Undoctored
Posted: Mon 19 May, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Health, Work-related | Leave a comment »Back to work again today, for ’tis Monday.
Thankfully, the vile lurgie from last week seems to have cleared up, and left me with just a bit of a cough and what felt like a heavy cold over the weekend – although even that seems to have eased off a fair bit for today.
Herself had insisted on making a doctor’s appointment for me on Friday (to see them today) but I’ve been able to cancel that as it looks like I’m going to be OK. On Friday there’d been the potential for it to have turned out as a chest infection thing, but that seems to have been fought off on Friday/Saturday, so no need to go and see the quack.
Mind you, it now looks like the other two people in the office have also collected a dose of the same thing, so it still sounds like a plague ward during work hours. Still, could be worse – I could still be coughing my lungs out on every third breath, like I was on Friday…
Another Extension
Posted: Thu 8 May, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Customer Services, Own Business, Work-related | Leave a comment »I’ve just had it confirmed that I’ll be staying on with my current contract until the end of the month.
That’s two extensions now – and this three week one is for a completely new project, which is even better. The agency’s ecstatically happy, and I’m pretty pleased too. Considering the initial contract was for 2 weeks and 2 days (i.e. 12 days all told) it’s now been extended for a further seven weeks – and that’s all because they keep finding more stuff for me to do, rather than because of anything negative.
I must be doing something right…
Parasol and P60s
Posted: Fri 2 May, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Work-related | Leave a comment »Regular readers may remember that last year I had issues with my P60 disappearing when it was sent out by the incomparable twunts at Parasol, the umbrella company I’ve been using. (And thank God that period is coming to a close)
It’s P60 time again, and at least this year I’ve received it. Which is more miraculous than one would suppose, considering it was posted to:
Lyle
[My House_Name]
[The Street_Name]
[Postcode]
(Obviously I’m not going to give out the address details on here, but you get the idea)
Yep, no town, no county, nothing. Just house name, street name, and postcode. Luckily, that’s all the address data that is really needed – but it’s hardly the best way of getting essential (and non-repeatable) documents to a person, is it? And particularly when I’d gone through all the hoops for making sure my address data was accurate on Parasol’s records. As insisted upon by bloody Parasol!
I called them up to find out why.
“Oh, well, we’ve found out that actually payroll use a different system for the addresses to what’s on our own records, so there have been some problems with people who’ve changed their details. The IT department are looking into it.”
But I reported this problem last year, when Parasol screwed up sending out my P60.
“Well it’s been reported by a lot of people this year now, so we’re looking into it.”
The day I leave them just can’t come soon enough. (9th May, I’m looking at you here)
Failure
Posted: Fri 2 May, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Work-related | Leave a comment »So it turns out I didn’t get the job I interviewed for last Friday. I got the call last night to let me know – and as expected, the main reason was because I didn’t have certain bits of experience that were on the list. I’m not a project manager, and my experience is techie-based rather than communications-based. (which gives some clue about what the role might’ve been – but that’s the only clue you’re going to get)
Still, they were impressed with my interview, presentation, and technical skills – and apparently I came about third out of the eight people interviewed. So overall, could be worse.
I’m not surprised I didn’t get the job, really. It would’ve been good to have, but I’m sure something else will come up. Among other things, it’s quite possible they’re going to want some techies at the same place before long – and I could certainly do that job.
Just have to see.
Recruitment
Posted: Tue 29 April, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Customer Services, Own Business, Work-related | 2 Comments »Hello, is that Lyle?
Yes.
Hi, It’s [x] from [y] Recruitment. I’ve got this position that I thought you might like, it’s a six month contract that needs a lot of knowledge about PHP development in a LAMP environment, paying around £35 per hour. Would you be interested?
Yes.
OK, I’ll send you forward for it.
OK, no worries.
By the way, is Glasgow an OK location for you?
Um, no, not really. I’m based in Norfolk. It could be done, but it would be difficult…
You’d think that by now agencies would know enough to at least look at locations (and/or discuss them) first, wouldn’t you.
*sigh*
Interviewage
Posted: Sun 27 April, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Charm School, Thoughts, Work-related | Leave a comment »So yes, the interview on Friday went (I think) pretty well. Personally I don’t think I’ve got some of the relevant experience for the job (it involves a lot of project management and recruitment guff) but i gave it my best shot, and at the end of the day, that’s what counts.
It also involved giving a presentation first, which I hate. It’s not that I’m bad at them – according to feedback, I’m actually pretty good at them – I just don’t like standing up and giving a presentation, particularly to people I don’t know and have never met before. To me, they’re ust something I have to do, simple as that- and that’s the attitude I’d also have to them if I had to do them as part of a role. Mind you, it might be a bit easier if I actually planned them, as opposed to pretty much winging it. Yes, I know roughly what I’m going to say, and the rough order in which I’ll say it – but that’s as far as I go. I prefer to talk to people, not read from cue-cards or scripts.
So as far as I can tell, it all went OK. I doubt I’ve got the job, but that’s through holes in the skill-set, rather than bad interview.
I’ll find out more on Tuesday – all told they interviewed eight people in the one day, and a decision will have been made by Tuesday.
Interviewing
Posted: Fri 25 April, 2008 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Work-related | Leave a comment »To start off my day today, I’m in an hour-long interview for a role that would be pretty cool if I got it.
The first 10-15 minutes of the interview will be a presentation about who I am, and what I do. (and why, I suspect) Along with examples of work done, and all that malarkey. Having done far more than my fair share of interviews where this is just a basic question (rather than a presentation) I’ve not really done much planning of the presentation, and will instead wing it a little bit – I always figure it’s far better to be looking at the people involved, rather than reading (even intermittently) from cue-cards and the like.
We’ll just have to see how it goes. I’m vaguely confident, but suspect that there will be other people far more qualified for the job than I am. Still, I’ll give it my best shot.
I’ll probably write something about it after the fact, most likely over the weekend.