books and misscommunication

Yesterday I was in town and I got a text message about the interview assesment centre that I was supposed to go to.

The text message said that I had apparently not turned up! I found the e-mail on my smartphone and texted her back saying that I had e-mailed her colleague on 3rd November.

When I went to pick Evie up from school I saw a table outside selling the leftover books from yesterdays booksale. 

I saw a couple of books which I thought that she might like this one and this one (although it is only the Rapunzel one and not Belle hat she has got).

And when I picked Evie up I asked her what book she chose and it was this one.

She has already told me that she isnt going to read them!

thanks but no thanks and leggings with a charm on

The other day I got a phone call about the insurance job offering me an invite to their assessment centre...

...it would involve an activity and an interview with an interview panel.

Yesterday I then got through an e-mail about it and the activity is a role play activity!

I chatted to James about it (as it involves him too) and we both agreed that my current job suits us better, and the interview process sounds quite stressful (so far I have only had what they call "informal chats") so I have respectfully declined their offer.

As the weather is getting colder and Evie is still a slow coach at getting dressed, I decided that Evie should wear trousers on PE days (Tuesdays and Fridays) yesterday just before bedtime (and this morning Evie was crying saying that she didnt want to wear trousers) so I asked her some questions (as she likes wears leggings...)

1 - do trousers have zips? yes
2 - do leggings have zips? no
3 - do trousers have buttons? yes
4 - do leggings have buttons? no
5 - do trousers have belt loops? yes
6 - do leggings have belt loops? no
7 - (holding up her school trousers) are these leggings or trousers?

we are now calling them leggings with a charm on and she is wearing them :)

y1 parents evening cords and jumping

Yesterday I had Evies first year 1 parents evening.

There was table in front of the teacher with folders on and the timetable in order that parents can look at the English and Maths books first for 10 minutes.

She said that Evies letter formation isnt very good...

she doesnt start writing at the top of the page (she teds to start in the middle)

she doesnt follow instructions too easily

she is unco-ordinated (and wants me to get her to practice jumping jacks with her)

She isnt very good with numbers of objects..

There was a positive too that she is a sweet girl :)

I thin went to her classroom to look at her other books...

...it was quite funny seeing the comments that her teacher was writing in the books.

The funniest one was a maths thing she was doing and she had to put in certain numbers (7+3) that added to 10, Evie decided to use different numbers, (I cant even remember if the numbers she used added to 10 anyway) but the teacher wrote that she was supposed to use the numbers that they wanted her to use :).

When I went for my interview (the job that I got) I asked what the dress code was and the guy said smart/casual, so yesterday after I went in to fill out a whole load of paperwork (I still have the handbook to read) I treated myself to some grey cords.

And as its the first day of the half term holiday Im taking Evie to a trampoline place (there were only 3 places left for the 12pm time slot) I really wanted 11am but they were already sold out, I have booked online and we will have lunch in the cafe upstairs after :).

phone call and interview #16

Yesterday I rushed back from taking Evie to school (sorted out my buts to take with me into town) and waited for my phone call.

The call came and the job is something that I have loads of experience with, so she is going to send my details through to the relevant team and I will have to see if they want to see me for an interview.  I told her about the interview I was having that day but I didnt mention the job offer.

I then went into town for my interview...

...the job is debt collection, to be honest I dont think that it is something that I will be any good at.  I didnt tell them that, but I did mention the job offer (especially as it is for the same company) :)  They did ask me if I would still do teh ther job if I got offered this one and I said that I would have to think about it.

I will have to see what they say :)

yipee

Yesterday I as in town and I got a phone call...

caller: hello is that Clare?

me: no, its Amber (thinking that they may want to speak to me anyway)

caller: oh ok sorry about that..

five minutes later...

caller: hello is that Amber?

me: yes

caller: oh sorry about earlier your number came up on our system first, congratulations we want you to come in for an interview :)

The only time they could make it was just before I am supposed to be having my HR phone call so I have pushed that forward an hour, and that means then that I can head to my interview after I have finished the phone call :)

Then last night while Evie was reading her book, I got another pone call :)

Offering me a job that I went to interview #15 for :)

I told the guy that I have an interview today anyway (as it is the same company that I have the interview today for)..

James had the cheek to say that it means that he cant do anything on a Sunday now so I pointed out that this job means no childcare costs :)

I have to go in on Thursday and fill in the registration bits, I have already put together the bits that I need to bring with me, I will then find out my starting date :)

There are lots of pros to the job like no childcare costs, and I can still go to things like book look and sports day, christmas show and school trips (if they chose me to be a helper) without having to use up holiday :)

The only con is that I cant watch her tap dancing lesson during watching week (and there are only 2 of those a year) and James will video it anyway :)

another HR phone call

Yesterday I got an e-mail from the HR lady that I spoke to a few weeks ago.

This time she wants to discuss the role, salary and my experience...

She is going to call me tomorrow (I wanted to get the phone call done before the school holidays start on Friday) so I will have to see what (if anything comes out of it) :).

interview #15 and brown paper bag

I got to the interview, and whilst telling me the details of the job he said its a fixed 22 hours per week but you have to be flexible with your hours, some days you will need to be in for 7.30 am!

Woah...

...I told him that I thought the job was 5 hours on a Sunday, he then looked again at my form and saw that I was there for the Sunday job :) I thought that the recruitment company messed up again like they did with the location.

The job is to be on hand when a church hold their weekly meeting in case their are any issues and to clear up the room after and to arrange the rooms for the next day.

I think it went well and will find out by the end of the week.

Evie had a great day yesterday and came out clutching a brown paper bag :)

her brown paper bag with a purse, a wish, a friendship bracelet and a a square that she traced her initials into

you can see them closer here

Evie has her school photo taken today too :)

I made the right decision

Yesterday there were discussions from the Mum helpers about whether they were going to dress up for Fairytale day on Monday....

...it seems the Mums that got picked are the same ones that were picked for Evies trip in Reception Year also.

One of the other Mums said that she got a "thanks but no thanks" slip in her daughters bag.

So Im glad that I didnt say that I couldnt do the interview on the off chance that I would be picked for this :)

cake interview and wicked witches

(Ok by the title you have probably already guessed the outcome :)).

I got home from dropping Evie off at school and called the wicked witch guy and he told me that unfortunately they werent interviewing on any other days...

...so my interview is at 11am next Monday...

..it is for 5 hours per week on a Sunday morning :)

Today at Evies school they are holding a coffee morning I am taking in a  shop bought swiss roll and I am also taking in a tub for a cake for James and Evie.  Evie already has a 50p in her bag for a cake to have at school.  She has already told me that she is going to chose a chocolate cake :)

another interview on the horizon

When I got home from doing our mid week top-up shop I noticed that there was a message on my phone...

...it was a voicemail from the council saying that they want me to go in for an interview but its on the day of Evies fairytale day and I have offered to help that day (but as I know from last time I may not get picked) so I will call the bloke today and find out if they are interviewing other days.

another job not got

To be honest as I hadnt heard back by Friday I guessed that I hadnt got the job...

...it didnt stop me feeling gutted again that I hadnt got it...

oh well... :)

im better talking to a person

After I had got blown out by my friend on Friday I decided that was the time that I could do my video interview...

First I had to download Launchpad Recruits Interview so that I could do it from my smartphone, there was a practice session that you could do as many times that you needed to (to get used to it) in all honesty even if I had done it one hundred times I dont think that I would have been any better as there isnt a person or even an image to speak to...

A question would come up on the screen and then you have 60 seconds to think of your answer. There were six questions in all...

Luckily I didnt freeze but there was some stuttering...

...I just hope that they see can through my nerves :)

I had an e-mail through after saying that my interview was sent through to them, so I will ave to see if they want to see me in person, or I will just end up in deleted items! :)

And I decided against the David Bowie make up :) LOL the tutorial did say to make sure that you were dressed appropriately :)

visp

A few weeks ago I applied for a 12 month accounts job contract for a large law firm...

...yesterday I was checking my e-mails and got an e-mail from them saying that they were impressed with my application :)

And as part of their selection process they would like me to do a video interview.

I have until midnight on Monday to do it...

I was supposed to be meeting a friend for a coffee this morning but she has blown me off, so I will do it after I have taken Evie to school.

Hee hee a part of me is thinking of donning David Bowie type make up to make me stand out from the crowd :)

But my artistry skills are rubbish so perhaps not...

the parent helper ladder

On Monday I volunteered to be a parent helper for the local area year 1 walk this Wednesday.

On Friday when I looked in Evies book bag I saw a slip of paper in Evies home school diary to get there for 1 pm on Wednesday to go through the paper work :).

LOL when I got turned down for Evies school trip in July My mum said that you have to grovel to the teachers to even be considered...

My phone call tomorrow is at 11 am, I just hope that I dont get tongue tied or waffle on too much :)

monday phone call

Yesterday I got an e-mail on the back of a job that I had applied for (at the same place that I had interview #4).

The lady said that she would like to have an informal chat on the phone with me to discuss what experience I have :)

Evie was just watching (yet another toy advert) and piped up that I will have to go to John Adams to buy a chocolate lolly maker for her :)

I remember wanting a chocolate lolly maker when I was little :) we got scalextric instead which was much more playable :)

interview #14 and smartshop

Yesterday I had my 14th interview...

...I think it went well :)

It is a full time fixed 12 month contract working with the protected children team.

Understandably there were a lot of things about confidentiality I would say about what I did in my previous jobs such as shredding expired quotes and not telling brokers information about other clients etc.

I will find out next week.

I got an e-mail yesterday from Sainsburys saying that fast track will no longer be available in our store in three weeks time, but it is being replaced by smart shop...

...it seems that you use your smart phone as the scanning device :) I wonder if they will have one use chargers dotted around the store for you to buy :)

Hee hee you would need to scan it after you had started charging your phone :)

whatsapp interview and interview #14

I had my registration interview with another agency yesterday by whatsapp :).

I think it went ok...

And I have another interview next week(on Wednesday), its for a full time job in the public sector, so I will have to see how that goes.

rejected

Yesterday I applied for a Christmas job at a toy shop...

...a couple of hours later I got an e-mail saying that my application would not be be going forward as they had already had applicants that were better suited!

oh well :)

christmas job

We were in town this morning and I saw in the window of a toy shop that they are looking for Christmas staff...

...so I have applied :)

I am not sure how far I will get given my lack of retail experience...

holiday and interview #13

We went on holiday... :)

at the airport before checking in

sandy toes

Evie on the beach

We had one minor hiccup and that was with a show we had prebooked at the travel agents...

...they said that we didnt need to include travel but we did, and because we had booked another trip on the day that the company booked through would do the travel from where we were staying we had to rebook the show (with travel in the resort).

I told the travel agents wht had happened and they asked me to save my receipts and to go in.  I went in the day after we had returned home and someone was supposed to come back to me on Friday...

...but I havent heard anything from them yet...

...and talking of not hearing anything I never heard back from interview #12 - I told the bloke that I was going away the following week for a week so I thought that perhaps he was waiting for me to come back.

And the day after I came back from holiday I had my interview #13 - I knew that I wouldnt get the job when she asked if I would work over Christmas?  I was totally honest and said that I probably couldnt as the after school/out of school holiday club (that Im hoping to use) is closed between Christmas and New Year.

I will keep on applying for jobs :)