Hmm...

No reply yet from the company...

I will follow-up tomorrow evening if I don't hear anything. I need to ask what's up, and for a timeline.

I applied for a few jobs recently. One of the recruiters got back to me, but then immediately said I wasn't the right fit for the position, as it wasn't lined with my career interests... this was after they asked me what my career interests were, and I said them truthfully, but then they mentioned the position right after asking me, which sent them a red flag. Yes, the position is in a different industry, but determining me as not a right fit for it because my interests are different is dumb... but then again, the recruiter told me how long the employer wanted someone to settle, so I saw a red flag there too.

I don't think I can meet my goal for a new job by the end of January. Two days away and it's already a new month... Although, I'm keeping my goals short and sweet. Hopefully within the next two weeks I can find something. :)

I'm considering contract and temporary work now... at least it's something to do and to gain some experience. But I'd love to work at a permanent position with full benefits, etc. But I think companies are relying on temps and contract work more nowadays, since it's a cheaper way of doing things T_T

I was looking at a few of my colleagues LinkedIn profiles and noticed that their job history varies. Some have a few years in their positions, while others have only been at the position for a few months. I realize even though they've gone through so many positions, they still gain experience. For example, one person I had class with, she was in admin, but did some promotional stuff as well. She moved to another city and ended up with a marketing position, which is pretty awesome. I want to be able to do that too. Move on from the small things into bigger, better jobs.

I also realized, my current position might be the position I've been in the most for my work history so far. My last longest job was at Starbucks. Currently, my position is ahead as the most-worked position so far.

I know I'll find something.

UGGUUUUU

I guess one of the biggest things on my mind is getting a new job. I remember back when I finished my last semester of my undergrad, getting a new job wasn't really my biggest priority. But then the opportunity came up, and I took advantage of it, got an interview, didn't think I did so well, but ended up getting the job. From there, I learned a number of things, such as how I should've negotiated my salary, and before accepting the offer, I should have asked a number of things about the position and contract. Also, since  I was working with a recruiter, I should have asked as many questions as I could have... but I didn't. So, I've learned quite a bit.

Also, after attending so many interviews, I've learned what kind of questions I should prepare for. Especially questions that center around the subject matter of the company, etc. Behavioural questions aren't so much the norm as it once was, so I need to change my studying for interviews accordingly. Also, I've learned that I should make sure I get my questions answered... otherwise I might not be able to ask them until I get into contact with the company after.

I didn't think it would be difficult to get a job... but this is the reality. Although, I haven't been searching for long, and others search for much longer, so I need to look optimistically on this.

At this moment I have lots of reasons for why I need a FT job. Yes, my PT job is good for flexibility, but it's barely paying the bills/necessities, and it's time for me to grow and learn new responsibilities. It's also kind of far for me to get to, and I'd like something more closer.

I also want to travel, and get some equipment for filming, enroll in interest classes, etc. I could have stayed at my previous job, yes, but I learned from my leave there. I learned that you might need to stay in a job for a few years to gain some experience for other jobs you'd want... and I also learned that I could have made changes, but I didn't know how to really step up at that time...

I'm really hoping that I can find a FT position soon. My goal was to find one before the end of this month. I'm applying each day. I took a break last week since I had some interviews to prepare for, but I'm back on track now.

I hope I find out about that one job soon. Finding out about more of the other jobs I applied for would be great too!

Update on the phone interview

I had the phone interview...

I think it went well. Or at least, I'm hoping it did.

All I know is that they'll 'get back to people within the week'. The workday is over today for the company... so, maybe on Tuesday they will contact people?

One more week until February, and I've already received my schedule for my current workplace.

But at least I have other things to occupy my mind for a while... I've been brushing up on my video editing skills lately and trying to learn other things like 3D modeling and working better with AE. I'm going to be editing a new project soon so I need to get back up to speed.

O_o

The interview I had didn't turn out as well as I had planned...

Things happened. I will summarize it in a few points:

1) I came into the waiting room... which had other interview candidates waiting to be interviewed.
2) I had to fill out a form with my name, address and references
3) The office was playing mainstream music in the waiting room
4) Almost waited an hour for my interview (Despite being told to come at a certain time)
5) Went into the interview and was only asked about 4 or 5 questions, nothing to do with my experience/resume
6) The interview was like 5 or 10 minutes. I don't know.
7) Was told a 2nd interview would commence as a job shadow, during an entire work day, and advised I would be contacted at a certain time the same day

I ended up not being contacted at the time they mentioned that would contact about 2nd interviews. I did send in a thank you letter and a reference page (since I couldn't recall my references contact info at the time of filling out the form) through e-mail to HR.

Probably one of the shortest interviews I've had.... my shortest one was actually about 3 minutes long and I wasn't asked any questions except for what my future goals were...something along those lines.

I didn't learn much about the position and I wasn't even asked if I had any questions...

On the other hand,I got a response from the other company about the phone chat, and it looks like it'll be this Thursday :) I'm excited. Starting to pick up where I left off my research right now to prepare. I think that after this phone chat I'll know how to prepare more.

Interview!

I got a reply email from the company and they confirmed that they will schedule dates this week for the phone call. Since they weren't open on Monday, let's hope I hear something later today about the scheduling.

Onto more good news, I received a call yesterday about an interview, happening later this afternoon. I'm excited, but I have no clue what I applied for. I initially applied to one of their job postings for a specific position, but I also applied on their website a general resume submission... when I talked with the company today on the phone, they said it was a different title, so that's why I am not so sure what I am interviewing for...

I'm hoping they will provide all the details before we get to the interview questions tomorrow, if not, then I will have to ask the good ol' "Would you be able to explain the responsibilities in detail so that I may tailor my answers for the interview?" question. I think they will provide the detail though, since it's an entry-level position. And their job ads don't really provide too many details of the position.

I've done a bit of prepping so far. Did the common questions first, such as, "What do you know about us?" "Why do you want to work here?" "Tell me about yourself." "What are your strengths and weaknesses?" "Why are you leaving your current employer?" I need to cover questions that are behavioral and questions about why they should hire me (essentially strengths) and my ideal job, and my future goals.

Time to prepare a bit more, then head to bed and then prepare some more in the morning.

Phone interview?

Yay! A job I applied for about a month ago got back to me yesterday with an e-mail asking to chat with me on the phone regarding the details of the position to ensure I'd fit well with them. They said they would a set-up a time that was convenient for me; I emailed them right away saying I was free after a certain time.

I was hoping to hear back from them shortly, but I didn't, so I booked it home to wait for any call... just in case they decided to go ahead with the time.

No call/email received.

I woke up excited to see an e-mail this afternoon about it, but didn't receive an e-mail as of yet. Perhaps by the time I finish this blog I will receive one?

It's making me worried that they a) didn't receive my reply or b) are contacting others first? I dunno. In the meanwhile I've been prepping for interview questions that could pop up. Tell me about yourself, strengths, weaknesses, why should they hire, what made you interested in this position..etc. All in the hopes I will receive an interview.

The e-mail they sent to me said I was shortlisted, so that made me ecstatic, as I thought the ship had sailed since it was a month since the due date.

This blog is almost complete and so far no e-mail...

Ahhhh.

They're probably just really busy.... I just wish they were more specific about the times we would be talking, lke on a given day so I wouldn't freak out so much.

Hopefully they'll confirm with me soon, so I can book time off for the phone call.

*fingers crossed*

Motivation!

For my friend's wedding, I decided to wear my blue dress with tights and wedges. It worked out because it got cold outside, and because I was sitting at a table most of the time, you couldn't really notice my strange attire. :) I had a good time, it was a very delightful feeling seeing my long time friend in her beautiful wedding dress and oh-so happy with her husband!

So far my resolutions have been doing well. I'm able to communicate with people at ease without feeling awkward! However, the past few days I haven't been very comfortable with talking to others because of my mood, but I think that's settled for now, so I'm ready to get back in action.

The job hunt still goes on, no word for the agency as of yet. But I am still applying to many jobs each day and I'm proud for what I have applied for. :)

In the mean time, I've decided I will do a number of things while I am on the journey for a new job. Freelancing is something I should build my portfolio with, so I've decided to give Odesk a try. It's a freelancing site that allows you to search for jobs and apply for them and get some work done, while getting paid by the client. Hopefully I can find some projects to do. I may also have some projects locally to work on as well.

I'm also going to keep working on my website too, improving it so that it will showcase my work.

With the freelancing and website designing keeping me busy, I won't be too focused on the negative/job hunt as much.

