Jobsearch Blog// What A Difference A Day Makes

After my lull yesterday I found it hard to get out of bed this morning, I literally couldn't make myself move. I stayed lying there, in my pit, on top of a blow up mattress in the corner of my sister's living room, until 12 noon when I thought I best at least try to make an effort. I jumped in the shower, had a bit of a wobble moment whilst listening to a sad song on the radio, blasted it all away with the water from the shower head, and stuck on my suit.

My suit. A story in itself. I bought the suit that I'm currently wearing in TK Maxx two weeks ago now. It was easily the best suit on the railing, I tried it on, absolutely loved it. Got a blue shirt to go with it and a tie. Got home. My sister goes "Oh, a brown suit and a blue shirt, different". Lo and behold, looking at the suit in a clear light, it was brown. A very dark brown but brown all the same. Ever since that moment I've had a battle with my confidence against it. The battle waned a while when I had an interview the day after buying it, where they didn't look twice at it, said I was a great candidate but not quite what they were looking for. Between then and now however, my thoughts on it took another battering. But it's the only suit I currently own and can afford.

So I put the suit on, white Next shirt, dark blue tie, black shoes, black belt and stuck a bit of wax in my hair. Eyed myself up in the mirror, I was actually looking presentable. Feeling a little better about myself I took myself back to the living room and slouched on the sofa until 4.00 came around, when I had an interview with a recruitment agency.

Initially I had a bit of trouble finding the place, I had to ask someone walking past when I was close, thankfully they knew exactly where I was looking for. Went into the building, reported to the reception desk, it was a modern day office building, lots of soft chairs and glass tables in the waiting area, big canvas scenes on the walls of beaches and blue skies, presumably to relax you whilst you're waiting for an appointment. Eventually I was shown upstairs, taken aside into a meeting room by a member of staff, given some forms to fill in and told to wait for the interviewer.

The interview went really well, the lady giving the interview went through my work history, asked what I wanted from a new job, why I left my old one and told me what jobs she wanted to put me forward for. At the end she told me she was very happy with me, she was pleased that I'd called the office to ask about my previous application, saying that many employees on a £64k wage don't even use their initiative to do that, that I was well turned out and appeared to be graduate material! She's putting me forward for both of the roles and I can hope to hear from them in the next couple of days!

To say I was pleased when I left the building is an understatement. In fact I'm sure the mask slipped a little toward the end, I may have seemed a little sloppy and not quite as professional but that was purely out of relief, I'm hoping everything else she saw previously was more than enough for her to consider me as a serious candidate. In fact I'm certain it was. So I left the interview feeling a million times more confident than before. Quite happy with my brown suit and quite happy with my graduate quality self.

Now to sit tight and pray that I hear back from them tomorrow. I have an interview on Friday for a job that I really don't want. It's a front of house position for a company who own office buildings in Manchester. I say front of house, it's more caretaker work. The agency who put me forward for it twisted the term Customer Service when they persuaded me to go for it, but I can see no harm in going along for the interview practice, even if I end up refusing the offer.

Another phenomenon I keep finding is I keep getting calls from 'direct sales' companies, basically door to door sales, who get my CV off of Monster.co.uk. I had one call me just twenty minutes ago,  I felt a little chuffed with myself that I outright asked at the end of their call, as they were about to offer me an interview, if they were a door to door sales company. The lady, who did seem really nice and who I felt a little bad about being funny with, said that yes they do have some residential campaigns, so I kindly declined her offer and thanked her for calling.

See, I'm getting used to this job hunting game. Pretty much feeling a bit better in myself as well after all that. Very reluctant to take my suit off right now even. I guess I should though.