A career break ...

What a lovely term that is .... career break. Its two words that have been falling from my mouth with increased regularity ever since, oh, about Christmas time. This was about the time it really hit home that resigning a job without another position lined up was the height of arrogance with more than a little whimsy thrown in. Yes, I was desperately unhappy both with the limited potential of the role and the line manager but as a friend of mine is more than fond of uttering, I should have just 'manned the f*ck up' and got on with lining another role up. Instead my thinking went like this:

How easy was it to get this job? (well actually it was quite a tough interview, so extra kudos to me, other interviews will be a breeze).
How many interviews have I failed? (Mmm, not very many at all. I've been lucky that for most I've interviewed for something has been offered)
My mate reckons she might be able to get me a role elsewhere (well, win win win.......)
Oh and I've got a pot of redundancy £'s behind me if it all goes wrong.

Resign man, oh resign! And leave I did. And then the economy failed, and then interviews went well (excepting one, but I was angry and petulant and easily provoked) but nothing was offered and Icesave seemed a great place to put all my money................

And so, some months later I still find myself unemployed and contemplative of where to go next and what to do. My sector has died a death and other recruitment consultants seem bereft of ideas of what to do with me. I'm a man in limbo. A somebody who doesn't know what to do next. What has amazed me is the disparity of what some people require of candidates and the money they are willing to pay for these skills. The one that most took the breath away was a firm that wanted a person holding 5 years relevant experience, a contact book and fluency in 3 European languages. For £19K a year............. Madness......

Its a sobering thought that a working career of 14 years since graduation has left me -if I'm honest- with a core skills base of nothing really. A mish mash of this and that. Diversity of skills used to be a strength but in todays climate people want skills that are horribly exacting. Stray out of the 'perfect' candidate description and you'll get nowhere. I write that as a man who made it to the last 2 for a job I wanted and got beaten by the chap who had direct relevant experience. Needless to say I'll be waiting for him on his first day. With a crowbar.......

So, perhaps a new sector awaits - travel. The more I think on it, the more I believe its an area I've wanted to work in for some time but its the paucity of the starting wage that has put me off. But, perhaps for the first time I've got to be sensible and realise that short term wallet thiness can lead to long term career satisfaction. I hope so. Anything is better than visiting the local job centre.

The art of blogging

Is obviously something I haven't got right. Three months since I last scribbled down some nonsense and that's unacceptable. So, lets have a new beginning (if we leave aside the question of how many new beginnings you can have......).