Last time, in the challenge to get a job in a week, we heard that Jim had put together his CV overnight and that I was hoping he had made a horrendous mistake in his CV in his rush to get it done. Only so that I wouldn’t lose the bet you understand.
It was already day 3. That meant, according the schedule scribbled down in the pub a few days before, he should have been attending interviews today. This gave me hope. I had no doubt, that following his show of lack of will power over the weekend, he would be putting in some hard fought time watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy. “You have new mail”…….it was from Jim.
“I thought I owed it to you to have an update;
With my first two interviews in years falling on the same day I knew that today was going to be tough! Yes that’s right, two interviews. The first interview, at 10, was with a small aid agency and the second, at 3, with a better known, larger cancer charity.
As you know, my ability to either lie or step up my game to anything approaching professionalism is arguable. Consequently, any interview that isn't a general chit chat about love, life and the world is bound to scupper me. Roll on 10 a.m., and thankfully they ask a lot of common sense questions (who knew I had common sense?) about what I'd do in this or that given situation. The two people I interviewed with were only a little older than me and so it was pretty easy to get on with them. One hour later, and having confirmed that the job was in zone 1 and paid a decent wage, I left feeling pretty good.
Owing to my confidence with interview 1, and having been able to refine my interview technique, I was able to trot out pretty much the same stuff but in a more condensed manner in interview 2. Fortunately there were 3 people interviewing me so I could say a lot of things and make out like I was still answering the same question. Another good interview – but option 1 seemed to be the one for me.”
He claimed that he would crack on with some more applications, but I wasn’t so sure. I had seen this cocky tone before. This was only confirmed when he called later on to apologies for the likelihood of him taking our money. He did however admit that I was still in the running, though he claims he was Red Rum and I was a three legged arthritic pony. Still – I was sure that was just him being cocky.
Apparently not!
End of Day 4 and the first job offer was in. From the very first interview! Perhaps he was lying? Perhaps I was stuck in a horrible dream. He showed me the offer letter. I put on a brave face; “You still have to get hold of the contract, review it and get it signed and back to them. The system and process will mean you won’t be able to work on Monday”. Jim replied, “Not if turn up at the office, request they print it off and sign it there and then. If you want things to happen, you need to go and get it done”. I think I hated him. He was just sitting there grinning. It was inevitable. I could see in his eyes that he was going to wrap this one up. Not even taking up the required time. I was going to have to pay him - He didn't even need 5 days to get the job.
He sat back, had a drink of chocolate milk and said. “I wonder if I can get a pay rise”.
Showing posts with label job. Show all posts
Showing posts with label job. Show all posts
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Tuesday, 20 May 2008
Tips for Happiness at Work
Following on from yesterdays post regarding leaving your job for a fresh start, I thought it would interesting to consider happiness at work.
You spend the vast majority of your life at work so you need to enjoy it. There are always times when you are going to be a little down, and a few things you would rather be doing; but there are a number of things you should do and remember to ensure you make get the most out of your day. I found this an article on the timesonline that listed things you should be doing when you find yourself a litte down. I have picked out the ones I thought were particularly relevant for me;
Keep things in perspective. “Your work experience is a very big part of your life, but it’s not your whole life,” says Michael Chambers, the managing director of Bacs, the payment processing house. Remind yourself of the positive things in other parts of your life
Do the best you can. “If you know that you have done your job as well as you can, it can give you a sense of wellbeing even if things don’t work out quite as you’d hoped,” Woods says. “Take pride in doing your job well.”
Take a break. If everything is getting too much, get away from the environment that is making you unhappy, Chambers suggests. “Take a moment on your own to go for a walk or ask a colleague to come for a coffee. It will help you to calm down and get a sense of perspective.”
Take control. If something at work is making you unhappy, don’t wait for someone else to solve the problem – fix it yourself. “Take personal responsibility for things that don’t quite work or could be done better,” Woods says. “Managers like proactive people, so you could get a promotion, but at the very least it will improve your own job and help you to be happy.”
