Wednesday 10 June 2009

Decisions

Last night I found myself complaining that I had nothing to do all day. At countless times in the past this is what I've wished for, but now I have it, I'd much rather have a job or something. So, to that end I am seeking out something to do. I would like to inventory my boyfriend's Warhammer stuff but apparently it's something he would need to supervise, and unless we're going to get our webcams out, it's not going to happen. I have had an interview for an unpaid internship at Cancer Research UK, and with any luck will get it. I'm awful at working out the odds of stuff but by my calculations, I have a 1/3 chance of nailing that beauty. My bank balance won't look so beautiful for it, but it's much better than losing my mind wandering the house until October.

I've also been considering WTF I'll do once I finish my degree. I'm seriously tempted by some masters courses, but also by the money being offered by some of the graduate schemes out there. Of course, if I pursued the latter I'd probably turn into some unfeeling, corporate automaton, but right now, the money alone would make it worthwhile. I've previously whined about some of the ancient educational requirements of such schemes, but there seem to be a few who don't require a specific set of A-level grades. What ALL of them do require, however, is for the hundreds (thousands?) of applicants to jump through a series of hoops, generally conforming to the following system:

1. Seemingly endless application form requiring educational details, work info, why you want to work there, competency questions (which are The Worst), etc.
2. Online tests - numerical, reasoning, personality.
3. Telephone interview - basically an oral version of stage 1.
4. Assessment day - a day spent with the other brown-nosers who've managed to get that far. More tests, group work, interviews, presentations.
5. Offer.

I know the whole process is designed to filter out the wheat from the chaff, but the prospect of going through that once is bad enough. But to have to go through that for every job you apply for? WAH.

All this said, I'm not sure I could come up with a better way of doing it.