Census Jobs

NonGeographicalMan

Deleted_User wrote: »

You certainly made lots of assumptions about what sort of person they would want to recruit. From everything I have read I got the impression they want us to be in frequent communication with the coordinator and I answered the siftabililty as such - and I got an interview.

After reading the last 2 pages of this thread I am now convinced Capita have got ONE thing right at last!

I did suggest referring back to the coordinator on anything that would have affected the work being done properly. I just didn't say I would give up my collection round for half a day to go and help some clueless colleague who lacked basic common sense in how to do the job and I just didn't say I would stay at home today because there were lots of days left to go.

I'm detecting a working class solidarity thing here in the use of the Thanks button since I have obviously revealed myself by now as an educated public school type.

I don't find this kind of you sound too clever for us attitude at all prevalent in campaigning threads against dodgy companies etc elsewhere on the MSE forums.

NonGeographicalMan

Fluffs123 wrote: »

:rotfl: For someone who thinks you're so clued up it's rather funny you believe that. It's just a standard polite response - they're hardly likely to say "You were crap".

I certainly wouldn't expect the words "performed well" to be used if you had failed the test.

I would at least expect it to have been something like "although you did fairly well" in the test if they were trying to tell you that you had failed it politely. Anyhow as they don't tell you your score it could mean anything.

Also you seem to ignore that I applied with a week to go before the start of employment whereas most of you Mums with young kids applied three months or so ago. In reality that is almost certainly why I didn't get an interview. Namely because they found that enough people had passed their telephone interview and training in that area for them now not to need me.

Their actual words were:-

You performed well when completing the exercises but unfortunately on this occasion you have not been selected for an interview. We will not be taking your application further at this stage but it is likely that further positions will be available in the future. As a result we will keep your application in reserve and will contact you again if further interview slots become available in the future.

So why would my application be kept "in reserve" if I had simply failed the test.

It really is very tedious to encounter all this working class solidarity "he's not one of us" thing but I suppose its inevitable given the rate of pay for the job.

dou_jyr

i'm actually beginning to feel rather sorry for you good luck for the future.

NonGeographicalMan

dou_jyr wrote: »

i'm actually beginning to feel rather sorry for you good luck for the future.

I believe a lot of Capita's Siftability stuff is aimed at confirming you are an average kind of person who does not think outside the box and so will not rock the boat as that this is the kind of thing Capita values in their slaves (oops sorry I meant employees).;):rotfl:

It now appears you can't afford to get less than 3 out of 5 on every single question as they don't want to hire any dangerous radicals even though they may be highly intelligent. See http://tomcat4.prospects.ac.uk:8080/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3332&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=210&sid=eed447353c49b8c4e0b7670ac700c364 for more discussion on Capita's use of Siftability tests.

I seem to recall that in response to the questions about the colleagues who told me they had been throwing their questionnaires in a waste paper bin and a colleague who admitted they were fiddling their expenses that I went for the report it not just to the line manager but also to the company as well responses.

It may be of course that they want someone who will keep their head down and mention fiddling expenses or binning of questionnaires only to their line manager. Who knows. It depends on the value judgements of Capita as a company and thus how they have decided to score the answers to the test.

And like I said I may not have failed the test and may in fact have scored well but have just applied too late in the day for there to be any jobs left............

jacko909090

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

I am actually interested in the Census and its long history in the UK (something the superficial and vacuous Cameroon clearly had no interest in or knowledge of and instead immediately wanted to abolish as another cost cutting measure) as I have a background in statistics and before I applied it wasn't obvious to me just how in control of everything Capita was.

Perhaps you can clarify who is actually paying the wages and whether that is also Capita or is ONS?

I don't have a high opinion of Capita since its only aim in life as a company is to make as much money possible and it is not dedicated to doing things well but only to doing them profitably. It was also one of the principal introducers in the UK of the 084/7 phone number call centre ripoff system. You will note that Capita even used a ripoff 0845 number for Census Jobs enquiries even though somebody in the ONS did the right thing by insisting that the enquiry number about the census itself was an 03 number that is always included in bundled minutes in call packages on both landlines and mobiles and not charged at a 900% per minute premium from a BT Payphone (as 0845 number are).

I didn't like Siftability but I know that I got a very high score in it as I could see straight away what was driving the basis on which the questions had been set and I answered it the way they wanted it answered and not the way I would have answered it if I didn't think getting employed depended on it.

