Hi folks, Danny here, new to the community so an all round hello to you all and merry xmas in advance.
Ok folks so i appreciate this request may be a little random, but i am reaching out for advice from you all and in some cases maybe your help.
I have applied for 3 positions within Monzo, two being the calls and social media, aiming mainly at the out of hours placement. This particular role was attractive, as I am moving to South Africa for 6 months in January 2019, and the hours required would work perfectly given the minor time difference.
Unfortunately due my modest experience required for the placement requirements I did not get invited to the interview stages. I completely understand the system and anyone with more experience is understably going to be more favourable in this situation. However i must confess, I am a little gutted. It hasn’t though deterred me from continuing to knock on the door in the hope of working with Monzo. I genuinely want this.
I want to approach this in the right way, I would happily work 10 hours per week for Monzo for free, in exchange for the opportunity to gain the relevant experience necessary to make any future applications on my behalf more desirable.
I appreciate this may seem unusual but like i initially mentioned, the hours are suitable and I would like very much to join the Monzo team. Even if it did meen investing my own time for free in order to better my chances.
Many thanks in advance and once again, Merry xmas for later this month.
It’s ok mate I got well over 20yrs customer service, team lead, sla writing, contract negotiation, call centre manager, area manager etc etc and I didn’t even get a look in either
You probably won’t get a response from Monzo on this - no matter how good your intentions with the original application and this post, from their perspective the risk of it blowing up in public into something emotional just isn’t worth it. Additionally they would be taking on some risks by not paying you - they would have to carefully manage the legal side of it - and they still have a bunch of costs in having you onboard that they may not have budget for, because it would be similar to hiring another full-timer.
It can be super hard to lose out on a job. I’ve been turned down for jobs before on my skills, even when I’m a true believer in their product/vision or the role. Sometimes it can be hard to get that across in the application - other times maybe they recognise that, but still have to hire on the skills.
I would recommend sitting down and listing out all the skills Monzo were originally looking for - and thinking about other ways to get experience in that area. Maybe voluntary/charity work, or another job? And spend some time on making sure your CV and covering letter (I don’t know what form applications for this job took) are a) awesome, b) accurately portray what you’re about. You’ve got a year, and if Monzo keeps growing, they’ll be hiring again. In the meantime, you might find something else you really like - even that allows you to work from abroad.
I’m instantly closing my account if they started to make use of free labour - I know your intentions are good and I can understand why you offer but there are good reasons we should frown on this sort of thing…
Know your worth! Working for free shouldn’t be an option for anybody right now.
Look into other fintec companies for jobs or get some experience elsewhere. It’s not the end of the world and I’m sure you will be able to get a job elsewhere.
I realise that you have good intentions, but this sort of proposition makes me extremely uncomfortable. Even if you’re happy, you’re undermining the position and value of others - “why should I hire you/pay for £x when he’ll do the same job for free?” See also: criticisms relating to unpaid internships.
If it’s an experience thing, there must be other ways of finding work to do that will give you the experience. Possibly even in the charity/voluntary sector, even.
