Christian Unions were the subject of a front-page article by the Times on Saturday, which is a bit unusual really. It's a subject close to my heart, having benefited from and really enjoyed 3 years being part of the CU during my time at Warwick.
There were also several articles discussing Christian Unions and religion at universities inside the Times and I thought that on the whole they gave a relatively balanced account of the current situation. The pick of the articles, I thought, was this one. A pretty neutral, sensible editorial about how tolerance needs to be a two-way thing. Anyway, check out the article and see what you think.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Christmas Music
No, no, no, no, no. It is just TOO EARLY for it!
Christmas music is something that's been bugging me for the last 2 or 3 weeks. You see I don't so much mind occasionally seeing a Christmas display in certain shops at this time of year. You can kind of get to know where they are and avoid them until you're feeling suitably Christmas-y. Christmas music, however, is a different kettle of fish.
I was in Harrods in London on Friday (just after I'd been for a temp job interview there) and had a little nose around (I hadn't been to Harrods for a LONG time before then, so seeing as I've applied to work there thought it only reasonable that I re-familiarised myself with the place). I could, however, only survive being in the store for about 30 minutes before the wall-to-wall Christmas music drove me mad and forced me to leave.
Don't get me wrong, I don't really have a problem with Christmas music in general (there's some really good Christmas songs around - both those to do with the meaning of Christmas and those with nothing to do with it), its just that right now, it's a little early too be playing it incessantly (and in Harrods every song was a Christmas song). Once we reach December I won't feel quite the same. I heard 'Last Christmas' twice on Friday. That's twice too many for the middle of November as far as I'm concerned.
Christmas music is something that's been bugging me for the last 2 or 3 weeks. You see I don't so much mind occasionally seeing a Christmas display in certain shops at this time of year. You can kind of get to know where they are and avoid them until you're feeling suitably Christmas-y. Christmas music, however, is a different kettle of fish.
I was in Harrods in London on Friday (just after I'd been for a temp job interview there) and had a little nose around (I hadn't been to Harrods for a LONG time before then, so seeing as I've applied to work there thought it only reasonable that I re-familiarised myself with the place). I could, however, only survive being in the store for about 30 minutes before the wall-to-wall Christmas music drove me mad and forced me to leave.
Don't get me wrong, I don't really have a problem with Christmas music in general (there's some really good Christmas songs around - both those to do with the meaning of Christmas and those with nothing to do with it), its just that right now, it's a little early too be playing it incessantly (and in Harrods every song was a Christmas song). Once we reach December I won't feel quite the same. I heard 'Last Christmas' twice on Friday. That's twice too many for the middle of November as far as I'm concerned.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Assumptions
I'm really rather good at making assumptions - and really quite stupid assumptions at that. It seems that if I'm given the opportunity I will quite willingly put 2 and 2 together and get 17! For example, earlier today when I was at a job interview (just for a Christmas temporary position) I made a stupid assumption and said "so is such and such the case?" and the guy that I asked the question of told me that I was quite mistaken and looked at me as if I was mad! This seems to happen to me all the time!
A few years ago I remember being told not to assume because "to assume makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me' "! And it does! It really makes both parties feel rather sublimely stupid.
I suppose I should probably ask more questions to clarify details rather than just assuming. But I feel that I already ask an awful lot of questions and people must be rather sick and tired of me doing so and wish I'd say something of real consequence! Why can't I admit that I'm not sure if that's the case though?!
Oh dear ... sometimes I just wish the ground would open up and swallow me! Lol.
A few years ago I remember being told not to assume because "to assume makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me' "! And it does! It really makes both parties feel rather sublimely stupid.
I suppose I should probably ask more questions to clarify details rather than just assuming. But I feel that I already ask an awful lot of questions and people must be rather sick and tired of me doing so and wish I'd say something of real consequence! Why can't I admit that I'm not sure if that's the case though?!
Oh dear ... sometimes I just wish the ground would open up and swallow me! Lol.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Stats that reassure
I'm still engaged in a frustrating, time-consuming job-hunt where it seems that I'm rethinking my ideas all the time as possible career corridors open up or disappear (quite commonly the latter after the former not long before!).
Anyway, there's a bunch of stats that I'm keeping at the back of my mind, just to remind me that it's perfectly normal and sensible to be searching for that first job for so long. I thought I'd jot a few of them down here:
• Only 30% of graduates are in jobs 6 months after graduating (in the UK)
• Only 50% of graduates are in jobs a year after graduating (in the UK)
(With these kind of facts I'm guessing that by "in jobs" what is meant is in jobs in the graduate's desired sector or something like this [i.e. excluding temping and so on]. I find this stat particularly reassuring)
• For every aspirational graduate job, UK universities produce about 20 graduates
(This is reassuring in the sense that it indicates that it's normal to struggle to find a job ... although it's less reassuring in the long-run. Clearly the definition of 'aspirational' is quite subjective though. And it's far from essential to only look at jobs that someone else is labelling as 'aspirational' - it's what you think that's more important.)
• Your working life is made up of 16,000 days
(So it's not such a bad thing to take some time to get a good first job cos you're gonna work for a long time!)
• The average person graduating now is going have 25 jobs in the course of their career
(Actually this kinda suggests that it's best to just get on with any old job cos you're going to change anyway. Although perhaps by figuring the kind of work that you prefer before you start you can minimise this number of job changes.)
• HR departments say that only 10% of graduates are ready for the working world, whilst 90% of graduates think that they're ready
(Not sure that this one reassures me much actually! I just thought it was interesting. Do I feel ready for the working world? Reasonably so, yes. Maybe others would disagree!)
• 90% of people don't work for big organisations
(I guess this implies that even if you don't land a 'big-time' job there's still plenty of hope left)
• The top 3 things that graduates lack:
- The ability to sell
- The ability to speak on the phone
- The ability to portray the company's corporate image
(Again, this one's more interesting than reassuring but perhaps it's possible to set yourself apart by demonstrating that you have these skills which seem to be in short supply)
A good piece of advice that I was given: "Be prepared to look for up to a year for a job. If, after a year you still don't have your ideal job then take the best on offer." I think at the moment this is the kind of thing that I'm looking to do, but I shall see.
Anyway, whenever I'm feeling a bit down about my job situation (not having one, not being sure that I'm looking in the right areas [for a job that I'd enjoy and would suit me]), which is quite often at the moment, I recall some of the above. When I do that I realise that I'm not alone in my situation and that as your working life is extenisve, it's worth taking a bit of time to make sure that you start off in the most suitable job possible.
Anyway, there's a bunch of stats that I'm keeping at the back of my mind, just to remind me that it's perfectly normal and sensible to be searching for that first job for so long. I thought I'd jot a few of them down here:
• Only 30% of graduates are in jobs 6 months after graduating (in the UK)
• Only 50% of graduates are in jobs a year after graduating (in the UK)
(With these kind of facts I'm guessing that by "in jobs" what is meant is in jobs in the graduate's desired sector or something like this [i.e. excluding temping and so on]. I find this stat particularly reassuring)
• For every aspirational graduate job, UK universities produce about 20 graduates
(This is reassuring in the sense that it indicates that it's normal to struggle to find a job ... although it's less reassuring in the long-run. Clearly the definition of 'aspirational' is quite subjective though. And it's far from essential to only look at jobs that someone else is labelling as 'aspirational' - it's what you think that's more important.)
• Your working life is made up of 16,000 days
(So it's not such a bad thing to take some time to get a good first job cos you're gonna work for a long time!)
• The average person graduating now is going have 25 jobs in the course of their career
(Actually this kinda suggests that it's best to just get on with any old job cos you're going to change anyway. Although perhaps by figuring the kind of work that you prefer before you start you can minimise this number of job changes.)
• HR departments say that only 10% of graduates are ready for the working world, whilst 90% of graduates think that they're ready
(Not sure that this one reassures me much actually! I just thought it was interesting. Do I feel ready for the working world? Reasonably so, yes. Maybe others would disagree!)
• 90% of people don't work for big organisations
(I guess this implies that even if you don't land a 'big-time' job there's still plenty of hope left)
• The top 3 things that graduates lack:
- The ability to sell
- The ability to speak on the phone
- The ability to portray the company's corporate image
(Again, this one's more interesting than reassuring but perhaps it's possible to set yourself apart by demonstrating that you have these skills which seem to be in short supply)
A good piece of advice that I was given: "Be prepared to look for up to a year for a job. If, after a year you still don't have your ideal job then take the best on offer." I think at the moment this is the kind of thing that I'm looking to do, but I shall see.
Anyway, whenever I'm feeling a bit down about my job situation (not having one, not being sure that I'm looking in the right areas [for a job that I'd enjoy and would suit me]), which is quite often at the moment, I recall some of the above. When I do that I realise that I'm not alone in my situation and that as your working life is extenisve, it's worth taking a bit of time to make sure that you start off in the most suitable job possible.
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