Why Is It that Everytime You Call a Company, You Get a MASSIVE RUNAROUND!!

[rbajai]

Just gotta vent on this fine Thursday. I am a job seeker in this miserable job market, and I hear all kinds of stupid advice. One in particular is this: "Call over to the company and get the HR Manager's direct E-mail address so that you can direct your resume straight to their inbox."

So I see a job opening at a medium to large sized company in my area. Sure you can fill out the app online, just like hundreds of other people are probably doing at the same time. I did that, but my resume is likely buried in all those others. So the advice to send the resume directly to the recruiter has its merits, right?

So I call over to the company just to get a recruiter's Email address. I get their voicemail system, and then I dial 0 for the operator. I ask the operator about it, and she sends me to HR's secondary voice mail system. Press one for this and 2 for that...who the hell cares? I just want to ask a LIVE PERSON a question. I press 0 and get some benefits lady, who of course has no idea. She sends me over to the "HR system," which OF COURSE is the voicemail of a lady who is not in her office.

So I called again. This time I was routed to Nashville, TN. The lady rerouted me BACK to Dallas, and I went through the WHOLE DAMN PROCESS again. I finally left a message with the absent recruiter, but ya think she'll ever call me back? THEY NEVER DO!!

I'm pissed. It seems whether it's calling your local electric company and talking to a non-English speaking person in India, or calling any kind of government service, or looking for a job, or trying to find out ANY kind of info from ANYONE - it's a total runaround. It's like you can't get ANYTHING DONE. It's a frustrating lesson in incompetence. Perhaps even a broken down system where we don't deal much with people anymore - we just leave them messages and get rerouted ad nauseum by computers, accomplishing nothing.

Anyone else pissed?

[phantom power]

1. Your story cannot be true. We all know that corporations are

the Platonic Ideal of efficiency, and that is why privatization is always the answer!

[graywarrior]

2. Oh MAN, you just said it like it is.

Happens all the time and I end up buying a new phone because I destroy the one I'm trying to contact ANYONE with by slamming it 10 or 15 times on a table or against a wall.

[kywildcat]

7. Its purposeful

It dehumanizes the caller; when someone is fustrated they do not think clearly and are more likely to settle for far less then what they had orginally wanted. Automation of services has proven that. Once people figured out how to work that system, call centers (and even entire HR service centers) were sent out of the country.
When I call, if I get someone with an accent, I ask to speak to a native english speaker immediately, they usually then have to reroute the call back to the states and to a supervisor.
I am looking for work as well, and oddly enough in HR (with strong recruiting back ground)
Most HR professionals throw away unsolicited resumes.
BTW, for those who find my request for English speakers demeaning, I speak 2 languages, have a rudimentary understanding of a 3rd and have found my life mission seems to be to date my way through the UN.
Nothing prejudiced in the intent, simply need to save my cell phone minutes for someone who doesn't repeat everything I say back to me.

[smoogatz]

3. The simple answer: they don't want to help you.

They want you to shut the fuck up and leave them alone. If they wanted to find a solution to your problem, they would. Simple as that. That's why voicemail exists--so the person you're trying to call can avoid talking to you.

[400Years]

4. bingo!

[TahitiNut]

5. Are you sure you want to work for such a company?

:shrug: I regard such experiences as part of MY 'interview' process -- where I discover whether I want to be associated with such a clusterf*ck. Unless the job you're looking at is specifically to address the issues you're seeing, I'd suggest using such observations to make your choice.

FWIW, when I've encountered behaviors that disinclined me from further seeking a position at such a company, I've been known to write a letter to a suitably-titled senior executive describing my choice to avoid them -- and thanking them for making it so evident, thus wasting less of both my and their time.

[Ksec]

6. I feel lucky when theres someone breathing on the line

Most of the time its a recording. I know exactly how you feel.

[RagingInMiami]

8. I am very pissed

The other day I called Capital One because I wasn't able to access my account online. They have a number that says "customer service" which is anything but. You have to sit there and listen to a bunch of recorded crap, but if you happen to need something that is not offered in any of the three selections, you're screwed.

And it's not like you can just press "O" like you used to and talk to a live person.

No, that would be way too convenient and too much like "customer service." If you do press "O", you are curtly told that you've made an "invalid selection" and are directed back the menu where you came from. So you have to continue doing that for three or four times before an annoyed computer recording informs you that you are now being redirected to an actual human being.

And even though you've already pressed in your account number and date of expiration into the phone, the person that comes on has no idea what it is, so you have to go through that whole damn routine again.

And of course this person is in India or Pakistan and doesn't understand English that well so he makes you repeat the number several times before he finally gets it.

And then when he finally determines that you're not some criminal trying to access someone else's credit information, he proceeds to tell you to do the things you've already done.

By now, you're on your third whiskey shot even though you had no plans to drink that night.

[Norquist Nemesis]

9. Been there. Done that and I'm with you.

I've had this experience again and again and again. :banghead:

Having been on both sides...Generally, companies use the automated systems expected that customers/callers KNOW what they want and who they want to speak with. But the menu items often are not clear or leave the caller uncertain as to how to navigate.

