( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
Hey Gamster, how’s GAMSAT prep going?
(⌐ಠㅿಠ)
…
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
You’re not Gamster. What did you do with Gamster???
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
No Gamster no!
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
I will remember you Gamster. You will always be my brother.
(⌐O_O)
Oh that’s my friend Bamster. Bamster wants to take the GAMSAT, but is really busy.
(^ΦдΦ^)
That must be really difficult for you.
(⌐O_O)
Snarksy!
(⌐ಠㅿಠ)
It is – I can’t even prep for the GAMSAT – I have to work.
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
Ok, so how come you have to work?
(⌐ಠㅿಠ)
I live by myself, and I have rent and groceries and bills to pay….
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
Ok, so have you thought about moving back in with your family during GAMSAT prep, so you don’t have to work?
(⌐ಠㅿಠ)
Well, I’m not on the best terms with my family… and even if I were, I’d rather live by myself.
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
That’s fine. I still think you should work out things with your family though – but that’s another conversation….
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
So, you said you have to work – do you have any money saved up? If your savings is large enough, you can take time off work for the whole GAMSAT prep period.
(⌐ಠㅿಠ)
I’ve considered that. Thing is, work has been really stingy with shifts, so I’m barely earning enough to cover my living expenses, let alone save anything significant.
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
So just to check, you are actually a great worker, right?
(⌐ಠㅿಠ)
I would say that I am, but all I get are the short, busy shifts, and I’m the first to get sent home first when the busy times are over, and I’m rostered as on-call a lot of the days, yet I rarely get called in.
(⌐ಠㅿಠ)
Oh and my rostered days seem to change week by week, and I can’t plan anything in advance.
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
That’s rough. So if you’re not getting the shifts, who are?
(⌐ಠㅿಠ)
Other workers – particularly the few who are really good friends with the manager.
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
Ohhhh….
(⌐ಠㅿಠ)
What?
(^ΦдΦ^)
Are those workers any good?
(⌐ಠㅿಠ)
…I would say that most other workers getting less shifts are better than them.
( ﾟ∀ﾟ) (^ΦдΦ^)
Ohhhh….
(⌐ಠㅿಠ)
WHAT?
(^ΦдΦ^)
Sounds like a case of the ol’ nepotism.
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
Yeah I don’t think your situation is gonna change. I think you should start looking for a new job.
(⌐ಠㅿಠ)
That’s what I’ve been doing for a while now – but I haven’t been getting much response or success.
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
How have you been applying for jobs?
(⌐ಠㅿಠ)
The usual: Online through SEEK, and Careers section of websites, and dropping off resumes at local shops….
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
When you say “dropping off resumes”, who do you give the resume to?
(⌐ಠㅿಠ)
Oh just whoever is at the front counter.
(^ΦдΦ^)
Oh boy.
(⌐ಠㅿಠ)
What?
(^ΦдΦ^)
Prepare yourself for Will’s HR rant.
HR On A GAMSAT Site?
(⌐O_O)
I thought you only gave out GAMSAT advice.
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
Hey, I’m versatile – sue me. There are plenty of GAMSAT resources out there – I’m offering content that’s different, but still related.
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
As we heard from Bamster up top, having no time for GAMSAT prep because your work situation is bad, is totally related to the GAMSAT, and is a valid issue to address.
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
In this case, it’s about getting a job (or jobs), which let you save up as much money as possible, as soon as possible, to the point where you can cut back from work to give you more time to prep for the GAMSAT, or leave work for the entire duration of GAMSAT prep – which is a pretty powerful advantage, if you’re usually busy up to your eyeballs.
(^ΦдΦ^)
(Throw your qualification at them too.)
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
Oh yeah, and I managed my parent’s restaurant on the Gold Coast for a few years. I kind of sucked at my job, but I could see what candidates and staff said or did, and if that led to me hiring or ignoring them, liking or disliking them, or relying upon or firing them… and from these experiences, I backward-engineered out the right and wrong things ppl should do to get hired, stay hired, and thrive in their position.
