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Browsing tag: work

  • May 7, 2009

    Job titles

    I must say I’m definitely learning a lot about the jobs that make the world go round! It’s amazing how little I actually know about fields like law, engineering and business.

    I seriously spent the majority of this weekend glued to my laptop. What was I doing, you might ask? Well, catching up on email, news, Google Reader, researching a couple of story possibilities, and of course looking through job sites for BF.

    I still see so many job titles which I still don’t really understand.

    For example:

    Learning and development consultant
    Systems analyst / business analyst
    Account director
    Research associate
    Procurement specialist
    Compliance manager

    And yet, sometimes job titles don’t really tell you anything about a position. Some are straight forward – sales assistant, receptionist, publicist, accountant. Then you get roles like communications manager, relationship manager, account manager….in fact, there seem to be so many “Manager” type jobs these days, some of which aren’t managerial in the sense that you manage staff below you, but often external relationships.

    That’s a service and knowledge economy for you, I guess.

  • April 30, 2009

    Day in, day out

    Back in the routine. Long days at uni, get home in the dark, catch up on news, email and blogs, work on assignments. Sleep. Repeat.

    I’m thankful BF is here to help ease the load and take care of things around the house. And I’m SUPER grateful that he’s not studying as well. Imagine how he’d get under my feet if we shared a computer for assignments. Luckily, he can use the laptop all he wants next year, as I’ll be at work during the day and can get most of my internet stuff done there as well. And I’ll be free to help him with assignments and so on – I imagine I’ll find myself giving him tips next semester when he enrols in New Start, but I definitely won’t be able to give that my full attention.

    Right now, our workload is crazy busy! I’d say it’s doubled from last year, and a lot of the coursework is assessed in this half of the term. I’m finding myself constantly hungry – I just can’t eat enough! Nothing keeps me going for long. By the time I get home I’m starved and lightheaded and just want to inhale my food. And I invariably get frustrated while eating because dinner is too hot and burns my tongue. Dumb, I know, but I don’t have the time or inclination to wait for meals to cool down…need to learn to relax.

    Still, at least I don’t have the Mondays from hell anymore. Back in first year when I was working 20 hours a week over four weekdays, along with classes, I was stretched ridiculously thin. Mondays were a 12 hour day, plus two hours of commuting. Work from 8.30 to 12, a one hour break from 12 to 1, then three straight hours of lectures until 4, then a dash to my second job from 4 to 8.

    You can imagine how fast I wolfed down my lunches during that precious one hour!

  • April 24, 2009

    Looking up

    BF had his interview with Staffbank today. They seem lovely, working out of a small office, but they’re really friendly and comfortable and seem like they’ll take care of him. Although they seem to just be starting out, they sound like they have good contacts and the fact that their books aren’t huge means he has a better chance of getting placements.

    Man, am I glad we live in Auckland. I can’t imagine how much worse things would be if we lived in a small town or something. I heard another dire story – Countdown in Tauranga receiving something like 1000 apps for 100 jobs.

    On the plus side, WINZ finally started getting helpful, and with BF standing up for himself, he’s set to start receiving some assistance – hopefully that will keep us afloat.

    We also have to get him booked in to sit his full licence – I’ll feel much better once he’s got that, plus it will help his employability.

  • April 23, 2009

    Not looking hopeful….

    Trying to avoid sinking into a pit of total despair.

    Here’s how it’s been. Search through job sites everyday, monitoring anything new advertised. Figure out if it’s remotely plausible to apply for any of the new positions. Spend an age pulling together a CV/letter trying to highlight any relevant skills/experience, then hit send. Or, call the number, only to be toldthe job is ALREADY gone. Or, get no answer, but keep trying. Once you eventually DO get through, are told they stopped taking calls and answering the phone because they were so swamped!

    You can’t win. You can call the same day a role is put up. It’s still not fast enough! What to do, short of sitting at the PC 24/7??

  • April 22, 2009

    Midweek slump

    First day back at work after my leave.

    I nearly missed the bus home again today. Why? The lifts. The goddamn lifts at work, the slowest, oldest lifts known to man. The lifts which go all the way down to B, then all the way up to floor 4, before coming down and settling on 3.

    Early to work? Think again. Once you’re done waiting for the lift, you’ll be five minutes late.

    And now that daylight savings has kicked in, it’s dark by 6. It’s dark when I walk to the bus stop, and home from the bus stop.

    Last time I finished work at six I missed the bus by about 20s. Today I sprinted – in boots – and made it just as the bus pulled away. ONLY because the driver was nice, and there’s a handy light just after the bus stop which seems to be red about 90% of the time.

    Then I got home to the phone bill. I had a 17 minute cell call earlier this month to a source for a phone interview for a story I wrote. I knew it was a long conversation, but 17 minutes?????

    On the bright side, I came home to dinner cheerfully cooking away (thanks BF) and knowing that I can accompany him to an interview on Friday. Thankfully my cool boss doesn’t mind whether I come in during the morning or afternoon. So I can direct BF up to Albany (neither of us are on the Shore, ever, and he doesn’t like or know the area at all) and give him some support, and then maybe we can tiki tour around up there. We’re def. not Shore people, but it’s nice to be away from home. And if we’re up there and have to spend the gas money anyway why not make the most of it?

