Sometimes there's so much life to be lived that it's hard to find the time to write about it! (But sometimes it's just lack of application!)

The good folk at the NWHJC* have today made it abundantly clear to me that I have recently been guilty of extreme dereliction of duty, in that I haven't been providing them with the required updates on my life.

 

It does occur to me that their lives must be sadly lacking in excitement if reading about the trials and tribulations of my existence really offer them a meaningful and worthwhile diversion!  (These being nice people, the thought that there might be some schadenfreude involved hasn't even started to cross my mind.............................)



That moment when you realise that you've been
 thinking about the possibility of schadenfreude!



All that being said, however, now I've got this far I suppose I'd best commit the last month or so to digital perpetuity! (Who knows, maybe hundreds of years hence this could form the basis of some poor history student's doctoral thesis - or, more likely, not!)

 

Right then, into the fourth paragraph and I haven't actually said anything yet!  This is probably down to my not having got a very good handle on what's been going on over the last few weeks!

 

Again there seem to be two ways of looking at it: 

1. It could be that all my available time has been legitimately taken up with activities not directly associated with the main thrust of 'Project Back to Work'. (I have, for instance (in no particular order) been getting younger son's requirements for his next year of college sorted out, finding space in an already-crowded flat for older son to stay until his new job actually pays him some money and trying to wrest the promised repayment of travelling expenses from the corporate wallet of the providers of my otherwise excellent NVQ Assessors course.  All this, of course, in conjunction with trying to run what might at a pinch be described as a household on a very short and frayed shoestring, submitting any number of applications for programming jobs (as much to satisfy the requirements of my continuing receipt of JSA as out of any REAL conviction that the software industry is suddenly going to realise how much it really, really needs me) and attending my obligatory weekly Work Programme session with A4e.
2. Alternatively, it could also be that the time taken up by all of the above may have been somewhat inflated and used to provide a really handy set of displacement activities to get me out of knuckling down to finish my NVQ Assessment coursework. (Not that I don't want to do it you understand - it just looks a bit..........daunting now it has reached the point where I really need to get it done!)

I know which option I would like to see as the most realistic!

I also know (with, if I'm honest, far more certainty) which IS the true state of affairs!

So, to sum up: I really need to sit myself down to get this work done and submitted.  Then and only then will I be in a position to update my blog. (To do so beforehand would only be another activity to add into item (1) above!)



D'OH!



*North West Hampshire Job Club for anyone who hasn't been keeping up!

Hello.........Is this thing switched on?

One of two things seems to be happening here - either I'm losing the interest of those few regular readers who were taking this journey with me, or the Blogspot readership stats are lying to me!

Either way, I'll plough on regardless, as exciting things are afoot (well, exciting to me anyway!)....

Having finally had my metaphorical palsied fingers prised away from the previously solid belief that a return to software development was my only valid course of action, suddenly a whole vista of possible alternatives seems to have started to open up for me.

So, after a false start or two, and in the spirit of 'strike while the iron is hot!'.......  

.....this Thursday marks my first session of training as an NVQ Assessor (in what is rather quaintly referred to as 'Computers'!)  Three days in the big city (or Southampton, whichever is nearer), followed by about five weeks of on-line exercises and the production of a real, tangible, paper-based portfolio and I'll (allegedly) be on the first steps of my bright and shiny new career.

I'll keep you posted (assuming there's still someone left out there to read it!)

The Victoria Sponge Sandwich - A Cautionary Tale!

Please bear with me, the relevance of the following should, hopefully, become apparent!

On Sunday, finding myself in possession of a jar of orange curd for a filling, all the other requisite ingredients, and an oven warming up for the roast chicken, I resolved to bake the eponymous cake.  I cut no corners, even putting some sugar through the blender (as I had no caster sugar), and properly sieving the flour! 

A Rough Idea of the Intended Outcome
(Apart From the Filling)

It mixed up a treat and went into the oven looking the cat's pjs!  It was only when I came to take it out that my fundamental mistake became apparent.  Plain flour does not the perfect Victoria Sponge make!

The reason I'm telling you this, gentle reader is that I think I understand how the cake felt - unexpectedly flat!!

The problem, you see, is that my first forays into applying for 'Employment Advisor' positions have been met by a barrage of (admittedly well-written, and apparently sympathetic) rejection notices.   The available feedback suggests that, while I present as a good candidate, my lack of appropriate experience still counts against me!

Now, it might just be me, but doesn't this, in essence, put me right back where I was on the Damascus Highway (not advisable given the current situation in Syria), awaiting my next revelation?  If I was a software dude (which apparently I'm not) I would be inclined to look for the danger of getting into a closed loop here!!

...and, on an unrelated and lighter note.......

