They posted a listing on the government website "jobbank.ca" and I had applied through email. The add was for a bilingual office worker but was completely in English. I have a French immersion diploma so I applied, even though I haven't had what I would say is sufficent use of the second language.
They contacted me by email since my phone had been having technical issues. They were persuasive as I later saw they called a few times as well as the couple emails I received. This was a good indication that they were interested and an effective company. She indicated that the first stage of the interview was only to ensure I was able to read and write, with correct use of grammar of course, and also the ability ti speak fluently. I was obviously aware I would be a little rusty but was still quite confident going into the conversation with another bilingual employee. I was expected to talk to one person specifically but was sent an email providing a time to expect a call from a different employee. I was expecting to talk to a manager for human resources but ended up speaking with what I expected was a "lower" level employee. When I received the call he explained he was just talking, only to make sure I was able to soeak and not to worry one bit if I was rusty. He, who was French, and spoke English as a second language, was very quick speaking, which I persobaly expected and embraced. I know what is expected of a bilingual person, and I know I met those expectations, but, for some reason him and I just didn't have much to speak about and I personally think he made the choice based on personal opinion. When I say personal opinion I don't mean of my ability, I mean that I think he just took the job, chose whoever he liked and that's that. I believe that if I spoke with whom it was intended then I would have had more of an equal chance. The contact I had through email was very polite and professional and I know the company is great but this interview was not what I had expected from such a well established company. I never heard back after he told me everything was great and all he wanted to do was make sure I could speak fluently and that was after we spoke at the end. It would have been nice if maybe they had offered the reason I was not chose to move to the next stage. This was my French ability only right? What I wanted to know was: who was he to make the decision? did he have the ability to decide what was sufficient? Why couldn't they tell me what they decided since they had invested so much time into going forward with the process. I believe I spoke better French then he did English, so that is why I'm flustered. I believe maybe they should've corporate the French into the interview.