pmsumner

It's only on the other side of Chester, so despite setting off at 0915 to allow loads of time to get lost (you know what industrial estates can be like?) I was there by half past and only drove past it once. Unusual for me, I once spent 20 minutes driving up and down in front of the place I was looking for because it was badly signed. I drove about a bit and got a drink until about 10-to.

The first challenge... the door's locked with a door buzzer system thingie. But... there were no names on the buttons? Eeny-meeny never felt so important :) Got the right one first time and the person I spoke to asked me to try the door. I felt really stupid as I push and pull both doors and find they're not moving... When they came down to let me in, they tell me that they've just had a new entry system installed and it isn't working properly yet. Phew :)

I am deposited straight into a fairly bare office with a lady who smiles and greets me, so I assume this is the person I'm being interviewed by! Usually you get herded into a reception somewhere to be watched and laughed at by all who walk past!

The interview went really well, I think. We chatted about the role they were wanting to fill, and how my previous experience fitted in with that. As far as I could tell I was ticking all the boxes that she had mentioned at the beginning, able to give examples when asked and generally being a good eager person :)

If short-listed there will be a second interview with the director of the company, and I should find out about that by tomorrow. I'm quite hopeful.

Tomorrow/Today I have an interview for a support/testing position in Chester. I mentioned it ages ago and had assumed it fell by the wayside, but no - I got a call on Friday last week asking if I could do an interview.

It's a small company who develop book-selling and inventory software. It's apparently very popular, and used all over the place.

I could deal with this job. It's in Chester, for a start. It's a very small company who are well established, it's a product with a limited (or perhaps restricted is a better word) user-base. The role would also encompass testing, which perhaps leave room for future maneouvre.

If this job happens, it would put Jane and I in a better position to look at buying something local, or even heading further south. The south thing would be good for OMTC, as the 60 mile round trip is wearing at best, especially when rehearsal is as much hard work as it was tonight. It really felt like some people were out to make life difficult for the directors. Whether they actually were or not I don't know but it absolutely felt that way.

Tonight I can't sleep. I am exhausted, but overtired! The next step is to make a small hot chocolate and go flump.

Went OK but they want someone with C++ exp. Agency knew this so... who knows?

It's been showing on Amazon's order tracking system as (I think) "Dispatching soon" since Saturday. I'm not confident, but I'll keep my eyes open tomorrow and hope that it gets delivered to work. What's the point in paying for next-day delivery if it's not next-(working)-day delivery?

Going to the Trafford centre tomorrow evening. Wish Jane and I both luck...

I also have a phone interview with Sony Ericsson tomorrow evening. I don't know what to think about this one, but hey I'm going to go through with it - why not? :) Interview practise is always a grand thing.

I'm so wild. I've trawled a load of half-decent job sites (meaning 'not Monster') and sent off around 7-10 applications for varying jobs. Favourite one is this one, an "Internal Verifier", checking up on people delivering NVQs. Don't fully expect to get it but it sounds interesting.

Tomorrow is a busy-ish day, with 2 short notice 'pet stores', a very short notice (mmm nice fee) phone shop, and also short notice post office. Lots of phone calls to make and emails to reply to. Phone calls to await. I fully expect to hear from Gail at TLG tomorrow - she said it was either going to be tomorrow or Tuesday, depending on how quickly they could get the position signed off, which seems a bit backwards to me - why interview for a position when you don't know it's going to be approved yet?

Am ever so slightly nervous.

Was put back to midday. Not a huge problem, sit and read in car.

Interview was very very quick. All over in 35 minutes. I was waiting at reception from 12:00 to 12:10, and was out the door by 12:45. That includes 10-15 minutes doing a "Network test" which asked really basic networking questions (What lets the computer work out what the host ID and network ID are, how many levels does that OSI model have, which of the IPs below would be on the local network with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, how do you find a computer's IP, and so on).

It started off with Ian (dept. manager?), who as I said in several SMS to people, was obviously not comfortable interviewing. He essentially read the questions off a sheet and didn't follow any of them up, didn't chat, and looked uncomfortable throughout. I couldn't read him at all. He gave me the test to do and I was given 15 mins to complete it. I was then introduced to Paul (group manager) who asked me how i found the test, what I thought the job was about, what my current role was, why I wanted the job, and how much notice I needed to give. He was comfortable and natural, made me feel comfortable in the way he talked to me.

Both of these guys did it individually, which surprised me. In almost every other interview I've been to, it's been 2 people - at least 2 department managers. HR always seem to do it on their own. Perhaps they consider their time to be too valuable?

So, in short - I don't know. I will find out by Friday at the latest. This means next week I've got two chances, hopefully I've shone at both of them. Given my choice of roles, I'd take the Dedicated Micros' (Network Techncial Support) one first, anytime - it appears more interesting and involved than The Lifestyle Group's (Desktop Support) position. However, from my meeting of the managers and what I've seen of the companies so far, The Lifestyle Group's offer would be the one I take, if offered both.

I didn't get to sleep in the end.
I set off about 5:45, after taking the wrong junction off the M56 and going north instead of south on the M6 (I was exhausted and didn't read the sign properly), I got there with loads of time to spare. 45 with the HR lady who is slightly mad and far too enthusiastic, about the same with the team manager/service delivery manager. Nothing difficult. Find out by Tuesday next week what the deal is.

I've been offered video MS training. This is fabulous news because video work is paid very nicely indeed. Not sure about the equipment but I'm assuming so far that the equipment will be provided by the company, as they're a decent bunch.

Tum-te-tum.
Interview tomorrow. Not looking forward to it at all. Not so much the interview but I'm dreading having to be out so bleeding early, I'm considering not going into work tomorrow afternoon as I will be truly exhausted. They didn't do the reasonable thing and give me a half-days holiday - so I don't think I shall be reasonable back.

Having a really crappy time of it at work. I can't seem to get across to anybody who cares how utterly bored I am. I've tried, Bobknows I've tried. But their pig-headedness and insistence on callscallscalls at any expense is a stupid one. I really need out.

Does anybody here spot a pattern? They never come in ones... I always seem to get 2 in a week, then none for a while. Anyhow - Tuesday, 8:30am. I must be insane. It's in Crewe. I asked them to change the day but they wouldn't/couldn't, so I had to practically beg at work to get them to slide my shift, I did ask for holidays (would a half day kill them?) but for some weird reason they wouldn't do it.

So, this is for The Lifestyle Group - 1st/2nd Line Helpdesk Support in Crewe. I'm not entirely sure why they're interviewing me as I don't have direct experience in this area, I did say this but the person told me that it wasn't an issue.

I'm going to have to leave at 6am to get there on time, assuming the traffic on the M6/M62 isn't too bad at that time of day. Google Maps claims it's a 2hr journey... I then have a 2 hr interview, drive back home, then work from 2pm-10pm. That's going to be a hell of a long day.

Why can't these people be more flexible?

Friday the 24th, 11am. I now have to spend as much time as possible rereading my O'Reilly TCP/IP book, exploring their website and boning up on competitors.

Planning on gym tonight, feeling a little rough round the edges though. Didn't sleep properly last night so am shattered now.

Yeah.