The problem with neglecting to write for such a long time is that all my bloggable news has mushroomed into something vast. Like when you haven't contacted a friend for months, and then you still don't reach out because the amount of catch-up information that's looming over both of you is too overwhelming (not to mention the abandoned-friend guilt), so you I procrastinate for several months further. Anyway, I have News.
I was successful with my job hunt - hence the long bloggy silence; I have been very busy - and if I could have known back in May when I first started applying that I would be working where I am now, the sheer frustration of job applications would have been more bearable and less soul-destroying. But perhaps that's all part of the process. Maybe you have to start believing that you're completely unemployable and yet continue to flog that "Submit Application" button anyway before you can prove yourself in an interview.
(I have a big issue, by the way, with the whole interview process, and without dwelling on it too much, my thoughts are that the entire panel-interview process is heavily biased towards people who excel in interviews. I excel in high-level research administration, and I don't believe it follows that someone who is confident and self-believing enough to sell themselves brilliantly in front of a panel would necessarily suit a job that requires discretion and top-notch organisational skills - not that I'm implying that confidence and discretion are mutually exclusive, but that it works the other way too: that my personal weakness for feeling uncomfortable when talking about myself, sometimes to the point of nausea, has no reflection on my professional skills.)
The point is, I have found my job - or my job has found me - and we're perfect for each other. At five minutes past nine on the morning of my first day I texted my boyfriend in a state of great excitement to say, "I love my job!" A week later and I feel the same. And finally, at last, I feel confirmed in my decision to uproot my life in Ireland and move to another country, blundering into unemployment and uncertainty. Everything seems to have placed itself rather neatly into my life, and it's all going very well. And the best part of it all is that I'm feeling content enough at the moment to actually be thankful for this instead of becoming suspicious and waiting nervously for things to fall apart.
I was successful with my job hunt - hence the long bloggy silence; I have been very busy - and if I could have known back in May when I first started applying that I would be working where I am now, the sheer frustration of job applications would have been more bearable and less soul-destroying. But perhaps that's all part of the process. Maybe you have to start believing that you're completely unemployable and yet continue to flog that "Submit Application" button anyway before you can prove yourself in an interview.
(I have a big issue, by the way, with the whole interview process, and without dwelling on it too much, my thoughts are that the entire panel-interview process is heavily biased towards people who excel in interviews. I excel in high-level research administration, and I don't believe it follows that someone who is confident and self-believing enough to sell themselves brilliantly in front of a panel would necessarily suit a job that requires discretion and top-notch organisational skills - not that I'm implying that confidence and discretion are mutually exclusive, but that it works the other way too: that my personal weakness for feeling uncomfortable when talking about myself, sometimes to the point of nausea, has no reflection on my professional skills.)
The point is, I have found my job - or my job has found me - and we're perfect for each other. At five minutes past nine on the morning of my first day I texted my boyfriend in a state of great excitement to say, "I love my job!" A week later and I feel the same. And finally, at last, I feel confirmed in my decision to uproot my life in Ireland and move to another country, blundering into unemployment and uncertainty. Everything seems to have placed itself rather neatly into my life, and it's all going very well. And the best part of it all is that I'm feeling content enough at the moment to actually be thankful for this instead of becoming suspicious and waiting nervously for things to fall apart.
Comments
Post a Comment