I feel an interview was used to make me to reveal my secrets as a personal trainer
I am a personal trainer and was offered a job interview at a well-known gym chain. I got down to the final three and felt I did extremely well having booked in three clients in about 15 minutes.
A few days later I was told I hadn’t got the job. When I asked why I was sent an email stating several inaccurate reasons.
After contacting the general manager I was given, this time by telephone, a totally different set of reasons as to why I had not been selected.
In hindsight I feel I was completely used by the management to supply all my trade secrets – the how, why and what of how I train clients (I’m 40 next year and started gym training at 12). The interview lasted over three hours, and they wanted to know everything. Do I have any options to take it further?
Jeremy says
As a general response to the subject of interviews and feedback the first and fairly obvious point to make is that, in any given interview, both the interviewer and the interviewee are consciously or unconsciously making comparisons – but those they make are very different. The interviewer is making comparisons with other candidates, the sole purpose being to identify the one individual who most fits the brief.
The only comparisons the interviewee can make are with other interviews that he or she has already experienced. An interviewee may feel, as you did, that they’d done extremely well but all that means is that they felt they’d done better than they had in previous, unrelated interviews. That’s not a comparison interviewers are able to make and nor would it be relevant to their decision even if they could.
So while it’s only human to feel cheated, it’s also illogical. Only those who have interviewed the entire applicant list can claim to have made an objective decision.
While asking for feedback is usually sensible, decipher responses with caution. If you have ever interviewed people you’ll know how fiendishly difficult it can be to put into cold, hard words often quite complicated and intuitive feelings. Instinct will always play a part. Employers aren’t going to put in writing: “We thought you were well qualified but felt there was something not quite right about you”. Much safer – and kinder? – to say something about “relevant experience”, for example.
Finally, there’s the matter of whether or not you were deliberately pumped for your trade secrets. I suspect that you’ve allowed your disappointment to colour your suspicions. While those suspicions might be well-founded there’s absolutely no way you could prove them or hope to exact any form of compensation. If you haven’t already burned your boats, it might be wiser to accept their decision gracefully and register your interest in any future vacancy.
Readers say
• We self-employed learn to be very wary of disclosing our expertise only to find “our brains have been picked” but the nature of an interview demands full disclosure and should not be abused in this way because effectively it is a breach of the procedure of negotiation. jamwizard
• Although I’m sure you’re an excellent trainer it’s unlikely you actually have any “trade secrets”. If you do, you should get on with marketing them! katiewm
• A supermarket interview consisted of a group discussion and then 45 minutes bag packing on the tills, ostensibly to see how candidates worked. I got the impression it was more a way to get 10 people doing a bit of free work. tiniow
• 1 Just how many “trade secrets” can you give to a large gym chain; if they are that large they’re doing something right.
2 How many such secrets can you pass on in three hours?
3 If you really do have trade secrets which the managers of a gym chain don’t know and you can pass them on in three hours why don’t you create a half-day gym management training course and sell them? There are plenty of companies who will do the admin for you. Or, 4 get over yourself. SpursSupporter
• If you’ve been a personal trainer that long where’s your built-up client base? Why are you relying on a big gym chain that will have a large, poorly paid turnover of young trainers. Doesn’t make sense. d4drgene
My training in a beauty salon was so unpleasant I was forced to leave
I’ve just turned 17 and left my job as a trainee in a hair and beauty salon because it wasn’t a very nice environment and I was getting stressed. I never used to get breaks and I would have to work up to 11 hours most days. Staff weren’t pleasant to each other, including me. Now it’s the new year and I have been out of a job for over a month and obviously haven’t had any money. I’ve handed in CVs in most places around town but no one has been in touch. I need a new job fast – what can I do?
Jeremy says
It’s not an easy truth to come to terms with – especially when you’re getting desperate – but nobody’s going to give you a job because you need one. Stop thinking about what you want. Instead, think about what you can offer. Why should anyone pay you – and what will they get in return? (Please avoid all vague generalities such as “good with people”.) Simply circulating your CV is most unlikely to achieve anything, as you’ve already discovered.
Identify specific places you like the feel of. Find out everything you can about them. Work out what of your qualities and/or experience you believe could be of value to them. Then write a carefully tailored pitch for each. You might even offer a week’s free trial – it shows determination and you’ve nothing to lose.
Readers say
• Why not try local hotels. You’ll learn on the job and meet new people, which is a great opportunity to network. laudrupswingman
• Speak to the Prince’s Trust. It is ideally placed to help you start a business, and help towards a business plan. BeckyP
• Ask family and friends if their employer is looking for new starters. Try thinking about less obvious places. Write a list, then hit Google to check out websites for businesses in your area. SuperTurboFunkatron
• Go temping. No, it doesn’t offer much security – but if you’re good you won’t be out of work. HeresJohnny
• What about seeing if the beauty counters in Boots/department stores need staff? Macaron
• From what I’ve heard, hairdressers can be one of the most bitchy environments. That said, it’s never a good idea to leave a job without one to go to. stevenhope1964
• Look at going self employed/mobile. Start with friends and family and clients from where you worked. Keep advertising low key to begin with: notice boards, local paper, Gumtree. See if you can build up a client base and sign up to for further training. You may need to work as a temp to make ends meet, but at least you will have a road map in place. fizzdarling