They must know damn well too that in answer to their question about what to do if it is raining most people would say I've got several weeks of this ahead of me and would rather wait till the rain stops before I get going if they were answering it honestly instead of toadyishly.

I didn't have any respect for Siftability as it didn't want to find out about my individuality or beliefs as a person but only wanted to find out how much of a good company man who followed instructions to the letter without question and who only worried about meeting targets I was.

We are employed by ONS so they pay our wages but Capita have been sourced to run the operation of the payroll process.

I agree with many of your points about the use of Capita and other such companies to run and manage Public Services - they do waste money that could be better spent actually provdiing services instead of lining the pockets of some very rich people. However, it is not fair to only point the blame for this at a Labour Government - the Conservatives have been just as culpable for doing the same thing. Neither of which is right, in my opinion.

I can understand your frustration but I think some of your previous comments about how you will tackle the Collector who knocks on your door to ask about your non-returned form and also your judgemental attitude regarding those who have been successful in getting a Collector position have been unnecessary.

No-one on any forum can know the background of the people we are interacting with and to suddenly start labelling people and citing 'working class solidarity' is highly unfair.

lexilex

Deleted_User wrote: »

I'm in a similar position as you - I did the e-learning and sent off the id on th 17th March, and I haven't heard anything yet. I haven't given up hope yet as there is a similar thread on the The Student Room forums where someone on the reserve list got a conditional offer this morning (I'm not a student by the way, I found it on google).

I did ring them a couple of days ago to check that they got my id documents (which they had). I asked about the chances of getting something and they said that as I was asked to do the e-learning and send in the docs then I am at the top of the reserve list. (It seems there are various levels of "reserve" and we are high up).

Thanks for replying, I thought my post had got lost in all the bickering. I shall keep my fingers crossed, hope you get something too.

andyroberts1967

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

I'm detecting a working class solidarity thing here in the use of the Thanks button since I have obviously revealed myself by now as an educated public school type.

Money well spent then!!!
:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Wittymore

Where do we enter our bank details for the census job as i didnt copy it down before doing the assessment and now it wont let me enter the e learning module any more

andyroberts1967

Wittymore wrote: »

Where do we enter our bank details for the census job as i didnt copy it down before doing the assessment and now it wont let me enter the e learning module any more

I got an email like this:

Dear ***********,
Welcome to the 2011 Census payroll system. Your employee number for your new role is **********. You will need this number if you choose to enter your timesheets, expense claims or bank details via the telephone using the IVR service. You will also need your employee number if you contact the Employee Helpdesk. You will find important information on using the payroll system in the New Joiner’s Helpnotes for Payroll document. This document was available to view and download when you electronically signed your contract. iWeb is the payroll system that will be used to make payments to you. You can use the iWeb self-service facility to submit your timesheets, expense claims and bank details. You can access iWeb via the following webpage https://iaw.censusjobs.co.uk. Your iWeb user ID and initial password will be the same as the user ID and password that you set up during the recruitment process. Please note you will not be able to use iWeb before your first day of employment. For further information, please refer to the iWeb manuals which are available from your e-learning homepage. Log in at https://elearning.censusjobs.co.uk. If you need further help please contact your manager in the first instance or the Employee Helpdesk, on 0800 4084 789, if your line manager is unable to assist you. Please retain this e-mail for future reference. Regards, Capita HR Solutions

Wittymore

andyroberts1967 wrote: »

I got an email like this:

Dear ***********,
Welcome to the 2011 Census payroll system. Your employee number for your new role is **********. You will need this number if you choose to enter your timesheets, expense claims or bank details via the telephone using the IVR service. You will also need your employee number if you contact the Employee Helpdesk. You will find important information on using the payroll system in the New Joiner’s Helpnotes for Payroll document. This document was available to view and download when you electronically signed your contract. iWeb is the payroll system that will be used to make payments to you. You can use the iWeb self-service facility to submit your timesheets, expense claims and bank details. You can access iWeb via the following webpage Your iWeb user ID and initial password will be the same as the user ID and password that you set up during the recruitment process. Please note you will not be able to use iWeb before your first day of employment. For further information, please refer to the iWeb manuals which are available from your e-learning homepage. If you need further help please contact your manager in the first instance or the Employee Helpdesk, on 0800 4084 789, if your line manager is unable to assist you. Please retain this e-mail for future reference. Regards, Capita HR Solutions

Absolute legend thankyou