Seeing it from the other side...

Another week, another round of proposals out for potential work and another life lesson learnt.

I spent nearly twelve years working for one of the leading construction recruitment agencies, Hill McGlynn – or should I say Randstad Construction, Property & Engineering (well, I did work on the rebrand so guess I should call it by its proper title!). When I worked there the main gripe from candidates was that recruitment consultants never called them back, never acknowledged their emails and when they did phone, the person you needed to speak to was always ‘on another call’ or ‘out of the office’. Working with the consultants I knew that many of them did work really hard and sometimes you don’t want to take the call as you have a) no news for them or b) not even with divine intervention would they get the job.

However, after scanning the plethora of job boards, there are actually quite a few marketing freelance positions out there. So, thinking it may be a good idea to have a back-up plan in case none of the proposals come off, I duly replied to all those positions which were suitable and contract based for 3-6 months. I’ve applied to 9 in total, 4 of which are exactly the same job as I had done before at Hill McGlynn – sorry, Randstad CPE – so I thought I may be in with at least a shout of an interview.
Hmmmmm, I have had ONE reply email, and that was automated. Called all 9 agencies – funnily enough the consultants are a) on the phone and will call back, b) away from their desk or c) out on a client visit. Perhaps I’m just considered as ‘unemployable’

It’s a very different world sitting on the other side....still, I plough on.

Went to the 3Market Social Enterprise exhibition this week, mainly to catch up with Linda from Total Coverage who has been a gem in passing leads of possible work onto me (oh, and apologies, I linked her website wrong last week, its www.totalcoverage.coop) and also to catch up with my mate Vicki from Tiger Ink who is my printing guru – www.tigerink.co.uk (what Vicki doesn’t know about printing is not worth knowing or they haven’t invented it yet). To be honest, the event wasn’t what I had expected, most people seemed to know each other and so there wasn’t really much networking, however, there was a seminar from Wayne Hemmingway (Red or Dead fame now an urban designer) which was actually very good. He was presenting on how to grow and build your business within the social enterprise sector and told the audience that he had never had to pitch for work in his life – he obviously got hit with the lucky stick on the way out, mind you, he does produce excellent work.

Not much else really to write about this week though as three of the days I’ve spent cold calling businesses – eughhhhh! Hate cold calling. Still, building up a nice little database of ‘we may have something in the future’ companies. Don’t worry, I’ll be bothering you next month, and the month after that, and the month after that....you WILL have a newsletter written, you just don’t know it yet!

I guess love is on the air this weekend with Valentine’s Day on Sunday (yes, to all the boys reading M&S is open until late) but more interestingly the England Rugby team will be giving the Italians a little lesson in love over in Rome (33-6 my prediction) after their campaign got off to a good start last weekend against the Welsh. Also the start of the Winter Olympics and as I have no hockey match to play this weekend, in between cooking a sumptuous valentine’s meal for the boy (thanks Jamie Oliver) I’ll be stuck on watching sport.

However, for those of you who think Valentine’s Day is a commercial ploy, you could instead celebrate Pancake Day and to get you in the mood, here’s the following (apologies to my Irish friends, especially Eoin who will lynch me for posting an Irish joke).

A Scotsman, an Englishman, a Welshman and an Irishman are in a bar, talking about their children.
The Scotsman says:
“My son’s called Andrew. We called him that ’cause he was born on St Andrews Day.”
The Englishman speaks up:
“What a coincidence – my son was born on St George’s Day, so we called him George.”
The Welshman replies:
“That’s incredible – my son, David, was born on St David’s Day”.
The Irishman, who has been listening in growing amazement, bursts out:
“I can’t believe it – wait till I get home and tell Pancake!”

Happy Valentines / Pancake Day x