Worlds Worst Job Interview

As you know from my previous post, I had a job interview today at what I thought was an events promotion company. As it turns out, their ‘events’ are charities and they ‘promote’ them by hassling people on the streets to donate money (*womp womp*). Needless to say, I HATE these people. I avoid them at all costs. They annoyed me to no end in Boston and they are EVERYWHERE here in Australia. I won’t look these people in the eye and have even crossed the street to avoid them in the past. I remember while working at the Ad Club a co-worker of mine (who shall remain nameless) was harassed by one such individual and told them to get a real job. At the time I agreed, but after my interview today I have to admit, that was one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever done.

I woke up at 7.30am this morning to get ready which is probably the earliest I’ve gotten up since before I moved to Glebe, put on my cute interview outfit, grabbed a muffin from the 7-11 and was off. What exactly I was off to was a complete mystery to me. I had seen a posting online for an events promotion company and given my experience in both the events and promotion industries I thought this was for me! I found the office easily and there were already two other girls waiting for what we thought was an interview. Being who I am, I started to chat with them. Just the basics, where are you from, do you like Australia, what’s you’re favorite color, all that BS. Eventually the reason why we’re all sitting there comes up and I admit I have no CLUE what position I’m interviewing for. As it turns out, neither do these two girls. This should have been a huge red flag that something was up, but that’s how desperate travelers are for work.

Me: I mean, they say they’re an events promotion company, so maybe we’ll be organizing events?

Other girl: I just hope it’s not a sales job- that would be the worst.

Swedish girl: I wore jeans to an interview, I’m clueless!

Ok, so the last girl didn’t say that, but WHO shows up to an interview that says dress business casual in jeans???

Next thing I know, me and the Swed get called into another room where we are quickly shuffled outside to meet one of the ‘teams’. Turns out we’re going to be spending the day out at one of our events (they still haven’t said WHAT the so called event is or what our role will be). We hop on the tram and are off, the whole while, the guy in charge gets to know me and the Swedish girl. We get to our destination and me and this girl still have no idea what’s going on. Next thing I know, the guy tells me to go wait over by a bench. When he comes back, the Swed is gone. Apparently this is interview elimination style and home girl didn’t even make it up to bat. I haven’t even had time to panic yet, but now I’m officially anxious, paranoid, confused and STILL don’t know what I’m interviewing for.

Finally, the charade is up, and the ‘team’ all take out their Oxfam shirts and put them on over their smart business casual clothes. I have finally succumbed to the reality that I am interviewing for a sales job. FML. This was no ordinary interview. This was more of an improv show where I prove I can make a fool of myself while manipulating people into donating their hard earned money to whatever charity we’re working for at the moment. First I had to watch and see the different styles of each team member while taking copious notes. Then I had 20 minutes to approach random people and get them to tell me what their most embarrassing moment was. After I passed that task I had 15 minutes to come up with 10 ‘ice breakers’ I could use to approach people. My final test was to pitch to 3 people in 10 minutes (hopefully even getting someone to sign up). I felt like I was on a bad game show. I am ashamed to admit I even used the classic line “Excuse me sir, I think you dropped something. *man looks around confused* You dropped my heart.” You can laugh, but I was desperate! I thought about just walking away a few times and giving up, but I was doing pretty good, so I stuck with it out of curiosity and boredom. This is not something everyone can do and I thank my years of acting when I was younger and all those dumb improv games I used to hate for getting me through.

Turns out, I did better than I thought. The guy in charge wanted me to meet the big boss for a final interview. I’d have to start tomorrow and I’d be working mon-fri 8am to 5pm. This game was fun, but not THAT fun. I told him I had to think about it and immediately set off for the nearest pub to get a beer and have what just happened to me sink in. I felt swindled. I felt high on adrenaline. I felt like a fool for thinking I could get a real job in Australia off of Gumtree.com.

The night before I had been offered a job at a bar next to the hostel where I’m staying so back I went to get a drink and see if they were still offering. They were and I have a trial tomorrow. I hope it goes well, but seeing as how I got offered 2 jobs in less than 48 hours of being in Melbourne, I’m not too worried. I know this was a long one, but I HAD to share my experience. I hope you enjoyed it and I’ll keep you all updated once I actually get a real job.

