PDF = Pretty Darn Flimsy

(As I’m unemployed, I was assigned to a year-long jobseekers’ assistance program, which is farmed out to a UK-based company. I knew it was going to be awful from the stories I heard from friends who had also been on it, but this is one instance that I will share of how bad their employee training standards are. I have to sign up to a job search website and upload a copy of my CV. The site will only accept it in PDF format for some weird reason. I’m not a tech genius but I’ve learned a lot of basic troubleshooting from my husband and friends in various IT roles, and I manage to figure out how to convert my .doc file on the unfamiliar-to-me word processing program.)

Advisor: “So, how’s it going?”

Me: “Grand, now that I got the PDF converted and uploaded.”

Advisor: *shocked* “How did you do it? We haven’t been able to work it out and it’s made everything so slow! “

Me: “It’s… this button here.” *points to the toolbar on [Word Program] then politely shrugs* “Once I found that it was easy. It’s amazing what you can learn just on Google.”

(She calls over another advisor and tells him about my amazing discovery.)

Advisor: “Oh, my God, we’ve been printing files out and scanning them back in as a PDF! [My Name] should be working here with us! “

Me: *laughing politely along but cringing inside* “Well, if you need tech support, I am looking for a job!”

(I know I have a slightly higher-than-average competence and some office experience, but this was about the second time I’d used this software. They worked with it every day and the solution to their issue was literally staring them in the face. Needless to say, they did not help me find a job. I’m dreading the thought of being called back to that office.)