Applications Are Sent From Human Beings #jobapplications #workexperience #pleasereply

When it comes to advertising a job within your organisation I know only too well how you can be inundated with eager people applying for the job. You might even have more than one position and your inbox can be extremely busy. Some of these emails might seem to you to be “a complete waste of time” But someone has taken the time to send the email enquiring about employment within your organisation.

As well as people applying for position advertised you might also have people sending a general email asking if you have any vacancies within your organisation, and there are younger ones perhaps asking if you have any vacancies for work experience.

I hear from some many people (and from personal experience) that unless you are successful and invited in for an interview a lot of organisations will not reply to let the applicant know that they have not been successful, or simply that there are no vacancies at that present time.

I appreciate that you could have many applications for just one post, but it takes very little time to have a set message that you can cut and paste and put this into an email back to the applicant. This allows them to put that application behind them and work on applying for the next position. By not having any communication it gives people hope and keeps them hoping that they might hear something.

I have a friend whose daughter is 15 years old is doing work experience this summer. She wants to have a career as a physiotherapist and eager to spend her 2 weeks work experience in this field.

Below are examples of just 3 of the organisations she contacted asking if they could help in any way in offering her work experience  – she emailed each of the 3 organisations, a polite well written email outlining her interest in becoming a physiotherapist and said that she look forward to hearing from them.

The first email was sent to a large teaching hospital. This was her first experience in applying for work. The hospital was local to where they lived which meant travel would have been very easy. Excited at the thought seeing how physiotherapy worked within the hospital environment she eagerly waited a reply. Sadly, she received no feedback. Not even to say she had not been successful.

 

The second email she sent to a local physiotherapist who worked on their own. She heard nothing for about 4 weeks – and then she received a lovely letter through the post. The physiotherapist thanked her for her email and apologised for the delay in getting back to her. The physiotherapist went on to explain that they had just recently changed premises and her letter had been mislaid during the move. The physiotherapist went on to say that she would have been more than happy to have had her during her work experience but she was in fact away skiing at that time, but if in the future she wanted any more information or guidance to please get in touch. She also wished her every success in her future career.

 

The third email she sent was to a larger Physiotherapy Clinic. She received an email asking her along for an interview. She went along and was met with an extremely lovely and very helpful physiotherapist who instantly put her at ease and who had also done the course that she was interested in doing. She was thrilled and enjoyed the tour of the building. She found everyone extremely friendly was offered the place for her work experience. As you can imagine she is over the moon and delighted to have found something.

As you can imagine a 15-year-old applying for a position, and then having an interview would be quite daunting. She dealt with it very well, and her parents were so very proud of her. This is her first experience in going out to work in the big world! She was lucky to get the interview and to have such a good experience.

However, it was sad that her first application for whatever reason was ignored, the second application showed empathy on the physiotherapist part – taking the time to write to her, in the form of a letter which was incredible, and although she wasn’t offered any work experience the letter did giver her confidence after the first rejection. The third email of course she was delighted, she might have gone for the interview and for whatever reason she might have not got the work experience or she simply might have felt it wasn’t for her. BUT having her application acknowledge and the experience of having the interview was so important for her first steps into the world of interviews forthcoming training and employment.

This scenario could also apply for people who have been out of work for some time and having lost a bit of their confidence. An email, phone call or letter could turn that right around. Nice, encouraging words don’t cost anything.

So, next time you get an enquiry, or an applicant applying for that vacancy please take a moment to think about the “person” behind the email and please give them the respect and reply even if it’s just to say “thank you for your application/enquiry” and “sorry we do not have any vacancies at this moment in time” or “I am sorry you have not been successful in this application” Remember communication is vital in all areas of HR and the person behind the email will appreciate your feedback even if it might be to say that they have not been successful.

Emails after all are sent from human beings!

© 2011-2018 Reception Training all rights reserved

When You Overhear a Breach of Confidentiality #Bank #PersonalInformation #Uneasy

 

I popped into my local bank on Friday and whilst waiting in the queue I was shocked at what I overheard.

There was a staff member of the bank on the information desk helping a gentleman. The member of staff was polite and extremely helpful to the gentleman – full marks for customer service. BUT she was extremely loudly spoken – almost shouting while she spoke, she had one of those voices that everyone could hear. Standing in the queue with 2 other people in front I could not help but hear everything she was saying and it was all very clear. The member of staff was obviously speaking to another bank department on the telephone and it was to do with their on-line banking app.

The conversation between the customer and the bank staff was very one way, I could hear the member of staff very clearly yet I couldn’t hear the customer at all.

This is what I overheard and it was VERY loud and clear.

The member of staff was on the telephone explaining to the third-party that the gentleman in front of her has been locked out of his on-line banking the night before. This she said happened at approximately 22.10.

She explained to the third-party that the customer uses this way of banking on a regular basis. She went on to tell the third-party exactly what had happened and what he did as in logging out and trying again, and what app he was using – telling the third-party that he uses this app on a regular basis.

She explained to the third-party that the amount the gentleman was trying to transfer was £6,500 and she made a comment that this was possible why it he was locked out as it was such a large amount. She asked the gentleman exactly what the message had said when this happened. He obviously replied but I couldn’t hear it, but she then proceeded to tell the third-party what the message said.

