Should I go to this preliminary interview?

It said its for the first 100 qualified and I got an email to come in for a 3 1/2 hour long typing test and written test. It says its a preliminary interview, its for an office job in the law enforcement field. It's 48 mins away from where I live. I'm planning on going, but I'm wondering if its even worth it if they have 100 applicants taking the same test right along with me. I mean, why would a typing and written test take three hours? Any advice? Should I go?

I just don't want to waste my time/gas if its a small chance that I'll be selected for further progress in the hiring stage. It seems stressful. I'm not sure what to expect. In the email they gave confusing directions, like park in the basement near the office building, take the elevator to the sixth floor, turn left towards the snack bar, sign in, come in 15 mins early, wait for your name to be called, etc. (Not the actual directions, I wrote that as an example, it was more confusing in the email, my dad thinks they wrote it so confusingly as part of the test).

If it's for a branch of the government, I would go. That's just the way they work. Some people won't show up, some people will flunk the test, so your odds will improve. Your test results may be kept on file for future jobs. Maybe you won't get this one, but you will get a call back in six months about a job closer to home!

I think you should go for sure. They could possibly use your results for other jobs that are currently available even if you don't get this one. 100 people really isn't that large of a pool. When I look for new staff members it takes me a LONG time and MANY candidates before I find just the right person. Count on a lot of those people not even showing up.

Did you go CosmicRose? Or, are you going to? I agree with what's already been said - go! It's a hassle, but who knows what will come from it. If nothing, you'll get a peek into how the government hiring process works, and that might be useful to you down the road at some point. Good luck!

Thanks for asking Guilloche, yes I did go recently, and I passed both tests! I actually had very high scores. So proud of myself for going through with it. Now it's just a waiting game to see if I'm called in for the oral interview.

It is all useful experience, think of it as interesting and fun, give it yer best shot, after all it only costs you at little time and fuel.

Good job, CosmicRose!

Perhaps you've made up you're mind after all.

I was gonna say simply check for the company profile (if it's not something from the government). And review the job description. You'd have an idea if you'd really want the job or not. Note that sometimes there could be parts of the job that are already outside of your scope.

The "company" sounds fine to me, though.

Good luck!

I did an interview like that once and ended up being "over qualified" and tried to talk the interviewer into hiring me anyway. It is funny how weird and rigid some companies' hiring practices are. The one I interviewed for was a huge insurance company and they said I was over qualified because of education and they didn't want me because I'd get bored and quit! It took too many interviews like that before I realized that I didn't want that kind of job, where other people are telling me what I think and feel and need.

Awesome! Good work on passing both the tests, with high scores too! Yay!

I'm proud of you too ! I know that kind of stuff (bad directions, long drive, difficulty finding the place, lots of people, lots of uncertainty, and TESTS on top of all that! Phew) can be very anxiety-producing. I'd be stressed about it too! But you did it, and you did fantastically well!

Good luck, and I hope you get an interview!