***Its 23:55***
I have 5 more minutes of being classed as a 'Student' as my NUS card then runs out (08/09).
So sad :( ...and, its September tomorrow - 4 more months of 2009 eek! This is the first September in years since I was about three years old where I haven't been expecting to go back into education to start a new term and its surprisingly sad. All grown up now...that said, I'm pretty keen on this PG Diploma I found.
I was observing with a friend today, this Christmas is going to be very interesting considering there are so many unemployed...time to get creative! Which is nice I suppose as it may just take away some of the materialism inherent in our culture. Always look on the bright side huh.
Monday 31 August 2009
Saturday 29 August 2009
Two types of people
There are two types of people.
1 - those who get over arguments almost as soon as they've started, apologise for their part in it and get on with things because life's too short (Type C)
2 - those who sulk over an argument for days, weeks, months, years preferring to prolong the BS (Type D)
I've labelled these Type C and Type D.
I'm a Type C as is my mother but quite a few people I know are Type D which is very difficult to reconcile and is pure frustration having to deal with or be around. Because as much as me and my mum may fall out about little things or have bust-ups we're always best friends if not hours later, then definitely by the next day. I don't understand these Type D people and never will. If I had to choose one kind of person I don't like, this is it. The question I ask them is: "Seriously, what's the point of making one bad situation a whole lot more miserable than it has to be?"
I really would like some answers here because its the cause of some BIG problems.
1 - those who get over arguments almost as soon as they've started, apologise for their part in it and get on with things because life's too short (Type C)
2 - those who sulk over an argument for days, weeks, months, years preferring to prolong the BS (Type D)
I've labelled these Type C and Type D.
I'm a Type C as is my mother but quite a few people I know are Type D which is very difficult to reconcile and is pure frustration having to deal with or be around. Because as much as me and my mum may fall out about little things or have bust-ups we're always best friends if not hours later, then definitely by the next day. I don't understand these Type D people and never will. If I had to choose one kind of person I don't like, this is it. The question I ask them is: "Seriously, what's the point of making one bad situation a whole lot more miserable than it has to be?"
I really would like some answers here because its the cause of some BIG problems.
Wednesday 26 August 2009
I love charity shops!
***Latest buys***
Ethnic-style Morgan top = £3
Book (Jeffrey Archer - ' A Matter of Honour') = £1
Book (Peter Hoeg - 'The Quiet Girl') = £1
...all in the name of a good cause and (almost) totally guilt-free!
Not many people talk about charity shop finds as its somehow seen as 'uncool', yet they rave over eBay or Primark (which I only buy the very odd item at due to the bad press it has received and the fact that often manufacturers have to supply at a loss, not to mention the disposable nature of the clothes). I love eBay however, but the problem of online shopping remains; that you never know exactly what you're getting until it arrives. Add the costs of p&p, it is often easier to get down to London charity stores if you have the time. My local Cancer Research UK even has changing rooms. Mornings are the best times. I went straight after my Physio appointment, got there around 10am and spent about an hour just browsing at the piles of 'new' stuff that had just been put out. I found a nice DKNY skirt on the racks too amongst all the Primark cast-offs. It just didn't suit me.
***Latest job news: UNEMPLOYED STILL***
No other interview invites for moi and so have now switched to looking for work experience opps in well-known international companies in the field I'd like to work at. I figured the only way to get a foot in the door may be to prove myself through an initial expenses-only paid work placement with the way the job market is at the moment.
For example:
1) Management Trainee role at Meltwater Group - over 2000 apps for 4 roles. I submitted on the deadline and they got back to me approximately 4 weeks later saying they'd just had a chance to review my app and wondered if I'd be interested in pursuing a role at their new Canterbury, Cardiff, or Manchester offices. I asked them to hold my CV on file for anything that arises in London or Cape Town.
2) Research Assistant role at Insight Research Group - 300 apps for 2 roles. Slightly fewer but then again Market Research is probably one of the less glamourous sides of Marketing...albeit one that I really enjoy!
These are some of the numbers I have on enquiring after my application to give you an idea of just how tough it is right now. I'd assume those newly redundant with much more proven relevant work experience are being given such roles.
