Census Jobs

velissaria

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

I also think that in real life how you answer questions about reporting colleagues who break company rules would actually depend on the overall picture regarding your colleague who proposed to bin all the questionnaires and/or answer them fictitiously themselves etc as this might after all be just a one off momentary expression of frustration after many days of boringly back breaking work in lousy weather that they had no real intention of actually going through with or alternatively it could be entirely symptomatic of their whole approach of always failing to take their work seriously or indeed the last straw in a whole series of repeated examples of "gross misconduct". It would also tend to depend on the personality type of your line manager. If you thought your line manager was an incompetent wimp who would do nothing about something serious then you might be more inclined to report it over their head. Also you would be more likely to have faith in a line manager you had worked with for years and respected than some temporary Capita area manager recruit also only working for a few weeks pay on the census who you hardly knew from Adam......

In real life we - hopefully - take a lot of other factors into consideration. Obviously, you have an analytical mind, but in these tests they want you to be like a robot with a kind of programmed behaviour. I wouldn't be able to work for a company like this, so when they called me back a few days ago and offered me conditionally a Collector's post I declined to go through the process.

Good luck to all those who decided to take the jobs offered. I hope it is not as messy at the recruitment was.

Purse_String

Glad its not just me waiting around then! I've done 3 loads of washing, walked the dog, cleaned the car and now sorting out the evening meal. I am not going to waste such a glorious day when the onus is clearly with the co ordinator to contact me. It states it clearly in the literature and repeated again in the classroom training to wait for them to contact us. I hope the whole experience isn't going to be like this. How difficult is it to send an email?

londondealer

I'm so glad that I went with my gut instinct and pulled out a week after they emailed me the offer. Sounds like a real shambles.

NonGeographicalMan

velissaria wrote: »

In real life we - hopefully - take a lot of other factors into consideration. Obviously, you have an analytical mind, but in these tests they want you to be like a robot with a kind of programmed behaviour.

In other words you feel that they want their employees to behave the same way as those they employ in large call centres such as the ones that they run on behalf of the BBC to take viewer and listener feedback. The biggest of these was set up 15 or so years ago in Belfast.

The staff there have always to my mind stood out for their total and utter lack of any interest in broadcasting or program content (especially compared to the old BBC Duty Office staff in London who they replaced) in a job that should be all about taking an interest in that very thing. I suspect this is a function of the way in which Capita have recruited those staff so that anyone with too opinionated or individualistic a personality was weeded out before being recruited or if not resigned within a week or two of starting work.

I wouldn't be able to work for a company like this, so when they called me back a few days ago and offered me conditionally a Collector's post I declined to go through the process

If this job involved working in a call centre or processing forms at a desk in an office I would tend to agree with you. However as in practice it simply involves working out on your own on the street with nobody directly supervising or monitoring your interaction with those you call on I don't think they will really be able to extend their normal somewhat Orwellian influence to the day to day execution of the task in hand. The only way they can do this is if their collection rate per hour is too high in relation to the inevitable confused elderly ladies etc amongst those you call on who will need a good chat and where normal human instinct would be to indulge them. However if Capita's collection targets are sufficiently high pressured one may have to cut those conversations uncomfortably short.

Given what is being said on here about the apparent inefficiency of Disclosure Scotland in carrying out CRB checks I don't actually see how any of the Collector roles currently advertised on the wee.censusjobs.co.uk website with an application closure date of midnight today (6th April) are going to lead to employment unless Collection is going to extend for two weeks more (beyond the advertised employment dates) in those particular areas or if some employees are only finally going to get two weeks work after all the Siftability, online training, classroom training, telephone interview and CRB and identity check hassles they have had to go through.:eek::mad:

VintageGirl_3

Well I have absolutely had it with this sham of a so called recruitment process. I applied for a Collector role back in February and to date completed everything that is required of me, provided all the paperwork that is required of me … etc.
I have had to make numerous telephone calls regarding emails received stating that they are awaiting documentation that should have been given at the training day, which was given. After a lot of promises of “a team leader is dealing with your case” I phone up today to be told exactly the same thing!
Well I truly kicked up a storm and have told them that if I do not have some resolution by 3pm today I shall be going to my local MP and the press. I hold no hope of getting a resolution but I will take this as far as I can as it is simply disgusting the way things have been managed and I have had to deal with a catalogue of errors from these cowboys from day one!

jessy132

I still haven't had a call from my co-ordinator and I am supposed to be starting as a collector today?!

VintageGirl_3

chalkysoil wrote: »

Civil Service Commissioners

The Office for National Statistics recruitment processes are underpinned by the principle of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners' Code which can be found at If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Code and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact in the first instance.
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Agency, you can contact the Office of the Civil Service Commissioners.

Thanks for that Chalkysoil.

Well, I got my call from a manager at 3pm on the dot. Well they still claim that my trainer did not confirm on the system that he witnessed my original documents, and have been unable to chase the trainer as a considerable amount of people are in the same position! I suggested that I am happy to bring the documents AGAIN to another training session being held in the local area, which I am now going to do on Friday. Apparently once this is done and the trainer, hopefully, confirms this on the system my contract can then be sent out.

They stated that the 6th of May is still the end employment date for collectors, so desperation leads me to jump through these hoops to hopefully have at least 3 weeks of employment. If I was in any other situation I would have told them to stuff it!!!

cloudcuckooland_3

I was emailed last night at 9pm to say I was on the reserve list and could I urgently send proof of ID etc. Before that heard nothing since Feb.
Annoyingly someone who I don't know (a 'friend of a friend') I had helped through the whole process because I had done it in 1981 now tells me she has got the job (only a few miles from me) and starts soon having passed her online test wiv flying colours!
O well!
Could do wiv ze job - single parent at 54 wiv 27000K worth of debt.
Happy dayz!!

FenFatale

Chalkysoil, am in exactly the same boat as you. Contacted Capital at 4.00 pm today - 25 mins to get through to speak to someone, to be told the onus is on the co-ordinator to get in touch with me. If I haven't heard anything by Friday lunchtime I was instructed to ring again and they will "escalate" matters. Unbelievably frustrating! Wasted a whole day waiting for e-mail or phone call, and trying to find any information online when I came across this forum. No real consolation that other people are in the same situation - just highlights the shambolic recruitment process. Hoping for contact soon, for everyone in the same situation. I can at least get access to iWeb payroll, so if no joy by Friday evening I intend submitting a timesheet for 3 days' loss of work, and travelling expenses for the training afternoon, and see what happens. :mad:

first78

I'm sorry to hear that so many people are having trouble. I started as a collector today and have enjoyed doing a few hours work this afternoon....after the months of unemployment I've had it feels good to be doing something at last.

Not filled with confidence with my co-ordinator though I must admit....so I was wondering if there were any co-ordinators here who had time to PM me so I could ask a couple of questions?

Thanks in advance and good luck to all you other collectors out there!