Travel

I finally had a job interview last week with a wildlife park in Kent as I've recently been toying with the idea that I may need to move to the UK if I want to get work in my field, anywhere near my field, 3 paddocks over from my field...

So far 2007 has been a wash out. Presidential elections in May have means that funding has dried up for most administrations as they wait and see what the new government will bring, the July-August period is generally regarded as fruitless for any long term contracts (though there may be some short term temp work on offer), and in June I'll be in Australia so I can't take up any temping jobs that cut into that month. My unemployment benefits run out sometime in August and things will start to be a bit stressful, to understate the point ever so mildly, if I'm still out of work then. The interview went well, though it involved an inordinate amount of travel and hairline precise connections as I had to get myself out into countryside Kent, and was at least less intimidating that doing in French.

It was interesting to notice the contrasts between interview techniques. French interviews are highly jobs focused - they ask you about many of the positions listed on your CV "tell us about your time at job x" , while the UK interview was highly skills focused, with practically all the questions being along the lines of "do you have any experience with doing x task?". Obviously this brings up prior work experience, but I found it gave me more scope to discuss my studies and more general competencies that can be grouped over several years and different jobs. Its a more flexible approach - some of those jobs on my CV don't bear mentioning and the fact that I got through them at all without being fired or quitting is probably more of a testament to my capabilities than the fact that I was simply employed during said period. Whether I impressed them enough to have got a job out of it is another matter. I'm pretty rusty on my interview technique as it's been a case of much too few and far between lately. It would also mean moving to southern Kent and buying a car rather speedily. The fact that I'm also not here in June plus the extra time needed to get myself settled might not bode well for me in the eyes of the interviewers - so I don't want to get my hopes up at all, and simply regard it as being a good sign that after only a few applications over the water, I already have scored an interview. It's a start.