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andrewduckerPicking my nose earlier today (as I’m sometimes wont to do), I was left wondering whether I’d yet removed my own bodyweight from my nostrils. Sadly, although I was on a medical unit at the time, I felt that borrowing an accurate set of scales to give me something to multiply up would be frowned upon, so both you and I will have to live without the answer until another day.
Right, now I’ve disposed of half of the people reading this, I’ll tell you what the current situation in my life is (oops, there goes the other half).
When last we say our intrepid hero, he had been made redundant by the evil oppressors of his previous job (Boo! Hiss!). Luckily he’d been paid off on July 17th, but paid up until the end of August. It is now time to share a secret with you: He, that is I, had been looking for a new job for some time. I’d been somewhat unsure about taking the previous job, as it was a divergence from my normal career (programmer) into previously uncharted waters (IT Management). I’d even taken 24 hours to think about it when I was offered the job. However, the job sounded sufficiently interesting that it would keep me going for at least a year, and I really didn’t want to be working for the people that had just bought the company I was working for at the time (they treated the MD of the company badly when they bought the company from him, and I rather like him), so I took it.
This turns out to be a mistake. Not that the job didn’t have very interesting bits, or teach me things I’d never known before, but it wasn’t really my kind of thing, I didn’t really fit in, and it wasn’t actually what it was advertised as being. I was supposed to spend most of my time working on the company database, some of my time organising Graham and I, getting standards/procedures written up, etc. and a teeny bit of time helping Graham with support when things got a bit frantic. What actually happened was that I spent 36.5 hours a week doing frantic support, 1 hour a week in a meeting explaining why things were still going wrong, and a total of about 6 hours in the 11 months I spent there on the database. I’m not blaming the company (which didn’t have the resources to get things organised properly), but it took about 9 months for Graham and me to get things back from the apocalyptic point they were at when I joined, and even then, if one of us were off things would deteriorate fairly quickly again.
Anyway, all beside the point, unfortunate job choice, all the best to Graham and the company, I hope they get something sorted out. But once I decided that the job wasn’t suited to me (tech support drives me mad after a while), I started looking for something new. The problem being that there aren’t a lot of vacancies for the kind of experience I’ve got. I mean I can actually turn my hand to just about any kind of programming if I want to, but a CV with "can do pretty much anything given a copy of the language reference and a week to get up to speed" isn’t actually very useful. I have lots of experience with Microsoft Visual FoxPro, which would get me a nice job down near London, but is bugger all use in Scotland.
So I looked around and realised that what I really wanted was something with a larger company, where I’d receive training, decent management etc., come out with a decent set of skills on my CV in a few years and hopefully enjoy my work in between. I’d come to the conclusion that small/medium sized companies weren’t going to provide that, as they didn’t really have the resources to manage any of that (obviously Lionhead, where Mike works, has the resources to manage properly, but they seem to be the exception rather than the rule). So I started looking at the larger companies and realise that I didn’t have any useful skills. I had two choices, go out and develop some of the useful skills (not impossible, I already have some ASP, VBScript, HTML, VBA, etc. skills and could pick up more fairly easily), or I could get myself a job where they expect you to have no skills - i.e. a graduate intake position. I had actually noticed the Standard Life job page already, while looking for a normal job, and been unsuccessful in my application, but they seemed enthusiastic about graduate recruits, I have a degree (even if it is getting a little dusty), and I knew that graduate recruitment positions paid quite well.
So, I went through their online recruitment process (aptitude test, psychometric test, several essay questions) and waited for a response. They sent me an invitation to come along for more aptitude tests and some sample questions (which weren’t too hard). I went along and was terrified by the actual tests (I finished two of the four tests, got ¾ through one of them and only halfway through another one). At one point we paused between tests while some people went to the toilet. While the examiner was out of the room, one person said, "That one was a bit bloody hard wasn’t it?" at which point there was a huge sigh of relief from all around the room. Buoyed by this response, I awaited my results.
Which were that I should go back for a group assessment and an interview. There were mixed feelings all round, elation that I was still in the running, stress at having to go through more tests. The group test was actually very easy; they sat 4 of us around a square table, with an information sheet, we were given five minutes to read the scenario and then we were to start dealing with it. Needless to say, it seemed obvious to me that solving the scenario wasn’t the point of the exercise; the point was to get on with those around you, involve all of us in the discussion and show that none of us were complete dicks. Easy, you’d think, even if you put Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and Churchill around the table, they’d be smart enough to pretend to get on for an hour. Apparently, this isn’t the case, as one other applicant related the story of his Royal Bank graduate testing, where two people spent the whole hour arguing over who would be the group leader.
Following this, we were taken separately to have individual interviews. These consisted of one manager asking questions like "Give an example of a time you disagreed with your manager. How did you deal with this?" and another taking notes. I was fairly relaxed, as they’d already told us that to get this far we would all have been judged as capable enough to work in the company, the group test and interview were to see if they wanted to work with us. As I’d made both of them laugh within a minute of sitting down, and the whole atmosphere was quite laid back, I was fairly sure I was making a good impression. In fact, the only comment I had to make to the HR person on the way out was that I wasn’t looking forward to the weeklong wait until I heard whether I’d been accepted. I was therefore ecstatic to hear that I’d been accepted less than 2 hours later.
Sadly, I’m in the second training group, starting on the 28th of October, not the start of September, although I understand this is because they want to use the same people to do the training because they’re very good, so it’s worthwhile. I’ve managed to pick up 12 weeks data analysis work through my Dad, so I’m up and down to Kent on a constant basis until then (I’m on the London->Edinburgh train right now, and will be in Kent September 1st-13th and then from the 22nd until the end of October (although Erin should be with me for a fair chunk of that).
