Forgive me, readers, it's been a week since my last post. It's hard to believe that it's been a whole week since I last wrote anything, but it just goes to show how little is going on in my life that is worth writing about.
I have registered with a temp agency to find some admin/office work -- and despite excelling in my tests, there has been no work, so far. I also met with a new recruitment consultant and similarly impressed him with my mad admin skillz. He put me forward for a job he thought I'd be "perfect" for, and almost immediately they were inviting me in for an interview.
The interesting thing with this one was that he said I didn't exactly look like the consumer PR type. It was a bit of a strange remark to my mind, since we were meeting in a professional context and it was unlikely I'd be wearing designer jeans and the like -- but it did make me wonder if I'm just not cool enough. He made another similar remark later when confirming my interview -- he asked me if the suit I had was "stylish". When I said it was a decent, smart suit he said to make sure I wore a stylish shirt in that case.
When an interviewer makes a decision on you based on first impressions in the initial 90 seconds or whatever, it's almost frightening to think that after all these interviews perhaps I just haven't looked the part. Either way, on Friday afternoon I looked very sharp in my stylish new suit. But on Monday morning I got a phone call to say that I didn't get the job. They were apparently meeting several people, and so by my calculations they must have decided before they even met me who they were going to hire. Clearly they couln't have seen anyone else after me in that time.
Yesterday I met a contact from the agency I interned with last year -- although I never worked with him directly, he's become a kind of mentor for me now, and as deputy CEO of the company he's a good person to have on my side. We met for lunch and I discussed with him my work since I left his place last November, and my increasing frustrations. The reassuring thing was he thinks I should continue with what I am doing, that I am clearly passionate about it and good at what I do -- and it's just a matter of luck to find the right agency.
I'm going on a one-man roadtrip to Bristol on Thursday for another job interview -- this time it's for a copywriter position, so I am keeping all fingers and toes crossed on that one. I also had an interview today for a Christmas temp job in a book shop. I figure if I can combine two jobs -- like working in a book shop and evenings in a bar -- I might just be able to make enough money to live on. The interview seemed to go well, they were very casual and informal and liked my experience, background and attitude to customer service. I liked that they seemed to enjoy working there.
I've been reading a book this week called "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion". I figured it would be relevant to almost all areas of my life -- from interpersonal relationships, to working in marketing, to selling my art and even getting that damned elusive first permanent job I need so much. I read an anecdote about how one person was having trouble selling some turquoise jewellery until they accidentally doubled the price, rather than halving it. The result was that with things of this nature, when there is no objective definition for what something is "worth", people will use the old "you get what you pay for" adage to equate expensive with good.
Similar comments I remember were made after my unsuccessful attempt to auction one of my pictures on ebay.
So inspired, I started listing more canvas prints on my Etsy page, and increased some of the original prices. Within minutes of listing one of my pictures, I got an email that I had just made a sale, and the buyer would be sending payment via Paypal. I emailed the buyer to thank them for their purchase and to check their address, and was a little perturbed when they didn't respond. After all, they were clearly online in the first place to buy it. I just felt uneasy about it. A couple of days pass, no payment, no reply to my message. I send another trying to be breezy, mentioning their lack of response and highlighting I needed payment before I sent the canvas. The terms under Etsy are that buyers must make payment within three days, or else in the case of sending a cheque they should have despatched it within this time. It has now been five days, and it seems now they were just a time-waster. I wouldn't mind if they were paying by money order, or if they had just responded to any of my messages -- but the total silence suggests to me they never had any intention of buying it.
I'm particularly annoyed at myself, since in the excitement of making a sale and anticipating payment via Paypal, I ordered the canvas from the printer -- and now will be footing the bill myself. I'm proud of all of my work, so I will be pleased to have something of my own actually on display at home -- but now was not the best of times.
No comments:
Post a Comment