No pressure at all and absolutely no confusion!!!

It has been a while since I wrote a post… actually I never intended to neglect my blog, yet anyone having a look at my Google calendar would know right away why I was unable to find one single hour to sit down and write something… It is past 11:00 pm and I should be in bed by now, but I am quite frustrated at this point and blogging seems to be soothing in my case… therefore, here I am with the latest news and absurdity!… No real surprises, right?

In the news department, Kate went for her second attempt at the oral interaction test… she wrote me earlier today saying that she is confident she got her C this time… though she was concerned with the fact that the examiner had not asked more than two questions following the debate she had to listen to in the last part of the exam… well, the guy was probably not in a talkative mood and she probably had given him enough to chew on with her answers to the follow up questions in the third part of the test… who knows?… Trying and finding answers is a waste of time because, even if the test is supposed to be exactly the same for everyone, the assessors’ style and mood differ from one to another… we will have to wait for her results and not speculate!

Krystal, after months of agony, will finally take the very last exam of this long and overwhelming hiring process… her oral interaction test is scheduled on Wednesday morning… I am sure she will get her B… Besides that, it is business as usual: a regular flow of incoming students each week (if not each day lately!)…

Last Friday, Le Club français had dinner at Moxy’s after several months of inactivity… although everyone was eager to meet and speak French, only four of us ended up attending: Seema, Mark, Corey and me… maybe because it was cosier than usual, there was not much French spoken that evening!… It turned out to be a dinner among friends and French was quickly dismissed… Oh well… everyone was tired after a long busy week and why not?… Rules are there to be broken, are they not?  Yet maybe we should have used more French… Corey could have used the practice because, when he got back home, he had an email with his reading comprehension and written expression tests date: this Saturday!… Useless to mention that we will have a marathon this week so that he can be prepared as much as possible before the 24th!…

No big deal, it is the PSC process… candidates have little time between the day they are given a testing date and the tests!… So far, no bad surprises until you start reading the email carefully… the first thing you notice is that it will take longer than usal: candidates get there around 8:15 am… and they are out of there by lunch time…  here, the expected finishing time is 3:30 pm…

Then you learn that, prior to the tests, the candidates will have to fill in a form of consent so that the Department can proceed with the investigation regarding security clearance… So far, so good!… BUT, below the usual paragraph saying that candidates will need to show an ID card with a picture in order to access the room, there is a list of documents that they must take with them. For Canadian citizens, it is not too bad… yet, for immigrants like Corey (who has been in Canada only for the past two years), it is another story!…  Here goes the list for him:

• A proof of Permanent Resident Status
• A proof of address
• A proof that his post-secondary diplomas have a Canadian equivalency
• All his residential addresses (including postal codes) for the past five years
• A certificate of good conduct issued by local law enforcement authorities within Canada and/or by the countries he has resided (including fingerprints)

Corey applied for his university degrees equivalency last May… but he is still waiting for an answer… when he called this morning, he was told to call back on the 27th… as for fingerprints, although he would go to the RCMP this week, chances are he would not have the documents ready by Saturday… and getting a certificate of good conduct from the FBI will also take time…

Sometimes, I do wonder on which planet these people live!… How can they imagine for a second that people can gather all those documents in five days?… They live daily with useless and endless bureaucracy, without mentioning processes that never end… they should know better!… Are they  jaded to the point that they are brain dead? Obviously they have no clues about what this does emotionally and mentally to candidates. This morning I got a message from a panic striken and disgusted Corey… Of course, I am no expert, but I do know enough about their absurd hiring process so that my students often turn to me for answers… Yet, this morning, I was in total dismay… besides comforting him, I could not find any rational answers to his questions.

Then I thought of Mark who, not long ago, went through this ridiculous ordeal… I immediately forwarded him the email Corey had received asking him to clarify things for us… he replied right away explaining that the Department where Corey applied for a job position was probably in urgent need of new staff and, therefore, they wanted to accelerate the hiring process by starting the security clearance right away… he said it was not necessary to produce all the required documents on Saturday: filling in the form and providing the documents Corey already has will be enough for now… and when he will get the others, he will then forward them. Actually, security clearance and SLE testing are two different things and Corey should have received the usual email with his testing date and a separate email regarding the security clearance requirements. But, both being in the same email, it looked like if he ever showed up Saturday morning without all those documents, he would not be allowed to take the tests!… Maybe they wanted to save time, yet they should have explained what this is all about! Fortunately, most of my students know each other and… together… they provide a kind of support group for the newcomers… which is great!… I do believe this whole process makes us better and helps us to stay connected with reality… and appreciate life…

As Corey’s French trainer, I am quite angry right now… he needs to focus on the upcoming tests (and I know he will be called in for the oral interaction exam very soon!) and any extra stress might jeopardize his chances to get his Cs… he is human and, of course, he is affected by this last minute non sense… In what emotional and mental state will he be when I will get online with him tomorrow morning?… Krystal used to cry and, in some ways, it was good… but men do not cry!… Yet it does not mean that they are not overwhelmed and discouraged with this process… I know he will recover from that day in hell, but was it necessary to go through such a roller coaster?…

La Dame dragon and Corey... relaxed before the crisis!

Our dinner last Friday was a good timing after all… everyone enjoyed some quiet time, good food and wine… those moments, unfortunately, are rare during the hiring process… it is why we appreciate them when they are there… 

Mark and Seema... both smiling and happy!

“Le processus d’apaisement bien féminin : pleurer…”

Michelle Guérin