Although, even competition for unpaid roles seems to be ridiculous :(
***Latest visit: PHYSIO***
I had a Physio appointment for my foot this morning at 9am...the bad news: turns out I'm not as full healed as I thought I was after a whole bunch of new exercises, the good news: I can get back to the gym to start building up my strength again slowly. The problem: I've been out of the gym nearly three months now and feeling lazy!
Ethnic-style Morgan top = £3
Book (Jeffrey Archer - ' A Matter of Honour') = £1
Book (Peter Hoeg - 'The Quiet Girl') = £1
...all in the name of a good cause and (almost) totally guilt-free!
Not many people talk about charity shop finds as its somehow seen as 'uncool', yet they rave over eBay or Primark (which I only buy the very odd item at due to the bad press it has received and the fact that often manufacturers have to supply at a loss, not to mention the disposable nature of the clothes). I love eBay however, but the problem of online shopping remains; that you never know exactly what you're getting until it arrives. Add the costs of p&p, it is often easier to get down to London charity stores if you have the time. My local Cancer Research UK even has changing rooms. Mornings are the best times. I went straight after my Physio appointment, got there around 10am and spent about an hour just browsing at the piles of 'new' stuff that had just been put out. I found a nice DKNY skirt on the racks too amongst all the Primark cast-offs. It just didn't suit me.
***Latest job news: UNEMPLOYED STILL***
No other interview invites for moi and so have now switched to looking for work experience opps in well-known international companies in the field I'd like to work at. I figured the only way to get a foot in the door may be to prove myself through an initial expenses-only paid work placement with the way the job market is at the moment.
For example:
1) Management Trainee role at Meltwater Group - over 2000 apps for 4 roles. I submitted on the deadline and they got back to me approximately 4 weeks later saying they'd just had a chance to review my app and wondered if I'd be interested in pursuing a role at their new Canterbury, Cardiff, or Manchester offices. I asked them to hold my CV on file for anything that arises in London or Cape Town.
2) Research Assistant role at Insight Research Group - 300 apps for 2 roles. Slightly fewer but then again Market Research is probably one of the less glamourous sides of Marketing...albeit one that I really enjoy!
These are some of the numbers I have on enquiring after my application to give you an idea of just how tough it is right now. I'd assume those newly redundant with much more proven relevant work experience are being given such roles.
Although, even competition for unpaid roles seems to be ridiculous :(
***Latest visit: PHYSIO***
I had a Physio appointment for my foot this morning at 9am...the bad news: turns out I'm not as full healed as I thought I was after a whole bunch of new exercises, the good news: I can get back to the gym to start building up my strength again slowly. The problem: I've been out of the gym nearly three months now and feeling lazy!
How is it possible to be bored?
***
Boredom = "the feeling of being bored by something tedious" (princeton.edu).
***
Well, thanks for that enlightening definition!
People can be bored from doing nothing...is nothing tedious?
I was thinking about boredom today as I have a few unemployed friends who complain of this sorry state. I came to the conclusion that its almost impossible to be bored today.
Nevermind the job searching, there are still many things I have to do, namely:
1) Start practising the piano again as I'd like to re-take my Grade 8 exam at some stage
2) Get through a bunch of photoshop tutorials as there is so much to learn
3) Get through my library of unread books - I'd say its reduced to about a quarter unread at the moment
4) Edit some photos from my first fashion shoot I took last week
5) Improve my marketing knowledge - revise things I've learnt which have been forgotten, learn about web analytics
6) Get working on photography projects, general learning of my D90 - technical stuff
7) Practice my Spanish or rather, re-learn it
8) Learn French - get through this audiobook course thing as a basic grounding (I don't want to go to France without knowing the language)
9) Get my foot healed quick so I can re-sign up to the gym
10) Catch up with friends (which I've really slacked on)
11) Learn how to cook awesome things
12) Re-study Geography and Biology (in case I ever do get to become one of these wildlife people)
13) Take pictures of and list a million things on eBay to make some cash
14) Stay updated on World news
15) Write blogs about random things
I know these are very personal goals specific to me but doesn't everyone have things they want to achieve and/or be better at?
