get a good job

No, I have not become a nude model. What I mean by the title is that I’m now living with my dad but I didn’t have time to pack any clothes, so I’ve got one set of work clothes and one set for everything else.

Unfortunately, there was no archaeological work going on at the place I applied to, but they have gardening positions available instead, so I’m going to do that. Of course, it’s voluntary, so I’m not getting paid, but hey, I love gardening. Normally.

If I was just going there, grabbing some tools and then working all day, that would be great, but what I am worried about is the presence of other people. I suppose that’s just my social anxiety or whatever showing through and it’ll probably be fine, but I really don’t feel like I want to do it. I’ll have to get used to it because just about every job on the planet requires working with other people, but… ugh… I am not good at it.

Anyway, I start tomorrow. I will turn up and see where it goes. It’s only voluntary anyway, so I guess I can just quit when I like.

And the hunt for paid work continues…

I think I might try a new avenue: volunteering. This will provide me with experience, possibly some free training, and a great sense of emotional wellbeing.. or something. It will also get my parents off my back for a while, and who knows, I might find something that I want to make a career out of.

Fortunately, living with my parents means I can afford to do this, and otherwise I am wonderfully incredible at managing my finances (my secret: I deprive myself of all luxuries, and many essentials – I’m like an atheist monk).

I’ve applied to do some archaeological work at a National Trust place near my dad’s house, which will mean moving house to live with him, but I’m sure I’ll get used to the smell. The agency have sent confirmation of my application and passed on my details to the place, so hopefully all I have to do now is sit here and twiddle my thumbs…

I have finally left data entry after just over 6 months… but there is no time to enjoy unemployment! I must continue to seek out work.

I’m hoping to get another temporary job, because that way I can stall a bit longer until I have my driving licence in a few months (hopefully), which will significantly broaden my options. However, I still have no clue what I want to do. Perhaps it’s not a question of what I want to do, but what I can bear to do…

Kaytryn’s post below mine amused me. The first job that I saw in the paper was a temporary data entry job. It was much closer to my house and required some experience. It also paid slightly more than my last job. I might just be forced to take it… At least it would be a change of scenery… Although I would rather die in the gutter than do anymore data entry.

I think I’d better change my goal to getting a good job rather than just any old job, because that is my aim after all. I am aiming at something unattainable, but I have to be honest and admit that just any job will not do it for me.

I’ve been doing data entry for almost 5 months now, and it is hell. I turn up in the morning, type for 4 and a half hours, have lunch, then type for another 3 hours, and then go home. There is nothing to break the typing up. I don’t even talk to anyone.

I would like to quit, but I don’t have the guts, even though I’m only a temp so I could just not go in ever again and there’s nothing they could do about it, but again, I don’t have the guts.

I need a job that is more engaging than data entry that I can do absolutely alone. I don’t even care about pay because I have pretty much resigned myself to a life of minimum wage and living on ramen noodles anyway. It also needs to be a job that does not require a degree, because I refuse to go back to university, given my chronic hatred of students.

I, personally, do not think that this utopian job exists (and even if it did I would fail the interview).

You’re meant to prepare for interviews, right? Oh balls.

The day after being offered the interview, I accepted some temporary work for this week. Which means I’ve been doing data entry for 8 hours today and I’ve hardly slept for the last 2 nights (I had to get up early on sunday to do a training walk for a 40 mile charity walk I’m doing in a few weeks).

The bottom line is, I have no time or energy to direct towards preparation. At least I can draw positives from it though. It will be the worst interview ever in my life. I will never do worse than I’ll do tomorrow. It can only get better.

Now I guess I just grit my teeth and look like a total idiot for an hour as I stumble through, knowing nothing about the company or the role I’m applying for.

I also have data entry to survive this week. I can’t believe I ever said I would like data entry. Well, as expected, I like the solitary aspect, and being able to work mechanically.. except I’m not really working mechanically. Maybe other people can, but I’m too careful so I make myself concentrate the whole time, which I’m perfectly capable of doing, but it’s draining. I’m also not the quickest typist. I mean, compared to the average human being I’m pretty quick, but as far as data entrants go, I’m slow, and I can’t touch-type. And they threaten us with daily assessments and things, and use special software to monitor us, so I rarely allow myself to lower the tempo.

All in all, I’d rather die than work, but that’s a rather petulant perspective to assume, so perhaps it’s time I used some of that legendary willpower that I sometimes pride myself on on occasions when that willpower is not under strain. That is not the most articulate sentence I ever wrote either, but I’m too tired to re-word it.

Me need bed now. ‘Night.

I’ve had no internet for about 3 weeks so that didn’t help matters, but I’m back online now and lo, I have an interview on July 4th.

At the moment my confidence is unshakable, because I’m an arrogant bastard and I think I’m brilliant, but that will subside on the day of the interview when I recall that I can’t express my brilliance verbally. I’ll fail the interview of course, but I’ll value the experience.

Maybe I’ll whisper quietly to them that I’m willing to undercut whatever salary they’d offer to anyone else… I don’t really care about the money. I should do, but I can’t make myself value it. As long as I have an income, I don’t care.

If I remain unemployed for much longer, I think I’ll try and get some temporary work to pick up a few references and some much needed experience. Either that, or give Burger King a ring… they need cashiers.

Since the last entry, I’ve applied for 2 more jobs – another in data entry, and one as a trainee computer technician – making 4 in total.

Of those 4, I have heard absolutely nothing back apart from one email from a helpdesk job that I’m not going to get anyway, telling me they were compiling a shortlist and would get in contact again in a couple of weeks (which they haven’t done). Perhaps my CV needs some work…

In any case, I think it’s about time I stepped up the search. Even my 13 year old brother has a part time job now, and he’s rubbing it in. But he has an unfair advantage because his friend got him the job, and I have no friends.

Broadening my range might also be advisable. So far I’ve been looking at IT jobs, but the title of this goal isn’t ‘ANY job’ for nothing. The one thing I want to avoid is retail, but even that would be tolerable if I got into the right sort of shop.

Anyway, I need to stop talking about it and start doing it. I have 2 options: go insane and live on everyone’s taxes (preferred), or failing that… well, just more of the same I guess, but I’ll have to ignore my dad when he says ‘oh, you’d hate that job’, and look at a wider range. Oh, and I need to LEARN TO DRIVE. Except I’m afraid I’ll crash and kill myself (or worse, survive).

I’m leaving university and need a job. I have no work experience, and no skills that I can actually prove I possess. I’ll take just about anything.

So far, I have applied for a data entry job, which I’d probably quite enjoy (don’t ask), and an IT helpdesk support job that I’d probably hate, but it pays a lot more. I’m not likely to get either though, because I don’t interview well – I cannot lie to save my life.

I’ve got one week of university left (exams, hooray), then I’ll be job hunting full-time. I should technically be at university for another 5 weeks despite the fact that there is nothing going on (apart from getting drunk and having promiscuous sex I suppose, neither of which I regularly indulge in), but I’d rather work on sorting my life out.

I suppose I’ll chronicle this poor, talentless, socially inept, university drop-out’s experience here, as things develop.