Anticiptation

It's on my mind so might as well get it out...

This week is when I find out if I got the job.

I always have to remember to just shove my thoughts of any job/interview onto the side so I don't get too worked up.

But it's hard with this one, because it's actually what I want to do.

Also, I feel uncomfortable with how the interview went.

I didn't really get the opportunity to talk a lot.. but I did learn a lot about the position. Which made me very excited, but still, I needed to prove why I am the best candidate.

I'm hoping that my thank you letter contributed to that. Really. That's also why I write thank you letters, to cover any bases that weren't covered in the interview.

I wonder when they will notify candidates...

The hiring manager didn't specify a certain day, just said 'next week' which is this week. It could be tomorrow, or the days after...

Maybe later in the week... he did mention they were busy with an event so they couldn't make the decision during the same week of my interview. So I'm guessing they'll take today (Monday) to discuss and then make the decision afterwards. I wonder who else would be involved in the hiring decision? I'm guessing HR or the department employees. I've never been part of the hiring process at any of the companies I've worked at... well a little bit, but nothing with discussion, so I don't really know how a decision is made.

I'm over thinking it.But hey maybe they could make the decision later today.


All I can do is wait.

Lots of stuff

Right now I should be sleeping as I have work in -7 hours and need to get up in about 6 hours, but I took a nap today because I had to wake up early after sleeping late for a friend's birthday lunch. We went out for some dutch pancakes and I had half a potato, onion, cheese pancake as well as half of my boyfriend's pecan, lemon, coconut and brown sugar pancake. I would've taken pictures but I was hungry since I woke up a bit later than I was supposed to and couldn't have breakfast and we also ended up waiting in line outside for an hour. It was Father's Day so there were soooo many families queued up to dine... longest line I've ever seen there and usually that place always has line-ups on the weekends, but never that long before! Our friend also got a birthday sundae and we were all pretty full but we all tried a little bit, the icecream was really good :)

Afterwards, my boyfriend and I went to go pick up his childhood friend from the airport who came all the way from the UK! It was really cool meeting him and after my boyfriend dropped me off at home and I was just so tired from the lack of sleep... and also from the food. I decided to game a little bit and watch some videos as well as research a little bit on hair dye. One of my friends dyed her hair and when I saw it today I had to ask what she used... I'm considering dying my hair the same colour, but I don't want it to be as bright, even though the brightness is really pretty, as I'm not sure if it'd be appropriate for work, but hey, it could be? Also, I don't know if having it that bright would look good on me, but I think I'll try out the same colour. I'm going to try to look for the product tomorrow during my lunch break.

I also learned some Japanese/did some review from a site I used last year to learn Japanese while I worked at my previous job. I feel like I really need to pick up the pace again, I've got all these resources around me: kanji book that I got for my birthday, two N3 vocab and grammar workbooks (I've actually done the first part of the grammar book so far, but I haven't practiced so I forgot it all...), a bunch of language discs I got from a few birthdays ago, and multiple online resources. You would think that after taking Japanese in university for 2 years that I'd be practicing/be somewhat comfortable with the language now, but there has been no motivation for me to retain since I worked at my previous company. Also, I'm working on multiple projects nowadays (website, video, volunteering) that I haven't really found the energy to review/study... My recent routine is watching videos with Japanese speakers and trying to get a jist of what they are saying without reading English subtitles, so far that's working decently but I need to be learning and trying out things myself. My goal is to be more advanced and comfortable speaking, listening, reading and writing (in that order?) within the next two years... might be a steep goal, but I already studied Japanese for two years, so technically it would be four... but if you count the half year I studied during work, then 2.5 years so almost 5 years for my goal...

I'm also starting to read more about socal media, how to use it effectively in marketing.. etc. I think it would be beneficial to know some background for future jobs and inteviews, since I didn't take any courses in marketing/social media before.

I've also been working on an intro video for my website in AE, and it has been fun so far. I want to release videos on my new youtube channel very soon, so I've been thinking of ideas but that's all I've been doing... I need to actually find a time to make the video, edit it and upload it.