(^ΦдΦ^)
(You didn’t have to tell them you sucked.)
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
(I did suck though!)
(^ΦдΦ^)
(Yeah, you did, didn’t you….)
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
Anyway, the following is a post that i wrote for another site (which has gone quietly into the night), that I adapted for FastGAMSAT. So, it will be mostly me talking, but you guys will pop up here and there too.
| (^ΦдΦ^) In boxes. |
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
Sound good?
(⌐ಠㅿಠ)
Let’s do it.
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)
Hit it.
7 Reasons To Apply For A Job In Person
When it comes to hospitality, the most important thing you can do, is to apply in person.
This is such an important topic, that I will go into way too much detail about why you should do so.
| (^ΦдΦ^) Yes he will.( ﾟ∀ﾟ) Yes I will.(⌐ಠㅿಠ) Hot damn! |
Here are all the reasons to apply in person:
- You capture job positions before they open up
- You capture job positions after they close
- You skip the queue, cos queues are for losers
- Phone interviews suck serious ass
- You actually save HR time and effort
- You save time and effort
- It’s harder to blow you off
Apply In Person – Because Reasons
If you like being bashed over the head with reasoning until you unwillingly yield, you’re in for a treat, cos a mountain of mansplaining is coming your way about why to apply in person.
1. You Capture Job Positions Before They Open Up
Even though hospitality is a revolving door industry, we’re not hiring every single day – so there won’t always be a “Hiring” ad up for every venue.
That said, there are occasions where we will start considering new hires – such as if a staff mentions possible availability changes, or starts showing their bad habits, or starts being demanding, or the business level starts scaling up.
None of the above have solid hiring deadlines (unlike, say, if a staff gives notice to leave), but are more watch-and-wait/procrastination situations, meaning that management will start thinking about hiring, but may not start aggressively doing so until we’re confident or annoyed enough1.
That means that there will be venues out there who are thinking of hiring, but have yet to put out fresh ads.
Now, you can’t really apply online, since there’s no hiring ad to respond to – but if you apply in store, you’ll be considered for the job.
2. You Capture Job Positions After They Close
When you think job ads, you’re probably thinking of SEEK ads with well-defined “application closes” dates.
That’s not most small businesses.
SEEK is bloody expensive to advertise on – so venues which advertise on there, they keep the ads up for as long as possible.
Small businesses usually advertise on free job-posting platforms like Gumtree or Indeed – and even when they do, the ads don’t stay up for long: Even small businesses get tons of applications via email and phone and store-visits, and it’s annoying and disruptive to deal with.
So, the job ad usually go up for as long as it takes to line up some solid interviews and trials, then the ad comes down. If we need more candidates, we put the ad up again. We can do this at any time, since it doesn’t cost anything (unlike SEEK, which charges per ad).
That means job ads may be up for a few days2, then disappear.
If you’re trying to apply online, well, you can’t when the ad comes down; and if you try to call, it’s easier to ignore you, since it’s a less efficient way to assess candidates3, and we don’t need to tolerate your bullshit application attempt, since we have enough candidates lined up already.
If you apply in person though: Sure, HR can still ignore you, but since they get more info meeting a candidate in person, they’ll probably just see you anyway – and just like that, your foot’s in the door.
3. You Skip The Queue, Cos Queues Are For Losers
Ok, not all queues are for losers – some are necessary for social decency (at supermarket checkouts), and for not getting your windows smashed in with a tire iron on the highway (waiting for one car to pass before merging).
Some queues though, are for losers: Such as applying for hospitality jobs online.
Think about it: The venue advertised online, so you applied online.
Guess what? So did pretty much everyone else4.
So, your application joins the tens – or hundreds – or thousands – or hundreds and thousands – of others, in HR’s inbox.
Good luck standing out – or even getting seen.
