London... and...

This past Saturday Matt and I went to London. I had my interview with the A&F people for the MIT position so we decided to make a day out of it. We left Southampton at 8:30 in the morning and by 11:30 we were in London. My interview wasn't till 2 so we decided to go to a part of the city that was close to where my interview was going to be and wonder for a bit. We didn't want to do the typical touristy things so we figured we'd just have a wonder and see what we ran into. We went to Notting Hill first and wondered down Portabello Street and viewed all the little market stalls they had open. There were tons of stalls and there was everything you could think of. Lots of vintage stuff and antiques but more modern items as well. From there we had lunch and ventured to find the A&F Offices where my interview was. Now my directions and reading skills can be a little lax sometimes. I read one thing but see another in it's place so sometimes it leads to problems! I had printed out a map from Picadilly Circus to A&F... but read it and told Matt we needed to be at Paddington. We got on the tube at Notting Hill and I realized I had mixed them up so we got off and spent the next 15 minutes running through the tube stations to get on the right tube and to the right station. We made it to Picadilly for 1:52pm and ran down Regent Street and down the others till we got the the A&F offices. I had just enough time to put on my flip flops and get up the stairs before it hit 2:00pm! PHEW! The interview went well. It was an odd group of people and out of 8 people who were in my interview only 1 was actually from the UK. Everyone else was born somewhere else in Europe (along with me from the US) and had immigrated to the UK. We all answered the questions and then got our photos taken so they could "remember out faces" and I was on my way out when I recognized one of the other Recruiting Managers. Turns out he's from California and worked at one of the stores near me. He must have covered for one of my managers at one point or another and that's why I recognized him! What a small freakin world!! After my interview Matt greeted me with a Diet Coke (cause he's the best boyfriend ever!) and we headed off to see more of the city. We wondered around the rest of Regent and Oxford Street (the 5th Ave. of London) then headed to find a pub cause Matt wanted to watch the England game. We found one as we wondered through Chinatown and had a few drinks while watching the game. By the time that was over it was time to catch the bus and head back home! I really liked wondering around London and just seeing random sights. I've been many a time before and done the whole touristy thing so it's good to do something different.

In other news... I had my interview for the University job last Friday. It went really well and I got called back for an informal chat today. Basically... I got the Job and I accepted her offer! SO I HAVE A JOB!!! I would have liked to see if I could have pursued the A&F position further but I won't find out for a week or so and then I still would have to go through two other interviews to even get the job. And I have a feeling all the training has to be done in the London store and I can't do that if I live in Southampton. So playing it safe I took the job at the University. I'll be Assisting the Annual Giving Department in their fundraising and alumni projects and working with a team of individuals who seem really like good people to work with! I can always go back and apply for the MIT position again once the store in SH has started to establish itself and they start training people in the store. But for now the Uni job will do!

Now Matt and I can start saving and find our own place!!! FINALLY!!!!!!

The Interviews

As predicted I now have three interviews this week, the first of which I already had on Monday. The other two are on Friday and Saturday. My interview on Monday was pretty much a let down! It was for a company called Parker Worldwide, never heard of them but their job post looked pretty promising and I got a call last week for an interview. I got an email with all the details and went to find a website but only found one that was under construction, but they're a new company so I let it go. The job had explained them as a new marketing company that was looking to expand and train people, so I thought Great! just what I want! NOPE! When I arrived for my interview at 2:30 pm I came to find an office space that was totally empty with the exception of a desk for the girl who was shuffling papers and listening to Kings of Leon at an ample volume. There were 7 other interviewees waiting before me so I sat and waited for my turn all the while thinking the situation was really odd. I waited an HOUR AND TEN MINUTES for my interview! When I got in there I introduced myself and made small talk as you do and then the guy who was interviewing me went into the job prospects. Basically it boiled down that they were a direct marketing company that started in the States and is now moving into the UK, with something like 1000 offices in the US and 20 in the UK. When it boiled down to it they were interviewing for sales managers. You got trained and then put in charge of a team of people and then moved on to manage a sales office... Not really what I was looking for. And the kicker was this as said by my interviewer: "We thrive in a recession. People are more watchful of their money so they think about what they are buying more making indirect marketing less affective. But we use direct marketing to get our consumers interest, leading them to buy our product before they realize they have buyers remorse!" Right there I was out! How dishonest! In a recession your company should be helping your consumers to feel secure in their investments, not making them to feel that your taking their money and laughing all the way to the bank! So needless today I told them I wasn't the right person for what they were looking for and with surprise on their face they thanked me for being honest and I went on my way. And now I feel more and more that they whole thing was a scam. If a company has over 1000 offices in the states and more in the UK I would expect they would have some sort of website! But nothing... very odd.

So the two interviews I have at the end of the week are for the University on Friday and for the new Hollister on Saturday. I've been waiting for both of these since mid-February so it's good their finally here. For the Hollister interview I have to travel up to Londontown, so we're gonna make a day of if and see some sights before my interview.

I feel confident about both of them so we'll just have to go and see! I'll keep it updated!

Waiting...

So here it is the 2nd day of March and I'm still waiting. A few weeks back I had a meeting with the Head of Development for Southampton University. I had applied for a job but was unsuccessful and he wanted to talk to me about another opportunity they had come available. The position was still with the Development and Alumni Department but a more entry level position and one that was really more suitable for me. He told me that although I didn't get the other job they were still "very impressed" with my attitude and they wanted to keep in contact in case such an opportunity arose. Finally a positive! After hearing nothing and hearing "thanks but no" it was a little bit of a relief to know that someone saw that I was valuable... even if it meant I had to apply all over again and wait. The closing date for applications is the 5th of March so I should hear something within two weeks of then. As well as applying for that job I took on the task of applying for yet another job with an Ad firm, this time an entry level job that over 100 other applicants applied for as well. Yikes! I always follow up when I apply for a job and when I applied for this one I emailed and called my recruiter to make sure she got my app. Two week and nothing... so I wrote her another email, this time with a little more of a "return my email and do you job" kind of attitude. And wouldn't you know, I got a response! She HADN'T received my application in the first place! I wanted to reach through my mac book and slap her. I resent it and now more waiting. Nothing is off the table now (well with the exception of working for McDonald's). Full time jobs, Temp office jobs and retail, I've applied for them all! I've signed up to volunteer at the local hospital as well, but more waiting is to be has with that as well.

Since I have so much time to sit and think during the day I think of ways that I would rather be spending my time if I had the means. I'm really thinking about getting my Masters. The University of Southampton is a really good school and they have an Advertising Design course that looks really good. I just need to find out more and get my facts in order before I commit to anything. I think having my Masters would help me get a job in the ad world and having a degree that's from the UK would make me more desirable.

Still living with housemates for the time being. Until I have a job, Matt and I can't move into our own place. Living here is fine and all but one of the other girls and I just don't get along. Apparently I'm not nice! Ha, maybe if she actually took the time to get to know me instead of judging she would find out I'm actually a very nice person. After trying to resolve the issue once and no positive results, I've gone to ignoring her now. I can't physically be nice to someone time after time when all they want to see is that I'm the bad guy. It gets to me, I get mad, I raise my voice and get upset, and no one wants that :)

So waiting is about all I'm doing at the moment