    Now I just have to get him to put together a list of three companies he’d like to work for – something the agency wants to see. I totally agree – what’s the point? In this economy there’s no way this new, small agency would be able to place you where you want. I’ll be amazed if anything at all comes from this. Still, it’s small, it’s friendly and a far better shot than the big faceless agencies who focus on admin or managerial staff. We want to impress them.

  • April 6, 2009

    I really can’t believe just how competitive the job market is out there. Check this out.

    O-I, one of the companies mentioned, were advertising really heavily online and in the papers. I can’t remember if BF applied or nor, but those are closed now and I think training commences this month for the plant to open next year.

    They received almost 1200 applications for 38 jobs.

    Competition is FIERCE. One of the temp agencies BF spoke to told him that they are FLOODED with qualified applicants, applicants who are coming back to work after being out of the labour force (for what reasons, I don’t know. Quality time at home? Living off the benefit? I don’t know, it’s beside the point really). Which means he’s pretty much screwed in his field, with ticketed and trade certed guys all over the show clamouring for the few jobs available.

    He’s hoping to hear back from a prospective employer this week. He was expecting to go in last week to look around, but there were so many applicants he won’t get a look in till later THIS week.

    This is for an entry level, minimum wage job…

  • April 6, 2009

    Relatively untouched…

    Another little reminder this week of just how little everyone else seems to be affected by the economy. So we were in class, discussing media coverage of the situation and all of the conflicting reports – one minute it’s doom and gloom and doldrums for another ten years, the next the housing market has picked up and it will all be over by 2010….etc, etc. And the statement’s put out there: We’re all relatively untouched, aren’t we? Nobody’s felt the impact personally?

    Well, I sure as hell have! It’s had an ENORMOUS effect on my life – it’s been a driving force behind me and BF’s daily lives since November. That’s a long time. And it’s a lot of stress. So I just couldn’t let that go, and I said so.

  • April 5, 2009

    Should you get govt. assistance if you have money in the bank?

    I was just browsing through the TradeMe message boards, in particular one thread wondering about how savings affect your eligibility for assistance.

    People were jumping all over the poor OP for scamming the system and ‘swapping tips’ on how to milk the govt, etc, etc.

    I think people have VERY different definitions of what constitutes savings.

    What’s a significant amount of savings? Should someone with $500 to their name be denied help? $1000? $2000?

    Even a few grand really doesn’t go very far. Bond for a new place, car repairs, school fees, emergency dental, visual or medical stuff.

    If we’re talking more like closer to the five figures, then that’s a bit different. And that’s why the asset limit for help with accommodation is $8000. It could probably even be lower IMO. But that seems fair to me.

    Posters on that thread also went on about getting off your ass and working, how there’s tons of jobs out there to be had if people would only take them.

    Uh, HELLO? Unemployment is rising. Most companies aren’t planning to hire, and instead are tightening their belts.

    Out of touch much? Whoever they are, they must have a steady job. Or be retired. Or something. They obviously aren’t out there jobhunting themselves.

    BF is going into Work and Income tomorrow. He’ll have to show what he’s got banked, but I hope they are not too short sighted to realise how quickly that will run out. I’m anticipating they’ll need more info, which will delay everything. They also want income details for the last year. Not really possible, and I wonder how many people actually manage that? I don’t have every single one of his payslips; at worst we’ll just bring in a year of bank statements. I also don’t get payslips at work. We sign into a site online, so I guess I’ll print some out. But again, I see no point in having a year’s work of info, as I obviously make much less during the academic year and don’t see how my extra income over the summer should have any bearing on the situation.

    Will let you know how it goes.

  • April 1, 2009

    Is this kosher?

    Sat down and went through all the big job sites (and the small ones too!) and applied for a few positions.

    Remember me saying CHH called BF up in response to a role they advertised at the start of the month, but he had to turn it down having just accepted another role? Well since he’s been looking again, they’re still advertising it. As well as another similar role, which is more junior and further away. I applied for that one. But would it be okay to apply again for the first job? Seeing as they saw fit to ring him then, would they do so again? Or just bin his app. because he withdrew from the first round?

    Would they understand?

    BTW, it’s the same HR woman in charge of both positions…

  • March 29, 2009

    SCAM!

    Pity, really.

    It seemed like a good job. A legit job. Proofreading copy for a small website from home.

    So BF applied for it. They emailed back, asking a few questions – questions you’d expect, like about experience, internet access, availability, why you want the job.

    They also ignored the fact that he applied for the PROOFREADING position and not the simultaneously advertised COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR role. They acted as if he’d applied for the latter.

    We decided to keep going, explaining it was not what he originally applied for but was happy to proceed with this one for now, as this role including coordinating payments and liaising with clients.

    Strangely, after he replied, they immediately sent back “congratulations, you’ve got the job! Now, give us your bank account number. You will be processing payments. Clients will pay you and then you will transfer payments to us.” Obviously not in those exact words, but that’s a pretty close approximation.

    How disappointing was that? It actually had sounded like a real job. The company appeared to be real; the website was real.

    But, obviously not. At least we weren’t desperate enough to fall for it.

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