Kirstie's job log: 4

Kirstie Nicols has been sitting on two job offers.

All at once

This past fortnight has been a moment in insanity. How is it that months can be spent living the quiet life; then when something interesting happens to break the monotony, nothing wants to be left out? Talk about snowball and hill.

• At home, my sister passed her driving licence, took my car for a spin (on my insurance) and celebrated by meeting up with the nearest brand new Mercedes. I now have no car, no no-claims, and a sister who is more interested in telling the fascinating story of her brush with death than attempting to look contrite when around me.
• Several weeks ago, I joined the ‘claim back bank charges’ hype and duly sent off my letter. Recently, I received a lovely one back with ‘computer says no’ stamped all over it; yet others seem to be being offered nice compensation packages.
• One of my closest friends just landed her dream job, which happens to come with a dream car, dream laptop, dream phone, and of course, dream salary. I’m left fighting to keep the green tinge out of my eyes just writing about it.
• At work, it was the end of the month, which in sales terms means I get everything you’ve been putting off for the past 29 days finished and sent to head office. And for someone who is still relatively new, it means I get given everything that everyone else has been putting of for the past 29 days in order to finish and send to head office.
• In a moment of unhealthy panic, I joined work’s female fitness group; who have signed me up for the Great South Run. I only learnt this morning its 10 miles; which means I now have to spend every night at the gym to combat the image of me being the last over the finish line.
• Of course, on top of all this, I’ve had a (possibly life changing) decision to make which I’ve probably only thought about every minute or two.

My decisions

In the end, I knew what I was going to do all along. Finally, a year after the idea of not accepting the first thing that I’m offered was drummed into me, I stopped being so self-assured and started listening. After an anxious morning at work, whereby I managed to forget the name of the company I work for whenever I answered the phone (and ended up just weakly saying ‘hello?’), I headed back into the boss’s office and turned down the internal sales position in favour of sticking with what I’ve got, and looking for what I want. After all, I don’t need the extra money that badly; there’s still eBay right?

After watching the face of my boss change from expectation to confusion as to why I was turning down such a great offer, and then to incredulity when I explained my reasons (which made me feel really confident in my choice), I was left on a bit of a power trip high. This must have been why I decided to also turn down the position I was offered in the London publishing house later that afternoon.

I went for my second interview in London, not really knowing what role they wanted me to try out for. All I really knew from the last trip was that it was something within marketing, and I’d got the impression that it was in the right kind of direction that I wanted to be heading in. I made it through the whole interview without a clue what I was applying for; and as I seemed to have impressed them for some reason or other, I then (sneakily I thought) asked them to describe a typical day for me. It turned out they were after someone to work in sales; in a position that was starting to sound suspiciously like telemarketing.

During my time at uni, I quite enjoyed working in telemarketing; you could chat all day, there was free food and most importantly, it was funding my Student Union addiction. However, I also quite enjoyed my time working at McDonald's (yes I did), for many of the same reasons. That doesn’t mean I’d like to work for another restaurant any time in the near future. I’m already working in a sales company; one so close to home that if I ever get the urge to relive my mornings at uni, I can roll out of bed at 10 to 9 and still make it with time to spare. When I sat down and thought about it, the only thing it had going for it was that it was a job within a publishing company. So I turned it down.

The only problem is, I didn’t get the ‘I’ve just done the right thing’ glow I got after turning down the promotion at work. It’s been a few days (a week when you read this), yet I’m still trying to justify it to myself. Then again, it could just be panic at the thought that I probably now have to face another few months back in the quiet life.

The search goes on

In my spare time (what’s left of it after evenings in the gym), I’ve started looking up local magazines and newspapers, and composing interesting and witty letters to them in which I demonstrate my skills (and offer voluntary work). I’m attempting to get on to a week long work experience course at my regional newspaper, which involves trying to find interesting stories in my village. Although I have managed to turn down two jobs in less than a day, I am glad I didn’t jump at the first things I was offered; because I now have the flexibility to keep chasing the dream. I guess the grown-ups do get some things right after all.

Kirstie's job log 3 - Two buses - and a choice of directions

Kirstie's job log 2 - American studies - what's that?

Kirstie's job log 1 - A year of learning

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