How competitive are entry level jobs in smaller cities?
Posted by Western-Pineapple504@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 16 comments
Hello,
I am not from the UK, sorry if I have an unrealistic view of your country.
From what I have read, even for relatively "simple" jobs like working at a fastfood restaurant (not as a chef, cook), employers let potential employees compete in Assessment centers where they have to face complex challenges like building towers out of spaghetti etc., like really complex team building excercises etc.
Sounded hard to believe to me from my perspective. Isn't that expensive for an employer to do?
Is this kind of stuff common everywhere or more in larger cities?
Also do employers expect you to have social media and submit it to them?
dinkidoo7693@reddit
It’s absolutely true in group interviews. I had to build a bridge out of spaghetti that could hold a hot wheels car, in one group interview. We had dry spaghetti and a roll sellotape. Somehow our group of 4 won but none of us got a job.
Western-Pineapple504@reddit (OP)
What kind of job was it? I wonder if people can train/ prepare for this kind of thing
dinkidoo7693@reddit
Honestly it happens in a lot of group interviews. In both instances I didn’t even know it was a group interview until i got there and saw a load of people also waiting.
The only company I’ve had a decent group interview with was marks and Spencer for the supermarket. Had to do a short presentation on an item from their Christmas range. My group got a fancy tin of biscuits that had a twinkling starry night light. The presentation basically wrote itself.
Western-Pineapple504@reddit (OP)
Do you applied for work in a small city or a bigger one? It just seems silly to me that 100 people apply for mcdonalds in an unimportant location.
dinkidoo7693@reddit
Its a big town.
seven-cents@reddit
The task itself is irrelevant. If this happens then what they're really assessing is your ability to get involved and perform the task with a positive attitude. How you react to something surprising and make the best of it while working together with complete strangers
Western-Pineapple504@reddit (OP)
So they do this? You want to work at MC Donalds and they want you to submit your Facebook and if you dont have it you have no chance already?
Rich-Peak-3902@reddit
Where on earth have you read this?
Western-Pineapple504@reddit (OP)
I swear I have read this on a UK news site. I think it was the guardian.
It would have surprised me if most companies did these challenges because that would be alot of time investment.
rocketscientology@reddit
There was an article in the Guardian a few months ago describing the exact scenario that OP is talking about (extensive team building exercises for a minimum wage job interview.) Bizarrely, I just read the article today so it’s a very weird coincidence that OP appears to have done the same thing!
WarriorDerp@reddit
Had that kind of shit for an interview at Ikea. The weirdest one i've ever had to date
bureaucrat_chaos@reddit
I had to do these silly tasks for KFC interview. Build a boat out of plastic straws. Design a new burger. This was about ten years ago though.
_pierogii@reddit
I have actually done the spaghetti building thing for a supermarket job lol, but it was a brand new store and I guess it was so we would all be introduced before working together. It isn't common for normal vacancy posts, and wouldn't be used to assess skill. Just team building as you say.
xcxmon@reddit
I’ve never done this for any job, from retail to cleaning to office work.
wildwestgirly@reddit
depends where, but even mcdonald’s gets 100+ apps per role now, it’s grim applying anywhere right now
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