of communication.

If only these companies would let you know what is going on. The equivalent of the in-progress spinning graphical animation that most software uses to let you know that something is happening and that we haven’t forgotten that you are there. To let you know where you stand, that they are still considering you but that this or that is happening and we will be in touch by so-and-so date. But no, nothing. Radio silence and the hope that you will wait on them.

We’ll get back to you, in a week.

Devices constantly waiting

Smart meters can show you how much energy your devices are actually using, even when on standby. Tools like nmap and Wireshark can help you map-out your home network and monitor how chatty your devices are, even when you think they are turned off.

Nothing is truly turned off unless it is unplugged. I have an integrated microwave that looks asleep but it is constantly waiting for you to touch its fascia so that it can wake up or open its door for you. My set-top boxes have powered down their storage media but they are still polling servers on the internet for updates and waiting for an IR signal from the remote. The smart TVs are also waiting for IR signals or your voice. Some even record your voice and analyse it in a buffer just on the off-chance that you are talking to it. Always listening.

Your home might be full of devices just waiting for you to address them, with a button press or voice command. Constantly waiting and consuming power. All in the name of efficiency.

Waiting..

Have you ever considered how much of our lives we waste just waiting? Waiting for public transport, parcel deliveries, holidays, the weekend.

Waiting, waiting.

I needed a change of scenery so I decided to take the bus into town to hang out in my favourite coffee shops reading and writing. I’m at the bus stop actually willing the bus to arrive, constantly looking down the lane for it. Why? I don’t have an urgent appointment to get to. I’m not in a rush to be anywhere in particular. Yet here I am in waiting mode. Waiting for a bus, which isn’t late.

We spend so much of our lives in queues waiting. Wasting time willing actual time to pass, not being in the moment. This is probably part of why we are stressed so much. Everything is scheduled and automated these days and yet it’s still not fast enough. Microwaves get hotter and faster yet they seem slower. How? Are we so impatient?

It’s later now and I’m in my coffee shop with fresh brew in front of me staring out the window people watching. Watching people in a rush to get somewhere, queuing waiting for a shop to open, waiting by a bus stop looking impatient. Such busy impatient lives we lead.

Ferris comes to mind and his quote about stopping and looking around once in a while. If we don’t life will pass us by while we are waiting.