Oh, and did you know that if your application doesn’t get seen after a certain period, it won’t ever get seen at all?
That’s cos your application has gone stale in HR’s eyes, and we assume that too much time has passed, and the candidate likely found a job already, or has moved away (or passed away [RIP tho])…
| (⌐ಠㅿಠ) Or moved on, or passed on.( ﾟ∀ﾟ) That’s a good one. |
…or can’t stay as long (assuming they’re international travellers, who have solid visa restrictions – and if they have a foreign-sounding name and are applying for a hospitality job in a tourist town like the Gold Coast, that’s what I assume. Nothing against them – just HR heuristics) – and we won’t even bother considering you.
| (⌐ಠㅿಠ) Then, can’t I just reapply?(^ΦдΦ^) (Shush, he’ll hear you!) |
Did you say “Then, I’ll just reapply?”
| (⌐ಠㅿಠ) (Oh shit, he did hear me!)( ﾟ∀ﾟ) (Yeah I did.)( ﾟ∀ﾟ) (Why are you guys whispering?)(^ΦдΦ^) (Why are YOU whispering?) ( ﾟ∀ﾟ) |
Let me tell you: When I see the same candidate apply more than once, I skip them by default:
- I may have opened and considered their app previously, and nothing came of it – the Now Me trusts that the Past Me skipped this candidate for some legit-as reason, and the Now Me isn’t about to change my mind.
| (⌐ಠㅿಠ) So we’re listening to Past You chat right now?( ﾟ∀ﾟ) Yep, that is definitely Past Me.( ﾟ∀ﾟ) Agreed, that’s definitely Now Me.(^ΦдΦ^) You just mean that that’s you. ( ﾟ∀ﾟ)( ﾟ∀ﾟ) ( ﾟ∀ﾟ)( ﾟ∀ﾟ) (^ΦдΦ^ ) (⌐O_O) (^ΦдΦ^) ( ﾟ∀ﾟ) ( ﾟ∀ﾟ) (⌐ಠㅿಠ) ( ﾟ∀ﾟ)( ﾟ∀ﾟ) |
- They’ve been looking for a job for 3 months / 6 months / a whole year / god knows how long, and still couldn’t find one? We trust that other HR ppl passed on this candidate for some legit-as reason, and we’re not about to go out on a limb for no good reason5.
| ( ﾟ∀ﾟ) This is where I high-five the other HR ppl out there in spirit.( ﾟ∀ﾟ) You mean we do.( ﾟ∀ﾟ)( ﾟ∀ﾟ) (High-fives)(⌐ಠㅿಠ) Does he do that often? ( ﾟ∀ﾟ)( ﾟ∀ﾟ) (^ΦдΦ^) |
So, by joining the queue by applying online, you don’t know when you’ll get seen, you take forever to get seen, you don’t get seen after a certain while, and if you rejoin the queue – you continue not getting seen.
That is a shit queue.
By applying in person, you skip the online queue.
In fact, you also skip the interview queue: Even if HR has tons of interviews lined up that day, if you’re there before the interviews, you get seen first – and possibly snag a trial before other interviewees.
4. Phone Interviews Suck Serious Ass
Phone interviews suck for a range of reasons.
Firstly, you never know when HR will call: Maybe when you’re having lunch or dinner or even breakfast, when you’re asleep, when you’re on the loo with a bad stomach, when you’re getting to third base with that damn sexy stranger….
Secondly, what if HR never calls: You’ve put in the work and the application, and you don’t know when you’ll hear back – or if you’ll hear back at all. It’s emotionally draining, and it wastes tons of time that you could be interviewing, trialing, or working.
Thirdly, you are rarely in the right state of mind to take a phone interview – you might be sleepy, tired, hungry, hangry, hungrythirsty, drunk, or you haven’t practiced your interview answers.
