This is turning out to be quite the party. I may need to restock the beer and snack food if any more people turn up.
The job situtation here is not great, but there are a few jobs every week or so which are close enough to my skills and experience that I try for them. It could be worse – I’ve a friend who’s an accountant who is also unemployed, and he reports that the market for accountants has gone bone-dry in the last year or so. Thank you, Arthur Anderson, says he.
I’m surprised that no one’s noticed, or at least commented on the fact, that my signature (in the first post, and (if I remember) attached below) is a brief and humorous summary of my CV and employment goals.
Here’s my current situation:
I’m an American living in London, and my wife is currently employed and holds a work permit.
I have a BA in Music History (yeah, I know, that’s useful). After graduation I worked for five years in the Graduate Admissions Office at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, dealing with foreign applicants. If there’s anything you want to know about international education systems, I’m your guy.
Moved to London where the spouse was doing a PhD program. Got a (temp) job working for a government agency (OPRAF). Stayed there for 18 months, and had a surprising amount of responsibility for a temp. Directed a nationwide consultation process, and analysed a hell of a lot of data.
Got a better-paying “real” job at a university doing (surprise!) international admissions. Worked there for 2.5 years until the new boss turned out to be such a bad manager that I had to quit before the stress caused a complete breakdown (to give you some perspective, more than half the department quit as well, and I lasted longer than most).
After a brief period of unemployment, got a job with the same government department (now the SRA – same people, new name) on a two-year contract. This was mostly project work and internal administration, including some work with budgets, but mostly process management.
Shortly before my contract ran out (which they couldn’t renew due to some Civil Service regs), I started a one-year MA in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy. Which I enjoyed, and I completed. During the course I had a three-month internship with the Barbican Centre (Audience Developent dept.), a stint interviewing people for an Art Marketing consultancy, and some “stewarding” work for a couple of outdoor festivals.
And here I am – experienced in working with students, artists, government agencies; skilled in collecting, analysing and reporting data of all sorts (see – that Music History degree taught me something useful); and extremely flexible in what I can do or learn to do quickly.
Which, in part, is the problem: I’m a generalist. Nobody’s hiring generalists these days. They want someone who has experience doing EXACTLY the same thing they need at the moment. I know – I call the places who send me rejection letters (or, as I’ve come to fondly call them, “Dear Bozo” letters) and they tell me this. Never mind that the person they hired can’t tie his own shoes, or that the program they want experience in could be learned by a chimpanzee in under an hour – they want THAT guy.
While I’m rambling, here’s a story that makes me feel smug and superior: when I was jobhunting during my first temp job days, I interviewed for an office manager’s job at the college I eventually ended up doing my degree at, in the same department. I was one of four finalists. I found out later that the committee had liked me best, the office staff had liked me best, I was the best qualified candidate – but I’d indicated that I need to give a few weeks’ notice. So they hired one of the other candidates on the basis that he could start the next day. (Heck, if I’d known that was the only issue, I would have told my employer of the time “Sorry, but byeeeee”). He turned out to be a complete bumbling fool who caused (and continues to cause) major chaos there. I know this isn’t very nice, but ha ha ha, serves you right.
:wally
So there ya go. The story of my life. Here’s hoping that something comes along before I turn into that guy from The Boys from the Black Stuff (sorry – UK TV reference) and wander the streets going “Gissa job!”.