Unemployment is still boring

I applied for a job as a library clerk today, and I discovered that anyone who can read is pretty much overqualified to be a library clerk. That's probably why it pays less about $10 an hour. 

The application process included a literacy/computer skills test that probably wouldn't baffle a 9-year-old. I had to answer 9 questions, type the answers out in a Microsoft Word document, bold each answer, save the document to the "My Documents" folder in Windows and then e-mail the document to someone using a Yahoo! account. We also had to print the document.

To answer the questions, you had to visit specific Web sites--the question sheet told you which ones to visit. (The library Web site, Wikipedia, the state's site, WebMD.) The URLs were still saved in the Internet Explorer browser history, so I didn't even have to type them out. The "My Documents" folder was the default save location for the file, so you'd have to be really special to screw that up.

We were given an hour to do this. I was finished in less than 20 minutes...and that was after I physically double-checked all my answers...and wrote all of my answers out on the "scratch" sheet of paper (I realized after I finished typing my answers that I didn't know if writing them down also was part of the test, so I didn't want to risk turning in a blank scratch piece of paper). 

I glanced over at the lady next to me who had started the test before I sat down to my computer. She hadn't typed out an answer yet, but I think she was filling out all the answers on her scratch sheet first.

I lingered for another 5 minutes before printing, just so I didn't seem too eager. My resume already shows I'm overqualified, and I know they won't want to hire someone likely to get bored and leave, although if the job is as challenging as the employment test, I'll scratch my eyeballs out after about four hours. Plus, there's the whole, "I can't really afford to live on $10 an hour" thing to deal with, too.

The second phase of the employment test measured my ability to arrange things in numerical and alphabetical order. I had two stacks of cards, one with titles and another with numbers. I was finished with both in 20 minutes, and that was after I double-checked both stacks. I was told there was "no time limit" for that test.

So, all in all, a fun day.