A GRIEVANCE ABOUT HATS

~ Rob

As far as I am concerned my Line Manager is of very high calibre, who I very much respect. My issues are with my direct Supervisor, who it turns out is a bit of a Hat. It rhythms with hat anyway.

Being new to the office environment at first I questioned my work ability. It made me very anxious and ill. Was I doing something wrong? Hat (as will call him from now on) made me feel unworthy and incapable of doing my job.

Hat’s behaviour and humiliating comments made me feel unaccepted and unwelcome. Then I realised it wasn’t me, Hat was a bully.

Here is one example….

Hat was rude and impatient while I was speaking on my own mobile phone during my lunch break. If I need to speak to someone and they are on the telephone I wait until they have finished their conversation before interrupting or trying to distract them.

At the end of my phone conversation I asked what Hat wanted. Hat said he “If I spent more working and less time on my mobile phone you’d know”. Which was an un-thoughtful and hurtful comment after all my recent hard work. Over the past few months I have been starting work early, around 7:30am and working until after 5pm and found this comment very hurtful and untrue.

I questioned why Hat felt a need to track my personal mobile phone calls on my lunch hour he said it was “his job to monitor”, yet recently I asked for some simple monitoring information to support a Business Case I had been asked to write.

Sadly Hat’s input never materialised, in the end I obtained the statistics and calculated the information myself because Hat failed to produce what I required – Hat did provide some useless but nicely coloured bar charts which weren’t very helpful.

The hypocrisy….

It’s OK for Hat to use the company landline to phone workman when he had work carried out at his home. Furthermore the next day a colleague was on her mobile while off lunch and Hat said nothing to her. It is clear to me that Hat has favouritism and discrimination towards certain team members.

It seems a pattern has developed with Hat’s own behaviour and bullying towards me and other colleagues in the past but he is protected and given the benefit of the doubt or any issues are brushed under the carpet.

The reason I’m angry is Hat’s ongoing poor treatment to lower level colleagues, his rudeness, lack of respect and power ego trip attitude. I have tried very hard to work closely with Hat and build a positive relationship but he makes things extremely difficult. As a result team morale is suffering. I find Hat’s management style emotionally and physically draining and very stressful.

Hats like this need to realise management isn’t about throwing your weight about, it’s about supporting staff and getting the best out of them.

Don’t be the office hat.

Mum and Dad’s Sunday Lunch

~ Rob

I attended Sunday dinner with the family this weekend to celebrate my new job. While at uni I missed the Sunday dinner meal around the table and sometimes got homesick. Dad’s rubbish jokes, Mum fussing over you and your older siblings taking the piss out of you and the banter. You miss family life sometimes.

I’m the youngest of the family so get treated like the baby of the family. The one labelled “needs the most help”. During the dinner conversation Mum and Dad asked me if I wanted to move back home. I nearly spat out my wine.

How do you tell your parents to “go f*** themselves” without hurting their feelings?

I could never move back home. When you live with your parents there is a lack of freedoms and independence that you don’t get while living away from home. I couldn’t live under my parents roof again. I love my independence and my flat is like heaven now I’ve refurnished it and added that “man’s touch”.

I’ve mastered most of the cooking skills I need so I won’t starve. Now I have a full time job I can also fumble along paying the bills, drinking beer and still trying to get laid in my own space.

So dear Mum and Dad. I’m so lucky and grateful to have caring parents like you. I love you and thank you for the offer and trying to make my life easier but I’ll have to decline. I’ve no intension of living back at home. I have my own place to chill out in and a place to rest my head at the end of the day. Please stop worrying.

Love Rob. XXX

The Job Hunt

~ Rob

Looking for a job is traumatic and stressful for young people. I’ve not had much interview practise in my short existence. I’ve been training for the whole of my 21 year life. And for around the last 3 years I’ve being studying and trying to get laid.

I’ve been activity seeking a new full time or part time job to supplement the twenty hours I am working and it’s fair to say the advantage is with the employers not the job hunter.

You should never go to bed angry so I’m going to rant about the state of the job market. I feel left out that I haven’t secured a full time job yet. All that studying and hard work and nobody wants me or my skills.

In five weeks I’ve had around seven interviews and heard nothing back apart from the silence of rejection or “After careful consideration I regret to inform you that you have not been successful on this occasion….”. I’m getting tired of these types of rejection letter.

It’s a cruel and selfish world. With hundreds of people applying for the same job competition is high and morale is low. Competition is tough and head hunters want the best.

The world is full of possibilities and opportunities. I’m trying to hunt them down for my careers sake. Our twenties should be the best time of our lives but modern life and money gets in the way.

I’ll keep looking hopefully the job search won’t drag on too long.