So this is why I've made this post, to keep track of all the things I must do within this week/this month...

This week I need to:

• Finish my intro video for my website. For now I will start very simple and as I gain more experience and practice, I'll make an improved video. :)
• Study Japanese for about 30 minutes each day. The best way to do this is probably online until I feel comfortable getting back into the habit... so hopefully by next week or the week after I'll be doing my workbook stuff again. I'll also take a look at my kanji book and use my CDs.
• Make a video for my channel. Probably going to do this on Saturday or Friday. Need lots of daylight as I don't have a ring light yet. I just gotta figure out what I want to make a video of... I was thinking of a review video on a new brow product I purchased. :)
• Along with my reviews, start up a new blog or continue my blog... I need to get back into the blogging scene to get experience.

This month I need to:

• Read one book in it's entirety... I actually have a lot of ebooks that I've read parts of but haven't finished yet, and I have two books that I need to finish reading as well. One book I am halfway through but it has been like three years, and the other book I haven't really looked through much. I think the one book I will read first in it's entirety is the social media ebook, followed by the freelancing ebook I'm reading. 
• Finish editing my volunteer project. This is something I've been putting on hold because of lack of motivation and technical issues. The file won't open anymore so I need to solve that even though I thought I had resolved the issue a while back, but it's having the issue again. I might need to start over... T_T Probably going to devote next week or this weekend to this. Been putting this off for way too long but that's because I've been working on a number of things lately and well, I really like to enjoy my weekends as much as possible since I do work FT during the weekdays.

So this is what my week will look like:

Monday: Study Japanese, finish intro video, read book

Tuesday: Study Japanese, plan my youtube video, read book

Wednesday: Study Japanese, read book, plan?

Thursday: Study Japanese, read book

Friday: Study Japanese, read book, film video

Saturday: Study Japanese, film/edit video, read book

That looks pretty good for a week, right? This would be after work too, so it's actually a lot of stuff packed into the evening. 

Oh and I also need to work out too... forgot to factor that in. That's something I need to do everyday or ease in by doing every second day. I think I'll try blogilates :)

After typing up this post I feel a little bit tired? But not tired enough to go back to sleep... 

Back in the interview game

I got the interview for the job I submitted my video application for!

The interview was today and wow, I am so excited for this position, it is literally EVERYTHING that I would LOVE to do at work.

It includes video production, graphic design, social media, responding to customer reviews, etc... omg.

I just finished writing and sending my thank you letter to the interviewer. I won't get a response until next week, as they're busy with a sale this week.

I really hope I get this job. It's an hourly position that has a starting wage, but I let the hiring manager know what range I was expecting... I hope it wasn't too much, but the starting wage is lower than what I'm making right now. I don't mind if it's hourly, it really sounds like there's a truck load of work to do each day, so if I get lots of hours then I'm grand!

I really feel like the job fits what I do. I forgot to mention in the thank you letter that I really enjoy how they're building the position around the person they hire.... that's one of the things I'm very excited about.

It looks like they want someone to start soon... he didn't ask me when I could start so ahhh I didn't get the chance to tell him that my contract was ending at my current job, since he asked if I was employed...

In this post I just want to cover questions I want to ask if I do get the offer:

- Are there any health/dental benefits?
- When is the start date?
- What's the minimum/maximum number of hours I can/need to work?
- Do I get vacation time?
- How will you be measuring my performance within the first 60 - 90 days?
- What are the hours of shifts?
- Is there an opportunity to telecommute?
- Would I be working alone or within a team?
- Would I be working in a shared office or at a cubicle?
- What is your communication style?
- Is there opportunity for travel?
- Is there opportunity to attend outside events?
- What is the appropriate attire?

I probably have more questions but that's what I would ask initially. I'll add to this post if there's more.

I'm so stoked.

I was advised there were a lot of applicants, but only four people were selected for an interview because they followed the instructions.