For the full article visit here
Monday, 19 May 2008
The Grass is Always Greener?
In the last few weeks a fair few of my friends and colleagues have been thinking of moving jobs and making a fresh start. This is partly spurred on by the Credit Crunch; some of them have been worried about losing their jobs (many are working in Banking), whist others have simply been enjoying the good spring weather and would prefer to be spending more time outside than in an office. Very different reasons for thinking of a career change, however, the same principles apply when trying to find a new job.
1. Make sure you really want to find a new job. People often forget how much hard work and frustration can come in finding a new job. You need to ask yourself what your motivation for leaving is – further your career, more money, status, better working hours, better working environment or to do something passionate about. If you choose the first three then hopefully you already enjoy your current job as wherever you move is only likely to be harder work. If it’s the latter three you need to open your mind as the jobs you would be willing to do. There are always ups and downs in jobs and only to often people leave job when they are in a trough, only to regret it when they do leave and miss the good times. Make sure you aren’t leaving simply because you it not enjoyable at the moment and think of the bigger picture.
2. Have you tried to move internally? If you want to further your career or increase you status then the first point of call should be looking internally. By telling you employer that you want to look for a new role internally you are signalling how ambitious and proactive you are. If you are good at your current job, employers would always to try and move you internally and try and move towards your needs if they can. They have invested a lot of money in you, and replacing you can be a very costly business. If they can’t help you, then that is the time to look externally.
3. If you want a big change, be bold. All too often people decide they want a big change, quit their jobs, take a look around for a new one and find something they would be good at, but end up back a job not that different to what they were doing before and go through the same cycle again. If it is type of work that you don’t enjoy, then make sure when you look for a new job you are bold, think laterally and go for something truly different. But remember, if you do this and apply for different jobs you still need to show that your skills are applicable to the job you are applying. You may well get rejections. Don’t take this as a sign that you can’t do that job; you simply need to find an employer who is willing to take transferable skills. If you do get rejected, find out why and use that feedback to adapt your next application.
4.Don’t run from a job, run to a job. It’s a bit of and old saying, but it rings true. Quitting your job without having anything to go to can be very stressful, particularly if you need the income. It is likely to take longer than you think it might too, so make sure you account for that. If you can put up with your job whilst you look for new ones, make sure you do. If you really can’t stand your job and decide to leave before you have somewhere to go, make sure you don’t waste your time off. It’s all too easy to sit at home, put on the TV and watch episodes of 24 for hours. Be disciplined. Plan your day; search for jobs in the morning, amend your CV to personalise it for each employer before lunch etc. Make sure you speak to friends and family and look through your address book and see if you have names of people you have met in the past that may be able to help. It’s not easy to find a job, it takes effort on your part – if you are disciplined and put in the effort , you will reap the rewards.
1. Make sure you really want to find a new job. People often forget how much hard work and frustration can come in finding a new job. You need to ask yourself what your motivation for leaving is – further your career, more money, status, better working hours, better working environment or to do something passionate about. If you choose the first three then hopefully you already enjoy your current job as wherever you move is only likely to be harder work. If it’s the latter three you need to open your mind as the jobs you would be willing to do. There are always ups and downs in jobs and only to often people leave job when they are in a trough, only to regret it when they do leave and miss the good times. Make sure you aren’t leaving simply because you it not enjoyable at the moment and think of the bigger picture.
2. Have you tried to move internally? If you want to further your career or increase you status then the first point of call should be looking internally. By telling you employer that you want to look for a new role internally you are signalling how ambitious and proactive you are. If you are good at your current job, employers would always to try and move you internally and try and move towards your needs if they can. They have invested a lot of money in you, and replacing you can be a very costly business. If they can’t help you, then that is the time to look externally.
3. If you want a big change, be bold. All too often people decide they want a big change, quit their jobs, take a look around for a new one and find something they would be good at, but end up back a job not that different to what they were doing before and go through the same cycle again. If it is type of work that you don’t enjoy, then make sure when you look for a new job you are bold, think laterally and go for something truly different. But remember, if you do this and apply for different jobs you still need to show that your skills are applicable to the job you are applying. You may well get rejections. Don’t take this as a sign that you can’t do that job; you simply need to find an employer who is willing to take transferable skills. If you do get rejected, find out why and use that feedback to adapt your next application.