Adrian Worger's presentation to the North West Hampshire Job Club (which, to my shame I now realise was a fortnight ago) revolved around alternative investments.  Adrian, of Top Marks Partnership, talked about the desirability of taking control of one's investments and pensions (would that I had any!).  He gave us an overview of how well (or otherwise) FSA regulated schemes are currently performing, then went on to show us some examples of 'alternative' investment opportunities with UK-based companies involved in a variety of overseas development projects.  (My usual 'that's how I understood it' caveat does,of course, apply!)

John Randle of SME Insider (http://www.smeinsider.co.uk/) has also joined us a couple of times recently, discussing the website he has been developing for the exchange of information between Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.  He is also in the early stages of setting up a Job Club in Salisbury, and we've discussed ways in which we can build a mutually supportive relationship in terms of (for instance) shared marketing.

I've got a meeting at Andover College next Wednesday regarding the possibility of starting a Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Coaching and Mentoring course.  I'm also awaiting details from A4e in Winchester of an introductory session on becoming an NVQ assessor - you never know!

So, with the sun beaming down from a clear blue sky... "Onwards and upwards..."

All Change!

So....A new CV for a new job search! 

I must confess I found it a bit of a wrench chopping out all the techie-specific, 'propeller-head' skills, to be replaced with an altogether 'warmer and fluffier' set, to match my new-found helping, caring and nurturing persona. 

That being said: the more I look at what's involved in pursuing my new career course (which is, hopefully, to become an employment advisor, in case you've forgotten or, heaven forfend, you've not read any of my previous offerings), the more I feel that not only can I do it, but also I should do it, and, most significantly, I really want to do it!!

(If you are that hypothetical new reader, so cruelly parenthesised in the middle of the last sentence, someone really should have warned you in advance (not that they could have warned you in arrears) about my predisposition toward impenetrably long and labyrinthine sentence construction!) 

I try to control it!...I really do!...Honestly!

Anyway, back to the point.... I'm actually very pleased with my new CV (which you, my IT skills permitting, should be able find attached to the top of this page, alongside the previous version, which so singularly failed to get me so much as an interview as a 'software dude').  (n.b. Mr Newbie, that was the original career before the single dad phase kicked in.) 

I've now started sending out said CV on-line, so fingers crossed for a bit of success, now I've finally  accepted not only the necessity, but also the desirability to adopt a realistic 'plan B'.

We have a guest speaker (Adrian Worger of Top Marks Partnership) at the North West Hampshire Job Club tomorrow - I'll give you my thoughts next time!

Banging my head against a dead horse?

Hello there loyal reader! 

As you may have gathered from the heading, you find me at a phase of the job search where things are, perhaps, going other than entirely to plan!  Please, however,  don't get the impression that this means I have succumbed to the depths of despair - it's more in the nature of a 'road to Damascus' moment! 

I have, in essence, come to a point where the spotlight of much-needed self-examination and re-evaluation has thrown the shortcomings of my efforts into sharp relief.

"Explain yourself man!" I hear you cry (or at least the part of me that imagines you as a crusty old colonel in an Agatha Christie story does!)

To elucidate then....
     (i) It's reached a point where one week's list of applications for C++ positions is increasingly becoming indistinguishable from the previous one.
    (ii) Even the most hopeful initial responses to these applications soon tail off to nothing.  This particularly hit home with the previously mentioned response from Hewlett Packard (there I've said it!)
   (iii) I have been put in touch, by Robin at A4e, with a splendid organisation called FiftyON who provide 'Older Persons Employability Skills and Self Employment Training'.  In the course of my email exchanges with them regarding my CV it has become increasingly apparent to me (as I'm sure it has long been to those around me) that it's simply not realistic for me to keep knocking on the software development door.

The problem with this is that, while I've always been prepared to consider other employment avenues, I've never had the faintest idea what other jobs I might be suited to. (It boils down, basically to never really having had a clue what I want to do when I grow up!)

HOWEVER!!!!!

(Yes, this is the road to Damascus bit!) - while reflecting on this, it seeped through to my consciousness that a number of (apparently sane and sensible) people have recently asked me, quite independently, whether I've considered working as an employment advisor (for A4e or similar), as they think I'd be well suited to the task! 

My first reaction to this was along the lines of "I'm sorry, you appear to have mistaken me for somebody with a degree of self-confidence!"  Where the Pauline flash of light comes into things was the moment when I suddenly thought: "Hang on Matey" (I'm still in character in the whodunnit, since you ask!) "- all the assorted stuff I've been through lately has turned me into just that person!"

Quite how my lack of success (to date) in finding a job for myself, makes me a good candidate to assist others in their search, I'm not entirely sure - at least (I suppose) I'm hugely familiar with the process!  I'm not going to let that put me off though - if people who know me think I'm right for it, who am I to argue?

So, with the promise of help from Emily (still my A4e advisor, but not mentioned for a while) with the necessary and appropriate re-drafting of the CV, a new chapter begins......

Has it really been that long????

Greetings world!  I imagine some of you (assuming I still have a plurality of readers) thought/hoped I'd permanently disappeared from the radar.  This is (as I suppose is now self-evident) not the case.

