Nerves and References

I blogged back in October about my decision to apply for some part-time work. Since then I've filled out reams of application forms and, for the most part, heard nothing. Last week I had a surprise phone call - I had an interview at part of the technical college next to the school where my son will be in January. Great!

Then came the stressful bits. The next day was filled with calls from someone in the recruitment office - I hadn't put my maiden name on the application form: there was no space or request for it BUT I had submitted my CV in the initial round (before the recruitment company would send out the application form). Then they left a garbled message for one of my referees and I had to get them to contact her again. Then, what really shocked me, BECAUSE I WAS CURRENTLY SELF-EMPLOYED I had to supply a character reference - not just any character reference, this had to be from a 'professional' who had known me for more than 5 years. (I have since upset many friends and relatives when recounting this - because I didn't ask them!) Of course this was needed immediately so I wasted a day trying to get them to agree to various 'professionals' who knew me - some hadn't known me for long enough, others weren't 'professional enough', then I had to get hold of the potential referee to check they could do it, now!

Today I had the interview - they were running 10 minutes late and then I was left with 3 of the panel whilst the remaining panel member stepped out to talk to the previous applicant again. I didn't get the job.

Throughout the whole process I was struck with how things have changed. My last interview was over 10 years ago and then you were advised to keep your CV to a single page and expand on it in the interview. The applications I have made over the last couple of months require a lot of work and crafting - personal statements and examples in answer to specific points in the person specification. In the interest of fairness all candidates that were interviewed were asked the same 6 questions and there was little room for expansion on that.

So in all I felt a little disadvantaged that I was self-employed - my experience of running my own business wasn't really touched on and in the need for a character reference gave the impression that it was disregarded in my career history. The nerves didn't help either.

At least, if I apply for another, I won't be as nervous about my first interview in 10 years.

They've done it again

Those people at Penguin have created a 'must have' classic again. It may not look like much but I'm putting it on my Christmas list:

So Santa forget the sable but I have been an awfully good girl ....

This Freelance Life

I started writing this over a week ago but got interrupted and never completed it:

I've been pondering a lot over what being freelance means to me lately.

I think it came to a head when, over the weekend, my husband and my mother were going through the job 'page' in our local paper and reading out advertisements for me. I came up with many, many excuses for not applying.

A lot of them were based in schools - examinations coordinators, admin managers and similar. Although these had the plus of being term-time they were all 30 mins drive from home and the hours were 8.30am till 3.30pm.

1. This would mean that I wouldn't be able to take OR collect my son from school - the school gate isn't opened until 8.30am and children should be collected at 3pm.
2. My mother's assertion that she would retire from work and do the drop of and collection duty sounds great but it's a big commitment - she'd have to be at our house for 7.30am every morning and her day would be tied up with the need to be back at school for 3pm. Plus we sometimes have a volatile relationship and I'd hate for my son to be left stranded because she's suddenly decided I'm ungrateful.
3. Quite frankly I don't want to return to a full time office job.

I love being freelance. I love doing what I do.

One of my Twitter followers tweeted the other day 'Are there any other freelancers out there and what do you do?' a few hours later she tweeted again 'I know at least 3 other freelancers follow me on here but no reply - what if I was looking to place some work?'. She was quite right of course and had it not been for the time difference (about 9 hours) I would usually have answered pretty promptly - except I didn't have much work on and it was Sunday.

Sunday?! Well as most freelancers will tell you - I do often work Sundays. I have been known to work late into the night as well. It's a small price to pay for the freedom to be able to look after my son during the week and get all those little jobs that running a house and volunteering for charity entail. Family and friends help out with childcare at the weekend (and in the week) so I can do this.

So I'm digging my heels in over the job front as long as I can ...

Well it hasn't turned out to be so long as this weeks' paper had the perfect job for me - working with books, term-time, school hours - keep your fingers crossed for me!

I won't be giving up the freelancing though - as long as the work is out there!

Storytelling Competition

Munch Bunch are holding a 'storytelling'* competition - great, I thought, I do all of the funny voices and I used to tape myself telling stories when I was a kid (I'm not sure why either).

On closer inspection they actually want you to write the story and they'll get a celebrity to 'tell' the story if you win. I might just give it a go - if you're interested the link is here.

The closing date is 30th November.

* Storytelling - taking the printed words in a book and giving them life (World Book Encyclopedia, 1976).

The Sorted Books Project

I first saw this on the Snow Books blog but now they are cropping up here and here - maybe it is in response to the challenge from Juliet at Musings.

So here's my contribution:

Oh and in case you didn't feel the earthquake (which was me jumping for joy) my OH is still employed - though at the rate my clients are disappearing I will be looking for a full-time 9-5 job in the very near future.

Waves and concerns

I seem to be blogging in waves at the moment. There's lots of ideas zooming around my head but sitting down at the computer screen and typing seems to only happen in short sharp bursts.

I'm also fretting a bit. I've had some health issues which have temporally abated but my medication runs out tomorrow and the GP warned it could all start again. I've had two appointments at the hospital for the 'abnormality' the optician spotted and now have to be referred to another consultant who's at a hospital 40 minutes drive away (the usual time spent at the hospital is 2 hours to see the Dr for 10 mins - and you can't take a book to read because they put scary drops in your eyes).

My OH has been working some awful shift patterns so has been absent from childcare duties and then when he did get a few days of the decided he needed a break and went fishing (though I still refuse to take it up as a hobby so that I can have a break). We should finally find out about the redundancy decision on Tuesday but in the meantime things are a little tense.

Plus I feel a little bit of a failure - after nearly 4 years freelancing I've let my OH persuade me to apply for a part-time job. Though I have a lot of work to do in the next 10 days I have nothing in the pipeline and no money coming in for at least a month. My usual clients have gone silent and after prodding some have admitted that they 'aren't currently sending anything out of house'.

I'm not completely disappearing from the freelance scene - and I don't know if I have the job yet - but I am looking for a bit more security. There are only so many things you can sell on eBay and my son needs a school uniform for January.

Hmm after that moan perhaps I should have kept the blog silence a little longer ....

Social Networking

I love these cartoons that appear on FreelanceSwitch - if you need me I'll be on facebook ....