Let the blog fodder begin!

This whole job hunting this is turning out to be quite entertaining... and as I mentioned earlier one of the hidden bonuses of needing a job is being able to blog about it all. So far I've been very amused by how much people will avoid saying no. "I'll get back to you..." "Don't panic if you haven't heard from me in a week or so..." "We have had an unusually large number of applications..." "Our positions usually attract a high level of applicant..." blah-di-freakin-blah. I've only been at this job hunting thing for a week (yes, I'm a prolific application writer, hence why I have so much in the way of bullshit replies) but it's already a source for blog fodder.

Sidenote: I'm finding myself quite excited about a new job. Meeting new people, getting some actual money in the bank, doing a bit of cooking. I'm no longer sad about it, I'm excited about the challenge of it all. Of utmost importance was to keep the biz running, and that's happening... so really, I don't have much reason to complain (but I'm sure I'll think of something eventually.)

So amusing job application blog story of the week is as follows:

I saw an ad for a position with a, shall we say, very well known cake company. A company who might be in competition with mine, except they have been around a LOT longer and have a great reputation and their prices are easily 4-5 times mine. Anyway, on the one hand I thought it was a bit sneaky to be applying to the competition, and on the other, I figured it would be a great way to learn some new skills and see how other guys do it. Plus if I made it to the interview stage, I'd be upfront about my own interests. It's a small town, you know, and a small industry, and I have no interest in being unethical.

Anyway.

So I sent an email asking about the job, in specific about the hours/days required and I purposely did not attach a resume. A couple days later I received an email thanking me and telling me my resume had been passed on to the person doing the hiring... but no answer to my questions. I wrote back and said, "not sure how you passed on my resume since I didn't send it." and then asked (nicely) for them to answer my queries. At this stage I really was thinking I would be saving them the hassle of going through another application. No point applying for a job I can't actually commit to, right?

The person replied and apologised, saying they had a large number of applications and had mistakenly sent me a standard reply (without really reading my email.) They then replied to one of my questions, which was enough for me to realise they needed more than I could offer. So I DID NOT reply again. I DID NOT send them my resume. I just let it go.

Tonight I get another email from them, saying they are disappointed that I can't be available the hours they need, and asking if they could keep my resume on file. The email went on to say that they were very impressed with my resume, and the owner and person hiring would really like to meet me and show me around the place.

Oy Vey. Seriously? How can you be impressed with a resume you have never seen? Have they Googled me and found me out, or are they just lazy administrators? I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry...