What to do...

Lately I've been looking at volunteer and part-time opportunities in social media or marketing. I also want to look at graphic design opportunities as well, but I need to build a portfolio first.

There's a part-time job posting that would be perfect for me, but it requires 3 years of experience... and it's a day job. I would be able to go for an interview but if I got the job then I'd have to quit my contract. I don't think that would look good, but that's only on the notion that I do apply and do get an offer...

I'm still iffy about the job after my first week. I think I'll keep looking for other opportunities though. I just need to focus and remember the experience is essential to what I want to do in the future.

Hopefully I can find a volunteer opportunity soon, I want to build my skills and experience so it will be easier to transition to a new, full time job in the future. I really dislike admin work and I feel like I'm not learning a lot... I want to venture into full time into a realm where I find the work engaging and enjoyable.

I'd only do another contract if it was directly related in the field I want to be in (I think I've lost my passion for HR, but maybe later it will rekindle? :S), which is in film and video, communications, marketing, or digital media...

I'm hoping I can also find a good company to work with. A company that really values it's employees, the environment they work in, and provides incentives and assistance at all times. A company where there is structure, and organization. A company that will always listen and improve. I also want to work with people in the same department. I need to develop my people skills.

So grateful for blogs... can keep talking as much as I need to.

The New Job

I've been delaying this post for a while.

Mainly because my experience at my new job wasn't what I thought it'd be. Could be more of my lack of initiative to press on issues, but maybe it's them.

My first day... in a nutshell, was chaotic. In the morning, my manager briefly gave me a rundown of what I needed to do that day. WHAT I NEEDED TO DO THAT DAY!! It was obsurd, usually on the first day you're told to read a bunch of stuff and do a little filing, stuff that is easy... Okay, yes, the tasks I was given were menile. However... they became chaotic because I didn't have enough supplies/information to complete them until near the end of the day. Also, my manager left the office and won't be back until tomorrow. I managed somehow.

I was also told to phone other people in our intra offices. Okay, sure. But what I wasn't prepared for is that I'd be doing it most of the time, because I am the only staff... WHAT??? It feels just like my last job, where I was always on the phone being trained. I hate it. I really do. I want face-to-face interaction, I want co-workers that sit near me and I can talk to them about work and fun stuff. Can't do that here. :( It is a 6 month contract though, so I'm staying because of the skills and experience. Hopefully in my next job, I will be working together with lots of people, and won't really have to be trained on the phone all the time.

I feel like a hermit. When people actually do come in, I'm awkward. This probably because I don't spend a lot of time with people at work. And also because it just adds to my hermit personality...

After my first day, I was seriously considering quitting. Yup... everything was just all over the place, and no one really knew where the last person put things... I told my recruiter how I felt, and she told me to give the next day a try and let her know if it doesn't work out.

That day I also got a job interview call... I missed the call twice, because I was at work, then the third time I picked up after work had finished. I had to decline though... but I think back on it now, maybe I should have accepted it, it was a FT (no contract) position...

My second day went a little better. Got some training over the phone on our content management system, and I felt productive.

Today... was pretty blase. I felt like I sat at my desk not doing much for most of the time. I took the initiative to call my manager an hour ish before closing, and was able to get some training and questions answered.

Still not sure how I feel about the job... but I think I will feel much better when I actually get more training.

There are nice perks though.

My lunch is flexible, and apparently it was only supposed to be a half hour lunch, but I asked about an hour, and my manager said I could take an hour if I don't take breaks, or if I do take breaks, I'd have to stay half an hour longer. Makes sense. Also, on Fridays we get off early if we don't have work to do for the last half hour. Pretty good.

What I don't know is, if there is a casual Friday... I will have to ask tomorrow. Next Monday is a holiday too, but there hasn't been any announcement, so I'm unsure of that as well.

It's going to take me a while to get used to picking up the phone all the time to ask for help. At my previous jobs, I've always just used email or talked in person, and I find that email was easier for them and they would respond right away.

Here... people don't respond to their emails right away...
But they do for their phone, so I need to get used to it.

I emailed my recruiter today regarding my timesheet. Yay, paycheque soon :D

Such excite!

The recruiter got back to me on Thursday and advised me I'd have an interview with the client the next day.

I attended the interview. I thought it went pretty well but I was asked a few questions I wasn't too prepared for, but the interviewer praised me and said I was well prepared. She even gave me a little tour of the office. It's pretty nice, much smaller than what I've worked in before though. I found out the position is really similar to my previous job, which I do mind a little bit, but I was advised that it'd be very busy... so as long as I'm busy, I'm happy. There may be occasional slow periods though, but I was informed there would still be lots to do during that time.

The interview asked me a lot of behavioural questions, and told me a bit about the company and position. She would ask me a few times if I had any questions for her, and I had a few, but when she would ask I may have run a little dry. However I recalled on what she mentioned and asked her to check on my resume, I can't believe I did that. But I wanted to see how my job duties would be like in real time, so why not start on my own? I felt bad afterwards because she was doing it for free for me... when I would get paid to do this in the future, but I wrote a thank you letter to explain what I was thinking at that moment.

After the interview I went to go visit some friends for lunch breaks. While waiting for my friends, I received a call from the recruiter, asking me how I thought I did. I told her I thought it went well but I could have improved. She heard from the interview I was asked some hard questions, and that they would like to extend the offer to me. I asked for some time to think about it. The position starts immediately. I talked about it with my friends for a bit and then accepted it shortly after. I asked questions about attire and vacation days... and found out that the vacation weeks would not be approved as that was near my contract finish date. The recruiter asked me if I could start on Monday, but I asked if Tuesday would be okay since I need to work things out with my current employer. She said she would ask the manager and get back to me. 

She got back to me about half an hour later, and confirmed that Tuesday would be my start date. I have a feeling I could have pushed it for Wednesday, but I know the client wanted someone to start right away. I just don't know how I feel about resigning from my current employer so soon... I talked it over with a recruiting friend and I've decided to do the resignation on Monday before I leave the office that day. It might be a bit awkward, but I need to finish up a project. I also will try to finish an upcoming project too, and then I believe after those two projects I will be done my work.

At first I was very excited to get the job and accept. After hearing all the details about a busy environment, I quickly became infatuated. However, right now I'm sort of not sure, but I haven't work in it yet, so I really don't know much enough to judge. The recruiter said we'd talk after my first day to see if it's still a good fit or if it's not a good fit. 

When the interviewer told me the ideal start date, I couldn't say I could start within two weeks notice to my employer. I said I could start within that date. They smiled really enthusiastically. I took that as she may have thought I was desperate, or she really liked my answer. If the job could start later in the month, it would work for me, and it wouldn't feel awkward handing in my resignation. But it'll be awkward, it's so sudden for me, since I'm going to be at my part-time during the evenings and weekends until my last day of work there, so I got to do my best on Monday.

Interview with agency

I just got home from my interview with the agency for the EA position.

I got to the location 25 minutes early, so I went into the main building lobby to clean my shoes and take off my coat. Unfortunately, after trekking through the snow and slush... I didn't clean my boots off on the carpet well enough, so I feel really bad because I tracked mud all over the clean white floor in the lobby. I'm pretty sure the security woman was looking at me weirdly the entire time. T_T Maybe I should've offered to wipe it off... also, I didn't realize the wet naps I was using to wipe my shoes had suds in it.. that may have added to the problem. T_T

I decided to head up 5 minutes after to the agency, since I wanted to avoid awkwardness with the front desk. I got up to the floor and tried to search for a seating area so I could wait out the 10 minutes, since it's not good to come in 20 minutes, it can make the recruiter feel anxious about letting you in earlier than scheduled. I walked around and couldn't find a seat, so I tried to look for a washroom. The men's washroom didn't have a lock, but the women's had a combination lock... so I just stood in a corner. The security woman came up and I greeted her and she smiled at me. I'm pretty sure she was thinking I was weird for standing in the corner. 

8 minutes passed by and I decide to go in... At around 12:58 I met with the recruiter.

They didn't ask me a lot of questions about why I was interested, or why they should hire me, etc. It was more of what kind of environment am I comfortable working with, am I looking for a minimum of 6 months for employment, and what I did at my past and current jobs. I made sure to emphasize on points that I thought were relevant to the company and the position. It was hard to tell when I could speak, since it seemed like the recruiter did most of the speaking, but I got to speak and used it to my advantage. They also asked me what kind of environment I worked in at my previous job, was there a lot of down times, or was it busy because I was helping several departments...? I answered that half the month it would be busy, but the other half it would slow down, so I am looking to work in a fast-paced environment.

I also had to fill out a bunch of forms regarding workplace safety, hazards, a test on workplace health and safety, a background criminal check, an understanding of temporary assignment and of the employment guidelines. I learned that the recruiting agency would be my official employer, and that I am contracted out to the companies that I am doing work for. So that means if my employer decides to hire me FT, I need to let the agency know first. I found out that the position is available to take over a maternity leave. My question is that, for resume purposes, who do I put down on my resume as the company? Do I put the agency, or do I put the client company?

My resume and Microsoft office skills make me a viable match, according the recruiter. So that's great :) They're looking for someone who can get to work right away, so my skills would bring me on board well.

They've advised me that I will hear back around the end of this week if the client decides to hold a phone interview, or next week if the client wants to meet face-to-face. While phone interviews are great for appearance reasons, I'm not too keen on it since I can't see the other side and I always feel like I need to answer immediately, otherwise they might think I've dropped the call. I'd prefer face-to-face, but I won't mind the phone interview. 

I've written a thank you letter to the recruiter. Now to wait and read the documents they've handed to me. 

Eeep!

Alrighty, it's time to do a lot of rehearsing and preparation for my interview.

I've rehearsed a lot of different questions and answers that can pop up during the interview. I've also thought of some stories to match any differently worded or unexpected questions. I went through my resume, prepared my work references and gathered advice from some HR friends of mine.

I learned that the agency will try to match me to the job, so they'll go over my resume.

I need to iron my clothes, make my hair nice, and wake up early and head to the location early. I need to make a good impression.

I'm taking a little break right now, but I'm going to keep formulating answers to some questions and then keep on rehearsing. I can do this!

Interview :)

I followed-up with the company and they replied to me today saying they went with more qualified candidates who had more experience. Ahhh! I got rejected. I've definitely learned from this experience though, such as:

• Learn a little about the background of the type of company/the industry (learning about what the company is, but learn the elements)
• Following up is good, people won't leave you in the dark if you do
• For every answer that is inquiring about your knowledge of something, ALWAYS use an example from your experience, that way you they know you are saying what you mean because of your experience, also it shows how you would work in a similar situation

Onto exciting news! I got another interview. :) It's for an EA position and the interview is through a staffing agency. I don't know anything about the client, so I will definitely have to ask about them during the interview. 

My interview is next week, so I'm going to take some time this weekend to prepare. I've learned that I should be completely prepared, so I should prepare answers to a bunch of questions. I've read that recruitment agencies are like gatekeepers to the company, so they'll ask you about your expertise in a field and your skills. They might go with a behavioural interview approach to get the most of your experiences, so I'll make sure to prep for that as well. I also took some tests prior to the interview, so that will also show some knowledge of the needed software during the job. I don't know my scores though, so I'll have to ask during the interview.

I need to make a great and lasting impression on the recruiter so they can pitch me to the company and I can get the job. 

I can do this!