Fourthly, it’s an unidentified number – maybe even with no Caller ID. If you’re a young, attractive female6, by yourself, at night, are you going to answer it? It might be your crazy ex, or your stalker, or that creepy nice guy, or that Heavy Breathing Guy, or that guy OMG RIGHT BEHIND YOU (just kidding. Maybe). Are you going to answer the phone? Can you even risk it? Probably not. Unfortunately, that was HR – and they’re probably not going to call again.
Fifthly, say you miss a call, when you call back, HR is busy, and say they will call you back. But they don’t. So how long do you wait to call? What’s the best time to call? Does it seem desperate or forward to call when HR said they’ll call you? They don’t pick up again – are they ignoring your calls now? Have they found a worthy candidate? Are they interviewing him/her right now – over and over? If you and that candidate fell into the ocean at the same time, and HR could only rescue one person, who would they choose? How long’s this phone pong gonna go on for?
| (⌐ಠㅿಠ) Say, job-hunting sounds like dating.( ﾟ∀ﾟ) Sharp observation.( ﾟ∀ﾟ) Hey, we’re not up to that analogy yet. |
Sixthly, say that you pick up, and start talking: What if you have a lecture to hurry off to? A date that you’re late for? Another interview to go to? Do you rush this interview? Ask how long it’ll go for? Tell them you’ll call them back? Is that rude? What if they don’t answer when you call back? What if they find someone in the meantime?
Bottom line: You have no control when it comes to phone interviews. Approach in person, and do things more on your terms.
5. You Actually Save HR Time And Effort
When it comes to hiring front staff7, it’s not just about ticking off straightforward things like “what’s your availability” or “how many hours per week do you want to work” or “how long are you staying here for”.
No siree, hospitality – and especially front-of-house, is largely about the impression you give to other ppl. It determines if customers feel comfortable to talk to you, want to buy more things because they like you or like-like you, like to talk to you and will buy more drinks to continue talking to you and not be weird sitting there with an empty glass, and in extreme cases – want to even just be in the same area as you. These things impact business levels, how staff get along with one another, and even the whole reputation of the venue8.
If you’re charismatic enough, you’ll eventually even attract cats
So, this means HR also looks for things like “Does the candidate”:
- Have a professional yet approachable vibe?
- Smile regularly and naturally?
- Carry themselves with ease and confidence?
- Make comfortable conversation?
- Speak English good?
- Have a standard of dress and grooming?
- Just say they can make coffees and cocktails, or can they actually make one for shit?
- Respond in unfamiliar, surprising, or difficult situations with common sense, professionalism, and initiative?
Note that none of the above impressions can be adequately judged via a PDF in an inbox9. Describing yourself as “bubbly” doesn’t mean shit, since (a) you’re just saying that10 about yourself, and (b) literally every girl and her dog filter is saying that about themselves11.
If you apply online, HR has to try to look for these info in your application: At best you say the criteria (and that you fulfil it) – at least there’d be no deal-breakers. If HR is interested enough, they’ll give you a call, clarify all the key criteria, and maybe give you an in-person interview. In the interview, then they get a full picture of you.
The above steps may take 5 minutes, 15 minutes, even 30 minutes – and at any point, HR may come across a dealbreaker, or the negatives stack up to make them not interested anymore. If it takes them till the interview to realise this, they just wasted a whole bunch of time.
When you apply in person, you immediately give HR a full picture of you – which is a whole key section of the criteria; and in less than 5 minutes, HR can directly check dealbreakers, assess your customer service, ask you to make a drink, and know if they want to give you a trial.
When you apply in person, not only do you save a bunch of time, but you save HR time too – which will translate into goodwill.
6. You Save Time And Effort
When you apply online, you’re expected to write a cover letter addressing all the job criteria, tailor your resume to be more specific to the company and the position, and even write an introduction if you’re sending an email.
After you press Send, then it’s a game of chicken as you wait for HR to contact you back – how long do you wait to hear back? Should you call them first? How long should you wait before contacting HR? You applied on the weekend – do you simply write off hearing back until business days?
