"What steps", you ask (or at least I imagine you do), "has Les been taking this week to further his chances of rejoining the ranks of the working masses?" (I have to hold this virtual conversation with you, dear reader, or I'm reduced to the level of 'that bloke who sits in the corner of the library talking to himself!' It's only one step from there to having people move away from me on the bus.......in fact, thinking about it.....)
On Monday came the second and final day of my A4E induction course. This week we covered (to my mind) some much more interesting topics, including CV writing (my current effort standing up pretty well to scrutiny), and, most usefully for me, produced skills lists associated with various occupations.
This served to help me in getting started on writing up my own list of existing skills, and so to identify my 'transferable skills'. This is an area where I've got a bit bogged down, largely by my continued self-categorisation as a 'Software Dude'. It's becoming increasingly (and, to some extent, painfully) apparent that my 'do a C++ course and sail back into software development' approach has been somewhat over-optimistic and simplistic. (This hasn't been helped by any and all on-line aptitude assessments I've ever tried asking me, on completion, what sort of software I would like to write!)
It's obviously time to look realistically at incorporating other skills I've got, particularly those gained in fulfilling my parental duties.
A4E Job Club on Tuesday afternoon: Many more of the job-seeking fraternity (and sorority) than in previous weeks, meaning both keyboard time and face-to-face time with advisers was somewhat compromised. I was hoping to get some help in developing my skills list, and, more importantly in finding out how to apply it in identifying my options. I've arranged to spend some time on this with Emily next week, so I'll keep you posted (this might constitute a pun in this context, in which case I apologise!)
Signing on day on Wednesday - I think I've pretty much covered my thoughts on this in my previous post!
North West Hampshire JC on Thursday. Nick was away doing some short-term employment stuff, so it fell to Paul Sherwood to run things. Unfortunately we didn't have one of our larger attendances, which was a shame, as Paul gave us a really informative and enjoyable session on active and empathic listening skills and collaboration.
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| Children at Play (apparently the best-performing group really are kindergarten children!) |
Incidentally, my schoolfriends used to claim I'm from a different species 'Pedantic Man'! I know it's an annoying trait but I really can't stop myself!
Much more fun than what I was doing.
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