Once again, I was too busy to write a line on my blog… January brought a flood of new requests for training! It seems there are no more breaks in the PSC SLE testing… in other words, it is the peak season all year around!
And now, I have more and more requests for preparing people to their oral interaction test in English. Therefore, the trainer/coach who was working for me occasionally is now busier than ever taking on the students who need help with their English.
In the news department, three of my students took their oral interaction tests early last week. Two of them got their results: Mia and Tamara…
Mia, who was almost in tears the day before her exam due to her anxiety and fear of failing her C, wrote me an email early Friday morning… she got an E… What an achievement!
Congratulations Mia!
As for Tamara (who was also very nervous the day before her test), she obtained the B she needs to comply with the requirements of her job position… Now she wants to move on with her training so that soon she can target a C!
Congratulations Tamara!
Since I have little time to write a post, I decided to give you my first quizz of 2010… Of course, I chose my favourite topic: les anglicismes!… In this test, you will have to find the sentence in which the word is used incorrectly (with its meaning in English). I gave it a try myself and I got 50/50… yet I had to ponder upon a couple of them before making my final choice… Let me know how it went for you!
Weather is weird… it’s March in January here… very mild temperature and rain…
I always whine about bad French… but bad English also exists!
While trying to figure that one out, click here to play my game…
Have fun!…
Photo credit by Philip Lean, Canberra, Australia
The PSC Hiring Process: A bitter sweet love affair on a roller coaster!
Once again, I have been too busy lately to write a post… requests for training and preparing people to take the SLE tests are pouring in endlessly… and I had to run last minute marathons with the ones who woke up a bit too late in the process… useless to mention that they are devastated even before starting training!
Yet, in this absurd process, great news keep coming in… for instance Stefan, who had been in the SLE testing process for more than five months, finally got the results of his oral interaction test last Friday. He got his B!… he is now relieved although he will have to wait probably a long time before he knows whether he got the position he applied for or not…
Congratulations Stefan!
Aaaah… the hiring process in the Public Service of Canada!… I really do not know if I could sustain such pressure myself… probably not, merely because I have no patience for red tape administration and I have zero tolerance when it comes to stupidity. I know I would be the worse civil servant ever!… Indeed, either I would quit the job after five minutes or they would fire me after my first day!… But I know my limitations and I would never apply for any government job positions!… I do believe it takes lots of nerves to work there… and, in many ways, I do admire those who can do it and adapt…
What frustrates me the most is probably the inconsistency of the hiring process… Of course, the numerous written exams, the long fake interviews and the SLE testing basically stay the same… as well as the order they have to be taken. Yet it does not mean that change does not occur between the beginning of a competition and its ending… and some modifications are major and quite unfair…
Take Krystal’s case for instance… she had applied for two distinct full time job positions within the same Department here, in Ottawa, more than a year ago… She went through the whole hiring process without losing faith, although she shed some tears once in a while… She was a real trooper!
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