Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Treading Water

First of all, I need to congratulate the American nation for having the intelligence to elect our new president, Barack Obama. I stayed up til 3:30am at the ISH bar watching the coverage, and I gotta say having a bar full of Americans definitely gives the place a different vibe. I'm not sure how exactly how to describe it, but its almost like I had just let out a sigh--I didn't have to wonder how to behave. Anywoo, go Obama and thanks to my play by play coverage ;-)

Now we come to news: All of it. So I'm going to simplify things into sections:

Job:
Still lacking. But with prospects. The job interview I went on on Monday was for an office assistant at a firm that designs and builds luxury hotels and resorts world-wide. I would have been crazy busy, but they seemed like good people. The interview went really well, they gave me a tour of the building, I thought I was a shoe in. On Tuesday morning, I got a very polite email saying that I had a brilliant interview and I came off confidant and capable, but there was an interview right after me with a Canadian girl who had a year long visa, so they went with her. Makes sense, someone in the company longer is good, but still!! I didn't hear anything yesterday, the today I got called in for three interviews tomorrow :) I have 2 in the morning: both at temp agencies. This is both good and bad--I think they both were offering jobs that I applied for and thats how they heard about me, but still. The last one is at Felix Marketing--I have no idea what the job is, but hey! Could be good.

UPDATE: I am such a bad blogger. I went to all three interviews. The first two were at temp agencies, so I am now registered with them. Yay :) The third was at this marketing firm, and the interview got me really excited: they promote client's products at events. I figure hey, it'll just be like doing a CMN event and promoting Phi Mu, something I can do very well, but also interests me. The guy was really great, and invited me back for a second interview tomorrow!! Woo excitement....

But wait....

As with everything, there is a catch. I re-read the email I received from them and 3 things popped out at me: personal sales, OTE, and commission. Basically, its the knives all over again. For those of you who don't know, I answered an ad in the paper a few years ago that said a sales group had openings making $16.50 per hour. Sounded great. When I got there, I found out that it was a job selling knives from door to door, and the interview consisted of a 2 hour long demo of the knives, then explaining how to set up appointments. They only invited 3 out of the 15 of us to join the team. I was one of them, and the guy looked at me and said 'You're not going to take this, are you?' NOPE. Sorry, but I don't want to live on commission and its bad enough with the culture shock--I am not going to spend all my time here trying to talk people into buying crap when they won't even smile back at me on the Tube. Uhg.

Worst part is, I might be ok at it. Good, even. I have another interview with them tomorrow morning--I can always say no. I'm going to go collect retail applications this weekend. I'll turn them in Monday, and then work my temp stuff around them, if I even get any.

Flat Hunting:
In a nutshell, nada. We split from 2 to 4 back to 2, but different pairs. Jac and I are looking to stay together, but this is proving difficult as our jobs seem to be in different areas and we plain just can't seem to find a place together. After my interview tomorrow, we are going to sit down and really look hard at what needs to be done to get us in a place. As of Saturday morning at 10am, I am out on the street. I refuse to move again unless its into a place, and my hostel is booked solid until Monday. I would like to say I can just say screw it and move to a place in the city, but for some reason, everywhere is booking up, so places are costing more. This is a problem as I am trying to manage my funds. Jac said she would put a deposit on a place for us, since she has more money and will get it all back. I have enough in my account for first months rent in our price range, then just enough to keep me alive until I get a paycheck. If I get one in the next month. Which may or may not happen.

I'm going to be selling crap to crabby Brits, aren't I? Ca va....

Fun:
Moments here and there. The hostel is better as I've become a regular. Tho I need to do laundry so bad, and I'm starting to smell like my room. Not cool.

I know the Tube pretty well.
I really want to do the Haggis Tour to Scotland for 3 days where you stay in a castle, there are parties and lots of snowy Christmas cheer, and its actually not bad on price...if I can get a job.
I have good friends who care about me enough to text before interviews and are always up for a drink after a hard day.

I'm doing ok. But I need to get these things, or I'm not going to be able to relax and enjoy. This chick I met at the Bunac office said that if we can't get anything in 2 weeks, we should go to Edinburgh. I love London, but I wanted to see more on this trip. Maybe its something to think about.

I miss you. All of you.
-Em

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Keep ya chin up miss! :D

Glitter Girl said...

Ive been here 7 weeks now and only just got a job. Register with every recruitment company you can (altho i strongly do not reccommend Reed or Office Angels - they were crap) I went with a place called Badenoch & Clark. however I am here on an Ancestry Visa so my circumstances are different. But make sure you ring them twice a day if you have to otherwise it takes so long, and as my wise old friend Amanda said...keep ya chin up