4.Don’t run from a job, run to a job. It’s a bit of and old saying, but it rings true. Quitting your job without having anything to go to can be very stressful, particularly if you need the income. It is likely to take longer than you think it might too, so make sure you account for that. If you can put up with your job whilst you look for new ones, make sure you do. If you really can’t stand your job and decide to leave before you have somewhere to go, make sure you don’t waste your time off. It’s all too easy to sit at home, put on the TV and watch episodes of 24 for hours. Be disciplined. Plan your day; search for jobs in the morning, amend your CV to personalise it for each employer before lunch etc. Make sure you speak to friends and family and look through your address book and see if you have names of people you have met in the past that may be able to help. It’s not easy to find a job, it takes effort on your part – if you are disciplined and put in the effort , you will reap the rewards.
Monday, 12 November 2007
How to ... Be Happy
As it's Monday and you might be feeling a bit down after a great weekend, The Mole thought you might like some advice about staying happy at work. TheCareerMole.com can help you find the right job for you; but once you are there you have to make sure you stay happy. This article from the The Times , provides some helpful tips to keep you going....
Finding a job that you like is clearly important to your workplace happiness, but it isn’t always easy – and even when you do there will still be times that you’re not happy. Obviously the best way to cheer yourself up is to turn Super Trouper up to 11 and dance around the room for five minutes, but if you don't have an Abba-friendly workplace you might like to try these suggestions instead.
1. Keep things in perspective. “Your work experience is a very big part of your life, but it’s not your whole life,” says Michael Chambers, the managing director of Bacs, the payment processing house. Remind yourself of the positive things in other parts of your life.
2. Recognise the possibility of happiness. “We very often fail to recognise the rich sources of pleasure and meaning that are right in front of us at work,” writes Tal Ben-Shahar in Happier (McGraw-Hill, £12.99). “To turn a possibility [for happiness] into a reality, we first need to realise that the possibility exists.”
3. Change your focus. If the daily grind is getting you down, look at the big picture and remind yourself why you took the job – for example, that you share your organisation’s goal of reducing poverty or that gaining experience at this firm will help you to land your dream job. On the flip side, if it’s the big picture that is getting you down – say, you feel that helping your company to get richer isn’t your goal in life – try concentrating on individual tasks that you can do well. Don’t underestimate the satisfaction that can be gained from getting little things done, whether that is finally clearing out your inbox or resolving an irritating administrative problem.
4. Surround yourself with happy people... even if that means making other people happy to do it, says Marc Woods, a motivational speaker. “People react well to you helping them, and being around happy people does rub off.” He also suggests finding a mentor who enjoys his or her job and can offer support dealing with your emotional state as well as with technical issues. And steer clear of moaners: just as positive people will help to keep your mood up, colleagues who spend their days complaining will inevitably bring you down.
5. Accept reality. Look for the opportunities that change will create rather than focusing entirely on the immediate negatives. “I had bone cancer and had a leg amputated at 17,” Woods says. “I could have said ‘woe is me’, but instead I sat down and thought ‘right, this how it is now, what can I do with it?’ (In his case that turned out to include winning four Paralympic gold medals).
6. Do the best you can. “If you know that you have done your job as well as you can, it can give you a sense of wellbeing even if things don’t work out quite as you’d hoped,” Woods says. “Take pride in doing your job well.”
7. Balance. Overwork and stress frequently lead to anxiety and unhappiness. Make sure that you have enough time to yourself for exercise, a social and family life and relaxation, Chambers says. Keeping a balance will also help out in those inevitable times when you are required to work longer or harder than usual.