Toto, I don’t Think We’re In Kansas Anymore…

With a new move comes a slew of new emotions and accordingly, a new blog post. My 12 hour long bus ride wasn’t too bad- it was a full bus which sucked and the driver wouldn’t stop texting (I had to sit in the front seat and could see) which caused me to fear for my life on a couple of occasions but I made here alive nonetheless! I’m alone again which is good and bad. It’s real motivation to get my shit together and find a job and not just bum around all day like I had in Glebe, but it’s also lonely- especially since I no longer have free internet :(. I even managed to pull a job interview already, which is pretty sweet! I had applied to an events promotion company back in Sydney right before I decided to leave and they called me for an interview. Since I had already booked my stuff for Melbourne, I told them I was unavailable, but they said to give their Melbourne offices a call which I did this morning and have an interview already for tomorrow morning at 9am. I’m excited and nervous! I’m not exactly sure what the job is for but the company seems cool from what I quickly got off their website and it’d be a legit job that could go on my resume back home.

I still have so much to figure out here though. Where I’m going to stay once this week is up, what I’ll do if this job doesn’t work out, what happens if I run out of money, what am I going to wear tomorrow, what is the meaning of life, etc. You know, all the basics.

I desperately needed to screw around for my first 3 months of being in Australia. I just wasn’t happy at home and was sick of trying to get into this whole ‘real life’ gig that everyone keeps badgering me about. At the end of the day, I just want to be happy. I know this is cliché and sounds so easy, but it hasn’t been for me. I keep expecting there to be this AHA moment in my life where the curtain gets pulled back and it turns out I’m meant to be a (insert career like job here) but that’s just not going to happen. I know this. The wizard is not real. He is just a man behind a curtain with a cool smoke machine (and a sick hot air balloon, but now I’m letting my metaphor run away with me).

Ok I am exhausted, so I’m gonna sign off now. If anything big and exciting happens, as always, you’ll be the first to know :) 

April 20, 2011 :)

I know this may not sound very exciting to most of you but recently I did something I've never done before and I felt it was appropriate to blog about it. I dyed my hair... from a BOX! I know, but don't freak out, I think I did a good job considering years of watching my dad and dying my friends hair. It was $15 and it is in these harsh economic times that I had to make a decision like this (not to mention my favorite hairdresser is currently thousands of miles away). It was supposed to be auburn but it came out more purple than red. I'm still happy with it though- it's a lot darker than what I had before. It was fun but I have to admit, I prefer the salon.

Also, I just finished getting rid of a lot of my clothes. Many of which were donated to the charitable case of Lucy, but many of which I also am going to put in a drop box. I needed to get rid of stuff and if I'm not going to wear it in Australia, then I don't need it. It's my own fault for being too hungover the day I planned on packing and rushing to do it the morning of my flight where I proceeded to pack my entire closet away. At the end of the day, I'm glad to be getting rid of it. I just should have done this before I left, but se la vie!

I know this wasn't very exciting, but for now I'm just excited to be leaving Sydney soon. I've loved being here and I'll miss the friends I've made here but I know I'd regret it more if I stayed here because it's easy. I've being doing some research on Melbourne to get myself more excited and it sounds like a cool place! I leave in less than a week and I cannot wait to get there!

Big News!

Or at least, considering I haven't had much of any news in awhile, it's news haha. So I'm loving being in Glebe and Sydney and I am truly having the time of my life, but I've decided I can't stay here. I mentioned in a post many weeks ago that Sydney just doesn't really feel like the right place for me, so I'm leaving in two weeks to go see what's going on in Melbourne. I've fallen into a routine here that I can definitely see myself getting trapped in so I'm getting out now while I can still afford to haha. Sydney has been great and I've met SOO many awesome people here and had a blast partying and sightseeing and just chilling out doing whatever I feel like, but I need to remember why I'm here. I had to get that out of my system, but I need to get my ass in gear now. I've heard nothing but good things about Melbourne so I really hope this works out for me!

I have to give 2 weeks notice at the place where I'm currently living before I leave, which is why I'm waiting 2 weeks. It will also give me time to do some research on Melbourne and try to get a general idea of what to do when I get there. Then I'm gonna book another fun 12 hour bus ride and off I go!

