[Andy&Carol]

Creative thinkers needed urgently! Can you guys help please?

Background Andy works for HM Prison Service as an Instructional Officer, he has applied for a couple of jobs with the Dept of Corrections in NZ, one of them doing exactly what he’s doing now.

Dilemma 18 Oct, message from recruitment saying Sector Manager in NZ ‘very interested’ in talking to Andy, however he wants a face to face interview and asked if he had any plans to be in NZ soon – Andy’s answer at that time was ‘no’, he suggested video conference or webcam. The lady in recruitment sent a message saying she’d try to set something up.
21 November, Andy sent a message to his contact in recruitment enquiring how things were going, and the reply came back that video conferencing through the NZ equivalent of BT would be ‘a bit prohibitive’ due to the cost, and a webcam using their internet facilities would be impossible because of their ‘very high security systems’. So, (finally!) …
The question Anyone got any suggestions of how to get around this? We’ve had a few ideas, but a problem shared is a problem halved and all that! We would appreciate any suggestions based around either:
a) technology to conduct the interview with Andy in UK and manager in NZ this would need to take into account cost and security issues, or,
b) CHEAP ways of getting Andy over to NZ, accommodation is no problem because he can stay with relatives, but a really cheap flight is vital!

Thanks, Carol

[asterix]

Just a thought couldn't the manager conduct the interview outside the prison security system - using a computer and webcam else where. - Good luck!

[peebles16]

Hey Carol
If you have to try and organise a video conference can you not do it from this end and offer to pick up costs? I know you can do it through various outlets and probably cost a couple of £100 tops but much cheaper than round trip for Andy. Just a thought, could you try and have informal phone chat/interview with employer rather than agent just to suss out if it's all worth it?
It's all sounding really promising and things are moving on the job front for you :D
Karen

[Andy&Carol]

Thanks Asterix & Karen, we're putting together a list of ways around the problem to send through to our recruitment contact (she's actually in HR for Dept ofCorrections) We did wonder about using a webcam hooked up to an alternative venue. However we hadn't thought of offering to pick up the tab for video confrencing - good one!

Thanks a lot, C x

[Angelonthemove]

good luck you guys my interview with Corrections was over an hour with 3 people so maybe they were worried about length of time and all being able to hear. Plus I think they like to see your reactions to their in-depth questions.

[benandclare]

Have you suggested using Skype to them ?

[MaxG]

Have you suggested using Skype to them ?

We used Skype for my second interview after I got back to the UK, but to be honest connection speeds in NZ are not all that they could be. We ended up using a speaker phone at the NZ end and just using Skype for the video! It will still require an outside venue I suspect. It sounds like their network only allows HTTP traffic through port 80 (with everything else and all other ports being blocked). Skype uses port 443 out of the box, but there's a guide to alternative ways of getting it to work (http://www.skype.com/help/guides/firewall.html). It does have the great advantage of being free!

[Andy&Carol]

Phew MaxG that's technical! I think I'll copy and paste your reply straight onto our list of suggested ways around the problem that we are sending to our HR contact.

Angel on the move - I've heard they ask extremely deep and meaningful questions - and like to see the whites of your eyes!!

Thankyou too benandclare.

Carol x

[RamblingPaddies]

yep sounds like they are restricting their http traffic which kinda defeats the purpose of having a web conferencing.

when i had my interview (didn't get it !) i used a local college's web conferecning facilities (most colleges have them now - even some are open toe the public) and at the other end was a similar system.

it was like they were in the next room ! but then the bits of kits were top class both ends ... it all depends on the system and kit that the prison has. no point in trying to use a puny webcam on a 56k dialup to talk to a LAN super strength system with a security worried manager on the other end.

i mean, interview/security wise, what is the prison worried about ?