O/T Application forms

[Robdinho]

Why do application forms have to have such ridiculous questions? I am currently trying to fill in the nPower online application form. one of the questions is:

What is the most recent thing you have learned?

They surely don't want an honest answer to this cos the most recent thing I have learned is some trivial fact about feinting goats.

Why bother to ask if they don't want an honest answer, and how exactly does this give them any idea of my suitability for the job?

 

[Frutos]

What did you learn about fainting goats?

 

[Rangdo]

Yeah, what about the fainting goats?

 

[Barrel of Fun]

There was a programme about fainting goats. It is when they are startled and a genetic conditions causes their muscles to freeze and they topple over.

There is probably a Youtube vid of them somewhere. Very amusing.

 

[Bry Nylon]

The most recent thing I learned is Beach Hut's view of what constitutes a "reasonably sized" willy...

Just goes to prove that what you learn, and what you want to know, aren't always the same thing....

[Feel free to quote all of the above on your application form, and good luck!]

 

[e77]

There was a programme about fainting goats. It is when they are startled and a genetic conditions causes their muscles to freeze and they topple over.

There is probably a Youtube vid of them somewhere. Very amusing.

If a spider suddenly stops in the middle of your front room floor when running across it, it has probably fainted due to lack of oxygen.

 

[gullshark]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=f_3Utmj4RPU

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Here's something that is:-

1) Worth learning; and
2) Worth putting down as the most recent thing you have learned.



"NPOWER IS RIPPING OFF LOW INCOME CUSTOMERS"

Press release from The National Housing Federation

Npower is the worst offender when it comes to charging poorer people, via prepayment meters, more for their energy – according to a new league table published by the National Housing Federation.

The league table, which is based on figures from the consumer watchdog Energywatch, shows that Npower charges up to £110 per year more to its prepayment meter customers than to standard credit customers who pay by cheque.

More than 3 million people, normally those on low incomes, pay for their energy via prepayment meters. The higher charges made to prepayment meter customers have been recognised as a major contributing factor to fuel poverty, where those on low incomes struggle to pay for the gas and electricity they need.

Fairer pricing on prepayment meters would help the Government to meet its statutory target to eradicate fuel poverty for vulnerable people by 2010.

 

[Robdinho]

There was a programme about fainting goats. It is when they are startled and a genetic conditions causes their muscles to freeze and they topple over.

There is probably a Youtube vid of them somewhere. Very amusing.

Yeah, those goats. What I learned is that they are actually used by shepherds to protect their sheep. They put a fainting goat in with the flock, and if a wolf or something comes the goat gets overstimulated and faints, so the wolf eats the goat and the sheep are saved.

Here's a video (just of the goats, not a wolf eating them!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we9_CdNPuJg

 

[Yorkie]

NPower also pay the lowest wages they think they can get away with. They took over Yorkshire Electricity in 2002 thus making me redundant because they closed down our offices and moved them to Peterlee. We were being paid 15K-18K dependant on length of service. The people in Peterlee were being paid £10K to do exactly the same job.

 

[Bry Nylon]

"npower" isn't a proper word, and when you say it out loud, you sound like somebody with learning difficulties.

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

Why do application forms have to have such ridiculous questions? I am currently trying to fill in the nPower online application form. one of the questions is:

What is the most recent thing you have learned?

They surely don't want an honest answer to this cos the most recent thing I have learned is some trivial fact about feinting goats.

Why bother to ask if they don't want an honest answer, and how exactly does this give them any idea of my suitability for the job?

Not sure of the nature of the job you're after but here's a few thoughts:
Overall I think they're looking for applicants to demonstrate that they both learn and can recognise learning opportunities. They want you to show that you can/will develop yourself and are not going to just sit there and 'plod on'.
There's a lot of management stuff circulating around at the moment about how people learn - eg Did you learn something in order to be able to carry out a specific task or did you learn independently because you were interested and then seek to apply to a work situation?
Ideally, any example you quote should be job related/relevant and something you'll be able to talk about confidently at an interview.

Hope this helps and good luck.

AD.

 

[Cian]

NPower also pay the lowest wages they think they can get away with. They took over Yorkshire Electricity in 2002 thus making me redundant because they closed down our offices and moved them to Peterlee. We were being paid 15K-18K dependant on length of service. The people in Peterlee were being paid £10K to do exactly the same job.

How is it possible to live on 10k *anywhere* in the UK?

 

[Wardy]

Not sure of the nature of the job you're after but here's a few thoughts:
Overall I think they're looking for applicants to demonstrate that they both learn and can recognise learning opportunities. They want you to show that you can/will develop yourself and are not going to just sit there and 'plod on'.
There's a lot of management stuff circulating around at the moment about how people learn - eg Did you learn something in order to be able to carry out a specific task or did you learn independently because you were interested and then seek to apply to a work situation?
Ideally, any example you quote should be job related/relevant and something you'll be able to talk about confidently at an interview.

Hope this helps and good luck.

AD.

Is the correct answer. I have used this type of question at interviews before, though not on the application form since that in generic. What I am looking for is the fact that you are not just going to learn what you have to, but instead are going to try and find out something that will help you but is not needed. If I was you I would try and find out some more about npower like, number of customers, trading figures etc. Then answer the question with something like, details of the market postion of npower.

At the interview you can then tell them how many UK customers they have, what percentage of the population they provide power to and what their profit was for the last year. All stuff that you do not need to know to do the job but all stuff I would expect you to have found out prior to an interview.

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

How is it possible to live on 10k *anywhere* in the UK?

By becoming a student?

 

[Woodchip]

Now these are worth learning!!!

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/nine-brain-quirks-you-didnt-realize-you-had.html

 

[Grendel]

How is it possible to live on 10k *anywhere* in the UK?

Pretty easily I would have thought. It equates to a take-home of £724.09 a month. Rent a room, inclusive of bills, for £300 and you've got over £400 left to last the month which ought to be more than enough to live on.

 

[Cian]

Pretty easily I would have thought. It equates to a take-home of £724.09 a month. Rent a room, inclusive of bills, for £300 and you've got over £400 left to last the month which ought to be more than enough to live on.

I wouldn't call the subsistence living that that would provide "pretty easy", especially if you've any transport costs - UK public transport is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination; and you can't afford a car on that. Would also leave absolutely no stretching room for emergencies, and so on.

 

[Yorkie]

How is it possible to live on 10k *anywhere* in the UK?

They relied on most of the applicants being women with husbands who also have a job.
They filled the vacancies. I was just glad to take 25 years redundancy money and get out of the north.

 

[Cian]

They relied on most of the applicants being women with husbands who also have a job.
They filled the vacancies. I was just glad to take 25 years redundancy money and get out of the north.

Oddly enough, that's what the electricity company here used to do, too. They actually asked staff members to put their wife's forward for the call centre jobs (except when my dad worked there, the term call centre didn't exist...). But the money wasn't quite that bad! And my mam already had a job at the time, so...