She asked the gentleman what device he has used, he replied and again I couldn’t hear him, but she then told the third-party that it was an IPad that he had been using for the transaction.

She then proceeded to give the third-party the customers:

First name, surname, address and date of birth.

She then gave the third-party his

Account number, sort code and the account name that he held at the branch.

I was completely gobsmacked. 

 

I wondered if I should say something!!! Should I stop her making this situation worse than it already was. I actually felt uncomfortable standing there listening to this gentleman’s personal details being broadcast for everyone to hear.

There was another member of staff standing just in front of her directing people to the self-service machine and he didn’t once attempt to tell her conversation could be heard and to make it even worse right next to her were 2 empty offices where she could have taken the gentleman ensuring that confidentiality was adhered to throughout the call. She must have known that these questions would have been asked by the third-party.

She then proceeded to ask the gentleman for proof of identification so he gave her his driving licence to which she told the third-party she had and went on to give the third-party his driving license number.

My turn came to do my transaction, again I wondered about saying something to the cashier in front of me, but did I want to cause a fuss as this really wasnt anything to do with me and there were enough members of staff in the bank at that particular time that someone could have said something.

I left the bank, shocked I had been in there about 10 minutes enough time that I heard so much of this gentleman’s personal information. The sad thing is the member of staff was doing her very best to help this gentleman, but in doing so she could have caused a bigger problem simply by not understanding and adhering to confidentiality.

 

Working Together #NHS #111 #A&E #GPSurgeries

Sadly, as most of you are all aware there is a lot of negative publicity in the press at the moment about our great NHS service and sadly some of it with good reason.

It saddens me to read some of the dreadful reports about patient care and those working for the NHS being abused and often overworked. Working for the NHS and being a patient I can see a lot of this from both sides.

Doctors surgeries are busting at the seams with patients struggling to get appointments. Practices are merging together but are they able to continue to offer the service they did before?

The Ambulance service is stretched and A&E are struggling to find beds resulting people being treated in corridors, whilst Ambulance crews are held up in the car parks with patients on board waiting to be seen and treated, often resulting in the ambulance crew not being available to go to the next emergency.

Sadly, there are still the time wasters and abusers of the service. Those that call that emergency ambulance when all they needed was a GP appointment, the hoax callers that can tie up the emergency services for hours before they finally find that there was no “emergency” to those that present at A&E for minor ailments. Working in the past in A&E it never ceased to amaze me just what people would present with at A&E with. (I have written other blog stories when I worked in A&E)

As a Manager working in the NHS it’s a hard job. Struggling on a daily basis, trying to hit targets, wanting to give best patient care is almost impossible, dealing with staff that are forever under pressure on the front line and answering to stressful ‘those who need to be obeyed.

As a Receptionist, you will never please everyone, and many will be sure to be vocal and let you know how unhappy they are and often blame you for the “awful service”.  Telephones ringing constantly, people demanding urgent appointments that you just haven’t got, GP’s and Managers constantly asking the impossible from you, and all while you are working for barely more than the minimum wage.

Hearing from friends, updates on social media and press reports everyone is struggling to be seen resulting in people misusing the NHS because they had no alternative.

A friend recently phoned 111 (for my overseas readers this is an out of hours service which covers GP surgeries when they are closed – an excellent service which gives patients 24/7 cover). My friend felt very unwell, sore throat, temperature and generally feeling very unwell. She spoke to somewhere at the 111 Service, for whatever reason the 111-service suggested she took paracetamol and phone her GP surgery the following morning. She had a bad night and phoned her GP Surgery first thing the following morning. Her surgery was unable to offer her an appointment and she explained how ill she felt, she was than advised if she continued to feel unwell to take herself off to A&E – as ill as she felt she would have never done this but many might have acted on this advice. She left it another 24 hours and phoned the surgery again where she was given an appointment for that day where she was given Antibiotic and Steroids for a chest infection.

My husband was recently poorly at a weekend, as thought he had a nasty chest infection. I phoned to see if we could get an appointment at a local Treatment Centre (the out of hours service where you can see a GP). After giving the operator all his symptoms (he was breathless due to the cold/chest infection) the operator said they she recommended that they send an ambulance out to him. The protocol said that if the patient was breathless or had breathing problems that an ambulance should be sent. There was no way that he needed an ambulance, he could have actually driven himself to the Treatment Centre, he was ill but not that ill, and even if he was I could have driven him there.

I believe that both of the above where 2 incidents where the emergency services (A&E and an ambulance) were not needed. I know that people have protocols to follow but in these two instances the patients could just have been seen and treated by a GP.

Do we need to look at the bigger picture, to look as how we can signpost people in the right direction, to ensure that people who need A&E are seen, and those that can see a GP do so? We have a great NHS, we can see a GP free, we have GP cover 24/7 and at a last resort we have a great emergency service in the ambulance service and A&E. It’s important that everyone needs to see those that are appropriate to them. Is there anything that we can do together to ensure that this happens most of the time?

I would be very interested to hear from my many overseas followers on how their GP Practice work. How does your routine appointment system work and when patients request emergency appointments what is your practice policy and does you’re A&E Departments get clogged up with people who don’t need to be there?

 

© 2011-2018 Reception Training all rights reserved