Ramblings!

So I’ve been very bad at posting updates to my blog. I suppose I just don’t have as much to say now that I’m settled and sort of into a routine. That and a lot of the stuff I want to write about I’m sick of thinking about. Right now I am happy. And it’s been a long time since I could say that. For the first time in my life I have no responsibilities, no one to answer to, and I am taking complete advantage of it. My life is essential college without the classes and/or part time job. And what’s wrong with that? Whose idea was it that we shouldn’t enjoy our lives while we can instead of doing what we have been told is the right thing to do and what we’re supposed to do? I’m not saying I plan on quitting life forever and not getting a ‘real job’ but why is it so taboo to take time off? And there’s that whole ‘real job’ thing too. I have NO clue what I want to do after all of this (and thankfully I don’t have to think about it for a long time still) but when I do occasionally think about it out of habit I just assume I’ll continue my search the same as I was when I was home and no time had passed- writing cover letters, sending out my resume, and using any and all contacts I have to get in somewhere, anywhere. I honestly haven’t been putting thought into that subject at all while here- I’m not sure what made me jump to that. I just want to end up doing something I love. Money ruins everything. I am so fortunate that I have worked my butt off and saved so I can do this, but I know people doing it on MUCH less.

Also, I’ve been doing an insane amount of reading while here. I just started 1984 (well, I started it 2 days ago and have read two thirds of it already) and wow what a mindfuck. I always knew it was but I’ve never actually read it so I figured why not? I’m loving it, needless to say, but it’s pretty dense. It definitely has made me stop and think about a lot. I’ve read 8 books since I’ve been out here and next on my list is The Book Thief. If anyone has any suggestions for what to read after that I’m all ears! 

"And I Will Write it Down For You"

For those who don't immediately recognize, the title of this post is from a Something Corporate song called "Miss America". That song just came on shuffle as I sit here being unproductive so I figured at the very least I owe my friends and family a blog update. To be perfectly honest, my life has taken on somewhat of a routine, which is why I've been lacking on the blog updates. There just isn't much exciting stuff to talk about anymore. Also, a lot of the adventures I've gone on have not been anything I feel like sharing on the internet. I've been having a lot of fun nights going out with my new roomies and stuff, St. Patty's day was especially fun. It's also nice (and makes me extremely nostalgic) waking up with friends and recapping the night before and laughing at our belligerentness. It makes me miss college and waking up from a night out only to crawl into Katie's bed and piece the night together before going to Annie's or the bistro for something to eat. Here, sausage rolls are the breakky of choice after a night out and I swear when I come back to America the first thing I'm gonna do is open up a sausage roll shop and I'm gonna make millions. They're basically ground sausage wrapped in a flaky pasty (I imagine them to be what hot pockets would taste like if they weren't shit). On the other hand, people in Australia (and apparently around the world) don't have solo cups. WTF?!?!!? Like, my Irish roomie asked me the other day, "so what's up with all the red cups in America?" It blew my mind to say the least. How do they play beirut? or flip cup? what's the middle cup in kings? how do you distribute beer at parties? or bbq's? or beer-bq's? This was 2 days ago and as you can see I'm still trying to process that bit of info. Also, British people call wallets purses and a purse is just a bag. And at the end of a sentence what we call a period they call a full stop. And a crosswalk is a zebra crossing. The worst part is I'm outnumbered by about 500 to 1 since there aren't any other American's in almost all of Australia so I look like the weirdo when really, we all know it's them.

So it's been awhile and I've been having a fantastic time, but I figured you all deserved an update. I love Glebe. I love my room and this place is wicked chill. Aside from Emma, there's another English girl in my room, Lucy, and an Irish girl, April. They are fantastic. April is a tiny little thing and I don't know how she fits so much personality in such a small space. She's hilarious and has started calling me America haha. She also has a boyfriend who is a chef and is making us a 3 course gourmet dinner tonight. I still haven't started this whole job search thing- it's so easy to say I'll do it tomorrow, but tomorrow has turned into a week so I might have to actually get my shit together soon. OK- I know this was very short but I just don't have much to say. I have lots of little stories about adventures but they're not anything I want to end up on the internet...