This, I guess, shouldn't be in their policy

Yesterday afternoon I received a phonecall from a certain HR company. They were phoning me, allegedly, about a job offer I'd applied for almost a month ago, on 09.03.05. Not a high-fly job, yet really well paid if you consider the effort/nerves/responsabilities/wage ratio. Plus, in the centre of Bcn, so I'd be close to my son's school and friends' places for lunch/evening meetings.

Let's say it, it was as a receptionist for a cultural institute, with a high level in Catalan, Spanish and English. But better paid than both my previous jobs -Marketing & Purchase Assistant and Head of Export dept.! Hey, no problem, I shall pick up the phone and attend your visitors with a hell of a great, bright smile for that wage!

Where's the catch to it? I didn't know, so I wanted to find out. Sometimes they ask for a receptionist, but you end up doing secretarial work too -no problem in that case. Sometimes it's more a case of a typo -thanks, but no thanks, in that case.

So, today I went to the HR office for the interview, and the girl in charge of recruitments said that the job wasn't worth applying for now, the conditions had been changed and the salary, the only thing she guessed had attracted me to a lower kind of job*, was almost sliced down to half! Nonetheless, she wanted to see me to have me in her databank, as my experience and profile was fit for a few positions they'd been trying to cover some while ago, so now they guess they may have a job for me soon(ish). Would I be interested in Export, Import, Marketing [...]?

I must say, the salaries in Spain have receded so badly it is not the first time someone behind the desk has warned me about a change in wage, terms and conditions or has commented on how little the companies are expecting to pay for a well trained and experienced professional. They say some times they feel bad even for publishing certain ads, yet people still do reply to them!


*So she called it o_Ô