Good news, or at least something worth writing about today, dear readers. I am working again, or at least temporarily. For the next week, I'll be trying out this drafting job using AutoCAD, hopefully it'll be a long termer. I know it's been a fair while since I left the old place but it really hasn't felt that long to be honest. It's hard to describe my general mood right now, cos I'm typing on impulse here but it's good to know I can still offer something with my minuscule skill base.
And thus began a loosely related string of job searching stories... 'CUES FLASHBACK MUSIC'
PART ONE - SENSIBLE NARRATIVE, REASONABLY READABLE
The entire job search saga began about a week before I left the old place. I've heard some workplaces block job searching sites but I didn't appear to have a problem in this regard. I went about searching for positions in companies with a more commercial background, as I felt my best chance was to get a similar position where my past experience would be better appreciated.
At first I went and sent out cold applications to a few well known construction companies in the hope that something would pop up mid-year. One of them was nice enough to send me a rejection letter written in the nicest language possible. I like those ones that try and spare your feelings, they're so much better than the ones that criticise your lack of talent and personal hygiene.
Next I turned to the recruitment agencies. Now, my experience with agencies may differ from your own, but being perceived as a human resource is really not where I want to be. Being flogged around by human cattle wranglers is an odd feeling in the least, especially when they don't give you any form of response in weeks. They say they do the best for you but sometimes you really have to wonder, given they have a list of hundreds of available candidates, all almost definitely better than you. But unfortunately they do control half the jobs put out there by the big players in the industry, so in certain times you do what you have to do.
Eventually I did get an interview with a construction company on the upperish end of town, St Kilda Road. Still quite close to the city, right before the hookers take charge of public safety. (Imagine if you got pulled over by a traffic cop. I don't suppose you could screw your way out of that one.) Since it was in a big fancy office building I thought it was appropriate to suit up for the occasion. I still don't completely feel comfortable in those things, especially when my sister mocks me every time I don the outfit.
Here's the part of the story which I have been holding back for some time now. The only reason for that was the off chance that I could actually get the job, but since I haven't heard from them in a while, I figure my chances there are kinda slim, don't you think? Okay, here goes. Time for a slight shift in narrative, hope it reads like a cheap suspense novel.
The office reception looked perfectly fine when I exited the elevator. I spoke to the receptionist and quietly waited. I inspected the premises. A very bright sunlit location for business. The usual hum of fluorescent lights held its presence in the background, a noise I had become accustomed to over time. I walked over to the window to take a look outside. We were moderately high up on the 14th Floor, and I casually surveyed the world outside to the building next door.
My attention was suddenly drawn to a series of books lying by the window sill. I went in for a closer look. The leather bound book spine featured a name I never expected to see in a place of work. The name - L. Ron Hubbard. I still did the interview and I could see books by the author in the background, weirding me out all the way through. Would I have had to have been a Scientologist in order to get the job? I'd do many things for work, but I don't think I'd do that. Afterwards, I fled the premises in confusion. At least they didn't try and administer an auditing test on me.
And that brings to an end the descriptive part of my little story for today. The rest of what you read here is something that came from a very weird place, I have to say. I thought about deleting it or moving it to another post to be filed away forever, but it seems a shame to waste all that effort, especially since I was up until half past twelve ranting away. Needless to say you don't have to read it unless you really have nothing better to do... though I've recently been accused of being in the same state with my accelerated blogging and scrabbling...
PART TWO - RANT CITY, ENTER AT CAUTION
But after a while I got to thinking about my plans for the long term and what I really wanted. I had taken my previous job mostly because my education at the time did not really arm me for the job I wanted, and that was mostly because I was looking for the wrong position. Someday I hope to be an architect and I needed to be taking the first steps in that direction. Sure I had sat through many years of both high school and university, stressing over ENTER scores and mid semesters, but it was all for this final purpose. Now the next step in the grand scheme of things: actually going out and getting a job.
People at school tend to think they'll be right once they get into the course of their dreams. They reckon the course material and the lecturers will take care of them in the end, and then they can go and specialise in the field of their choosing for the rest of their lives. The truth is far from this little mirage. Many people will have told you this before, and I may as well try and sink the boot in a little further - working life is nothing like what they tell you at school. Once you get out there, there is nothing that can prepare you for what lies ahead. Half of what you learn gets throw out the window and soon you'll be too busy keeping up with work to remember how pointless the majority of those classes were. Fortunately, this transition is not overly traumatic, but it certainly is a tough slog until you adapt.
And so this is the state of play with me firmly in the midst of it all, a student trying to get his foot in the door and somehow get someone who is willing to hire an untested risk when they have so much else to do. Employers for the most part cannot be stuffed teaching you every little thing. They understand you're fresh out of uni, but the bottom line is they cannot afford to watch your every move and guide you along. I was fortunate at my old job in that there was a whole array of people I could ask. I guess that's a benefit of working at a smaller company.
Searching for graduate level employment is a pain due to the fact there's so little of it going around, and of those that are, the scope is so specific that it limits your choices even further. Once I had determined my efforts were best dedicated to finding work in the architectural sector I had to narrow things down, so much so that I would only be able to apply for one or two jobs in a week. I was hoping to cast the net a bit further, but there was no point applying for stuff I wasn't interested in.
It is strange how it has taken me so long to return to what got me interested in architecture in the first place - computer aided design. I have always kind of liked tinkering with design programs both 2D and 3D, and generating new ideas in realistic forms inevitably led to where I am (or where I wish I was) today. Of course the only spanner in that works is when my ENTER just failed to get me into architecture. Academics aren't exactly my strongest point I'm afraid. The past few years have been very much a detour, albeit a pleasant one. Taking three years of construction has definitely exposed me to many different things I would not have seen had I jumped straight into architecture.
But now it is time to head back to my original calling. It is time to put an end to all this sidetracking and do what I've been wanting to do for so long. I am certainly looking forward to the next three years.