A most excellent Christmas present

Merry Christmas everyone!

I am rather happier than is usual for this time of year, for I received a letter from PGL a couple of days ago saying I've been offered a post. Yes, I have job!!!!!!

I will leave for the Isle of Wight on the 19th of January, to begin my training for Field Studies Instructor. I will be teaching kids 7 - 18 about the environment, as well as instructing them in various adventure sports. Quite a daunting task, but I am so looking forward to it. My contract lasts until November, and I have an option to extend it for further years. At the moment I would say that I probably won't but who knows how I'll feel when I get there.

Hope everyone elses's Christmas has been as great as mine!

Reasons to be miserable...

Nope, I didn't get the job. I am actually quite gutted - I thought the interview went well, with no tricky questions, and I don't think I got too carried away. However, they phoned me up yesterday evening (at least they got back to me quickly) saying that the other person was more approachable and would fit into the team better. They also said that a tip for the future would be to try and tone it down a bit. So, yet again, my enthusiasm has resulted in rejection. I think it is a bit sad if I have to change who I am in order to get a job. I didn't think I was over the top at all, but as it was only for 3 months, they obviously wanted someone a bit more docile.

On the plus side, they said my ecological and legislative knowledge was excellent, and that if they had had two jobs, they would have given one to me. They are going to keep me on their books in case something comes up, which is good, and I get the feeling that they would like to use me and that they can see my potential. So I guess it's not all bad then...

Out of the blue

On Friday I received an interesting phone call from someone at English Nature, asking if I was still available for work (er, yes...). Yesterday I received another couple of phone calls, with the result being I am now going for an interview in Lyndhurst tomorrow!

It's three months fulltime, doing planning casework for protected sites. I've read the job description, and it's basically the same job I went for four months ago, only for a much shorter term. Though it's not for very long, it is a job and should give me interesting experience.

Oh, and I got some feedback (finally) from Test Valley BC for the Environment Development Officer post. Not enough experience again- how am I expected to gain experience an support myself at the same time? The whole situation is ridiculous.

It was the Graduates Xmas Party on Saturday night at the Union. I took Hayley (old schoolfriend) with the aim of meeting up with some uni mates (namely, Adrienne). It was an excellent night, where I bumped into Nick, Chris Rochfort and Chris Noble from my course, as well as my ex-housemate Dave, who now has 'PhD hair' (i.e. long). So it was good to be back there again, and made a pleasant change to my hum-drum life. Sigh.

Chicken

I've decided to chicken out of Friday. I was working out my route yesterday, which was a return journey of 260 miles. They were only paying expenses of £25, so I would be left substantially out of pocket. Plus, it's a voluntary position, where I would probably need a car and money to buy food etc, so all-in-all, not a good financial move.

More feedback

I've finally got feedback for the Waste Reduction Officer post. They really liked my presentation, especially the props, and thought I interviewed well. However, they were concerned over my lack of experience and presenting outside uni. So once again, the lack of experience was the killer. What am I supposed to do?