How long does the above take to go from application to interview? A few days if you’re really lucky? One or two weeks, or even longer?
Now imagine doing the above for every job you apply for.
Sure, once you get your cover letter and resume and intro sharp enough, it’s a matter of swapping HR names, business names, and position titles in and out for similar roles; and if you applied for 5 jobs in a day, the waiting time (1-2 weeks) is about the same than if you only applied for 1 job.
But that’s not the point here, is it?
| ( ﾟ∀ﾟ) (ﾟ∀ﾟ ) It’s not?(^ΦдΦ^) Oh shush, you.( ﾟ∀ﾟ) ( ﾟ∀ﾟ) Youse. |
See, if you applied in person, you don’t need to write no bullshit cover letters or intros – cos you can tell all that to HR when you meet them; and you can get away with a more generic resume, provided it has the general info HR’s looking for13.
Here, you save effort.
And if you apply in person at 5 venues, you might walk out with 5 interviews or trials, or none. Either way, at least you’re not twiddling your thumbs or biting your nails for weeks.
Here, you save time.
So, why should you save effort and time?
Well, the effort you didn’t spend on unnecessary job-seeking activity, you can use to apply for more jobs in person.
Assuming you’ve made yourself as attractive a candidate as possible14, job-seeking is a numbers game: Somewhere, somehow, some venues are looking to hire someone just like you – and the more venues you hit up with your resume, the more likely (and quickly) you’ll find your place of potential employ.
And the time you didn’t spend on waiting to hear back, you save by interviewing early, trialling earlier, and fingers-crossed, starting work earlier, and earning money earlier.
In this case, time is literally money: Every day you spend not being hired and working, is a day’s worth of pay you’re missing out on.
So, by applying in person, you save effort and time – and start earning the dollars sooner. Hopefully that’s what you want.
Have I banged on enough about applying in person yet? I thought so. Here’s one more:
| (⌐ಠㅿಠ) Does he ever stop?( ﾟ∀ﾟ) Unfortunately, no. |
7. It’s Harder To Blow You Off
You know how some girls have an online dating profile, even though they have no intentions of dating at the time, or at all: It’s nice to have a queue of guys to flirt with, chat to, string along, or ignore – for when loneliness or low self-esteem strikes them unawares.
Similarly, sometimes HR will advertise a position, or simply leave an old ad up, even if we aren’t looking for new hires.
Because maybe we will be hiring, sometime later – and if we dig the well before we’re thirsty, we won’t need to wait at all for fresh candidates to surface when recruiting time rolls around – we’ll have some in our inbox, every day.
Advertising for the sake of advertising also lets us keep a finger on the job market’s pulse, and see how the quality and quantity of candidates changes, and how far in advance we need to think about filling vacancies, or how much to put up with mediocre staff15.
If you’re just another shoot-your-shot chump in a girl’s inbox, you’ll probably get ignored – cos she’s just looking for validation, looking for backup dates, or just overwhelmed16.
If you have the balls to chat to her in person though, and you suggest that you guys catch up later: She may not have thought about dating up till that moment, but she’ll have to give you a response. And you’ve made the process efficient too – since you’re right there, she can get a quick but remarkably accurate feel for your vibe, humour, conversational chemistry, looks, etc., and can decide on the spot if she’s at all interested – if yes, congrats and game on; if no, at least you get to move on with certainty.
Similarly, if you show up in person looking for a job, HR can’t hide behind a computer screen and pretend you don’t exist17 – they’ll most likely see you, quickly assess your circumstances with what the venue’s looking for18, and how suitable you are as a hospitality staff19, and decide if you get to go to the next level, or game-over on the spot.
Either way, you’re not sitting at home waiting for the call or email that may or may not come for days, weeks, months, or until you give up or forget you applied.
And time is money; and not only is it money, it is your time spent not being dead as well. Make good use of your time.
So, Apply In Person.
Hopefully I’ve convinced you to apply in person for that hospitality position.