Phew, that’s you all brought up to date on the work side of life, at some future point, I’ll tell you how cool the Edinburgh Fringe is...
Right, now I’ve disposed of half of the people reading this, I’ll tell you what the current situation in my life is (oops, there goes the other half).
When last we say our intrepid hero, he had been made redundant by the evil oppressors of his previous job (Boo! Hiss!). Luckily he’d been paid off on July 17th, but paid up until the end of August. It is now time to share a secret with you: He, that is I, had been looking for a new job for some time. I’d been somewhat unsure about taking the previous job, as it was a divergence from my normal career (programmer) into previously uncharted waters (IT Management). I’d even taken 24 hours to think about it when I was offered the job. However, the job sounded sufficiently interesting that it would keep me going for at least a year, and I really didn’t want to be working for the people that had just bought the company I was working for at the time (they treated the MD of the company badly when they bought the company from him, and I rather like him), so I took it.
This turns out to be a mistake. Not that the job didn’t have very interesting bits, or teach me things I’d never known before, but it wasn’t really my kind of thing, I didn’t really fit in, and it wasn’t actually what it was advertised as being. I was supposed to spend most of my time working on the company database, some of my time organising Graham and I, getting standards/procedures written up, etc. and a teeny bit of time helping Graham with support when things got a bit frantic. What actually happened was that I spent 36.5 hours a week doing frantic support, 1 hour a week in a meeting explaining why things were still going wrong, and a total of about 6 hours in the 11 months I spent there on the database. I’m not blaming the company (which didn’t have the resources to get things organised properly), but it took about 9 months for Graham and me to get things back from the apocalyptic point they were at when I joined, and even then, if one of us were off things would deteriorate fairly quickly again.
Anyway, all beside the point, unfortunate job choice, all the best to Graham and the company, I hope they get something sorted out. But once I decided that the job wasn’t suited to me (tech support drives me mad after a while), I started looking for something new. The problem being that there aren’t a lot of vacancies for the kind of experience I’ve got. I mean I can actually turn my hand to just about any kind of programming if I want to, but a CV with "can do pretty much anything given a copy of the language reference and a week to get up to speed" isn’t actually very useful. I have lots of experience with Microsoft Visual FoxPro, which would get me a nice job down near London, but is bugger all use in Scotland.
So I looked around and realised that what I really wanted was something with a larger company, where I’d receive training, decent management etc., come out with a decent set of skills on my CV in a few years and hopefully enjoy my work in between. I’d come to the conclusion that small/medium sized companies weren’t going to provide that, as they didn’t really have the resources to manage any of that (obviously Lionhead, where Mike works, has the resources to manage properly, but they seem to be the exception rather than the rule). So I started looking at the larger companies and realise that I didn’t have any useful skills. I had two choices, go out and develop some of the useful skills (not impossible, I already have some ASP, VBScript, HTML, VBA, etc. skills and could pick up more fairly easily), or I could get myself a job where they expect you to have no skills - i.e. a graduate intake position. I had actually noticed the Standard Life job page already, while looking for a normal job, and been unsuccessful in my application, but they seemed enthusiastic about graduate recruits, I have a degree (even if it is getting a little dusty), and I knew that graduate recruitment positions paid quite well.
So, I went through their online recruitment process (aptitude test, psychometric test, several essay questions) and waited for a response. They sent me an invitation to come along for more aptitude tests and some sample questions (which weren’t too hard). I went along and was terrified by the actual tests (I finished two of the four tests, got ¾ through one of them and only halfway through another one). At one point we paused between tests while some people went to the toilet. While the examiner was out of the room, one person said, "That one was a bit bloody hard wasn’t it?" at which point there was a huge sigh of relief from all around the room. Buoyed by this response, I awaited my results.
Which were that I should go back for a group assessment and an interview. There were mixed feelings all round, elation that I was still in the running, stress at having to go through more tests. The group test was actually very easy; they sat 4 of us around a square table, with an information sheet, we were given five minutes to read the scenario and then we were to start dealing with it. Needless to say, it seemed obvious to me that solving the scenario wasn’t the point of the exercise; the point was to get on with those around you, involve all of us in the discussion and show that none of us were complete dicks. Easy, you’d think, even if you put Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and Churchill around the table, they’d be smart enough to pretend to get on for an hour. Apparently, this isn’t the case, as one other applicant related the story of his Royal Bank graduate testing, where two people spent the whole hour arguing over who would be the group leader.
Following this, we were taken separately to have individual interviews. These consisted of one manager asking questions like "Give an example of a time you disagreed with your manager. How did you deal with this?" and another taking notes. I was fairly relaxed, as they’d already told us that to get this far we would all have been judged as capable enough to work in the company, the group test and interview were to see if they wanted to work with us. As I’d made both of them laugh within a minute of sitting down, and the whole atmosphere was quite laid back, I was fairly sure I was making a good impression. In fact, the only comment I had to make to the HR person on the way out was that I wasn’t looking forward to the weeklong wait until I heard whether I’d been accepted. I was therefore ecstatic to hear that I’d been accepted less than 2 hours later.
Sadly, I’m in the second training group, starting on the 28th of October, not the start of September, although I understand this is because they want to use the same people to do the training because they’re very good, so it’s worthwhile. I’ve managed to pick up 12 weeks data analysis work through my Dad, so I’m up and down to Kent on a constant basis until then (I’m on the London->Edinburgh train right now, and will be in Kent September 1st-13th and then from the 22nd until the end of October (although Erin should be with me for a fair chunk of that).
Phew, that’s you all brought up to date on the work side of life, at some future point, I’ll tell you how cool the Edinburgh Fringe is...
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TMI
Date: 2002-08-22 10:27 pm (UTC)I have no idea what to do with it next.