Job Hunt Update

It's about time I gave some sort of update regarding my hunt for a second job. I made a huge fuss about it and I think it's time we talk about it.

I have good news.

And I have bad news.

News.

First, I did manage to secure an over the phone interview with a company. The job wasn't anything fancy. Call center where I would do technical support sorts of things. The pay would be decent and there was even an option for commission if I was savvy enough with a customer.

Yeah, the hours would be kind of weird. Yes, the training would take about a month, but the point is. Second job, that's all that matters. I need the money. 1 part time job isn't enough to pay for anything.

And then they offered me an actual in-person interview.

Whoo!

And then they asked me the following question.

"Are you going on vacation anytime within the next 6 months".

And yes, in fact, I am. I leave at the beginning of July for 3 weeks to China.

And that pretty much destroyed any chances of getting this job. And probably any other one too.

Welp.

So I'm guessing most other jobs are going to have similar policies. I'm also guessing that I shouldn't bother looking for any other jobs until I get back. Even then, classes will be starting in a month and I'm not sure if I could balance the workload that well.

In the meantime, back to as many hours as I can snag at the fast food job. It be nice if I could get more hours but my boss has enough staff working as it is.

Yay for cashier and stuff.

On the bright side, the call center did ask me to contact them again when I return from China so maybe there's some hope. We'll see how things work out.

Where I'm at Now

Long time readers will know I started this blog way back in August because I had no idea what I was doing with myself or my degree. And to be honest, I still don't really have a clear idea of what I'm going to do.

Remember when I tried to get a job? Yeah, that didn't work out too well. So much for delaying things for another year to buy me more time to figure out what to do. So, clearly the smart thing to do would be to try and find another job right away at the first opportunity.

What?

Hear me out. See, there's a Psychology Internship program that my University offers that would be awesome if I could get in. For one year, you'd work with other psychologists, get valuable field experience AND get paid at the same time.

Plus it be a really good break after so many non-stop years of classes. Jobs range anywhere from research to medical to judicial. Each year the co-coordinator contacts a ton of interested organizations and then students contact them and arrange for interviews.

What could possibly go wrong?

Brilliant.

Well for starters, I'm a 4th year student, this is a program for 3rd year people. No problem, no problem, they make exceptions.

To people who have not exceeded the course credit limit.

I exceeded that limit last term.

BUT if you can make a compelling case they sometimes will even make an exception for people in this category as well. I talked to a few people and thanks to my multiple interview failures I am now "more experienced in interviews" and I've done more research so more "research experience" is also a good thing to tell them.

If only it were like this.

Sadly, I won't be able to know the department will make an exception for me or not until January. Also, if I decide to do the internship I can't graduate in April. Also, also, I need to start talking with other co-coordinators to figure out my Winter schedule to improve my chances.

If I can get this internship I have a chance at getting a job somewhere that I've always dreamed of. But no comment on that yet, don't want to jinx myself. Let's see if I can even get accepted for the internship program to start with.

Hey I got Interviewed

Bit of a change of pace here. Looks like I was important enough to be interviewed by Rafi the Hasidic Plumber. Maybe that means I can also get that nifty Seal of Approval to stick on my blog too. For those of you unfamiliar, Rafi has been doing interviews of various bloggers and shares his take on world events.

He's also a cyborg I think.

Link to my interview is here. Check it out and let me know what you think. Sadly that's how I'm more likely to talk with friends in real life so it might be a change of tone for those of you more accustomed to my blogging voice.

Oh and because this is a short post I'm required to dump an image or a Youtube video of some sort. This video is less than half a minute long but it entertains me to no end:

I wish French class was more like this...

And now I play the waiting game

So I finally went for said interview and it went alright I think. It is about an hour, maybe an hour and fifteen minutes away from where I live but there are carpools around and I'd be more than happy to drive half the time or pay for the gas or something.

Preferably pay for the gas, I'm a terrible driver and not just because I'm Asian.

Haha! Stereotypes are funny!

Nah there are other reasons why I hate driving but I'll save that for another post.

Anyways, the Mental Health Hospital (or as I learned, used to be called the "Institution for the Insane" back in 1908) for my interview is in this dinky little town. I swear, this mental hospital is the only reason why this town is even prospering. With less than 7000 people living here there aren't any buses so even if I did move here for a year I'd either have to walk everywhere or own a vehicle.

But the hospital itself is nice, the people there are too. And I think the interview was the best one I've had so far. They mostly asked generic questions you know, "What were you do in situation X" and "What kinds of experiences do you have" etc. etc.. I had this problem in other interviews where when I got a question that stumped me I would freeze for a few seconds before sputtering out an answer.

And I probably sound like this.

But it didn't happen this time. In fact, only one bad thing was said during the entire interview process.

"We're still interviewing other people".

Derp.

Oh boy.

For those of you who read this post you'll remember that I lost all the previous jobs to other people as well. I was hoping that with this job being so far away and so close to the school term that others would not be interested, leaving me the sole applicant. I thought wrong.

I know, it's kind of stupid to get all worked up because they're interviewing other people but I've become paranoid. I mean, I was perfect for two other jobs involving around research because I have had a lot of experience in research and they still chose someone else over me.

Me and my buddy Derrick applied for the same research position and were joking around after our interview. We were saying things like "I'm going to get the job because I took more stats courses" or "No, I'm going to get it because I've done more research work".

He ended up getting the job.

I get a prize now right?

And with only one position left for this job what reason should I have to believe I'm the best candidate for it?

Maybe I'm being too hard on myself.

Maybe it's time to go fix up this horrid schedule while I still have time.

How about something even more positive.

Guess what. I actually got an interview to one of those jobs.

I go to check my email and sitting right there at the top is an email telling me that they're interested in my application and they want an interview. This is awesome. I have this stupid grin on my face and I don't care.

Whoo hoo!

Oh crap, I have an interview to one of those jobs.

Panic! Panic! Panic! Panic!

So now it's time to flail around a bit and start trying to prepare myself as best I can for this. Remember, I've been rejected 4 times already in the last few months and it has not been good for my self esteem. I've been told numerous times that there was probably nothing I could have done. It wasn't your fault Damian, you just got unlucky or something. But you still have that little feeling of self doubt in the back of your head.

Another thing is that it turns out they've been trying to contact me for days now BUT there were problems with my phone. Ugh, another reason to hate this old thing. It was obsolete when I got it 3 years ago and I can hardly wait until my contract ends in December. This damn thing almost lost me a job.

This is what's happening to my phone come December.

The interview is on Tuesday, it's going to be at that Mental Rehabilitation Center 1 hour away. I'm trying to prepare as best I can in the meantime, learning about the place, any topic that's even remotely related to something I could be doing, etc., etc.. I think wearing a suit would be a bit much so I'll probably go with slacks, a dress shirt and a tie.

Still very anxious, remember, I need this job for money, experience, buy me time to re-evaluate my life, so I don't have to deal with my terrible current class schedule, the list goes on.

But yeah, I have another interview!