Tuesday 25 August 2009
I love Google!
*I love Google! and the Web in general*
It's a great age we live in where company's activities are so transparent - they definitely can't get away with as much anymore, and almost any information on anything can be found online at the click of a button. Take my recent experience with London Marketing Services, a company which claimed to train managers from the bottom up, never disclosing that the job was door-to-door sales at entry-level and commission based with no basic salary (or, a small annual salary plus 40% commission I'm informed by other bloggers) until you turned up for the second stage 'observation day' being told to wear comfortable shoes and worked a full day 12.30pm to 8.30pm. If I hadn't found two existing blogs that evening I got the call I would have wasted a whole day of researching credible job opportunities, as in ones companies don't mislead potential employees about.
Ok, so the credibility of many sources on the web are questionable - something that has been drilled into me constantly from university lecturers. But what I enjoy so much is that the Web's like this one big impersonal (or personal if you like) forum where one is able to interact with people all over the world...take for example this site I found through an Oprah article: www.urbanbaby.com, where people go to ask advice or vent feelings annonymously, e.g. "I have cheated on my husband, what should I do?"...completely shocking to me (but so, well, frankly, nice to see that people are able to talk to strangers who do not know who you are personally about issues that concern more of us than we'd think!), but why wouldn't I expect this stuff to be online considering free porn is?!!!
It's a great age we live in where company's activities are so transparent - they definitely can't get away with as much anymore, and almost any information on anything can be found online at the click of a button. Take my recent experience with London Marketing Services, a company which claimed to train managers from the bottom up, never disclosing that the job was door-to-door sales at entry-level and commission based with no basic salary (or, a small annual salary plus 40% commission I'm informed by other bloggers) until you turned up for the second stage 'observation day' being told to wear comfortable shoes and worked a full day 12.30pm to 8.30pm. If I hadn't found two existing blogs that evening I got the call I would have wasted a whole day of researching credible job opportunities, as in ones companies don't mislead potential employees about.
Ok, so the credibility of many sources on the web are questionable - something that has been drilled into me constantly from university lecturers. But what I enjoy so much is that the Web's like this one big impersonal (or personal if you like) forum where one is able to interact with people all over the world...take for example this site I found through an Oprah article: www.urbanbaby.com, where people go to ask advice or vent feelings annonymously, e.g. "I have cheated on my husband, what should I do?"...completely shocking to me (but so, well, frankly, nice to see that people are able to talk to strangers who do not know who you are personally about issues that concern more of us than we'd think!), but why wouldn't I expect this stuff to be online considering free porn is?!!!
London Marketing Services
***ATTENTION - Misleading Job advertisement***
So I sent a speculative email with my CV attached to a company I saw advertised online via TargetJobs a few months back and now hiring for Cardiff. I enquired as to whether they were still recruiting for London and within two days had received an invite to a preliminary interview. As one can imagine I was excited after two months of unsuccessful job searching. I spent the weekend preparing and came into the interview on Monday 24th July 2009 at 4pm raring to go.
The first thing I noticed was that the buzzer on the door of the building was labelled in what looked like hand-writing. On entering the building there were printed signs directing visitors downstairs to basement offices. The office itself was nice, with comfy leather chairs but the walls were painted one yellow, one red (the company branding as appears on the 'official' website is blue and white on black)...branding being one of the most important aspects of Marketing. The two South African receptionists were extremely pleasant and friendly but the room was packed with at least 15 other potential employees being interviewed at the same time as me...most suited and booted...others dressed more casually (hoodies and trainers anyone?? to a Marketing job interview NOT for Nike! another in a denim mini and flip flops).
I was interviewed by a pleasant and confident Scandanavian guy who basically explained the structure of the company in a general 'overview' without actually disclosing the entry-level duties, just saying that we have to be good with dealing with rejection and bouncing back. Some of the interviews were also conducted two at the time (strange in itself), but we were told because there were so many people being interviewed the session would just be an initial screening process. I thought it was just a strategy to see how we dealt with an unexpected situation.
