The one with the perfect job…

So today I interviewed for the perfect job. It’s perfect. It is a great position, a great company, it’s something I could really excel at, and I can’t believe I got down to the top five candidates to be interviewed.

I applied through a recruitment agency, and when I got the phone call I was made to feel slightly on the back foot, because I was one of the two candidates who didn’t have professional experience in the area, and the recruiter made me feel as though they really had to push for me to have a chance.

To be fair, the recruiter went above and beyond to help me get this job, they re-designed my CV to help it fit the job, sent me several links to help me win during an interview, and helped point out what the company valued above all else.

I did a lot of research and really tried my hardest to get the job, today, it is a role that I really want. I would give several limbs and internal organs to get it, but I feel like it’s all too good to be true. Maybe I just missed something in the interview, maybe I’m going to have to face those words, once again “I’m afraid we’re looking for someone with more experience.” Whatever it is, I know it’s going to be painful.

I really gave it my all, it was, I feel one of the best interviews I have ever done, but I fear it’s going to end exactly like the perfect job interview did for Rachel in the US TV show, ‘Friends’, she gets the call, and as great as she was, and as well as the interview went, it’s a no.

I think that for the last couple of days I have just been in a little world of “what if” and “wouldn’t it be great if?” and tomorrow I think it’s going to end, and I’m going to be back to job hunting.

So I want to know, how do you handle rejection like this? I think I’m gonna need some tips!

Just drive on past this applicant!

So here’s the thing.

After a ‘not great’ driving lesson today, I was so pleased to spend almost two hours filling out an application for a near- perfect, degree related, wonderful job, which I’d be so great at, just to realise when I opened a further section, that I needed a full, clean driving license and a car…

I stopped driving when I went to University, I didn’t need a car, I didn’t know the area, so I wouldn’t want to drive around there, and I couldn’t afford a car, so, like an idiot, I stopped learning.

Now I am back in the world of non-students, I realistically need to learn how to drive, so I am. The thing is, me knowing how to drive isn’t going to be much help unless I actually have a car, which, you guessed it, I cannot afford without a job! But like most office jobs, of course, you need a car! Perfect common sense, isn’t it?!

So what do I do? I’m struggling to get a job without the use of a car, but I can’t get a car without a job!

I would have been so great at that job! I think it’s time employers realised that there is this magical thing called public transportation, and the struggles of people who don’t have rich families, or a regular good income!

What is an apprenticeship?

Ok. Here’s the thing.

In my job hunt lately, I’ve been finding jobs that would suit me perfectly, but then they turn out to be apprenticeships.

There are two problems I have with this:

1) my first job interview was for an apprenticeship and I was turned down because apparently it would have been demeaning to me…

2) I don’t think they are actual apprenticeships… I thought the point of an apprenticeship is basically training, where you learn and work at the same time. However with these jobs, the apprenticeship part only seems to really impact the job in terms of salary.

It seems as though companies are using the term ‘apprenticeship’ as an excuse to pay you less than half of the national minimum wage.

I understand that in some areas of work apprenticeships are totally valid, but here are some excuses where I believe the word ‘apprentice’ has been stuck in front of a job, in order to cut the costs for the company.

1) Apprentice Team Member – The one I saw is basically an apprentice sales person… Why would you need to be an apprentice?

2) Administration Apprentice – This job is basically as a receptionist.

The jobs that I have come across don’t offer any kind of training, which begs the question, how is this an apprenticeship? One job that I did come across offered training, paying national minimum apprenticeship wage, however, if you were over 19, you had to pay for your training. (So you want me to pay you to pay me to work for you?)

Let me know if you have had any experiences with apprenticeships.