:D Huzzah.

I haven't been this excited from an interview since my captioning job interview.

Applied

I spent the entire day working on my video application. It's been submitted, yay! However when I applied on Indeed it still demanded a resume attachment... so I attached that. Maybe I should have said in brackets that indeed wouldn't let me submit unless I attached one. Hopefully the employer doesn't think I can't follow directions :(

I also applied to a film job as well. I've actually met the president of the company before, but I don't know if she'll remember me... it's been two years since I last saw her. I hope they will consider me. :)

I've made sure to keep my portfolio updated too. Things are coming along and I've realized I really do love video production and editing!! It would be great if I can land a job that uses it most of the time. :D

I was thinking about the whole 8 more weeks until my contract is done.. and a part of me is saying I can definitely hold it out for that long. I just need to find ways of keeping myself sane and composed. I mean, as long as I'm doing things I enjoy in the meantime, I should be fine. But then again it's 7.5 hours a day at work... doing stuff I don't enjoy. :(

I'm really thinking about whether I should send that e-mail to my employment agency... Would they help me? Or would they report it to my assignment? Sigh, I don't know. I also don't want to quit without a backup, in the past it was easy because I was working a part-time job at the same time, so I could make that decision. However, now I only have one job... so I can't easily make that decision anymore. Also, I don't know how my family would react. Everyday I tell them work is 'okay' and I've given subtle hints that it's not very likeable. 8 weeks is a long time to stay at a workplace doing what you dislike...

Especially invoices, gosh I hate those so much with a passion. When I had the interview, they asked me straight up how I processed invoices at my previous job. Red flag right there. Then when they didn't give me the weekend to think it over, but three hours? That's another red flag. Also, when they said I wouldn't be with people that often... that was another red flag for me personally, because I wanted to work with others. Also, I had no idea my boss would be working from home. That's something I wasn't prepared for on my very first day and it went chaotic. Definitely need to make sure it doesn't happen again at my next workplace/job.

APPLY TO ALL THE JOBS!

Herro!

It's been a while since my last post.

I have been blogging, but I haven't been publishing. What I do at work sometimes when there's downtime is I blog offline on my iPod, then forget to publish it later. Probably shouldn't publish anyway, most of it is just me ranting about how bored I am at work. :(

So I'm having a bit of a dilemma. I really want to quit, like right now. However my contract is almost done at this assignment, so I should really hold it off. But at the same time I am so tired of micromanagement, repetitive admin work and miscommunication as well as the lack of socializing, that I am SO tempted to just quit very soon. I shouldn't, I really shouldn't. I need to wait for my next employment opportunity first before I can quit. It's soo hard, but I have to wait it out.

I'm purposely not asking for more work like I usually do, because what if I do get a new job soon? I wouldn't want too much on my plate and feel really awkward for leaving my contract early.

Then again, I've been applying to a lot of jobs (I try to apply to one everyday that I have time) but haven't gotten any interviews yet. I started my follow-up emails so hopefully I will get something soon. :)

I need to make a video resume tomorrow. There's a job that I want to apply for and they're not accepting a traditional resume. Time to roll up my sleeves and get to know AE a little better, too, so I can add nifty effects to my video resume. I've outlined the sections I want to cover, but now I need to come up with a script... hmmm. The posting didn't list a due date, so I am presuming it's ASAP, or until they can find suitable candidates... which is why I need to get started now. I also need good audio, so I'm going to purchase the Zoom H1 tomorrow. Hmm, not sure if I should purchase during my lunch break or after work... 

Gosh, I really want a new job.

I'll find one soon.

If I did quit now, I'd work really hard trying to freelance. I'd also probably find a part-time job. 

I've thought about going back to school as well. My contract ends in August, that would be perfect to go back to school in the Fall... but I don't know, I want work experience. 

I am just so sick of admin work. 

This time I mean it when I say I won't be applying to admin jobs anymore. The work is just so repetitive... I think I just don't like data entry...