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[waterspyder]

I wrote my Reading and Writing Second Language Tests today. I feel good. I expect to see at least a B and a C come of this. Actually I think I did well enough on the Reading to possibly merit an Exemption. 

I was conflicted to see only three women in the room to write the test. And by three, I mean one of them was me. I was disappointed that not more women made it this far in the competition. I am happy because it means I'm almost assured to get a position via employment equity providing I didn't tank on the test (not that I'm not already a prime candidate).

Okay, I sound conceited now, but whatever.

Government staffing processes are sort of akin to being dragged really slowly across miles of sandpaper.... are we done yet? 

Comments

[kookiemaster.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you will get the job. I hope you get the exemptions though. Having to take those test over and over again must be a total pain. I keep hearing my co-workers complaining about their French tests.

You have to love that employment equity. I qualify as a woman, disabled and metis. I'm 3 in 1 bonus equity material.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

Jeebus. I thought I was good at woman and disabled.


It took me a long time to accept special treatment... but you know... I'll take the advantage at this point.

[kookiemaster.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've been hesitating to use anything but the Women ... because frankly I look like just about everything BUT 1/4 aboriginal. Sometimes I wonder if I was adopted ... then there is the fear about the disability, because it's mental illness and because if any employer ever knew what it entails they wouldn't touch me with a 10 foot pole ... regardless of whether I am functionning or not. It's confidential but there is always a risk ... or maybe I'm just paranoid.

But when you see all those competitions where the requirements are basically a copy/paste of the resume of the person they want, it makes me angry and makes me think that one should take any edge they can get ... white healty males be damned.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

I have chronic illness, and while the disability associations do a lot of PR to reassure employers that disabled employees don't miss more work than normal employees and can do their jobs just as well... well... I really only do a 30 hour work week, but I've never missed a deadline in my life.

Most employers have no regrets about hiring me or concerns about my attendance after the first month, and most fight to keep me when I feel like it's time to go.

[zenten.livejournal.com]

I forget, I qualify as being disabled I believe.

[feli-valkyria.livejournal.com]

It may be that not many women applied for the position but I seriously doubt that.

I couldn't get a government position because I don't know French, which is related to one of my disabilities known as profound hearing impairment, lol. So I don't know how effective Employment Equity will be for me. It's true that I worked for Canada Council for the Arts but they are an arm's length government agency and not directly related to the government.

[kookiemaster.livejournal.com]

Many jobs in the government have an "English Essential" language requirement. Which means you don't need to know any French at all. My last position as a Research Economist was like that.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

I think they should make some exceptions in these cases. Not every job needs to be bilingual, and one presumes the kind of work you do usually would not entail dealing a whole lot with the public, and as such, I really don't see why you couldn't get an English Essential position.

[kookiemaster.livejournal.com]

There are also "French essential" positions in Quebec but those are super rare. But then again, if you've graduated highschool and CEGEP in Quebec you have much more second language training under your belt. It starts in elemetary school in third grade and is mandatory every year afterwards except the last two years of highschool where you can do both year at the same time if your grades are good enough.

I was actually amazed / disappointed with how little French is taught in the Ontario public school system. It's good news for me but bad news for people who want to come work for the government.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

I think it's supposed to be every year from Grade 4 until Grade 9... but it's like 3 hours a week. I really don't think it's enough.

I took immersion from Kindergarten until Grade 5, enriched French in 5 and 6, Core French in 7 and 8, and Advanced French from 9 to OAC.

I have been known to fool people into thinking I'm a francophone, and can conjugate plus-que-parfait, but can't tell you when to use it.

So I spent 15 years speaking French on a nearly daily basis in school in Toronto, only to move to Ottawa, and speak it for 5 minutes a month.

[kookiemaster.livejournal.com]

Having an boyfriend who only spoke English helped me a lot.

But with all the latin you took, it probably gave you quite an edge when it came to French. If you think French verbs are fucked, try Spanish ... they had my head spinning and are the reason why I stopped taking it after four years.

Sometimes I fool anglophones but it's rare because I still have some slip ups with certain sounds. Mind you for some reason everybody in Montreal seems to think I'm anglophone. Maybe I've "assimilated" the "english canada look" and don't know it o_O

[zenten.livejournal.com]

You know, Isobel defiantly comes across as an Anglephone.

[kali-kali.livejournal.com]

So from this I gather that if I see a government job on any government website now, if I apply for it now, I'd probably only get hired after April 12?

[kookiemaster.livejournal.com]

When I applied for my first government job, I did so in October. I started to work in May. Gives you an idea of how painfully long it can be.

[kali-kali.livejournal.com]

I see... I thought application processes that long were only for jobs that they hire lots of people for (such as last summer when I worked for the Census, where they hired around 1400 people just in Ottawa, applied in December and started working in May). I guess I'll get to looking and applying then!

[zenten.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there are a number of summer job positions that have already closed.

[ms-danson.livejournal.com]

The normal government hiring process takes a long time and due to the new HR guidlines that are now in place it takes longer due to it being a) confusing, and b) new. Everything must be documented and done just right. The goal was transparency and transparency means paperwork, which means sacrificing expediency. Internal hiring for promotion and manager positions in my office are taking approximately 6 months at this point.

On the other hand, if there is a program in place that is pretty standardized (ex CIPO hires 3-4 times a year using the same process to get a group of new hires) then it can move very quickly. Under the old system I was hired in a month. Under the new system I think it takes longer but it isn't crazy.

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

Pretty well. I applied for this job last August. Skills Tests in September. Interview in November. Results in January. Language Tests in February. Oral Language Tests in March.

I'm expecting an April or June start.

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

Good luck!

Hopefully you'll be spared the hassle a friend's wife had, of being strung along and told that the security clearance could be handled after she started work, until 3 months later when she was about to accept and start, they changed their minds.

(She called someone else back and took another job :)

[waterspyder.livejournal.com]

I already have that out of the way, and it's Secret no less.

[kookiemaster.livejournal.com]

Ooooh ... we can share secret cabinet information that nobody else on earth cares about :P