Something rotten in Romania
Hello, everyone. I don't know if this belongs in this thread, I wanted to create a new one but did not want to break forum rules or something.
I just came home from the AD in Bucharest, Romania. It wasn't your average AD as this one was organised by Lalsat International Romania. Yesterday, 06.05.2011, 200 of us showed up on time for a prescreening interview with the appointed agency as scheduled. We had been told that we would be competing for 70 spots.
We started at 08.00 am and in the vening there were only 70 of us left. Out of the 70, 6 of us were male. We went through an English test, reach test, group discussion and we all submitted our CVs and photos.
The very next day we showed up for the interview with Emirates recruiters at 08.00 sharp. The agency guys arrived at 08.15. People were getting frustrated when we saw that it was 09.00 and the recruiters were nowhere to be seen.
Around 09.15 a strange thing happened. Two guys showed up, Cvs in hand, went through the crowd strait for the agency people. They shook hands, talked and laughed for about 10 minutes, it was obvious they were old acquaintances.
09.35 the two recruiters arrived, XXXX from XXXXXX and XXXXXX from XXX. It was the first time that I saw recruiters who looked like they were homeless. Hair was loose and an overall mess, wearing the kind of clothes that one would wear around the house after a bad break-up. They went inside the interview room followed by our beloved agency people. 10 minutes later Mr Radu, the agency manager came out and told the two guys who skipped the prescreening that it's all set. The two guys started cheering and hugged the two girls in casual clothes who had joined them.
All of a sudden another person came inside the hotel, a girl wearing a skirt, nice shoes and a leather jacket, the kind bikers wear. Same thing. Agency guy went inside to talk to the recruiters, came out and said it's all set.
So now we were 73 despite being told that 70 was what the initial number was. These 3 people seemed to have special treatment.
All in all, during the first stage of the assesment, the two men proved that they had no English skills whatsoever. One of them, when he was requested to tell us something about the girl on his left reffered to her 17 times as " He " until the recruiter told him the right word.
After the first stage, all 6 guys who went through the prescreening like regular people failed. The only two remaining men were the two guys who just showed up for the interview.
The girl with the leather jacket had even worse English skills and she stayed in the race....
I waited outside and talked to the two girls accompanying the two "lucky" men and found out that they had been successful in a previous interview organised by Lalsat, and that they received their golden calls just 4 days after their FI. I find that unusual as the other girls who attended the same interview waited for about 4 weeks to receive their GC. While talking, without realising, one of the girls said that they didn't go through the prescreening either, and that she panicked during the interview because for a moment she forgot what she had memorised to tell the recruiters.
Bottom line.
This interview and the one 2 months ago were just one big fraud. Lalsat International is a freakin' joke. I am so dissappointed!!! There are more than 25 of us, who are going to write an open letter to Emirates, sign it ourselves and ask for ODs in Romania or ADs with nominal invitations from Emirates, no more Lalsat and bribes but I doubt it will matter, we live in Romania after all.
Anyway, if you are reading this and if you can afford it, if you want a real chance, go to some nearby country where there is no agency, otherwise I guarantee you will be waiting for 6 months to pass like we are now.