If you can think of any other reasons to apply in person, share them in the comments underneath!
Want loads more tips and strategies?Too busy to sit the GAMSAT, because you have no money, no time, or no support? Learn about how to change your circumstances with the BusyGAMSAT ebook series, available as part of the FastGAMSAT super-bundle, on the homepage!
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1.Putting up ads, interviewing, trialling, and adding new ppl to the roster and payroll all require effort – which we rather not do unless totally necessary.
2.Even just one day, when too many ppl are looking for jobs.
3.Maybe some HR prefer phone applications: I don’t like them, because unlike online applications, I don’t have a resume to quickly scan for dealbreakers, and unlike in-person applications, I can’t get a complete picture of the candidate (their look, vibe, grooming, dress sense, mannerisms, etc.)
4.Because minds on the same level, think on the same level.
5.It’s social proof working against you.
6.If you’re not, you’ll probably answer it – but who are we kidding, HR’s probably not going to call you.
7.Includes wait staff, bartenders, baristas, hosts, managers, etc.
8.For example, a restaurant can have good food, but wait staff with poor attitudes, and customers may return when they get a craving, but not make it their regular go-to place; or a breastaurant chain may have staff with poor English skills, but that doesn’t affect business levels, because the staff are chosen – by management, then by customers – for (ahem) other qualities, and the target clientele knows what’s important to them (and arguably, good for them).
9.Or worse, a OneDrive link to their resume. It technically works, but the formatting can go all weird, it loads slower, and the thought that the candidate took a step that prioritised their own convenience (pasting a link) over that of HR (attaching a PDF) just rubs me the wrong way.
10.Oh stop it, you.
11.Just like the phrase “fast learner”, which is code for “I don’t have the experience, and couldn’t/couldn’t be bothered to get the experience, but I do have the ability to reframe a negative into a positive(!)”. Or “excited to work with your company”, which just means they’re excited for the chance to hang out somewhere to get less poor at. Or “proactive”, which is literally bullshit, since if they were actually proactive, they’d get their ass over to the venue, and be sitting in front of me right now.
12.This isn’t uncommon – candidates can have a well-written resume, and talk a big game over the phone, but when they turn up, they’re late, have a weird vibe, haven’t heard of the concept of smiling in hospitality, and can’t steam milk to save their future children’s lives. The interview can give us more than half of what we want to know.
13.E.g. general availability, peak season availability (most relevantly, the upcoming public holidays and major events), flexibility working more shifts or less shifts, do you have your own car, length of stay, area you’re staying in (and if it’s close enough to the venue) etc.
14.I don’t just mean you bothered to put on make-up and sharpen your Blue Steel, but that you practiced presenting yourself confidently (verbally and non-verbally), sorted out issues that can affect your availability or flexibility to work (e.g. cramming classes into as few days of the week as possible, getting a bike or car or scooter, moving closer to regular public transport), gotten the expected qualifications (e.g. RSA, food handling certificate) or skills for work, practiced accentuating your best points (e.g. social skills, humour, industry knowledge, speed and efficiency, bright and positive vibe, hard-working-ness…) etc.
15.If the current amount and quality of job candidates suck, HR may have little option but to put up with sucky staff, who at least know the procedures and skills of the job already.
16.If a girl is ok-looking at all, or knows how to put on make-up, or knows how to Photoshop/use a dog-face filter/ride an inflatable pool flamingo, she’ll usually have more than enough adds/messages/matches/dick pics than she knows what to do with, or has time to deal with: And when in doubt, the easiest thing is to do nothing, which is why your sappy romantic prose about being in love together forever didn’t get a response.
17.Because you’ll probably refuse to leave – then it turns into a stalking situation, and eventually a hostage situation (with luck).
18.E.g. You can only work one day a week (which is bullshit and you know it) – are they looking for someone with that kind of availability?
19.E.g. Do you smile? And when you smile, do you look like you’re drinking vinegar?