8. Take a break. If everything is getting too much, get away from the environment that is making you unhappy, Chambers suggests. “Take a moment on your own to go for a walk or ask
9. Take control. If something at work is making you unhappy, don’t wait for someone else to solve the problem – fix it yourself. “Take personal responsibility for things that don’t quite work or could be done better,” Woods says. “Managers like proactive people, so you could get a promotion, but at the very least it will improve your own job and help you to be happy.”
10. Be honest with yourself. Are you unhappy because you are in the wrong job? “Listen to your unhappiness,” Chambers says. “Can you resolve it in the current environment or is it a signal that it’s time to move on?” If you’ve done all you can to improve your mood and you’re still unhappy at work, it’s probably time to find something new. “Many [people]... are enslaved by their jobs, not because they have no choice, but because they have made a choice that made them unhappy,” Dr Ben-Shahar writes.
Finding a job that you like is clearly important to your workplace happiness, but it isn’t always easy – and even when you do there will still be times that you’re not happy. Obviously the best way to cheer yourself up is to turn Super Trouper up to 11 and dance around the room for five minutes, but if you don't have an Abba-friendly workplace you might like to try these suggestions instead.
1. Keep things in perspective. “Your work experience is a very big part of your life, but it’s not your whole life,” says Michael Chambers, the managing director of Bacs, the payment processing house. Remind yourself of the positive things in other parts of your life.
2. Recognise the possibility of happiness. “We very often fail to recognise the rich sources of pleasure and meaning that are right in front of us at work,” writes Tal Ben-Shahar in Happier (McGraw-Hill, £12.99). “To turn a possibility [for happiness] into a reality, we first need to realise that the possibility exists.”
3. Change your focus. If the daily grind is getting you down, look at the big picture and remind yourself why you took the job – for example, that you share your organisation’s goal of reducing poverty or that gaining experience at this firm will help you to land your dream job. On the flip side, if it’s the big picture that is getting you down – say, you feel that helping your company to get richer isn’t your goal in life – try concentrating on individual tasks that you can do well. Don’t underestimate the satisfaction that can be gained from getting little things done, whether that is finally clearing out your inbox or resolving an irritating administrative problem.
4. Surround yourself with happy people... even if that means making other people happy to do it, says Marc Woods, a motivational speaker. “People react well to you helping them, and being around happy people does rub off.” He also suggests finding a mentor who enjoys his or her job and can offer support dealing with your emotional state as well as with technical issues. And steer clear of moaners: just as positive people will help to keep your mood up, colleagues who spend their days complaining will inevitably bring you down.
5. Accept reality. Look for the opportunities that change will create rather than focusing entirely on the immediate negatives. “I had bone cancer and had a leg amputated at 17,” Woods says. “I could have said ‘woe is me’, but instead I sat down and thought ‘right, this how it is now, what can I do with it?’ (In his case that turned out to include winning four Paralympic gold medals).
6. Do the best you can. “If you know that you have done your job as well as you can, it can give you a sense of wellbeing even if things don’t work out quite as you’d hoped,” Woods says. “Take pride in doing your job well.”
7. Balance. Overwork and stress frequently lead to anxiety and unhappiness. Make sure that you have enough time to yourself for exercise, a social and family life and relaxation, Chambers says. Keeping a balance will also help out in those inevitable times when you are required to work longer or harder than usual.
8. Take a break. If everything is getting too much, get away from the environment that is making you unhappy, Chambers suggests. “Take a moment on your own to go for a walk or ask
9. Take control. If something at work is making you unhappy, don’t wait for someone else to solve the problem – fix it yourself. “Take personal responsibility for things that don’t quite work or could be done better,” Woods says. “Managers like proactive people, so you could get a promotion, but at the very least it will improve your own job and help you to be happy.”
10. Be honest with yourself. Are you unhappy because you are in the wrong job? “Listen to your unhappiness,” Chambers says. “Can you resolve it in the current environment or is it a signal that it’s time to move on?” If you’ve done all you can to improve your mood and you’re still unhappy at work, it’s probably time to find something new. “Many [people]... are enslaved by their jobs, not because they have no choice, but because they have made a choice that made them unhappy,” Dr Ben-Shahar writes.
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