Life on the bench: in my dressing gown

[cailin maith]

I fired off a CV & covering letter as soon as I saw it.

I shall start phoning from 8 a.m.

I'll beg if I have to.

(Only seen it through one agency, oddly.)

Thats good though - it means there won't be loasds of agents fannying about and lying about send ing CV's etc. 1 Liar to deal with is much better than 2 or 3!

[NickFitz]

Half an hour after I left for that Back To Work Session a gig was posted on Jobserve for a project manager to implement said software. It was probably filled some time today.

Bollocks.

A few years ago I'd ended up going permy as a humble refugee from the dotcom slump. A year on it transpired that I might be made redundant - it was between me and another chap. Naturally I started keeping an eye out on Jobserve, where I saw something that I would be perfect for: specialist skills and all that.

I made a big mistake; rather than accepting redundancy and going for it, I instead took the advice of my family (permies one and all) and lingered on, even though I knew perfectly well that if it was my business I would make me redundant: those specialist skills had zero relevance to my employer at that point.

Came the day, and I was made redundant. Had a look on Jobserve and the same gig was on there, freshly posted.

I was interviewed the next day, and started the day after that. They'd spent three months trying to fill that contract role and were on the brink of accepting somebody they knew was second-best when I turned up.

I'm sure you're fascinated by my reminiscences, but the point is: sometimes, when clients want somebody who knows what they're doing with a specific technology, they are actually willing to wade through enormous numbers of CVs and do loads of fruitless interviews until they find the right person - the one who really knows, rather than the one who knows enough to get by.

I hope this turns out that way for you

[Churchill]

I fired off a CV & covering letter as soon as I saw it.

I shall start phoning from 8 a.m.

I'll beg if I have to.

(Only seen it through one agency, oddly.)

Good luck on that! <---- Manly!

[RichardCranium]

Good luck on that! <---- Manly!

Down, boy, down! It's too early for that.

I spoke to the agent at 08:08 ... it's not too late! I have to get a CV rewrite to her by mid-morning. (So I'm posting on here at the same time )

There was someone banging on the door at the end of the call - it was one of the neighbours.

I have been up and down the street with plastic bags gathering up all the paper I had put out for recycling.

And the bloke that had a go at me (I didn't do it on purpose, FFS) has gone out and now HIS recycling is all up the road (as is some of the other houses' recycling.)

The council gives us a short, heavyweight plastic bag for paper. It falls over and the paper falls out. They give us a huge, flimsy bag for plastic. When full it still weighs next to nothing. There is a big plastic box (with no lid) for cans and bottles which, unless reasonably full, also blows away because it is slab-sided. Completely impractical.

Anyway ...

[HairyArsedBloke]

Good luck on that! <---- Manly!

Good luck on that! <----

[Churchill]

Good luck on that! <----

There's nothing for you here.

[Xenophon]

Good luck on that! <---- Manly!

Remember lads, no touching crotches.

[Churchill]

Remember lads, no touching crotches.

I was never confused!

Well there was that one time, at band camp...

[oracleslave]

Well there was that one time, at band camp...

Tromboning?

[RichardCranium]

27th October 2009, 11:02:

Instead I was a good boy, did my research, wrote my presentation with pretty handouts and everything, told them how much I admired them and would just wither and die if I couldn't work there and <snip drivel about interview>. I think I did OK.

After chasing every day (and managing to speak to the agent only 3 or 4 times) I finally got an answer.

"Oh yeah, er, they gave it to the other bloke yesterday. No, you left a message yesterday. Er, Tuesday. Yeah. Tuesday. That's why there was no news, they were probably waiting to see what he said."

Other bloke? There were loads of people interviewed. And two positions needing to be filled.

It's all just random lies from agents.

I suspect (about 60% confident) they have told the client I turned it down to let one of their other candidates get it who will earn them a bigger commission.

I also suspect (about 30% confident) this indolent agent has somehow upset the client and made them go with applicants from other agencies.

Still, I didn't really want the job: it was permie and the same money as my last permie job in the mid 1990s. But it was cycling distance.