A combination of circumstances (family bereavement, Royal Jubilee, closed libraries, lost wallet, cancelled A4E sessions, apathy, lethargy, inertia etc etc) conspired to keep me from you, but fear not (or possibly 'be very afraid!'), I'm back and raring to go!

I'm currently feeling somewhat boosted by a conversation I had earlier this week with a chap at a well-known two letter multinational computer company. (Think brown sauce, paying on the never-never etc!)  The boost came from the facts that (a) he was actually an employee of the company, not an agency, and (b) he assured me that he would put my CV in front of the appropriate managers straight away.

Unfortunately I made the basic rookie mistake of missing his name on the phone, and was too excited by the conversation to ask him to repeat it, so I'm a bit scuppered as far as follow-up calls are concerned.  I do, therefore, find myself wondering how long to maintain my level of buoyancy before allowing the life-jacket of optimism to be deflated by the slow-puncture of disappointment at not having received any feedback!

But enough negativity!  The North West Hampshire J.C. continues to inspire, in large part because the turnover of members seems increasingly to be driven by various individuals' successes in their search for the next step!  Hearty congrats (and hardly a hint of jealousy) to those who've managed to move on! 

We've also made considerable progress on setting up our skills-bank (via the use of a unique search-argument in LinkedIn, of which more later) and raising our public profile through the printing and distribution of some splendid glossy postcards.



The Wolversdene Club - Our New Home

 Our most recent meeting (at our new venue, Andover's Wolversdene Club) featured an intriguing presentation from Tony Field of Icon Business Solutions.  His observations revolved around treating the job search as a selling exercise, with yourself as the product. It was, for me, one of those special occasions when, although most of the factual content wasn't new, the abilities of the speaker and the angle from which he approached the information gave it a new resonance and really got the grey matter working.

Beau de Jour - moi?

It is, I'm afraid, my sad duty to inform you that I have been advised by someone for whose profession opinion I have recently developed much respect (Christopher at A4e), that I should cease the publication of this blog under my own name.  He feels that it sends out the wrong message to prospective employers who, on seeing my CV or LinkedIn profile, choose to Google me. (Please, please, I implore you, be aware that other search engines are available.)

His view (that my ramblings represent a negative and/or unprofessional image) does not, however, meet with the views of the majority of those (by and large positive and/or professional) individuals who responded to my informal straw poll on the subject.  In fact, most of those I spoke to were of the opinion that what I present here can only serve to fill out a picture of me as a 'well rounded' individual (and, incidentally, that anonymity would drastically curtail whatever small readership I've developed!)

I have therefore decided that , despite the frisson of 'Belle de Jour' naughtiness that I might gain from anonymous publication, I will adopt the Duke of Wellington's maxim: "Publish and be damned!"

I am however looking into Christopher's suggestion that I get involved in developing some software for an 'open source' project, in the hope that it will serve as an example of current work to show to prospective employers.

"So," you sigh impatiently, "enough waffle: what's been going on this week?"

Well....phone calls from agencies seem to be on the increase, and, after running through my CV, they seem to be becoming more inclined to put me forward to prospective employers.  This can only be a positive, and at this rate I might actually find myself in a position where I need to sharpen up my interview skills (and perhaps think about becoming a trifle less 'well-rounded' in a purely physical sense!)  I've also put myself forward as a volunteer for Age Concern (Hampshire)'s computer literacy scheme - I'll let you know how that pans out!

After a fairly uneventful 'Job Club' session with A4e on Tuesday, I then had an interesting 'transferable skills' session with Robin at A4e in Winchester on Wednesday.  We looked primarily at those skills which, for whatever reason, one might have the potential to develop, but (through anxiety, fear, unfounded beliefs or whatever reason) opt not to.  This, to me, seemed, serendipitously, to tie in quite closely with Paul's session at the North West Hampshire JC last week.

Sam from A4e in mid-presentation

Speaking of which..... Thursday saw the long-anticipated coming together of two major strings of my job-hunting bow (now there's an interesting image!), as Sam and Neil from A4e paid us a visit at the North West Hampshire JC.  Sam (one of the advisers covering the Andover area from their Winchester office) gave us a short presentation on A4e and its involvement in the government's 'Work Programme', both nationally and in our area.  He and Neil (A4e's local manager) then fielded questions from the group.  Overall they (I believe) helped to get rid of some preconceptions, and reassured any of our members who might find themselves on the scheme in the future that we're all essentially on the same side.

There then followed an especially lively and productive group discussion, with a wide variety of practical advice and assistance being shared among club members.  (I would, at this point, like to say how good it's been to see some new faces at the club recently, but won't do so, as that somehow sends out the wrong message given that it's a job club!)

Finally, on seeing Sam and Neil again on Friday, their first impressions of the North West Hampshire Job Club included "the sort of thing more people should be doing" and "inspirational". 

So, on that positive note, farewell until next we meet!