Apparently I was right, it was their strategy but not for the reasons I thought. They didn't want us asking difficult questions in front of another person being interviewed and the funniest part was, it worked! Everybody knows that you don't ask what the salary is at the initial interview, and on speaking to the administrator I was informed 'generally between £250 and 400 pw, therefore I suspected it was a commission-based role. We were given no other indications at the interview and on leaving it the other guy said he'd gotten a job offer at a similar company the previous week 100% commission-based and no guarantees. I therefore decided to do more searching online regarding this company (there wasn't much to begin with).
But not before I got the callback at 5.30pm for the second stage 'interview' which was to take place the following day, observing the job role. I was told to wear comfortable shoes.
I found two blogs online which had been googled under 'London Marketing Services scam', and in it there were people who'd experienced the same deal, except some had gone back to the 'second interview' only to be taken an hour by bus across London to a housing estate, trying to obtain direct debit bank details for a charity door-to-door from 1pm-8pm. I figured this wasn't really for me and emailed the company back to say I would not be attending the next day as a commission-based salary with no basic is not something I'm keen on especially in this economic climate.
The problem I had with this whole thing was the misleading way with which it was all conducted, in what seems like an attempt to obtain a day's free labour. Sure, fewer people would have applied for it had they known the real deal but there are still many who would have gone for it as a stepping stone into a Sales career. It seems they are mainly out to lure: 1) fresh graduates desperate for work, and 2) newly arrived foreigners, under false pretences.
Before I emailed back I also consulted my other half and on being asked more questions (like, 'where was it based?) we figured it was the same place (albeit possibly under a different name) he'd gotten his first job on arrival to London from Johannesburg in the winter of 2003 (the company said they'd been around for seven years so I thought that was about right too). He did end up making £50 a day around Christmas time selling toys door to door, which would be a pretty good gig right now however in the current economic climate, I wouldn't bet on earning a good enough salary through commission.
I don't mean to be completely negative about the job itself, as I think its great for people looking to get their first sales role for their CV but personally, with five years of previous work experience and a 1st class degree I'm holding out for something with a basic salary. Good Luck to all who pursue it though! If I can just inform a few more people from this blog about the real nature of companies like this (no wage advertised for starters) then all the better. For now I will be looking for work experience in reputable companies which I'd really like to work for.
So I sent a speculative email with my CV attached to a company I saw advertised online via TargetJobs a few months back and now hiring for Cardiff. I enquired as to whether they were still recruiting for London and within two days had received an invite to a preliminary interview. As one can imagine I was excited after two months of unsuccessful job searching. I spent the weekend preparing and came into the interview on Monday 24th July 2009 at 4pm raring to go.
The first thing I noticed was that the buzzer on the door of the building was labelled in what looked like hand-writing. On entering the building there were printed signs directing visitors downstairs to basement offices. The office itself was nice, with comfy leather chairs but the walls were painted one yellow, one red (the company branding as appears on the 'official' website is blue and white on black)...branding being one of the most important aspects of Marketing. The two South African receptionists were extremely pleasant and friendly but the room was packed with at least 15 other potential employees being interviewed at the same time as me...most suited and booted...others dressed more casually (hoodies and trainers anyone?? to a Marketing job interview NOT for Nike! another in a denim mini and flip flops).
I was interviewed by a pleasant and confident Scandanavian guy who basically explained the structure of the company in a general 'overview' without actually disclosing the entry-level duties, just saying that we have to be good with dealing with rejection and bouncing back. Some of the interviews were also conducted two at the time (strange in itself), but we were told because there were so many people being interviewed the session would just be an initial screening process. I thought it was just a strategy to see how we dealt with an unexpected situation.
Apparently I was right, it was their strategy but not for the reasons I thought. They didn't want us asking difficult questions in front of another person being interviewed and the funniest part was, it worked! Everybody knows that you don't ask what the salary is at the initial interview, and on speaking to the administrator I was informed 'generally between £250 and 400 pw, therefore I suspected it was a commission-based role. We were given no other indications at the interview and on leaving it the other guy said he'd gotten a job offer at a similar company the previous week 100% commission-based and no guarantees. I therefore decided to do more searching online regarding this company (there wasn't much to begin with).
But not before I got the callback at 5.30pm for the second stage 'interview' which was to take place the following day, observing the job role. I was told to wear comfortable shoes.
I found two blogs online which had been googled under 'London Marketing Services scam', and in it there were people who'd experienced the same deal, except some had gone back to the 'second interview' only to be taken an hour by bus across London to a housing estate, trying to obtain direct debit bank details for a charity door-to-door from 1pm-8pm. I figured this wasn't really for me and emailed the company back to say I would not be attending the next day as a commission-based salary with no basic is not something I'm keen on especially in this economic climate.
The problem I had with this whole thing was the misleading way with which it was all conducted, in what seems like an attempt to obtain a day's free labour. Sure, fewer people would have applied for it had they known the real deal but there are still many who would have gone for it as a stepping stone into a Sales career. It seems they are mainly out to lure: 1) fresh graduates desperate for work, and 2) newly arrived foreigners, under false pretences.
Before I emailed back I also consulted my other half and on being asked more questions (like, 'where was it based?) we figured it was the same place (albeit possibly under a different name) he'd gotten his first job on arrival to London from Johannesburg in the winter of 2003 (the company said they'd been around for seven years so I thought that was about right too). He did end up making £50 a day around Christmas time selling toys door to door, which would be a pretty good gig right now however in the current economic climate, I wouldn't bet on earning a good enough salary through commission.
I don't mean to be completely negative about the job itself, as I think its great for people looking to get their first sales role for their CV but personally, with five years of previous work experience and a 1st class degree I'm holding out for something with a basic salary. Good Luck to all who pursue it though! If I can just inform a few more people from this blog about the real nature of companies like this (no wage advertised for starters) then all the better. For now I will be looking for work experience in reputable companies which I'd really like to work for.
Tuesday 18 August 2009
Linda Hamilton - what would you do?
This is a must-see video on Youtube, especially for anyone who lives in a big 'uncaring' city.
Living in London, you see selfishness and inconsideration (rush hour in the underground and getting onto buses) everywhere and its something which often shocks a lot of newcomers here. The problem seems to be the sheer number of people crammed into small spaces and a culture which is wary of strangers, so much so that even I am guilty of walking around oblivious to the things going on around me. For example, it was my South African bf who pointed out the many crackheads that walk by - something I'd never 'seen' before. Maybe it is some kind of unconscious coping mechanism, because its so easy to reason things in our minds to make ourselves feel better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49YQhTLoGuA
Regardless of how a person looks or is dressed, they may still be in need of help...and really who are we to judge who is deserving and who isn't? I will admit to walking back from a night out years ago and often seeing a guy lying on the floor at a bus stop reeking of alcohol and a beer can or bottle close by. Whilst I still wouldn't have approached the guy at the age of 17 at 2am on my own not exactly dressed in jeans and trainers, I probably should have called for help. This video really was a reality check and if this blog gets a few more people to watch it then all the better.
Living in London, you see selfishness and inconsideration (rush hour in the underground and getting onto buses) everywhere and its something which often shocks a lot of newcomers here. The problem seems to be the sheer number of people crammed into small spaces and a culture which is wary of strangers, so much so that even I am guilty of walking around oblivious to the things going on around me. For example, it was my South African bf who pointed out the many crackheads that walk by - something I'd never 'seen' before. Maybe it is some kind of unconscious coping mechanism, because its so easy to reason things in our minds to make ourselves feel better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49YQhTLoGuA
Regardless of how a person looks or is dressed, they may still be in need of help...and really who are we to judge who is deserving and who isn't? I will admit to walking back from a night out years ago and often seeing a guy lying on the floor at a bus stop reeking of alcohol and a beer can or bottle close by. Whilst I still wouldn't have approached the guy at the age of 17 at 2am on my own not exactly dressed in jeans and trainers, I probably should have called for help. This video really was a reality check and if this blog gets a few more people to watch it then all the better.
Monday 3 August 2009
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