When I do get a job though, I really want to purchase a new camera. There's this camera called the Sony Nex3n that I've been looking at. It's not a giant DSLR, but it does the trick for one of my favourite YouTubers, and the photo quality is also amazing with the lens it comes with. It has a flip out screen too, so that would help me with my videos that I plan on making soon :)

After finding a job, I think I'll start streaming again too! I'll have to make a banner for my channel. Oh and I need to make some graphics for my YouTube channel as well, once I've got that up and running. :D

Hmm... and maybe I might attend the BWMF this year too? It's costly, but if I can afford it, I'd love to go again. I was lucky enough to intern there before, but I would really love to mingle with other delegates and network! That means I'll need to make some new business cards though, too. The current ones I have are outdated... I use them for makeup application LOL.


Lots of things to do :)

What to wear for a friend's wedding?

In a few hours I will be attending my friend's wedding reception. She's a dear friend of mine whom I used to be bestest friends with in junior high. I'm honoured to attend her wedding and see what makes her happy.

However, I don't know what to wear. Actually, it's more like, I know I can wear something but I really don't want to wear it, because I have worn it to one wedding before, and another event already. I feel like I only have one dress to wear to formal events like weddings and corporate parties. It's accurately true.

I've been wearing this blue dress all the time. To be honest I only bought it because I had a 60% off coupon, and well I liked the A-line image it produced when I wore it. My pet peeve about this dress is that it shows way too much shoulder. It's one of those dresses that look really nice unworn, but when you put it on, it might as well look like a tank top dress.

I first wore it to my friend's wedding reception, with gold heels. I liked my outfit at that time. It was the Summer, so it was a perfect choice.

Secondly, I wore it to a corporate holiday party. Same style again. Even though it was winter, I still pulled out the gold heels.

Now yesterday, I did go dress shopping, but I bought casual dresses. They were cheap, what was I thinking? I should have purchased a formal/semi-formal dress to wear for a number of occasions.

I have an abundance of casual dresses, but of course I don't want to come under-dressed for a wedding.

I figured, I'll just wear my blue dress again, but this time instead of gold heels, I will wear black wedges. I thought about wearing tights, but honestly the dress is long on me... so tights would seem very out of place.

Technically, this is the third time I'd be wearing the dress, so I guess it's no biggy. In the future, I will take what I've learned and purchase some nice but affordable dresses that I could only wear a formal events... I have waaaaaay too many casual dresses!

I have one friend who I have never seen reuse a single dress. She always has tons of different styles. I could quickly go out and purchase a dress right now, but whatever, I'll do that later. The black wedge combination should look good. If not, then I can always go back to the gold heels. :)

Stressed :(

After three months of working part-time, I think the stress has finally gotten to me. The stress from not having a stable income, having people constantly remind you of your unemployment by asking you if you've been searching/reminding you that you quit your job/being negative about everything regarding finances, and from not being happy while working... it's really taking it's toll on me and it's not good. My eczema on my back has started to come back due to stress. I need to make the eczema go away again and find a new job... hopefully that will bring everyone else's stress level down and most importantly, mine.

January is overall a slow month at work now because our next major project won't be produced until the end of January, which meant I wouldn't have much work until then. However, I did ask my boss for more work... mostly for stuff outside of my main responsibility, but they were able to dig up some old projects for me to work on. I literally have piles of footage to work through until the next major project. Normally I would be totally happy with this, but to be honest, I've gotten board of my work. It's repetitive and it's time for someone else to try it. But I will take on this work since I need the hours/income.

However, that won't happen until I find a new job. Hopefully soon. I attended a meeting with a recruitment agency the other day after applying for a position. They set-up a profile for me to help me with my job search and said they would be looking at resumes next week for the position. They said they will give me a call regarding the position at that time. I've been applying to jobs everyday now... and now I am at the point where I'm leaning towards the admin side more. Because right now I am so focused on securing my finances and bringing my stress levels down. Also, I need more experience. I'm still applying to jobs that I'm really interested in too, so that's not out of the water.

I'm pretty sure my eczema will go away very soon. I just started the process like I used to, and after a few days it disappeared. I think I'm missing the moisturizing part though, so I need to start putting lotion on it like I used to.

Also once my stress levels go away, I won't cry anymore.

Here's hoping to a job opportunity!!!!! Add oil :D