Thursday 27 September 2012

A Few Ups And Downs...

Well, this week I had an interview...

I know right? But please, exhale from your astonished gasp now and I will tell you how my week is going. I think this week is a busy week in the life of me at the moment - well I say that, I have a daily unpaid routine of housework and my own work that I aim to do, but this weekend was filled with Borderlands 2 as illustrated by myself in this week's Badly Drawn Adventure on wearethewritingpeople.co.uk


So, after that quite relaxed weekend, well relaxed as can be with housework and you know, other family members, Monday came around and I was blissfully alone again.

I applied for some jobs, wrote a review of Borderlands and set it away to IGN.com, I sent away a few comic strips to the Seaside News, and then I got on with the game. Now keep in mind that I had done all that before midday, so yay me!

1pm came and I got a phone call asking me whether I would be interested in an interview on the Tuesday (the day after), I enthusiastically replied and we agreed the time, and that was that, I returned to my game with even more achievement in my mind.

You should also remember that I've only managed to acquire 1 interview in all my 8 months as a Job Seeker, so to have a second was excellent news.

Anyway, Tuesday comes, and here's where it gets messy...

I woke up early, calculating my daily schedule - I had a Prince's Trust meeting at 11am and the interview wasn't until 2:45pm so I had time. I got up, dressed, readied myself.

UP - I got a lift to the station from my father, who offered.

DOWN - I completely forgot my PIN at the station to buy a ticket, so I had to resort to cash before I locked my card, at the station.

UP - in Cardiff I had time to spare so I went exploring to find the place of my interview and an ATM to practice my PIN, I got it right and I was a bit chuffed.

DOWN - I got to the Costa I was meeting my Prince's Trust Mentor in, and I typed in what I thought my PIN was, but it turned out the ATM had tricked me, and I managed to lock my card. I paid for my coffee in coins, and I was skint. 

UP - my meeting with the Prince's Trust was very productive, informing, and useful. I'm encouraged to set myself some goals to achieve before the next meeting hence having written, edited, and sent away Real Magic, and sent away my comic strip, etc. I also applied for a Grant from the Prince's Trust for £250.

DOWN - I had time to kill between the meeting and the interview, in the rain.

UP - I waited in a comfortable chair in the bank while I sorted out my card problems. I've got a new PIN and Card in the post, somewhere.

DOWN - it rained almost all the time between my bank issues and the interview, so I was a bit wet.

UP - I filled out the form they wanted me to, making sure my contact details were correct, and up-to-date. (It was a bit awkward writing in the employment section - Unemployed.)

DOWN - So what interest do you have in Sales and Marketing?...erm. Now I don't know about you, but those sorts of questions scare me. The Job Application didn't actually say anything about Sales or Marketing - it was more along the lines of '!FILM AND GAME FANATICS WANTED!' - I tried to research the company as well, but their website was a bit dated, and their press releases, and I committed them all to memory - there were only three - were about 1. Businesses need Social Networks, 2. Cardiff Business School's New Building, and 3. NASA make a Comet Harpoon. 

I obviously couldn't put two and two together, linking Sales and Marketing to NASA, but there you go.

My interviewer, giving me the hard sale, told me that it was basically a door-to-door sales person position trying to sell LoveFilm to households. There were two things flying around in my head when I was told that, I hate the door-to-door salesmen, and I'm a Netflix customer (LoveFilm's main competitor). 

I didn't say any of that by the way, it was just a quick 15mins preliminary interview, and he said that I would get a phone call later on that evening, whether or not I had acquired a second interview on either Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. 

I got home and waited...

And waited, and waited, and waited...

It's Thursday now, and I think it's safe to say that I didn't get the position. Oh well, it was a commission only position anyway, and I don't think I could work hard at something I don't particularly want to do, with no guarantee of getting paid at the end of the day.

Anyway, that was that. And I got to go to a Job's Fair in Bridgend Recreation Centre yesterday. Which basically went something like, all the unemployed people in Bridgend descend upon this one place in the hopes of getting a job. 

The thought went through my mind that it could have been a trap and we were all just going to be culled to reduce the unemployed statistic. 

Anyway, I was there, with all my unemployed brethren, and upon speaking to the majority of people - the GoWales and Bridgend College people were useful - I told them that I was a Graduate of Creative Writing, and their eyes shot open with fright. 'And what do you want to do with that?' they asked, as if I was being a stupid person, 'Well, I'd quite like to be a writer,' was my reply. 

Needless to say, the construction industry, along with nearly all the recruitment officials there were could not help me. 

I did bump into a very nice Work Experience Journalist for the Gazette on my way to the Job Centre though. She was trying to find people who had watched 'The Valleys' or whatever it was called. We talked a bit about work experience and such and she had managed to get 3-days out of the gazette. 3-DAYS!

I'm sorry, but people at the Gazette, 3-days is just not good enough. That's not an experience of work, that's hardly a taster. She wasn't even mentored (I suppose you don't actually have to be to write, but still).

So in the last fortnight I've managed to apply for 2 Grants, get nominated for 2 Awards, and I'm going to be published in the Seaside News soon. But I'll probably tell you all about that later on.

Carpe diem, until next time bloggers...

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