Free Internships for an Expensive Education

~ Rob

How much was the cost for your university education? For many it’s £44,000 plus interest. Was it worth it or can I get my money back? After that you need financial aid in the form of a job. A job is your refundable investment in the higher education game. Thanks for playing now go earn some money.

If I was an Member of Parliament I could put my student debt through my expenses under miscellaneous but I need a form of financial assistance called work. Not a work for free internship. I have a financial inability to eat without money, unless I go shoplifting or begging.

Financing a university education isn’t cheap. I know students may take a zero or next to no pay intern job for experience but come on people you have a degree that cost you a fortune. It’s called a tuition fee not a tuition free.

If a company’s not willing to pay you for your time and knowledge then they surely they don’t value or respect you. You could even argue spending all that time and money on a degree was wasted if you sell yourself short.

Don’t sell yourself short for the sake of slave labour. Surely free internships break some kind of Employment or Equal Opportunity Law. If you are going to work for free and not sell your time then do some volunteer work for Save the Children or Oxfam not some profit making company.

Isn’t the idea to pay some taxes and some of your student debt back? If that’s the case then show me the money. I don’t mind helping others for a living but companies profiting off free internships need to be stopped.

Internships may help you get into your chosen field of work but you want a job and some money to show for it. If you’ve borrowed money from your parents during your student life you’re lucky they don’t send you monthly statements every month but your credit card company will.

Unless you’ve been lucky enough to secure a job in your industry while studying or have some work experience in that area then it’s unlikely you’ll have tried and tested your degree subject matter in the real world. And by real world I may you’ve been getting paid for it.

You may have been shoving fries, working the bars or cleaning for a few quid but now you have your degree the time has come to step on your chosen career ladder and break into the job sector you want.

Interview Tips and Mistakes

~ Rob

Applying for you first job, writing a successful CV, getting shortlisted give you a better of securing that vital interview. If you’re not securing any interviews you may need a CV review or hire a specialist CV writing service. The issue, as you well know as a graduate could be lack of work experience.

As a new graduate with minimal career history and little or no previous work experience your CV needs to shine in order to get shortlisted for interview.

The graduate job market is competitive and recruiters want to win the best young talent. So make your graduate CV count and boost your chances by writing the best graduate CV possible.

After the CV writing, job search and application follows the nervous interview. The interview is a most nervous part of the process because you want to come across well and great a good impression.

Here are some interview tips and common interview mistakes to avoid which can improve your employability communication skills during the interview:

  • Research the company before you attend the interview. You’ll look silly if you don’t find out about the company you want to work for. After university you should be good at going your homework so get some background on the organisation.
  • Read through the job description, how can you apply your skills and experience to the role? You need to sell yourself and play to your strengths.
  • Create the right impression and professional image by dressing smart and wearing shiny polished shoes.
  • Remember your body language – Offer a firm confident handshake, maintain eye contact and sit in a relaxed position.
  • Listen to the questions they ask carefully and provide a detailed answer with an example. Employers will be looking for your ability to communication, solving problems and demonstrate your abilities.
  • Prepare a list of questions about the role to ask the interviewer. Remember you’re interviewing the company too. Write them down so you don’t forget and practice answering the questions. Show your enthusiasm for the role and passion for the industry you are entering. Coming across with a lack of enthusiasm or research about the job will put doubt in recruiters minds.

The below examples should give you an idea of how interview questions are approached and help you think about past experiences. They are designed to help you think about the experience you can draw on in an interview situation and support you in your interview preparation.

The STAR technique is good way to answer competency based questions. Many interviewers will have been trained in using the STAR structure or know of its approach. It will enable you to provide a meaningful and complete answers to questions.

The acronym STAR stands for:

  • Situation
  • Task
  • Action
  • Result

Describe the situation that you were confronted with or the task that needed to be done.

Next explain what action you took and why.

What was the end result?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojMt2ktJEyQ

Try the STAR technique on the following example interview questions:

  1. Describe a time when you delivered excellent service to your customers?
  2. Describe an initiative, goal or project that you have driven. What did you do to make it effective?
  3. When have you identified an opportunity to save time or costs?
  4. Tell me about a time you had to make an on the spot decision.
  5. Tell me about your role in a successful team that you’ve been a part of.
  6. Can you give me an example of when you have turned a difficult relationship around?
  7. Talk me through a change you have initiated previously.
  8. Describe an example of when you had to rely on your own drive to motivate others
  9. Describe a situation when you directed a team of people?
  10. Describe a time when you have made a change and it didn’t work out?

Hope these help you. I find the interview part the most difficult part of the job hunting process.

When at an job interview and the interviewer asks you “Why do you want this job?” don’t reply “because money you idiot”. This and other useful interview tips are below: