Not Dumb Enough

A little while ago I applied for a job with a dairy company in the Waikato. It was going to be a little bit away from where we really wanted to be but close enough to Hamilton that we would be able to see my folks a lot more and also a lot nearer our friends down there. Last week I had a phone-call from the recruitment company that was handling the applications wanting to set up a time for a phone interview. That was on Thursday. I thought the interview went pretty well.

I got a call Friday to say that they would like to do a face-to-face interview at the company. Excellent. I went down and met the recruiter, who gave me aptitude tests (at which I scored 99% - the pencil broke and I had to swap it in the speed recognition section. couldn't answer the last question). Then I interviewed with two supervisors from the company. I talked to them for over an hour. I thought it went really well. They were nice guys and seemed to respond well to what I was telling them. I felt really positive after the interview and had a good drive home.

That afternoon I had a dental appointment. Two fillings and two extractions. This was not the best time to find out that my teeth have particularly long roots, or that there was an abcess on one tooth that was preventing them from getting anesthetic to the bottom of the root. The dentist had to hold my jaw firmly to get it out, because I couldn't hold my mouth open against the strain of him pulling the tooth. It took almsot 5 hours for the bleeding to stop and the pain-killers I were only enough for the first 4 hours or so, then I was on the lower strength ones and they didn't really cut it. I didn't get a whole load of sleep. I took the day of to try and recover and Christi got me some better pain-killers that actually worked.

So, I felt better today and went to work as normal. I got a call at around 10:30 from the lady at the recruitment company. I 'did really well', 'aced the aptitude test', 'made a really strong impression' on the interviewers BUT I'm 'obviously a very smart guy' and they think I will 'not be challenged enough by this role' and 'get bored too quickly'. They also had concerns about my ability to fit into the team.

If you show initiative and leadership then you're not a team player. If you spend all your time working in the team you don't have enough leadership potential. And telling me I'm too smart for the job?? What the hell!! How do they expect to be able to promote from within the com[pany if everyone they employ is selected for a good fit at the most basic job in the place?? Sometimes I really dont understand what the hell they think they want from a worker.

So anyway I'm back to looking at job ads again. I'll just have to sell myself as the right kind of mediocre next time, I guess.

Start As You Mean To Continue

Well it's 2010 and every idiot and their brother is talking about it being the start of a new decade. So much for the power of a public school education. Last time I checked there were ten year in a decade, not nine. Same thing happened with the millenium, but that was all confused by the whole y2k microsoft/computer calendar issue. Anyway, welcome to the Last Year of the decade. Hope it's started well for you.
We went away for about a week to spend time with my folks and visit with friends in the Waikato. It was nice to get away, even if it was very tight with the finances and the accommodations. We are back home now and really feeling the need to make a move. This house is very small and with three kids now it feels even more tightly packed than it was before. Add to that the fact that Christi and I both want to be able to do things for which we have NO room here, and we want to be closer to our friends to the South, we are seriously considering moving in that direction. Trouble is I need to find a job first or we simply will be living off government help and unable to do much of anything.

So. The job situation is in a bit of a state of flux at the moment too. I have applied for the supervisor's position at my present company, but there have been 40 other applications as well, and while I get on well with the owner and have proven myself to be capable and able to learn and adapt to new situations, I think my chances of getting the job are slim to none. Even though I actually do 90% of the job now when the current supervisor is away. The primary reason is that I only have 3 months experience in the Liquor Department and I know the boss is looking for more than that in the replacement. Tomorrow I will be asking what is happeneing. The reason I need to know tomorrow is that I have been offered another job. I applied for it on Friday, just on the off chance that it would be possible. It is with a local liquor shop, so no more travelling to the North Shore to work. The shop doesn't open till 10 am so I would be able to do school runs in the morning, meaning that Christi won't have to pack up the baby to go to school, waking him up and breaking his sleep patterns. The hours are flexible, but there will be both weekend and late night work. The Manager has already said I will get extra training and a pay increase with the completion of that training. I will soon be earning a little more than I am now, but will also basically be trained up to manage the whole store when the manager isn't there. Add to that the fact that it is owned by a large corporation with opportunities to move to other areas and positions within the company and it starts to look very attractive indeed.

Tomorrow I will hopefully know what is happening, but at least I am moving forward either way it goes.