When you do have the benefit of getting a live person...well, I've been in that first-responder seat before too. LOL! It's tough because there are usually multiple calls coming in to be answered, each and every one greeted in a pleasing manner while the caller screams at you because it rang 8 times before you picked up! Little do they consider 3 new calls have arrived, 4 are on hold, and 3 are re-routing back to your line because the designated authority is either in a meeting, gone to lunch, or taking no calls because they're catching up on paper work. Still, the caller wants the person answering the phone to have all of the details with all of the answers and unlimited attention.

I'm presuming you want to get your resume in to the right hands and get an interview so...Bottom line on getting your foot in the door is: Rack your brain to find ANYONE you know or someone you know who knows someone that already works there. Ask that person how to do it or if they will personally pass your resume along for you. If you don't have anyone, research the company through the web for the exact person you need to get in touch with. Send a gimmick item with your resume directly to that person. Something like tying a candy bar with a bow onto your unfolded, full-size, envelope enclosed resume and attached card with the note: "It sure would be sweet to work at <company name>!! Please consider me for the <opening> position, my resume is enclosed. Thank you for your time and attention. I look forward to hearing from you!"

[pitohui]

14. please don't ask ANYONE you know

i had this done to me repeatedly when i worked at a certain oil company & it was ridiculous, as i wasn't in human resources & my boss wasn't interested in reading the resume of everyone i ever met who had a passing notion to work for that co.

they do ask that ANYONE if they really know & can offer a recommendation abt that person, i'm not going to endanger my own job & lie, on several occasions i had no option but to admit frankly i didn't really know why i of all ppl had been asked to send on a resume from that person

desperation is unattractive

[Norquist Nemesis]

16. I wasn't saying ask someone to lie

What I said was, "Ask that person how to do it or if they will personally pass your resume along for you." Simple as that. If the answer is contact HR or mail it to HR, then so be it! I didn't say a thing about asking anyone to risk their job or livelihood.

[BlacknBlue in Red NC]

10. The downfall of the American economy

will be caused by the decline of the service industry. Of course, it will be helped along by the idiots in Washington, and in government elsewhere, but for us common folks, the lack of "service" in customer service is what will bring the whole thing tumbling down.:mad:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

11. I recently had a similar problem with my cable internet provider and

wasted about a half hour in automated hell.

I had a problem with my cable modem which I knew could not be corrected by resetting my modem and router, but when transferred to service, I received an automated line where the electronic voice that tries to walk the caller on how to reset the router, which was not my problem. It had voice recognition and I couldn't seem to find a way out, until that little light turned on in my weary, frustrated mind, and I started saying into the phone, blah blah blah blah. The system couldn't recognize what I was saying and eventually gave me over to a live human being.

The next time I had to call and started with blah blah blah, one of my sons overheard me and he thought I was nuts until after I finished the call and explained to him why I sounding like I was ranting! I complained heartily to both service people, and one of them had the same problem when he tried to call in for a similar problem. Last I heard, they were going to change this new insane system.

It seems that customer service is no longer service, but customer servitude, to save money for corporations.

[WePurrsevere]

12. My SWAG is that they MIHOP just to piss us off so we give up, shut up &

stop trying therefore letting them get away with varying degrees of incompetence and highway robbery. :grr: The problem for these companies however is that there are still a few of us out here who do NOT put up with this type of nonsense, know the buttons to push and how to play the game and are as tenacious (and vocal) as heck. :D

Actually it's a toss up as to which I find more annoying... being stuck into the endless phone loop from hell with a computerized operator or getting passed around and BSed by a live person especially one where I can barely make out every other word and they don't seem to speak any English I'm familiar with. :banghead:

Of course when I find a seller/store/company who gives decent customer service and treats me with courtesy I will stay with them and recommend them until cows fly over the moon or they go out of business even if it means I pay a bit more. B-)

[BOSSHOG]

13. If you want a job come to NEW ORLEANS

Businesses are hiring left and right and begging for more workers everyday. One little hurdle, you'll have a hard time finding a place to live. The ones that aren't occupied have been destroyed.

This is probably not what you want to hear, but I called a state government agency this morning and got polite courteous service from a real live human being, got my question answered and my problem (hurricane related) solved. I then called my bank and talked to a human and had my question answered and now have a plan to solve the problem I have with the bank (no access to safe deposit box because of the hurricane.) But I do know most such attempts don't work that way.

Good Luck!

[pitohui]

15. yes lots of NOW HIRING & bonuses here

i've never seen a job market like this in the area, it could indeed be a renaissance, even the gas station is now offering $9 an hr, signing bonus, and HEALTH BENEFITS!!!!!

[lizlib]

17. I'm sure

that this seemed like good advice but it would seem annoying to me to get a direct email when the company paid good money to place an ad.


I work for an org that uses the push this push that when you call it and 9 times out of 10 its all operator error. (meaning the caller isn't patient enough to go through the messages)

I am also a consumer and these things are annoying to me. But being in the customer 'service' field I know that it directs the calls to more appropriate places so you don't get the 5 transfers for each call. Believe me people are more pissy about transfers than they are about pushing buttons.

[applegrove]

18. Try going to their website! impossible to send them any message

whatsover from there.

[KansDem]

19. But...but...fear not, because "your call is important to them!"

:rofl: