The Jobsearch

Hello blog readers! are you still out there?

Life has seemed difficult to write about lately, so I haven't been doing much blogging once again.

I had two job interviews last week. The first for a job I didn't want but was fairly sure I'd get, and the second which I did want, but which I knew would be more difficult to get, which made the week kind of stressful. However, I was highly relieved that my 6 weeks of making phone calls, waiting, filling in application forms and more waiting finally seemed to be going somewhere!

The first interview was for a job at Southampton General Hospital as an administrator and I had two so called interviews for that job. For the first one I arrived 15 minutes early and got a really bad impression. The office was at the end of a long corridor with no natural light. It was drab and there was no organisation in terms of a welcome or an explanation of what they did or what the job would be. Nobody offered me a drink or made an effort to represent the company to me. After 10 minutes of hanging around I was given a test, not an interview at all. It was a spelling and grammar test which asked you to fill in questions such as,

1) Fill in the blank in this sentence using one of the words provided:
John ...................... the ball to James. a) throwed b) threw c) threwed d) throw
Tracy found her passport in the ........................ . a) drwaer b) draw c) drawer d) drow

There were lists and lists of this and I nearly fell asleep. I guess there is a reason why a test like that exists, but the thing was 7 pages long! Needless to say I got a second interview for that job.

From that first impression I wasn't looking forward to the second interview at all but I thought it would be wrong to not to turn up and I wanted to give it a second chance. That plan backfired though, as the man interviewing introduced himself as Gordon and described himself 'un-politically correct' which he seemed to find rather funny. I wasn't sure what he meant but I knew I'd find out so I kept an open mind for about a minute until he asked me 'so, boyfriends. Do you have one? Are you planning to have any babies or are you trying for a baby?' and he explained that the previous person in the job 'surprise surprise' got pregnant and 'left of her own attrition'... (hmmmm, I thought, this man is an idiot) and then the nail in the coffin was 'it had nothing to do with anything I said to her, it was totally her decision'.... so he was a slimy nasty man and I answered all his other questions like 'what makes you laugh?', what makes you swear?' and some other equally unprofessional banter.

I got offered the job, faked 'considering my options' for a couple of days, and then called to refuse it. The thing is, I'm fine with doing a bit of skivvy work, but the job was not the only thing that was bad there and I think I'm better off without it somehow! In theory I could write to the hospital and tell them about him and he would be reprimanded at least but possibly sacked. Maybe I should. I'm glad I wasn't stupid enough to take the job. In fact I'm sure they were looking for someone stupid, in which case I'm not what they're looking for!

I still can't quite believe how awful it was there. It was appalling.

Anyway, shaking that off, the other job I went for I didn't get either, but the interview was a much nicer experience, which means I had a fair chance of getting it, and not getting it just means that someone else fitted the bill better.

Ho hum... so I'll keep searching and see what happens.

More anon