find a new job

Today it was confirmed – after 4 weeks of waiting and of going through the process, I can finally say that my dream job is officially mine. I am thrilled beyond words to be working in a field that I care so much about (heritage) and to have the word ‘writer’ in my job title.

At the end of the day, I resigned from my current job and I feel great!

I got the job!!! It’s even better than it was going to be as they’ve decided to broaden the scope of the role based on the skills and experience that I can bring. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am. Compare my reaction to when I was offered the job I’m in now.

The only thing I have to do now is get through an internal review period where people can challenge my appointment. That doesn’t even start til mid-January so I can’t resign for another month. But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and now I start planning the rest of my life away from these toxic people doing this boring work.

It turns out they’re checking two of us. It’s a battle between a historian and a tourism expert. The tourism expert should win if they know what’s good for them!! They already have enough heritage expertise and need someone to help them connect people with heritage – and that person is me.

I had given up all hope of getting the heritage websites job since I’d heard nothing since the interview which was a week and a half ago. Then today I got an email saying that they’d like to contact my referees. While it sounds promising, I’m still not getting my hopes up – just in case.

The recruitment agencies told me that the job market won’t pick up again until the end of January when all the managers come back from their Summer holidays. Lots of people use the glorious Summer weather to take a long break. I know many of you find it hard to believe that it’s Summer at this time of year but it is.

This week I have an interview for a job writing about heritage sites for a website. I’m excited about this because it’s related to the sort of work I used to do when I worked in tourism. I know the person I’d be working for and from what he’s said, it seems like I’m the only one with tourism experience who’s been shortlisted – maybe everyone else has more web writing experience. Since the objective of the role is to increase visitation to the heritage sites, I have several ideas on how to use my skills and experience to my advantage in this role.

I had an interview with a recruitment agency today and the agent going to put me forward for one role and have a discussion with one of her colleagues about roles he’s in the loop on.

I’ve sent my CV to another recruitment agency.

I’m meeting the agent at my old recruitment agency for a coffee tomorrow. She’s finally said what I’d always suspected – if I hand my notice before I’ve been there less than 3 months, she has to refund the commission she’s made from my recruitment. The 3 months will be up on the 29th of December and I’d love to help her keep her money but my mental and physical health comes first.

There are a few other jobs I can apply for independently but I’m still going through the process of deciding if these are right for me.

Apparently I can’t have this on my list again (which is really annoying) so I have to go back to my completed goals and write in new entries even though I’m officially doing it again. Just sharing!

Anyway I have two job prospects which has lifted my mood immensely and makes going to my soul-crushing job bearable. Even when I watched my manager tear up someone else’s work, and even though I still have gut-wrenching nausea most mornings at the thought of being there.

I’m not sure I’m going to pursue the exact line of work I’ve been in (well certainly not at the same level) which means I’m facing quite a big pay drop. Right now my mental health is more of a priority. I’ve worked out that financially I can just scrape by but the work is more aligned with my interests and values. I can find another way to supplement my income if necessary. I have a good feeling about these jobs. One of them is going to work out, I’m sure of it!

It’s been 7 weeks since I started my new job and I’ve made the decision to start looking for a new one. The environment I’m working in is too toxic for me. I’ve been tossing up whether this is just the “settling in” blues but it’s not a job I like or see myself doing long-term, and coming back from being told by my manager that he’d made a mistake in hiring me has been difficult for me.

It will take me a while to get a job based on my past efforts and by the time I do, the time in this job won’t look so bad on my CV.

Oh dear! It looks like I am about to be offered a job at a government department. Yay. That should be Yay! But it’s not. It’s only Yay. The reason for the lack of enthusiasm is that the longer the appointment process has dragged on, the more I realise that my (maybe) manager-to-be is really disorganised. He also works really long hours. Part of that is overwork due to lack of staff and over-responsibility (which I am aware of) but he has already been late in getting back to me on some deadlines. I am wary already. At this stage, there is just a recommendation to appoint but I am not as excited as I should be about this.

I have survived the formal interview round of both jobs and now need to get through reference checks for one job (along with another candidate) and PSYCHOmetric testing and reference checks for the other. I can’t do much about the personality part of the psychometric testing but the verbal and numerical reasoning part I’m a bit worried about. I am going to practise examples until I feel more confident. One of these roles is going to work out in my favour, I have no doubt about it!

I don’t want to jinx it by giving away too much information but out of nowhere I might have not one but two prospects. I still have to go through a formal interview process (which seems to be my downfall – I’m really bad at interviewing) but they have met me informally (which seems to be my trump card – I come across really well informally) and in both cases they want to push the process through quickly. I hope one of these jobs works out. I don’t care which one.