Yeah, I’ll have to think about it. I’ll probably just use it as a nifty thing to use in an interview 
(if it fits into the general context)
twickster, Khadaji, thanks for the replies. The work is both related to my field, and would leave a gap if left out, so I’ll work it in somehow. I like the idea of % complete, or number of credits completed.
Thanks again.
I got a job offer! 
It’s a little less money than I would have liked, but it will be a job where I can feel like I’m actually doing some good in the world. The people I’d be working with seemed really nice, too. Best of all, it’s not contract or even contract-to-hire, so I won’t have to be job hunting again in a few months.
I’m over the moon today. Not only did the election go mostly the way I wanted it to, I’ve got a job offer! I’m more than a bit tired, since I was up late last night and woke up at 6 this morning and couldn’t sleep, had to go look for more election returns. It was a bit like trying to sleep in on Christmas morning for a kid.
Hooray! Wishing you luck and joy in your new career!
Congrats! That’s wonderful news.
Okay, I need some advice now. I’ve started replying to job postings, and I’ve finally got a non-automated response. Unfortunately it appears to be from a recruiter that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the job I applied for, but instead a request for more info. Does anyone have experience with this? Do I answer her questions? Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
GES
I get calls from recruiters all the time. They are simply trying to fill a position that they have open and feel you might be a fit. Once we determine if I *am *a fit, they either move forward or leave me alone.
IOW, I see no downside to responding.
I agree - there’s really no such thing as too much exposure in the job market.
Some of the calls might be from agencies who are looking to pounce on a position where they are not actually engaged to fill (i.e. a different agency is handling it) - in these cases, a little caution might be wise, as two independent copies of your application might come across as annoying - and if they’re not both the same because of resume tailoring, etc, that might look bad.
But if you can find an agency recruiter that considers you a readily-marketable resource, it’s an extremely positive thing to become part of their portfolio.
Good one.
Cheers.
Taking stock, my (probably obvious) advice to others still in the club…
-Get someone to proof-read and sense-check your CV/Resume - ideally, someone who has real-world experience of reading them in a recruitment context - I did this and it made a big difference to the penetration of my applications.
-Investigate every opportunity that arises - there are such a large number of job-hunting resources out there, I was still finding new ones after several months into my job hunt.
-Follow up written/emailed applications with a phone call - even if only to confirm that an actual human being has looked at it - several agency representatives told me that they are deluged with automated applications for most job postings - a phone call is quite likely to get your application sifted out of the heap and looked at. Also, if the online application process has mangled the appearance of your resume (as Monster did to mine), this gives you an opportunity to send a fresh one that will now stand out from all the other mangled ones.
-Don’t give up. Don’t permit yourself to become despondent. Don’t make excuses or procrastinate. All of those things would just be one more problem to deal with.
This can be pretty hard, but it is possible - in my case, it was almost like splitting myself into two personalities - one of which was dedicated solely to the task of relentlessly barking orders at the other.
My contact in London tells me that we signed the first set of documents and we will sign another set next week. Our first 100K (pounds) will be in the bank before my birthday (Dec 1st, send cards!)
IOW, I guess we are funded! I guess I’m no longer unemployed.
We still need to get the tax IDs so that we can pay me, but they again offered to pay me the net amount now and worry about the paperwork later. (I declined, I worry that will make a nightmare of paperwork.)
(If I seem a little low-key it is because I still say “It ain’t money until it is in the bank”)
I just got the news that all of our documents are signed: we are funded for a full year of development.
Hooray! Now we just have to get the tax IDs so we can start to pay me…
As mentioned in the previous thread, our first 100K will be in the bank by the end of the month.
Congratulations! Best of luck in you endeavour!
i got to take a bunch of tests at a temp. agency today. interview for them tomorrow. and a test for the phila. court system wends.
my favourite section on the temp. agency test was the office management part. some of the answers were rather amusing and i could just picture the outcome.
my top favourite was (as close to the actual as i can remember):
a fax comes in to the main fax with everyones salary listed on it. what do you do?
a. leave the fax in the machine.
b. show the fax to your friends.
c. deliver the fax to the person intended.
d. make copies of the fax and post it around the company.
of course i picked c. but i did enjoy imagining the bruhaha that would ensue after that fax was tacked all over the company.
it seems from the reaction of the agency people not many people found this test as amusing as i did.
Just had a little chat with my boss at this part-time/temp gig – they’re going to be starting another series of supplements, monthly instead of weekly, in January. He asked if I’d like to put in a proposal for it – I said sure, send me the info and I’ll put something together.
So – looks like he’ll be doing a search, at least a cursory one, but that I should have an inside track. (He mentioned the fact that at this point, he’s not needing to do very much supervision at all on what I’m doing, now that the layout person and I are clearer about their style guidelines, etc.)
Still not a solution to my need for a FT job, but nice to be needed.
I got a call back from the bank where I interviewed some weeks back. I’ve got an in-person interview this Wednesday morning.
Congrats to the newly-un-unemployed.
Robin
I like
e. make a copy of the fax and use it to negotiate (or blackmail) a better salary.
That’s that legal training coming out again.
Just thought I’d pop back and thank you again for this piece of advice - I came across a document today in my folders - ‘advice for managers on recruiting’ (not snooping - the info is intended for staff at my level).
Turns out that they use a scoring system where they rate each of the answers from zero (no answer given to the specific point) to five (answered in a way that surpasses expectations).
A zero score on any single question lands the application in the trash - so if I had grouped the two similar questions as originally intended, I would not even have made it to interview.
The job is going well (insofar as it is possible to tell on day 4) - the organisation is bigger and more complex than I could possibly have imagined, and my role is incredibly broad and open-ended in scope - I’m loving the challenge and opportunity this promises.
Mangetout – that is excellent news, indeed. I’m so happy for you!
Just got a phone call from a PR guy I’ve dealt with a bit on my current project, who had a tip on someone who might be able to give me some freelance work. How nice of him! I’ve always dreamt of writing for Lubes ‘n’ Greases … rueful smiley